On the hunt for a sixth successive Premier League home victory, Tottenham Hotspur host Wolverhampton Wanderers at their North London headquarters on Saturday afternoon.
The Lilywhites earned a dramatic 2-1 comeback win over Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend, while Gary O'Neil's side were put to the sword 2-0 by Brentford.
Match preview
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Even without Roberto De Zerbi barking his usual orders from the touchline, Brighton stifled a lacklustre Tottenham during the first half of last weekend's encounter in the English capital, where a Pascal Gross penalty sent the Seagulls into the tunnel with a one-goal lead to protect.
Just past the hour mark, though, Pape Sarr finished from a tight angle to get Spurs back on level terms, and after Brighton looked the more likely to nick a win in the dying embers, Son Heung-min - making his first appearance since jetting off to the Asian Cup - squared for Brennan Johnson to score with the last attack of the game in injury time.
Johnson's finish at the back post led to unrestrained bedlam inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, as Ange Postecoglou's troops leapfrogged Aston Villa back into fourth place in the Premier League table; a position they have now held for the past week thanks to the Lions' loss to Manchester United a day later.
After finding themselves on the wrong end of a last-minute goal against Everton two weeks ago, Tottenham benefitted from a late intervention against Brighton to make it five Premier League home wins on the spin, during which time they have scored multiple goals in all of them.
However, Tottenham have been required to make the net ripple at least twice in that quintet of fixtures owing to their defensive vulnerabilities at home, as it is now eight games without a Premier League clean sheet for the hosts at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where only Fulham and Manchester United have failed to score in 2023-24.
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While Tottenham rejoiced in a fifth-straight Premier League home win last weekend, Wolves were condemned to back-to-back losses in front of the Molineux faithful, who witnessed Brentford return to the capital with a comfortable two-goal win under their belts.
Christian Norgaard's header and Ivan Toney proved telling for Brentford, who survived one brief scare when Craig Dawson had seemingly drawn Wolves level, only for a VAR review to show that the defender's left boot was marginally offside as Gary O'Neil's men failed to score at home for the first time this season.
After scoring a terrific hat-trick in the recent beating of Chelsea, Matheus Cunha's devastating first-half injury rubbed salt into the Wolves' open wounds, and O'Neil's men have now dropped below mid-table rivals Chelsea into 11th place, but European qualification is not out of the picture just yet.
Indeed, Saturday's visitors have just a four-point disadvantage to make up to Newcastle United in seventh place, and they head to North London unbeaten in their last five away matches across all competitions, including wins in the capital over Brentford and Chelsea.
Wolves' trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in August 2022 ended in a 1-0 loss, but they have since marched to two consecutive wins over the Lilywhites at Molineux and are just 90 minutes away from beating Spurs in three league games in a row for the very first time.
Team News
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Three new defensive concerns have arisen for Tottenham ahead of the weekend, as Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie have been ruled out with strain and knee injuries respectively, while second-choice goalkeeper Fraser Forster has sustained a foot fracture and is facing approximately two months in the infirmary.
Manor Solomon (knee) and Ryan Sessegnon (thigh) are definitely absent from this weekend's game too, but Saturday could see the return of Giovani Lo Celso, who was back in team training from a thigh problem before the Brighton beating but ultimately failed to make the cut.
International returnees Son and Yves Bissouma were only considered for substitute roles last weekend, but Rodrigo Bentancur and Timo Werner are now certainly at risk of making way for the pair; whether Johnson's winner is enough to earn him a start over Dejan Kulusevski remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Wolves have been dealt a crushing blow with the fitness of prolific attacker Cunha, who was taken off in the 20th minute of the loss to Brentford with a "significant" hamstring injury and will be sidelined for a number of weeks.
Cunha's early withdrawal against Brentford meant that O'Neil's men had to battle the Bees without their two star strikers, as Son's South Korean teammate Hwang Hee-chan was absent from that game with a calf issue, but he should be given the all-clear to fill in for Cunha in North London.
No other fitness concerns are bedevilling the visitors at this juncture, meaning that one-time Tottenham full-back Matt Doherty should be restricted to a substitute role against his erstwhile employers.
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Vicario; Emerson, Romero, Van de Ven, Davies; Sarr, Bissouma; Kulusevski, Maddison, Son; Richarlison
Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Sa; Toti, Dawson, Kilman; Semedo, Lemina, Gomes, Ait-Nouri; Sarabia, Neto; Hwang
We say: Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
While Hwang is no doubt a capable deputy for Cunha, losing the in-form Brazilian during his purple patch is a devastating setback for O'Neil's men, who can at least take solace from their recent beating of Spurs and overall form on the road.
The visitors would do well to target Spurs' ravaged full-back ranks too, but with a full-strength attacking contingent set to take to the North London field, the hosts will surely be too wild to tame.
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Ben Knapton
