Tottenham Hotspur vs Stoke City
Kick-off: November 9, 15:00 Venue: Wembley Stadium
In recent seasons, there has been nothing Tottenham have enjoyed quite like playing Stoke. Mark Hughes’ biggest hope will be not to hear the familiar overtures of “it’s happened again” bellowing from the Spurs faithful, who have seen their team thrash the Potters 4-0 in each of their last four meetings.
While it’s been a difficult few weeks for the hosts in the Premier League, they have found respite in Europe. That was the case once again in midweek, as they finished the Champions League group stages with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over APOEL Nicosia. Fernando Llorente and Georges-Kevin N’Koudou scored their first goals for the club, sandwiched by a well-worked strike from Heung-Min Son, to offer some much-needed momentum.
It will be interesting to see how Stoke operate. They are taking legions of fans to the national stadium and bottom-half sides have by and large set up with the sole mission of thwarting Spurs’ attacking flow.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side simply have to overcome that so as not to lose any more ground in their battle for the top four; if they can, they have the added incentive of going ahead of Arsenal on goal difference, at least until the Gunners play Southampton on Sunday afternoon.
Xherdan Shaqiri is set to be Stoke’s danger man when they do go on the front foot. The visitors will need to remain tight at the back, but so much of their creativity comes from their Swiss star, who has four goals and five assists to his name so far this term.
Hughes’ men currently sit 13th in the Premier League table with six points breathing space between them and the relegation zone. The pressure remains on the Welshman, though, as the big debate among the supporters is whether he is capable of actually taking them forward.
Team news
Danny Rose will be assessed after he suffered a cut to the head against APOEL. Toby Alderweireld and Victor Wanyama remain sidelined through injury, while Davinson Sanchez will start his three-game ban following his red card against Watford last weekend.
Meanwhile, Mark Hughes travels to Wembley almost at full strength, but without Geoff Cameron or Bruno Martins Indi. The latter’s absence means it’s all the more likely that centre-back Kevin Wimmer will face his old club, for whom he played for a frustrating two seasons. Peter Crouch is another familiar face in north London.
Expected line-ups:
Tottenham: Lloris, Trippier, Vertonghen, Dier, Davies, Eriksen, Winks, Dembele, Son, Alli, Kane
Stoke: Butland, Zouma, Shawcross, Wimmer, Diouf, Allen, Fletcher, Pieters, Shaqiri, Coupo-Moting, Crouch
Did you know?
Spurs have won just one of their last six Premier League games. In that period, they’ve scored just four goals and had to come from behind to grab a point in their last three outings against Watford, Leicester, and West Brom. It’s vital they avoid conceding early again.
Prediction:
Pochettino clearly has Stoke’s system down to a tee and while on their day, they can make life difficult for the top teams, they’ve just been too inconsistent this season.
December is traditionally when Spurs start to really hit their stride – last season they won four out of five games, scoring 14 goals - and having been able to rotate in midweek, their first-choice players should be well-rested and ready to arrest their recent slump in form.
Tottenham 2-0 Stoke
