Preview: Tottenham Hotspur vs Sunderland - prediction, team news, lineups

Involved in 0-0s at opposite ends of the entertainment scale in midweek, Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland collide in Sunday's Premier League showdown at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Thomas Frank's Lilywhites played out a bore draw at Brentford in midweek, whereas the Black Cats held Manchester City to an absorbing goalless stalemate.

Match preview

Returning to the ground that he made a fortress during his time in West London, Frank was welcomed back to the Gtech Community Stadium with open arms by the Brentford faithful, but all present should have left deflated and demoralised.

Fans cannot purge Spurs' 0-0 draw with the Bees from their memories quickly enough, and the Tottenham faithful who made the journey across the capital let Frank know exactly what they make of the current state of play at Tottenham.

The Europa League champions are still lingering in the bottom half of the Premier League table with just seven wins to their name all season long - at this rate, they will only just scrape past 50 points after 38 matches, hardly a European-worthy total.

Home matches continue to fill the Spurs army with dread too; not only did the hosts lose a club-record 11 Premier League matches on their own turf in 2025, they have been beaten in their opening home game of a calendar year in five of the last seven years.

If there is any crumb of comfort for the Lilywhites to cling onto, Frank's men have now kept an applaudable four clean sheets in their last six matches after Thursday's stalemate, having previously shipped 15 in five games in November.

Squaring up to another side with four clean sheets from their last six matches, Spurs welcome Sunderland on the back of another special Stadium of Light evening for the Black Cats, who put a dent in Manchester City's title aspirations.

A few Sky Blues fans may have enjoyed poking fun at Arsenal when the Gunners dropped two points against Regis Le Bris's men, but the Citizens were arguably fortunate to even escape with one on Thursday, when Gianluigi Donnarumma had to be at his best to repel the newly-promoted side.

Enhancing their European credentials with an exceptional display against a title challenger, Le Bris's are five places and three points better off than their hosts in seventh, only three points behind Liverpool in the final Champions League spot.

However, only nine of the Black Cats' 29 points this season have been won on the road, and a mere four away goals is the joint-worst record of its kind in the Premier League, alongside basement boys Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Sunderland have failed to score in six of their nine top-flight away games in 2025-26 and have also been bested in 14 of their last 16 trips to Spurs, although Sunday's clash will mark their first head-to-head since White Hart Lane's farewell campaign in 2016-17.

Tottenham Hotspur Premier League form:

Tottenham Hotspur form (all competitions):

Sunderland Premier League form:

Team News

Absent from the Spurs squad for their draw with Brentford, Brennan Johnson has now completed a £35m switch to Crystal Palace after being told by Frank and Fabio Paratici that he was not in the club's plans moving forward.

Johnson departs at a time when Xavi Simons (suspended), Dejan Kulusevski (knee), James Maddison (knee) and Dominic Solanke (knee) are still missing, alongside Destiny Udogie (hamstring), Pape Sarr (AFCON) and Yves Bissouma (AFCON).

Teenage starlet Lucas Bergvall (knock) remains a doubt after sitting out the Bees clash, but Frank is keeping his fingers crossed that the Sweden international will be able to feature in some capacity.

As far as Sunderland are concerned, bulldozing striker Brian Brobbey was taken off in the draw with Man City as a result of muscle tightness, although it is not expected to lead to his absence from gameweek 20.

Daniel Ballard is not expected to return from his ankle issue in time for the contest, though, while AFCON sextet Noah Sadiki, Chemsdine Talbi, Reinildo Mandava, Arthur Masuaku, Bertrand Traore and Habib Diarra are still away.

Brobbey's scare will most likely lead to a recall for Wilson Isidor in the final third, while Spurs academy graduate Dennis Cirkin should also line up against his old employers, who have often been tipped to bring him back.

Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:

Vicario; Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Spence; Gray, Palhinha, Bentancur; Kudus, Richarlison, Kolo Muani

Sunderland possible starting lineup:

Roefs; Hume, Mukiele, Alderete, Cirkin; Geertruida, Xhaka; Mayenda, Le Fee, Adingra; Isidor

We say: Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Sunderland

The 13th-best away team facing the fourth-worst home team does not scream thriller, and a Maddison, Simons and Kulusevski-less Tottenham can be expected to severely struggle on the creative front again.

Sunderland will not have the Stadium of Light factor on their side this time, but Spurs' weaknesses are there to be exploited, and Le Bris's men should claim a hard-earned point from this encounter.

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