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The race for a place in the UEFA Champions League will be one of the main focuses on Boxing Day when fourth-placed Nottingham Forest host 11th-placed Tottenham Hotspur.
Forest, led by Spurs’ ex-manager Nuno Espirito Santo, is one of the surprise storylines of the season, leading the pack in the top-four chase, but it will be a competitive race to the finish. Just nine points separate Forest from Manchester United in 13th, meaning 10 teams feel a place in Europe’s top club competition is within reach with half a season to go. That includes Spurs, who have all the tools needed to win on Thursday, but need to find some stability to ensure they can move up the table in the second half of the season.
Here’s what you need to know before you tune in.
How to watch and odds
- Date: Thursday December 26 | Time: 10am ET
- Location: City Ground – West Bridgford, England
- Live stream: Peacock
- Chances: Nottingham Forest +135; Sign +260; Tottenham Hotspur +185
Storylines
Tottenham’s up and down season has seen another round of highs and lows in the past week alone. They reached the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup after a 4-3 win over Manchester United and lost a wild 6-3 match to Liverpool on Sunday. The run of results has left them with just three wins in the last eleven in all competitions, painting a picture of inconsistency that has frustrated many after an optimistic start under manager Ange Postecoglou last season.
Spurs are still the best attacking team in the Premier League. They lead the league with 39 goals in 17 games, surpassing the expected goals ratio of 32.46. At least it’s a signal something is moving in the right direction for Postecoglou, who prefers an attack-oriented tactical approach and has overseen Spurs’ progress in this area. The team is averaging 2.3 goals per game in the league this season, a significant increase from last season’s average of 1.9 goals per game, compared to a similar expected number of goals and shots. The goals also come from a wide range of players, with five players having more than seven goals in all competitions, including surprise top scorer Brennan Johnson and new signing Dominic Solanke.
Defense has been a point of contention for Spurs in recent weeks, who have conceded 23 goals in their last 11 games. They have had to play much of this stretch without starting goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario and centre-backs Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, which has cost them dearly. Vicario’s substitute Fraser Forster has been a poor fit for Postecoglou’s tactical approach and has made several individual mistakes that have led to goals, while back-up centre-back Radu Dragusin was someone Liverpool had successfully attacked and exposed at the weekend. Many have called on Postecoglou to change his stylistic preferences to take into account the defensive issues, although he has stuck to his tactics and suggested the switch is not as easy as some suggest.
“If people want me to change my approach, that won’t change,” Postecoglou said after the match on Sunday. according to the Evening Standard. “We do it for a reason, we do it because we think it will help us be successful. If people don’t understand the circumstances we’re in right now, the challenges we have from a team perspective, which are just as big as However clear you want to make them, I get the sense that people think I should just flip a switch and needs to change, and somehow we will miraculously become a better team. It is what it is, I’m just going to continue focused on trying to build this team into the team we want. In the meantime, we’re going to accept that there will be challenges along the way.”
Projected arrangement
Tottenham: Forster, Porro, Dragusin, Gray, Spence, Sarr, Bentancur, Kulusevski, Maddison, Johnson, Solanke
Prediction
Tottenham have the ability to score against most teams, even those as defensively strong as Forest, who have only conceded nineteen goals in the league this season. The visitors will also have the advantage of playing a team that doesn’t score much – Forest have scored just 23 goals this season – but their ability to succumb to silly mistakes could force the teams to share the points. Choose: Nottingham Forest 1, Tottenham Hotspur 1