Tottenham Hotspur are all set to host Nottingham Forest on Saturday as they look to keep their top-four spot in the Premier League intact.
Tottenham Hotspur will look to shift their focus back to the Premier League as they are all set to host Nottingham Forest. Spurs, who were recently knocked out of the UEFA Champions League at the hands of AC ,Milan will hope to keep their top-four spot intact when they square up against the 14th-placed visitors.
Antonio Conte’s team have struggled in the past few fixtures. They have not been at their best and have suffered at the hands of AC Milan (UCL), Sheffield United (FA Cup) and Wolverhampton Wanderer. Conte’s men have been winless in their last three outings in all competitions.
Spurs are currently fourth in the league, with 45 points out of 26 matches. They are three points ahead of fifth-placed Liverpool, but the Merseyside club have a game in hand. As a result, a negative result could see them drop out of the top four.
Tottenham are heading into this encounter on the back of a 0-0 draw against AC Milan. While the goalless stalemate looks like a decent result, it saw them getting knocked out of the competition as they had lost the first leg 1-0 away from home. And, they will be keen on bouncing back against Nottingham.
Meanwhile, the visitors, who have a four-point lead over 18th-placed Everton, will look for all three points to further strengthen their position. Nottingham Forest are still in a relegation battle and will be well aware of the fact that a few defeats could make things difficult for them.
Steve Cooper’s men have had a disappointing run of late. They are winless in their last four league games and have only managed four points out of their last five games. Cooper’s team would surely want to end that run when they travel to square up against Conte’s team.
Nottingham Forest have only won one match out of their last eight in all competitions. They are heading into this encounter on the back of a 2-2 draw against relegation-threatened Everton. It was not an ideal result for the team, and they will hope for a better outing against the London club.
Antonio Conte’s men won 2-0 against Nottingham in the reverse fixture. However, Spurs did lose to them in the EFL Cup. And as a result, Cooper will believe that a result against Conte’s team is possible. The Hard Tackle takes a closer look at this fixture and tries to predict the tactics they could deploy.
Team News & Tactics
Tottenham Hotspur
Antonio Conte will be without the services of Ryan Sessegnon, Hugo Lloris, Yves Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur. Cristian Romero, who picked up a knock against AC Milan midweek, is a doubt for this fixture. The centre-back stayed down injured after seeing red for a second bookable offence.
At tomorrow's game, we will be marking @lpftweets' Unite For Access campaign.
As part of our continued work with @spursdsa, we spoke with lifelong Spurs fan Adam to hear how our accessible stadium facilities have transformed the way him and many more get to enjoy matches.
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) March 10, 2023
Meanwhile, Tottenham do have a boost as Eric Dier, who was suspended for the AC Milan fixture, is available for selection. Richarlison’s situation is also one to keep an eye on after he took a dig at Conte during a post-match interview.
Spurs are likely to start with the 3-4-2-1 formation. Fraser Forster will once again take charge in goal. Clement Lenglet, Dier and Ben Davies will be the back three. Pedro Porro and Ivan Perisic will play out wide in the midfield while Pape Sarr might pair up with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the centre of the park.
Arnaut Danjuma might start ahead of Son Heung-min. Danjuma will team up with Dejan Kulusevski as they look to create for the Spurs marksman Harry Kane.
Probable Lineup (3-4-2-1): Forster; Lenglet, Dier, Davies; Porro, Hojbjerg, Sarr, Perisic; Kulusevski, Danjuma; Kane
Nottingham Forest
It is still a long list of injuries for the visitors who will be without the services of Dean Henderson, Willy Boly, Moussa Niakhate, Scott McKenna, Omar Richards, and Giulian Biancone. Cheikhou Kouyate has returned to training after being out with an injury for a while. However, he is not yet match ready.
"We've got to focus on our strengths."
Steve Cooper's thoughts ahead of #TOTNFO 💬
— Nottingham Forest FC (@NFFC) March 9, 2023
Steve Cooper once again has a tough task at his hands with many of his key players unavailable. They have been missing for a while and he seems to have coped well. Ryan Yates who returned to action last time around is likely to start in this way fixture.
Nottingham Forest are expected to start with the 4-3-2-1 formation with Keylor Navas in goal. Serge Aurier and Renan Lodi will be the full-backs. Joe Worrall will once again team up with Felipe as the centre-backs.
Yates, Remo Freuler and Jonjo Shelvey will be the midfield three in front of the defence. The trio will not only look to supply balls for the forwards but also try and help out their defence against the likes of Kane, Danjuma, and Kulusevski.
Brennan Johnson and Morgan Gibbs-White will be the two behind their frontman Chris Wood. Johnson and Gibbs-White will look to push up the field and try to stretch the Spurs’ back line but it won’t be an easy task.
Probable Lineup (4-3-2-1): Navas; Aurier, Worrall, Felipe, Lodi; Yates, Freuler, Shelvey; Johnson, Gibbs-White; Wood
Key Stats
- Nottingham Forest last won an away game against Tottenham back in 1997.
- Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest have squared up against each other on 122 occasions since 1909. Spurs have 56 wins to their name while the visitors have 37.
- Antonio Conte’s team have won three out of their last four meetings against the visitors. They had won the reverse fixture 2-0.
- Tottenham have three wins in their last four home game in all competitions. They have kept a clean sheet in all four of the matches.
- Nottingham Forest are on a three-match losing streak away from home in all competitions, they haven’t managed to score a goal in any of these fixtures.
Player to Watch
Harry Kane
With Spurs struggling in all competitions of late, one will expect their skipper Harry Kane to lead from the front. Conte’s team will rely on the 29-year-old striker to get the job done at home when they host Nottingham Forest.
Kane has scored 18 goals in the ongoing Premier League season. He has had a great season so far and would love to add a few more to his tally on Saturday. The England international will be key to Spurs’ chances of winning this encounter.
Prediction
Tottenham 2-0 Nottingham
Spurs have had a tough time of late. They were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League mid-week and would be eager to get over that defeat with a win against Nottingham. Even the visitors have not had a great time in the league of late. They are winless in their last four league outing and would love to end that run when they square up against Spurs.
While they lost the reverse fixture 2-0, they did manage to win an EFL Cup game 2-0 against the home team in November. Nottingham might believe that they have it in them to get the job done but they might end up falling short against Spurs on Saturday. The Hard Tackle predicts a 2-0 win for the home team.