Tottenham Hotspur take on Swansea City this Sunday at White Hart Line in the Premier League, with Spurs hoping to close the small gap to league leaders Leicester City.
Spurs are currently on an unbeaten run spanning five games domestically, while the Swans are down in 16th place with 27 points after losing to Southampton last time out. Before that, two draws and a win against Everton showed some improvement in the Welsh side.
Mauricio Pochettino and his men were also in Europe this week, with Harry Kane not featuring due to a broken nose he sustained in the loss to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup. The Argentine will hope that Kane will be able to play on Sunday.
Swansea will be on task to put more of a buffer between them and the drop zone, as the Welsh side is currently only three points above relegation-embroiled Newcastle. They have had a troublesome time this season, most recently with the changing of their manager. Garry Monk was sacked in early December, with it taking over a month to replace Monk with Francesco Guidolin.
Key Battle – Hugo Lloris vs Andre Ayew
With Hugo Lloris returning to action against Fiorentina after a short period out, the Frenchman will be desperate to return to normal service. Andre Ayew is Swansea’s top scorer with eight goals this season and would like to score against Lloris just as he did last time around. It will be tough for Ayew; Spurs have one of the sturdiest defences in the Premier League and Swansea lie at the bottom of the scoring charts, with only 20 goals to their name. Spurs are second in terms of goals, though that is no surprise with the likes of Kane and Dele Alli in their ranks.
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Spurs rotate their back four often, with Danny Rose, Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier all an option. Pochettino will take into account the defence’s off-key performance against Crystal Palace, but will not worry too much about an occurrence that appears to be a one-off. The rest of the field will mostly feature the same familiar faces, but midfielder Mousa Dembele is out for a couple of weeks with a groin strain.
With Tottenham winning 3-0 against Fiorentina on Thursday night in the Europa League, the team will not differ massively apart from the hopeful return of Kane on Sunday. There has been a debate on whether teams involved in Europe suffer domestically, but for Spurs, playing in Europe does not seem to be much of an issue.
Swansea have a fully-fledged squad to take to North London, which will give the side a much needed boost. With the absence of key playmaker Dembele and a possible Kane-shaped hole up front, Swansea will take every opportunity they get to produce a result, much like the last time the two teams faced each other.
Head-to-head
The Jacks have not won against Tottenham since September 1991 in any competition, and the draw in their last match was their best result against Spurs since 2011. Overall, Tottenham have won an astonishing 10 out of 14 games played, only losing two and drawing two.
Previous Meeting
Last time out, the game ended in a 2-2 draw with Tottenham ultimately missing out on a three-point opportunity through silly mistakes. Christian Eriksen scored both goals for the North London side, with the Swans initially taking the lead through Andre Ayew. Kane scored a bizarre own goal in the 31st minute before Eriksen saved the day for Spurs with a 65th-minute strike.
Prediction
Despite last time’s efforts, Tottenham Hotspur should triumph. Swansea have not been convincing in the latter stages of this season, and Pochettino and his men should win. With 12 games to go, Spurs are one of the favourites for the title. Leicester face Norwich City on Saturday, and should they be involved in a shock loss, Spurs could have a good opportunity to pass the Foxes.
Tottenham Hotspur 2 Swansea City 0
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