Tottenham vs Sheffield United preview
Watch match highlights at 5.15pm on skysports.com and the Sky Sports app
Friday 8 November 2019 14:31, UK
Team news, key stats and prediction ahead of Tottenham vs Sheffield United in the Premier League.
Team news
Tottenham are still without Jan Vertonghen, Erik Lamela and Hugo Lloris. Vertonghen and Lamela (both hamstring) will not be fit until after the international break while Lloris (elbow) will not play until 2020.
Spurs can call on Heung-Min Son after his red card at Everton last week was rescinded.
Sheffield United defender John Egan is expected to be fit. He was replaced by Phil Jagielka late in the victory over Burnley last time out having signalled to the bench, but Blades boss Chris Wilder is hopeful he will be ready to line up against Spurs.
Wilder suggested as many as three players were managing knocks in training but none have yet been ruled out.
How to follow
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Opta stats
- Tottenham are unbeaten in four home games against Sheffield United in all competitions (W3 D1) since a 0-1 loss at White Hart Lane in November 1991.
- The home side has always scored at least twice and has never lost in the six previous Premier League meetings between Tottenham and Sheffield United (W4 D2).
- Tottenham are winless in four Premier League games (D2 L2), having last had a longer run earlier this year (5 games in February/March). In 2017 and 2018 combined, the Lilywhites only had one winless run of 4+ Premier League games (November/December 2017).
- Sheffield United are winless in their last 17 Premier League games in London (D6 L11) since beating Chelsea 2-1 in October 1992. On top of that, Yorkshire sides have lost 10 of their last 12 visits to Tottenham in the Premier League (W1 D1), with Hull winning 1-0 in October 2008.
- Sheffield United have lost just one away league game in 2019 (W6 D9 L1) - no team in the top-four tiers of English football have lost fewer (also Liverpool on one).
- Sheffield United have conceded just eight goals in their 11 Premier League games so far - no team has conceded fewer. The last newly-promoted team to concede fewer after 11 games were Wigan Athletic in 2005-06 (5).
- Tottenham have conceded more than once in just one of their 15 home Premier League games in 2019 (2-2 vs Everton in May).
Charlie Nicholas' prediction
Tottenham could have snatched a point at Anfield - they got themselves in the lead at Everton and threw it away. Mauricio Pochettino's decision-making is quite worrying for the Tottenham players.
He likes to rotate the full-backs but Serge Aurier is not playing well, while Danny Rose is all over the place. He has disrupted something which was so solid for three seasons at Tottenham.
Harry Kane should be fit but if not, where do they go up front? Sheffield United battered Burnley and they played superbly. They squeeze together, drop off together, and this style of football upsets the rhythm of the bigger teams. I expect them to unsettle Tottenham and this will be reflected in the result.
CHARLIE PREDICTS: 1-1 (13/2 with Sky Bet)
Super 6: Tottenham to break the Blades?
A hefty 81 per cent of Super 6 players are backing Tottenham to earn their first win in five as they take on sixth-place Sheffield United in Saturday's round. Will Sheffield United surprise again, with £250k on the line? Play for free.
