Tottenham must beat Leeds United to inch closer to achieving Premier League safety.
As things stand, the relegation battle is far from over, and Tottenham Hotspur might not be mathematically safe until the last game of the season.
Spurs are preparing for a defining clash against Leeds United at home on Monday evening. Roberto De Zerbi has recorded two wins and a draw in his first four games as Spurs boss. Back-to-back wins over Wolves and Aston Villa have given Tottenham the momentum and taken them out of the drop zone. However, they could find themselves back in the bottom three if West Ham pulls off an upset against league leaders Arsenal on Sunday.
So, the Lilywhites must continue their winning momentum by beating Leeds United, who are yet to confirm their top-flight status for next season. The Whites are in a rich vein of form of late, having racked up 11 points from their last five games. They travel to N17 on the back of a convincing 3-1 home win over the relegated Burnley side.
Alan Shearer makes Tottenham vs. Leeds United prediction
It is a must-win encounter for Tottenham, and they simply cannot afford to drop points at this stage of the campaign. A victory would help the North Londoners create more distance from West Ham, provided the Hammers also drop points in their home fixture against Arsenal this weekend.
Beating Daniel Farke’s side will be no easy feat, as Leeds are yet to guarantee their Premier League status for next season. BBC Sport pundit Chris Sutton is confident that Spurs will get the better of Leeds at home. Now, Premier League great Alan Shearer has made his prediction, and he thinks De Zerbi’s side will beat the Whites.
“Leeds are going to play a huge part in who gets relegated, because they play both Spurs and West Ham,” Alan Shearer revealed his prediction to Metro.
“It’s fascinating, but I think with what I saw from Spurs last week, they may just have enough now to stay up. And I guess with the energy that they showed the other day, I think they’ll have enough to beat Leeds at home. Spurs to win.
“Roberto De Zerbi has got a shift out of those players, and you didn’t see any of that six or seven weeks ago. It looks like a brilliant move now to bring De Zerbi in when they did, that’s the reason why they did it then, it was to get something different out of the players that they had not been showing, and it looks as if he’s getting that difference now, which they’ve not had for large parts of this season, or for any of the season.”
Shearer points out that Tottenham performed very well against Villa last weekend and that they displayed enough encouraging signs to suggest they are ready to beat Leeds on their home turf. As the pundit rightly notes, De Zerbi has been getting a tune out of the players available to his disposal. Massive credit to the 46-year-old for managing to do so amid the unavailability of several key players.
As things stand, the signs strongly favour the Lilywhites making it three wins on the bounce by prevailing against Daniel Farke’s side and boosting their survival bid.