Tottenham Hotspur will play their third game in eight days on Sunday when Nottingham Forest come to north London.
Ange Postecoglou‘s men have come out of the international break and put four points from a possible six on the board.
Heung-min Son was able to score a late winner on the weekend against Luton Town, but Tottenham had to settle for a point on Tuesday.
Despite Brennan Johnson opening the scoring early on in the game, however, Kurt Zouma’s header proved to be enough to earn the Irons a point.
The goal for the Welshman did see him continue his fine form for Spurs in recent weeks which saw club legend Glenn Hoddle wax lyrical about the 22-year-old.
And Johnson will be facing his former side on the weekend who are battling for their Premier League status over the remaining weeks.
Spurs took all three points off Forest at the City Ground with goals from Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski earning them a 2-0 win.
Tottenham’s number nine will not be playing on Sunday at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as he continues to struggle through injury.
Speaking to the media at Hotspur Way on Friday, Postecoglou provided an update on his Brazilian striker.
“The only one from the other night is Richy. He’s had a bit of a niggle with his knee. So we’ll probably give him this weekend off just to get totally over it. Hopefully he’ll be ready for Newcastle next week.”
Aside from Richarlison, Spurs are only carrying the long-term injuries of Ryan Sessegnon and Manor Solomon.
Postecoglou could only look to make one change for Forest clash
Tottenham are going into the game without any injuries to the starting XI which turned out against the Hammers during the week.
However, Spurs were not quite at their absolute best as they struggled to break down West Ham following Johnson’s goal.
With this in mind, the 58-year-old could look to make some small tweaks to his starting lineup to try and provide the spark which was missing on Tuesday.
One player who dropped out of the XI on Tuesday night was Pape Matar Sarr with Rodrigo Bentancur starting in his place.
Going into the game, Yves Bissouma was Tottenham’s biggest underperformer on his form from earlier in the season.
However, he remained in Postecoglou’s side and the Australian was full of praise for the Mali midfielder after the game.
“I thought tonight especially in our general play, our build-up and our organisation. I thought Biss was outstanding tonight and the back four handled.”
On the back of such high praise, it would be off for Postecoglou to take Bissouma out of the starting XI.
So it would not be surprising to see the “absolutely brilliant” Bentancur replaced by the 21-year-old Sarr given the Uruguayan is still recovering from a broken toe.
Postecoglou left with Maddison conundrum
After the games against Luton and West Ham, James Maddison was withdrawn with around 20 minutes remaining.
And it was apparent his withdrawal against the Hammers did not go down well with Jamie O’Hara.
Maddison came off for Kulusevski, but the Swede has also been struggling to find his feet in the Tottenham squad recently.
Since the last meeting against Forest in December, the 23-year-old has only been able to provide one goal and one assist.
And his captain, Son, was left visibly frustrated with him following the full-time whistle at the London Stadium.
It would not be a huge shock if Postecoglou was to give Maddison an opportunity from the bench on Sunday, but he did tell the media Maddison was fine physically after the West Ham draw.
“He’s not carrying a knock. If he was carrying a knock he wouldn’t be playing. He’s fine, yeah.”
Predicted Tottenham XI v Nottingham Forest (4-3-3): Vicario, Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie, Bissouma, Sarr, Maddison, Werner, Son, Johnson