Brentford entertain ex manager, Thomas Frank and Tottenham Hotspur in a huge mid-table London derby at Gtech Community Stadium.
Victory would see Brentford climb to seventh if Sunderland fail to win elsewhere, whilst Tottenham can go seventh with a win if Crystal Palace draw against Fulham in the teatime kick-offs.
Team News
Sepp van den Berg is a doubt for Brentford after he missed their 3-1 home win against Bournemouth due to a knock.
Dango Ouattara, Frank Onyeka (both international duty), Fabio Carvalho, Josh Dasilva and Antoni Milambo (all ACL) remain sidelined.
Tottenham will welcome Cristian Romero back from his one-match ban which saw him sit out their 1-0 win at Crystal Palace.
Xavi Simons (suspension), Kota Taki (foot), Destiny Udogie (hamstring), James Maddison (ACL), Dejan Kulusevski (knee) and Dominic Solanke (ankle) are still ruled out.
Pape Matar Sarr and Yves Bissouma are both away at the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal and Mali respectively.
When is Kick-Off?
Brentford host Tottenham at Gtech Community Stadium on New Year’s Day at 8pm GMT, live on Sky Sports Premier League in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Brentford are winless in their last five meetings against Tottenham (D1, L4).
- Tottenham are yet to lose away to Brentford in the Premier League (W1, D3).
- Brentford have conceded twice in each of their last three home games against Spurs (D2, L1).
- 20 of Brentford’s 26 points so far this season have been won in their nine league games at home (W6, D2, L1).
- Tottenham have won two of three away London derbies this season (W2, L1).
Prediction
Having swept Bournemouth aside with a strong intensely aggressive attacking press, Brentford now need to continue that momentum and be more clinical because this is a great opportunity to move closer towards the European qualification battle.
Tottenham however harbour their own ambitions to qualify for Europe and produced a clinical display at Palace, where they had two goals disallowed yet defensively soaked up the Eagles’ attacking dominance with composure, even though some of their clearances felt hesitant and slow at times.
Frank’s Spurs though haven’t won consecutive league games since their first two matches of the season and with Brentford having now found their groove, I expect a seriously good battle which could well result in a point apiece if the visitors can keep Keane Lewis-Potter and Schade quiet.
Prediction: Brentford 2-2 Tottenham
Result: Brentford 0-0 Tottenham