Tottenham Hotspurs face a do-or-die battle London derby with Brentford to keep their European football hopes alive in the last home game of the 2022/23 Premier League season.
TOT vs BRE Match Details
Date: Saturday, 20 May 2023
Time: 12:30 (BST), 17:00 (IST)
Venue: Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium, London
TOT vs BRE Match Preview
Tottenham made their situation even worse with a 2-1 loss against fellow European football chasers Aston Villa last weekend. Although they remain in contention for participating at the continental level, their seventh position is vulnerable with Villa lurking behind on same points and Brighton a point ahead but with a game in hand. The Seagulls losing to Newcastle on Thursday night might come as a relief but they have to do their job to stay alive in the race. Against Villa, Spurs failed to punish the elegant highline of the home side with Heung-Min Son alone flagged offside a number of times. At the other end, Unai Emery’s side did their business taking the lead in the eighth minute through Jacob Ramsey and Douglas Luiz’s magnificent free-kick goal in the second half. Harry Kane’s late penalty conversion did little to change the outcome of the game and succumbed to a third consecutive away loss with winless on the travel in the league since January. On the flip side, Spurs have lost only once at home this year. Ryan Mason’s side are desperate to keep that form intact while facing a more than capable Brentford team even without their star man. This meeting has gone in Tottenham’s favor with three past games at this Stadium ending in a 2-0 victory. They have also lost their final home game of a season only twice in the last 14 campaigns, winning 11 of them. Spurs could climb to fifth in the Premier League table with a win in this clash before the final game against Leeds next weekend.
While the hosts are struggling for form after losing four of their past six Premier League games, Brentford carried their way of great performances with a 2-0 win over West Ham who recently became Europa Conference League finalists. In the absence of Ivan Toney who went on to receive a ban from the FA, Brian Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa stepped up to give the Bees their 13th win of the season guaranteeing them a top 10 finish in a top-flight since 1937-38. Currently placed in ninth and four places and seven points better off than last season with two games still to play. Those remaining games will be against top six opposition in Tottenham Hotspurs and champions-elect Manchester City once again. Thomas Frank, who is also linked with the managerial job at Spurs, can even guide his team to a European spot at the end of the season with only three points off from a possible place. However, they need the other contenders to fall off dramatically. For now, Brentford’s focus is to end their so-far excellent campaign strongly by maintaining their unbeaten streak in the last eight London derbies, winning their last three, in their trip north of the city. The Bees played a 2-2 draw in the reverse fixture but are winless in their last nine away games in this meeting which includes seven losses and two draws in all competitions. Their last away win against Spurs came 75 years ago, a 2-0 victory when the two sides were playing in the second division.
Recent Form (Premier League)
TOT: LWLDL
BRE: WLWWD
TOT vs BRE Team News
Center-back duo Eric Dier and Japhet Tanganga will return after shaking off the issues that kept them out of the last game. The 29-year-old could return into the back three replacing Emerson Royal, who started in a makeshift role last weekend. Rodrigo Bentancur, Ryan Sessegnon and captain Hugo Lloris have been ruled out for the season.
For Brentford, Ivan Toney will be a big miss for the side after the star striker received an eight-month ban from football for breaching betting rules. He will only return to action in the new season next year. Christian Norgaard (Achilles), Pontus Jansson (hamstring), Keane Lewis-Potter (knee) and Thomas Strakosha (calf) remain sidelined through injury.
TOT vs BRE Predicted Lineups
TOT: Fraser Forster; Christian Romero, Eric Dier, Clement Lenglet; Pedro Porro, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Olivier Skipp, Ivan Perisic; Dejan Kulusevski, Harry Kane, Heung-Min Son
BRE: David Raya; Mathias Jorgensen, Ben Mee, Ethan Pinnock; Aaron Hickey, Frank Onyeka, Mathias Jensen, Vitaly Janelt, Rico Henry; Brian Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa
TOT vs BRE Head to head
TOT won - 14
Drawn - 15
BRE won - 6
(In overall meetings)
TOT vs BRE Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Raya (8)
DEF: Porro (8.5), Romero (8.5), Mee (8.5), Pinnock (8)
MID: Hojbjerg (8.5) Jensen (8.5), Perisic (8)
FW: Son (9), Kane (9), Mbeumo (9)
Vice-captain: Heung-Min Son
Captain: Harry Kane
