TEAM NEWS
Tottenham playmaker Christian Eriksen is out with an abdominal problem, while midfielder Dele Alli will also miss the trip to West Yorkshire after suffering a recurrence of a hamstring injury.
Huddersfield midfielders Ramadan Sobhi and Danny Williams are both still unavailable because of knee injuries. Paulo Gazzaniga will again start in goal, as fellow keepers Hugo Lloris and Michel Vorm are still injured.
Full-back Serge Aurier is doubtful with a muscle problem.
MOTD COMMENTATOR’S NOTES
@Guymowbray: The heady days of spring and Huddersfield’s successful battle to stay in the Premier League seem a long time ago.
Yet to win this season (or even score at home!), the prognosis is bleak, and things may get worse before they get better, with the next visitors to the John Smith’s Stadium being Liverpool.
To win this one they’re going to need Tottenham to have an off-day and, more importantly, give an error-free display of their own.
Start well, go in front, get the always excellent home crowd going, and we might see an upset. If Spurs strike first, it will be hard to envisage anything other than their bounce back to form continuing.
VIEW FROM THE DUGOUT
Huddersfield head coach David Wagner: “We should be focused on our performance.
“It’s important that we make ourselves independent from the circumstances, the points and the table – just like we did in the Championship. We have to do our individual tasks right.
“If you are propping up the table there is only one direction you can go and that’s north.”
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino on goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga:“Now he is number one, because it’s not Hugo [Lloris]. Of course we are so happy, that is why we signed him one year ago.
“It is so important to have goalkeepers that can play and perform the way Paulo does.
“It is so tough to be a keeper and wait for your opportunity, it is not like a player in different positions that you can play five minutes, 10 minutes, half an hour.
“The position is so specialist, it is so tough the time waiting for your opportunity.”
LAWRO’S PREDICTION
Spurs were very impressive when they won here last season, and I think we will see the same outcome this time.
It is very difficult to talk about Huddersfield without being critical because, although they are organised and competitive, they don’t really look like scoring goals.
There is nothing wrong with the Terriers’ application, it just comes down to a lack of quality.
Prediction: 0-2
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
- Tottenham won both of their Premier League games against Huddersfield last season, scoring a total of six unanswered goals.
- Spurs are unbeaten in their last seven league and cup games against the Terriers (W4, D3).
- Huddersfield have not beaten Tottenham since the 1955-56 season, when they won both meetings – 2-1 away on 21 April 1956 and 1-0 at home in December 1955.
Huddersfield Town
- Huddersfield are winless in 10 league games (D4, L6), scoring just four times in that run.
- They have only registered 13 shots on target this term, a joint-league low with Cardiff.
- The Terriers could start a top-flight season with a seven-game winless run for the first time.
- Huddersfield have yet to win a Premier League game after conceding the first goal, losing 19 of 21 matches after going 1-0 down. The only occasions they avoided defeat were away to Brighton and Southampton last season (both 1-1 draws).
- The Terriers have failed to score in their last five Premier League home games, three short of the record in the division set by Manchester City between January and May 2007.
- They have not scored in their opening three home league matches this season. Only twice before in top-flight history has a team waited longer for their first home goal, latterly Everton in 1998-99, who failed to score in their first five league games at Goodison Park.
- All three of Huddersfield’s Premier League goals this season have come from set-pieces. They are the only top-flight side yet to score from open play.
Tottenham Hotspur
- August’s 3-0 win at Manchester United is Spurs’ only clean sheet in their last nine Premier League away games.
- Five of the seven league goals conceded by Spurs this season have been headers.
- Tottenham have failed to score in just one of their last 16 Premier League away matches: May’s 1-0 defeat at West Brom.
- They have used 23 players in this season’s Premier League, more than any other side.
- Erik Lamela has scored in back-to-back Premier League games as a substitute. The last player to do so in three consecutive top-flight matches was Adam Le Fondre for Reading in 2013.
Source: BBC News
