Tottenham Hotspur scored their first away win since October last night, beating Nottingham Forest 2-0 in a very dominant performance at the City Ground. Spurs striker Richarlison broke the deadlock at half-time after a great pass from Dejan Kulusevski, and after the break the Swedish international doubled his side’s advantage after a mistake from Forest goalkeeper Matt Turner.
But all was not well for North London as centre-forward Yves Bissouma was red-carded for a reckless tackle on Ryan Yates. This means that the Mali international will be suspended for each of Tottenham’s next four games, which is a big blow for Ange Postecoglou, who already has a lot of absentees due to injuries.
As a result, Spurs are currently fifth in the standings and have the same number of points as fourth-placed Manchester City. The Lilywhites, meanwhile, are two points behind Aston Villa in third place, three behind local rivals Arsenal and four behind leaders Liverpool.
With all this in mind, we take a look at Tottenham’s next five league games and compare them with their top-four rivals below.
Everton (H) – 23 December
Everton are the best team in the Premier League at the moment, with three consecutive wins in the last eight days against Nottingham Forest, Newcastle and Chelsea. Before taking 10 points, the Toffees had an impressive away record which they will be looking to continue away at Tottenham Hotspur just before Christmas.
Brighton (A) – 28 December
The fixtures continue to line up between Christmas and New Year, with a match against Brighton. The Seagulls surprisingly dropped points against Sheffield United, Fulham and Burnley on home turf, which will give Spurs hope of a win when they travel to the Amex later this month.
Bournemouth (H) – 31 December
The Lilywhites take on Bournemouth in north London on New Year’s Eve. Goals from James Maddison and Dejan Kuleshevski secured a 2-0 win for Spurs in the return leg in August.
Postecoglou and co. will be hoping for a similar result this month.
Manchester United (A) – 14 January
After a winter break back in action and the FA Cup third round scheduled for the first weekend in January, Spurs don’t return to the Premier League until the middle of the first month of the year. Facing Manchester United at Old Trafford is usually a tough task, but Erik ten Hag’s inconsistency so far makes the game unpredictable.
Brentford (H) – 31 January
Spurs then have a two-week break before hosting Brentford at Tottenham Hotspur at the end of the month. When they met at the Gtech Community Stadium on the opening weekend of the season, the two teams parted with a 2-2 draw.
Last season, Thomas Frank’s side won the return leg, beating North London 3-1 in May thanks to goals from Yoan Wisse and Bryan Mbeum.