THE BIG MATCH PREVIEW! Spurs v Sunderland

Kick-off Saturday, 12.45pm

Venue White Hart Lane

Last season Tottenham 2 Sunderland 1

Live BT Sport 1

Odds H 4-11 A 15-2 D 4-1

The wins against Aston Villa and Swansea have given Sam Allardyce and his players a massive opportunity in our bid to clinch survival from relegation. Although the season ahead is long, by winning two games against sides down the bottom with us we now have as good as chance as the rest of them when it comes to staying up.

Although we can't look too far ahead, we have Bournemouth next weekend and, looking at the fixtures we have in Febuary, it's safe to say that the time is now to be collecting points, particularly on the road. Although Spurs are one of the better sides in the division, they are by no means unbeatable, particularly at home where there form since the start of December has been patchy.

Match Appointments

Referee: Mike Dean

Assistants: S Bennett & E Smart

Fourth Official: C Pawson

Team News

Sunderland

DeAndre Yedlin, due to the terms in his loan agreement, is unable to feature. Despite that it's entirely likely that Sunderland could go unchanged, with only Wes Brown a doubt as questions arise over whether or not he's capable of playing two games in such a short space of time. Should Allardyce choose to put Brown on the bench, Sebastien Coates may well return to the team.

Tottenham Hotspur

Spurs, like Sunderland, have very few injury issues and with Moussa Dembele returning from the bench against Leicester in midweek its likely that he'll start in place of youngster Tom Carroll.

Form

Sunderland

League Form: LLLLWW

Wed 13th Jan - Swansea 2 - 4 Sunderland

Sat 2nd Jan - Sunderland 3-1 Aston Villa

Wed 30th Dec - Sunderland 0-1 Liverpool

Sat 26th Dec - Man City 4-1 Sunderland

Sat 19th Dec - Chelsea 3-1 Sunderland

Sat 12th Dec - Sunderland 0-1 Watford

Tottenham

League form: LWWWDL

Wed 13th Jan - Spurs 0 - 1 Leicester

Sat 3rd Jan - Everton 1 - 1 Spurs

Mon 28th Dec - Watford 1 - 2 Spurs

Sat 26th Dec - Spurs 3 - 0 Norwich

Sat 19th Dec - Southampton 0 - 2 Spurs

Sun 13th Dec - Spurs 1 - 2 Newcastle

What The Managers Say

Sam Allardyce:

Hopefully the win (at Swansea) spurs them on. It was more important winning that game than getting anything against Tottenham because that was a six-pointer.

Imagine the distance we would have had to catch up if Swansea had beaten us. It would have been massive.

Mauricio Pochettino:

All the teams Allardyce has managed are very tough. (But) you need to be careful with all the opponents. Always in the Premier League games are very tough.
We will expect another tough game against Sunderland.

Last Corresponding Game

Stats And Facts

Tottenham have won eight and lost none of their last eleven Premier League games against Sunderland.

You have to go back even further to find Sunderland's last win at White Hart Lane, which was in August 2008 thanks to goals from Kieran Richardson and a debut goal from Djibril Cissé, who scored a header to send the Sunderland fans home happy.

When the two sides met at the Stadium of Light earlier in the season, Spurs won 1-0 courtesy of Ryan Mason's 82-minute strike.

Spurs also lead the overall head to head record between the two sides, having won 48 matches to Sunderland's 37.

Prediction

I'm going for a 2-1 Sunderland win. I feel as though we're due a win against a good side and with former Spurs man Jermain Defoe bang in form I feel we might just have enough to secure a shock victory at White Hart Lane.