TOTTENHAM – LIVERPOOL | Saturday 4pm
In the League Cup came the second defeat within three days for Tottenham. But in the third round of the League Cup, Spurs were not up against Liverpool, as they were last Sunday, but Premier League bottom-of-the-table Nottingham Forest, who virtually sealed it in the first half (2-0) thanks to goals from Renan Lodi and Lingard. It was another decent blow for Antonio Conte after being nibbled three points by the Reds and finishing -8 behind Arsenal, who also have a game to spare. The Italian coach is not completely satisfied with how the season is going, despite the fact that his side are still in the running for fourth place and have not missed out on qualification for the Champions League round of 16. And he made no secret of it in his press conference, saying that the renewal will have to be earned on the field and that it will not be discussed again before next June.
The elimination from the League Cup, despite the fact that there were many starters on the pitch, is symptomatic of the difficulties that Kane and his teammates are facing at the moment. Conte, meanwhile, can console himself with the good news from the injury front: Kulusevksi and Richarlison played almost the entire second half against Nottingham and are available for the Leeds game. They will not be seen again until December, however, with Romero and Son unavailable. The Whites broke their two-game winning streak when they lost 1-0 in the League Cup at home to Wolverhampton, but it was a defeat that coach Jesse Marsch had been anticipating after a thrilling 4-3 win over Bournemouth, which allowed them to move up to 12th place and a +3 advantage over the red zone. They now need to improve their away performance, where they have so far picked up just four points from their total of 15.
Ayling and Kristensen
The Prediction
Leeds are on the upswing and could prove a tough customer for Tottenham, but away from home the Whites look far less fearsome. A Spurs win is likely, but it’s not out of the question that the visitors could also score at least one goal.
The likely Tottenham-Leeds line-up
- TOTTENHAM (3-4-3): Lloris; Dier, Lenglet, Davies; Emerson Royal, Hojbjerg, Bentancur, Perisic; Kulusevski, Kane, Richarlison.
- LEEDS (4-2-3-1): Meslier; Kristensen, Koch, Cooper, Struijk; Adams, Roca; Harrison, Aaronson, Summerville; Rodrigo.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-1
