Tottenham Hotspur will be eyeing back-to-back Premier League wins on Friday evening when they travel to City Ground to face Nottingham Forest.
Spurs brought an end to a five-game winless run on Sunday in style with a 4-1 crushing of Newcastle United at home. Reverting to winning ways after a nightmarish few weeks, Ange Postecoglou’s side remain Champions League outsiders in fifth place but have the chance to draw level on points with Manchester City by overcoming Nottingham Forest.
However, despite Forest’s poor form of late, they will not be pushovers and mount a challenge for Postecoglou’s Tottenham side.
Tottenham Team News
All of Manor Solomon (knee), Ivan Perisic (knee), Ryan Sessegnon (thigh), Alfie Whiteman (ankle), James Maddison (ankle), Rodrigo Bentancur (ankle), Ashley Phillips (ankle) and Micky van de Ven (hamstring) remain unavailable for Tottenham. Eric Dier is also expected to be out for a week or two with a groin injury.
Predicted Tottenham lineup vs Nottingham Forest (4-2-3-1)
Goalkeeper
Guglielmo Vicario has failed to keep a clean sheet in the last outings for Tottenham. So, the Italian will be raring to put on a strong performance and shut the shop as quickly as possible at City Ground.
Defence
In the injury absences of Micky van den Ven and Eric Dier, Ben Davies should continue in a central role alongside Cristian Romero in front of Vicario. Destiny Udogie, who scored the opener in Spurs’ 4-1 win over Newcastle, and Pedro Porro are certain to hold their positions at full-back.
In addition to helping the centre-backs, Udogie and Porro will bomb up and down the left and right flank respectively and provide creative flair to Tottenham’s attacks.
Midfield
Pape Sarr and Yves Bissouma produced a dominant display in the middle of the park against Newcastle, and Ange Postecoglou is expected to stick with the African duo as the double pivot. They will be hoping to recycle possession well and build attacks from deep.
Dejan Kulusevski has thrived in the No.10 role in recent games and deserves to start again, meaning Giovani Lo Celso will be overlooked for a starting role again.
Attack
Ange Postecoglou’s decision to move Son Heung-min to the left and bring Richarlison back into the fray up front ended up being a tactical masterstroke against Newcastle, and the latter should continue through the middle after scoring a fine brace. Son will provide creative flair and energy from the left, while Brennan Johnson looks to haunt his former employers off the right.
The front three of Son, Richarlison and Johnson, with the creative Kulusevski behind them, could make life difficult for the Forest defenders on Friday night.