Spurs had a rather slow start to the Premier League season but came back to their back with an emphatic 4-0 win over Stoke City last weekend. But their joy was short-lived as the Lilywhites were beaten at home by French giants Monaco on their comeback game in the Champions League. The game finished 1-2 in favour of the visitors and Mauricio Pochettino will definitely be concerned.
Spurs host the second from bottom side, Sunderland, on Sunday at White Hart Lane and the Black Cats should not be too big a problem for the North Londoners. Yet to win a single game this season, David Moyes is under a considerable pressure ahead of Sunday’s encounter. The Wearside outfit have drawn just one game this season which was against Southampton and lost to Manchester City, Boro and Everton.
David Moyes’ side were thrashed 3-0 by his former club Everton on Monday and the Wearsiders need to improve big time if they have to salvage anything from the Spurs game. Meanwhile, Pochettino made some tactical mistakes against Monaco and paid a price for it and we can expect the Argentine to tweak his tactics.
Here is the predicted Spurs lineup against Sunderland.
Defence
Hugo Lloris will start under the bar ahead of Vorm who did a good job in his absence due to injury. Walker will continue in his right-back spot and the centre-back pairing will be the usual duo of Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld. Danny Rose is likely to make his way back to the starting XI replacing Ben Davies in the left-back position.
Midfield
Pochettino opted to start with Dele Alli in a deeper role against Monaco in the Champions League and that decision did not go in their favour. He will definitely make an alteration to his midfield. We can expect Eric Dier to keep his place and Wanyama is likely to make his way back to the starting XI.
Alli is likely to start as a number ten. Erik Lamela is likely to start on the right flank while Christian Eriksen will be looking to keep up his stunning form by starting on the left flank.
Attack
Just like last season, Harry Kane has started the season slowly. The Englishman scored his first goal of the season against Stoke City last weekend. He was again wasteful against Monaco but we still expect him to keep his place up front.
