Two of the Premier League's bottom-half battlers collide in their final match of 2024 on Sunday, as an off-colour Tottenham Hotspur welcome a reborn Wolverhampton Wanderers to their North London base.
The Lilywhites' Boxing Day scrap with Nottingham Forest ended in a dismal 1-0 defeat, a couple of hours before Vitor Pereira's Wolves rejoiced in conquering Manchester United by two goals to nil.
Match preview
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A penny for the thoughts of Daniel Levy when the final whistle blew at the City Ground on Thursday, as the man he gave the boot to after just 17 games in 2021 enhanced Nottingham Forest's Champions League credentials at the expense of Spurs' continental hopes altogether.
Nuno Espirito Santo's ill-fated Tottenham stint is best consigned to the bottom of his CV, but the Portuguese avenged his 2021 sacking from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when Anthony Elanga prodded his third goal in as many games past the onrushing Fraser Forster.
A hitherto entertaining Tottenham attack were bereft of ideas against the inspired pairing of Nikola Milenkovic and Murillo, as Ange Postecoglou's off-colour Lilywhites fell to their second straight Premier League defeat and an embarrassing fourth from their last five matches in the top flight.
A far cry from the all-conquering Spurs team of Postecoglou's earliest weeks in charge, Tottenham are still entrenched in the bottom half of the Premier League standings - despite being the second-best attacking team in the division behind leaders Liverpool - and now have a paltry three wins next to their name from their last 12 matches in all tournaments.
If nothing else, Postecoglou's Tottenham seldom fail to put on a spectacle at their North London home; the last three matches at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium have seen a monumental 23 goals - over seven a game on average - and both teams have scored in each of Spurs' last eight contests on their own patch.
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Experiencing the feeling that Tottenham did when Postecoglou first arrived, Wolves are basking in the new manager bounce glow under Pereira, who followed up his opening success over Leicester City with a statement victory over Ruben Amorim's Manchester United on December 26.
Playing almost the entire second half with a numerical advantage thanks to another Bruno Fernandes red card, Wolves sparked Molineux mayhem when Matheus Cunha scored directly from a corner, before the brilliant Brazilian teed up Hwang Hee-chan to put the tie to bed.
Wolves' second straight Premier League win coupled with Leicester City going down 3-1 at Liverpool means that the visitors to North London have shot out of the Premier League relegation zone, although it will only take one dissatisfactory result for the 17th-placed Old Gold to plunge back down into danger.
However, Wolves have a historical and superstitious reason for optimism this weekend, where they could win three straight Premier League games for the first time since coincidentally winning each of their final three matches of 2023 against Chelsea, Brentford and Everton.
Sticking with the theme of good things coming in threes, Wolves have managed to get the better of Tottenham in each of their last three Premier League head-to-heads, doing the double over Postecoglou's men in the 2023-24 season by a 2-1 scoreline on both occasions.
Team News
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Postecoglou was already working around a decimated defence before Christmas, and the Australian's rearguard will be even more ravaged for Sunday's game, which Djed Spence misses through suspension after seeing red at his former home on Boxing Day.
Radu Dragusin is also a serious doubt after hurting his ankle in the loss to Forest, while Ben Davies (hamstring), Mikey Moore (illness), Guglielmo Vicario (ankle), Micky van de Ven (thigh), Cristian Romero (thigh), Wilson Odobert (hamstring) and Richarlison (hamstring) are still confined to the infirmary as well.
Dragusin's possible absence would deprive Postecoglou of every senior centre-back in his ranks, meaning that he may have no choice but to introduce 19-year-old Alfie Dorrington alongside 18-year-old Archie Gray, unless Yves Bissouma starts as an emergency defender.
Wolves have no such crises to worry about for Sunday's trip south, and there is hope that midfield lynchpin Mario Lemina might be fit to feature after a calf injury kept him out of the triumph over Man United.
Spanish winger Pablo Sarabia is expected to miss out with a similar concern, though, while Sasa Kalajdzic, Boubacar Traore, Enso Gonzalez and Yerson Mosquera remain on the long road to recovery from knee injuries.
Almost all of the Old Gold's starters from the Boxing Day success should be retained, but Hwang might have made his case to come in for Goncalo Guedes after finally getting off the mark for the Premier League season last time out.
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Forster; Porro, Gray, Dorrington, Udogie; Bergvall, Bissouma; Kulusevski, Maddison, Son; Solanke
Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Sa; Doherty, S. Bueno, Toti; Semedo, Andre, J. Gomes, Ait-Nouri; Guedes, Cunha; Larsen
We say: Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
It takes a brave soul to confidently predict which version of Tottenham's attack is going to show up - the chaotic or clueless one - but Postecoglou's men can be expected to struggle against a Wolves side who should not afford them much space in the final third.
Pereira's men could be forgiven for playing for a point in North London, and such is the visitors' level of confidence right now that they can surely match anything that an inconsistent Spurs throw at them, while also capitalising on their hosts' depleted defence.
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Ben Knapton
