Bournemouth seek to end their winless run as they face Tottenham in a big Premier League clash between two below-par teams.
Victory would see Bournemouth stay 15th in the table, whilst Tottenham can climb as high as eighth with a win depending on results elsewhere.
Team News
Justin Kluivert is ruled out for Bournemouth after he suffered a knee injury during their 3-2 loss at home to Arsenal.
Will Dennis (ankle), Ben Doak (hamstring), Tyler Adams, Ryan Christie, Veljko Milosavljevic (all knee) and Matai Akinmboni (muscle) remain absent.
Tottenham will be without Mohammed Kudus after he suffered a thigh injury during their 1-1 draw at home to Sunderland.
Wilson Odobert is a doubt after he suffered a head injury against the Black Cats and will face a late fitness check, although concussion protocols could see him ruled out.
Xavi Simons (suspension) and Destiny Udogie (hamstring) are back in contention, but 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?
Bournemouth host Tottenham at Vitality Stadium on Wednesday 7 January at 7:30pm GMT, live on Sky Sports Golf in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Bournemouth have avoided defeat in their last three meetings against Tottenham (W2, D1).
- Tottenham have claimed seven points in their last five visits to Bournemouth (W2, D1, L2).
- Both of Bournemouth’s two Premier League draws at home to Tottenham ended 0-0 in October 2016 and July 2020 respectively.
- Bournemouth have lost just one of their four home matches against London-based opposition this season in the top flight (W1, D2, L1).
- Joao Palhinha has been booked in Spurs’ last two matches (D2).
Prediction
With 11 games without victory, Bournemouth are lucky that others are tripping up around them as only eight points separate fifth-placed Chelsea and the Cherries in 15th position, but their defending has to be much better because they did concede sloppy goals against Arsenal.
Tottenham meanwhile dominated the first half of their draw against Sunderland but were pretty wasteful in their final touches, yet they didn’t really offer much creativity to overcome their re-energised visitors in the second half and were lucky to eventually grind out a decent point.
Kluivert though is a big loss for Bournemouth but this is a chance for Eli Junior Kroupi to potentially show his quality from the start given his impact as a substitute, especially if the Cherries start well but I do think that Spurs could get another draw here.
Prediction: Bournemouth 1-1 Tottenham
Result: Bournemouth 3-2 Tottenham
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