Tottenham Hotspur host Sheffield United at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a Premier League clash, which has implications at both ends of the table.
Victory will see Tottenham move top if Manchester City lose elsewhere, whilst Sheffield Utd can climb as high as 13th with a win depending upon results elsewhere.
Team News
Tottenham have no fresh injury concerns to report following their win at Burnley a fortnight ago.
Brennan Johnson could make his debut after signing for the club on Deadline Day from Nottingham Forest.
Ryan Sessegnon (hamstring), Bryan Gil (groin), Giovani Lo Celso (quad), Rodrigo Bentancur (knee) and Alfie Whiteman (ankle) remain ruled out.
Sheffied Utd could be without Yasser Larouci as he recovers from a back injury.
Anel Ahmedhodzic (hamstring) is set to be available but John Egan (knee), George Baldock (calf) and Tom Davies are ruled out
Rhys Norrington-Davies, Rhian Brewster (both hamstring), Max Lowe (ankle), John Fleck (leg), Ben Osborn and Daniel Jebbison (both groin) are sidelined.
When is Kick-Off?
Tottenham host Sheffield Utd at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at 3pm BST on Saturday 16 September, untelevised live in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Tottenham have won two of their last five league meetings against Sheffield United (W2, D1, L2).
- Sheffield Utd are winless in five previous Premier League visits to Tottenham (D2, L3).
- Spurs’ Son Heung-min has scored in each of his last two appearances at home to Sheffield Utd (W1, D1).
- Tottenham are looking to go five league matches unbeaten at the start of a new season for a second consecutive season.
- Sheffield Utd have kept just one clean sheet this season, which came in a goalless Second Round draw against Lincoln City in the Carabao Cup as the Blades crashed out on penalties.
Prediction
Considering that many pundits and football experts didn’t rank Tottenham’s chances under Ange Postecoglou too highly at start of season, they have done an incredible job to sit second with their creative aggressive attacking style.
Their defence however does seem to be still gelling as evidenced by loose marking which allowd Burnley to score twice, in what otherwise could of been a serious statement victory but Spurs otherwise were excellent in how they recovered from the first conceded goal with a ruthless end product.
Sheffield Utd meanwhile will be disappointed with just one point from their opening four games because they’ve played well attack wise, but a mixture of defensive errors and unlucky end product has limited their results.
Paul Heckingbottom’s Blades though can take confidence from how well they played against Everton in terms of creativity and energy, yet two marking errors cost them a win which is a worry when coming into a game like this.
It is therefore imperative that Sheffied Utd improve defensively because for all of their attacking intent, their defence might well be their downfall here if Tottenham are once again in fierce form.
Prediction: Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Sheffield United
Result: Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Sheffield United