There could be a timely homecoming for Jermain Defoe on Saturday when struggling Sunderland visit Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.
The 32-year-old striker is reportedly close to signing a three-and-half-year deal to join the Black Cats from Toronto FC in a straight swap for Jozy Altidore.
He is understood to have passed a medical on Wednesday and could feature against Spurs, with whom he has been training in recent weeks to retain fitness.
Gus Poyet will be hoping that 55-times capped England forward will sharpen Sunderland's blunt attack, which is the second worst in the division having netted only 18 times in 21 games this season.
Defoe bagged 91 of his 124 Premier League goals to date in a Lilywhites shirt, with the others coming for West Ham United and Portsmouth, and is their highest ever scorer in European competition with 23.
He was a firm favourite throughout his nine years at White Hart Lane, but now Tottenham fans have a new goalscoring hero to sing about in the shape of Harry Kane, who inherited Defoe's number 18 shirt in the summer.
The 21-year-old forward notched his seventh goal in eight games, and his 17th of the campaign in all competitions, to break the deadlock against Crystal Palace before Spurs fell victim to the Alan Pardew effect.
Dwight Gayle and Jason Puncheon each struck to end Tottenham's seven-match unbeaten run and deny them the opportunity to climb into the top four. Results the next day left Spurs three points adrift in sixth.
They have already bounced back with a win, however, as they recovered from conceding twice in the first 10 minutes to beat Burnley 4-2 in their FA Cup replay and set up a fourth-round tie with Leicester City.
Mauricio Pochettino is likely to retain four players from Wednesday's starting lineup for the visit of Sunderland, with Jan Vertonghen, Danny Rose, Andros Townsend and Benjamin Stambouli keeping their places.
Ryan Mason and Erik Lamela are still sidelined by muscle strains, and Nabil Bentaleb is away on Africa Cup of Nations duty with Algeria, so Pochettino should revert to the lineup which lost narrowly at Selhurst Park.
Poyet will be forced into at least one change from the Sunderland side which lost 1-0 to Liverpool last weekend, a result which left them 16th in the table and only one point above the relegation zone.
His dismissal four minutes into the second half means that Liam Bridcutt is suspended for the trip to London. With Jack Rodwell out, Poyet will hope that Lee Cattermole is back to shield a fragile defence.
Steven Fletcher could hand the visitors another fitness boost by returning after missing the defeat to the Reds. Even if Defoe is available, he is likely to be on the bench, with Fletcher up front from the start.
Sunderland have not won any of their last eight meetings with Spurs, although one of their 11 Premier League draws of the season came against them in September as Kane scored a late own goal to gift them a point.
Spurs:
Form in Premier League: WWWDWL
Form in all competitions: WDWDLW
Possible starting lineup: Lloris; Walker, Fazio, Vertonghen, Rose; Dembele, Stambouli; Chadli, Eriksen, Townsend; Kane
Sunderland:
Form in Premier League: DWLDLL
Form in all competitions: WLDLWL
Possible starting lineup: Pantilimon; Vergini, Brown, O'Shea, Van Aanholt; Cattermole, Larsson, Gomez; Johnson, Wickham, Fletcher
Sports Mole says: 3-1
Joe Fish
