Tottenham vs Sunderland - Match preview and predicted line-ups

By Jake Jackman

Tottenham will be hoping to bounce back quickly from their disappointing Champions League defeat to AS Monaco on Wednesday night. They have a home game against Sunderland who haven’t had a great start to their league season. Another relegation battle looks to be on the cards and Tottenham will be expecting to heap more misery on them this weekend.

The home side have picked up points, despite looking unremarkable at times. It looked like they had found their stride against Stoke City, as they won comfortably at the Bet365 Stadium. However, they struggled in their first Champions League game, which showed that there is still work to do for Mauricio Pochettino if Spurs are going to challenge for the top four again.

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David Moyes has been given a chance to repair his reputation at Sunderland and he will be aiming to move them away from the bottom of the Premier League. The investment over the summer was questionable and many think that the Scotsman has been sold short by his board. His managerial ability will be tested over the coming season and if he manages to keep the Black Cats in the league, it would go down as a great achievement.

Recent form

Spurs have taken eight points from their opening four matches and given themselves a good platform to push on from. It was important that Harry Kane broke his duck for the season and he did so last weekend against Stoke City. If he can start scoring regularly again, Tottenham should be able to compete at the top of the league. It was always going to be difficult to perform at last year’s levels again and the performances so far have been short of that immensely high standard.

The visitors have struggled at the beginning of the season as they have done for the last three or four years. David Moyes’ side have taken just one point from a possible 12 and are languishing in the relegation zone once again. It is crucial that they aren’t cut adrift over the next month as it will be difficult to perform another miraculous escape.

Predicted Line-ups

It’s a good opportunity to rest Harry Kane and Vincent Janssen could be set to come in. Mousa Dembélé will come back into the side to play alongside Eric Dier in the double pivot, having been one of the few who impressed in their midweek Champions League defeat. After being taken off at half-time against Monaco, Son Heung-min could drop back to the bench.

Lee Cattermole could be recalled to the starting eleven after recovering from injury. Jason Denayer could come into the defence after the poor performance from Papy Djilobodji against Everton.

Tottenham                                                                        Sunderland

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Injuries/suspensions

Danny Rose could be back, but Pochttino is likely to ease him back in to the side. Mousa Dembélé has now completed his suspension and is available for selection.

Lee Cattermole is back from injury and could feature at White Hart Lane. Steven Pienaar is a doubt, while Vito Mannone, Fabio Borini, Seb Larsson and Billy Jones are all set to miss this weekend.

Prediction

I expect Tottenham to return to winning ways after a disappointing loss in the Champions League. They have a much better squad than Sunderland and the visitors look shot of confidence at the back. Everton cut them open frequently and Tottenham should have similar success at White Hart Lane. I wouldn’t be surprised if Tottenham win by three or four and heap more pressure onto David Moyes.

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