WATCH OUR PREVIEW FOR THOUGHTS & PREDICTIONS
TEAM NEWS
Tottenham will be missing Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro, who is expected to be out for the next couple of weeks.
Captain Son Heung-min is likely to start his first game since coming back from the Asian Cup, while Ryan Sessegnon and Manor Solomon are still sidelined.
Wolves won’t have forward Matheus Cunha due to a hamstring injury he got in last week’s loss against Brentford.
Hwang Hee-chan is set to step in for the Brazilian after recovering from a minor calf problem.
GARY O'NEIL
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
O’Neil confirmed that Hwang Hee-chan is “completely fine” and “available to start” after missing last week’s loss to Brentford with calf soreness which “he’s not feeling at all anymore”.
When asked if Matheus Cunha, who has suffered a “fairly significant” hamstring injury, will return before the end of the season, he said: “Yes he will. He’s really optimistic and feels good with not too much pain there. He’s keen to get straight to work and start pushing to get back and help the team as soon as he can.”
O’Neil said he is “really confident in the team and the group and what they try and produce” but that “Tottenham at full strength will be a real test for us.”
He knows it is one of the toughest away trips, stating: “In any Premier League game you’re going to have to be 100% and as close to perfect as we can get, like we were at Stamford Bridge. We’ll see if we can make it an uncomfortable afternoon for Tottenham.”
On the challenge posed by Spurs: “They will ask us a lot of questions, so we will need to be ready to answer them and respond with our attacking threat. They don’t change, they play the same way a lot, really comfortable with the ball, have a lot of it, really aggressive without it. I’ve prepped the lads for what that might be like.”
On dealing with Ange Postecoglou’s style of play: “They try and combine a lot – lots of short passes, attacking through the middle, fantastic attacking players. (James) Maddison is probably the most free player they have, the rest tend to stay in their positions. We go there with a game plan and a shape we’ve used before and look to use it as well as possible.”
MATCH FACTS & STATS
Head-to-head
- Wolves have won three of the past four top-flight meetings, although two of those victories have come at Molineux.
- They are seeking to complete a league double over Spurs for the third time, after doing so in 1953-54 and 2009-10.
- The Lilywhites could lose three consecutive games to Wolves for the first time.
Tottenham Hotspur
- Spurs have won five successive top-flight home games.
- Their total of nine Premier League home victories this season is bettered only by Liverpool’s 10.
- The Lilywhites have scored in a club record 36 consecutive Premier League fixtures since a 1-0 defeat by Wolves last March. It’s the second longest scoring run in the division’s history after Arsenal’s 55-match streak between May 2001 and November 2002.
- Their only defeat this season in 13 clashes with sides currently in the bottom half of the Premier League table came against Wolves at Molineux in November.
- Tottenham’s solitary clean sheet in the past 15 league matches came in a 2-0 win at Nottingham Forest in December.
- Son Heung-min has been directly involved in nine goals in his past eight top-flight appearances, with four goals and five assists.
- However, Son has failed to score in any of his 10 Premier League appearances against Wolves.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
- Wolves are unbeaten in five away games in all competitions, winning three and drawing two.
- They’ve also scored eight goals in their last three league matches on the road.
- Their two most recent Premier League trips to London resulted in a 4-1 victory at Brentford and a 4-2 win at Chelsea.
- Wolves are vying to win three consecutive top-flight fixtures in the capital for the first time since 1979, having previous gone 14 without a win there.
- Gary O’Neil could become the first manager to win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with two different clubs, after guiding Bournemouth to a 3-2 victory there last April.
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Anthony Taylor. Assistants: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn. Fourth official: Andy Davies. VAR: Craig Pawson. Assistant VAR: Lee Betts.
MATCH INFO
Kick off at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will be at 3pm on Saturday 17th February, this fixture will not be shown live on UK television.
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