Watford vs. Tottenham
Venue: Vicarage Road
Kick off: 4PM
Tottenham Hotspur will be looking to return to winning ways in the Premier League when they head to Vicarage Road this afternoon to take on Watford.
Spurs will enter the contest off the back of a 1-1 draw with Southampton on Tuesday, while Watford suffered a 4-1 home defeat to West Ham United on the same afternoon.
Confidence was high at Watford when the Hornets recorded a thumping 4-1 win over Manchester United on November 20, with the result ultimately leading to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer losing his job with the Red Devils.
It has been a real struggle for Claudio Ranieri’s side since then, though, suffering five straight league defeats to Leicester City, Chelsea, Manchester City, Brentford and West Ham United.
The Hornets actually took the lead against West Ham on Tuesday but then conceded four times without reply to suffer a 4-1 home defeat, with the result leaving them in 17th position in the table.
Watford are only two points clear of 18th-placed Burnley, who have two games in hand, while there are only three points separating the Hertfordshire outfit from Norwich City at the bottom of the division.
The home side suffered a 1-0 loss to Tottenham in the reverse match earlier this season, but they have not been beaten by Spurs at Vicarage Road since January 2017.
Tottenham have shown huge improvement under the management of serial winner Antonio Conte, with the Italian moving the London club firmly into top-four contention.
Indeed, Spurs are unbeaten in their seven league matches under Conte, recording four wins in the process, and a total of 30 points from 17 matches has left them in sixth position in the table, just five points behind fourth-placed Arsenal with two games in hand on the Gunners.
The capital outfit suffered a small setback on Tuesday afternoon, though, as they were held to a 1-1 draw by 10-man Southampton, with Harry Kane cancelling out an opener from James Ward-Prowse.
Tottenham looked well short of top-four challengers earlier this season under Nuno Espirito Santo, but it has not taken long for Conte to bring a winning formula to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Spurs also have two cup competitions to think about in the early stages of January, taking on Chelsea in a two-legged EFL Cup affair either side of a clash with Morecambe in the FA Cup.
Watford possible XI: Bachmann, Kucka, Sierralta, Cathcart, Masina, Sissoko, Dennis, Pedro, Louza, Sema, King.
Tottenham possible XI: Lloris, Sanchez, Dier, Davies, Emerson, Winks, Hojbjerg, Reguilon, Son, Kane, Lucas.