Preview: Tottenham Hotspur vs. Swansea City

Tottenham Hotspur will be looking to bounce back from their League Cup final disappointment when they host Swansea City in the Premier League on Wednesday.

Spurs missed out on the chance to win their first major trophy in six years over the weekend as they suffered a 2-0 defeat to London rivals Chelsea at Wembley.

Deflected goals from John Terry and Diego Costa proved to be the difference as Spurs were knocked out of a second cup competition in the space of three days after their Europa League exit at the hands of Fiorentina.

Nevertheless, the progress that a young, hungry side - their League Cup final XI included six Englishmen, five academy graduates and nobody over the age of 28 - have made during Mauricio Pochettino's debut season in charge leaves plenty of room for optimism.

The Lilywhites can now at least concentrate on their attempts to finish in the top four, although their Champions League aspirations have been hit by two top-flight games without victory and the teams around them finding form.

However, they are the only top-four contender on double duty this week - their game in hand against Queens Park Rangers is on Saturday - and maximum points would cut the gap to three or better, depending on other results.

Swansea will present a tough test, though, and have beaten Manchester United and Burnley in their last two outings to climb to eighth in the table, within one place and four points of their opponents this midweek.

Manager Garry Monk is pleased to have already reached the 40-point mark highlighted for Premier League survival and now wants his side to go on and better their previous best total of 47, achieved upon their promotion in 2012-13.

The visitors could welcome back Gylfi Sigurdsson, who missed the Burnley victory with a knock, for the trip to his former employers and another Spurs old boy, Kyle Naughton, will start against the club he left to join the Swans in January.

Tom Carroll is ineligible as part of the loan agreement which took him from White Hart Lane to the Liberty Stadium in the summer and could drop out of midfield for the fit-again Sigurdsson in the only change made by Monk.

Kyle Bartley, Modou Barrow and Nathan Dyer remain sidelined, while Jefferson Montero continues to wait for another chance in the side as Wayne Routledge, who completes the Spurs alumni, is preferred on the wing.

Tottenham's ex-Swansea contingent of Michel Vorm and Ben Davies will likely have to settle for places on the bench as Pochettino sticks with the majority of the cup final side, although Kyle Walker is a doubt with a dead leg.

Vlad Chiriches may be asked to fill in at right-back, where Naughton played 75 times for Spurs after joining along with Walker from Sheffield United. Erik Lamela and Mousa Dembele are expected to return in advanced roles.

Spurs have won their last six league games against Swansea, including a 2-1 victory in Wales in December, when prolific forward Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen, who scored the late winner, were both on the scoresheet.

Spurs:

Form in Premier League: LWWWLD Form in all competitions: WLDDLL

Possible starting lineup: Lloris; Chiriches, Dier, Vertonghen, Rose; Mason, Bentaleb; Eriksen, Dembele, Lamela; Kane

Swansea:

Form in Premier League: LWDLWW Form in all competitions: LWDLWW

Possible starting lineup: Fabianski; Naughton, Fernandez, Williams, Taylor; Cork, Ki; Sigurdsson, Shelvey, Routledge; Gomis

Sports Mole says: 1-1