Preview: Tottenham Hotspur vs Nottingham Forest - prediction, team news, lineups

Fresh from a first yet inconsequential victory under Igor Tudor, Tottenham Hotspur's quest for a maiden Premier League win of 2026 continues on Sunday, against relegation rivals Nottingham Forest.

The Lilywhites and the Tricky Trees are separated by just one place and one point in the lower reaches of the Premier League table, and both are at risk of dropping below the dreaded dotted line if things go awry.

Match preview

Mission improbable momentarily became mission possible when Tottenham hosted Atletico Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 showdown, buoyed by a well-deserved draw at Premier League champions Liverpool a few days before.

The Europa League winners ultimately fell short of completing a colossal comeback against Diego Simeone's men after their 5-2 first-leg disaster, but a gritty 3-2 success ended the winless rut and instilled further belief into a hitherto hopeless fanbase.

Holding Liverpool and beating Atletico in back-to-back games is no mean feat for any club - let alone a crisis club battling demotion to the second tier - and until 2.15pm on Sunday at least, things are looking a little less bleak for the Lilywhites.

That being said, Spurs remain in a lowly 16th place in the Premier League standings - just one point above the bottom three - owing to their 12-match winless run in the top flight since the turn of the year, their longest in the division since 1935.

The previous three teams who failed to win any of their first 12 Premier League games of a calendar year were all relegated come the end of the campaign - most recently Middlesbrough in 2016-17 - and Tottenham fans will likely not be surprised to learn that their side possess the worst home record of any Premier League team in 2025-26 (10 points from 15 games).

While Tottenham's continental efforts in midweek were in vain, the opposite was true for Vitor Pereira's Nottingham Forest, who did manage to overturn a first-leg deficit - albeit a much narrower one - to progress in the Europa League at FC Midtjylland's expense.

As much as the Tricky Trees had Nicolas Dominguez and Ryan Yates to thank for their crucial goals in their 2-1 second-leg victory, they were also the beneficiaries of the Danish side producing potentially one of the worst penalty shootouts ever witnessed in the professional game - two woodwork hits and one John Terry-esque slip.

A sojourn to Porto will soon await Nottingham Forest in the quarter-finals, but not before Pereira's men continue their quest for safety in the Premier League, where their winless run stands at an unsightly seven matches.

A goalless stalemate with Fulham in gameweek 29 left the Garibaldi only above the relegation zone on goal difference, and also marked the visitors' 14th different Premier League game without scoring this term, second only to Wolverhampton Wanderers' 15.

However, Forest had no problems making the nets bulge in December's 3-0 triumph over Tottenham, who have now lost each of their last three top-flight matches against the Tricky Trees, also going down 2-1 in this exact fixture last term.

Tottenham Hotspur Premier League form:

Tottenham Hotspur form (all competitions):

Nottingham Forest Premier League form:

Nottingham Forest form (all competitions):

Team News

For the first time in a long time, Tottenham's absentee list has now declined into the single figures, after Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Conor Gallagher, Lucas Bergvall and Destiny Udogie all returned from injury or suspension in the Atletico second leg.

Richarlison is also back from a continental ban, while Dominic Solanke (hip) and Joao Palhinha (head) failed to make the cut on Wednesday but are looking good for returns this weekend.

However, Yves Bissouma (muscle), Ben Davies (ankle), Mohammed Kudus (thigh), Rodrigo Bentancur (thigh), Wilson Odobert (knee), Dejan Kulusevski (knee) and James Maddison (knee) remain sidelined.

Previously a peripheral figure under Tudor, Xavi Simons sent a selection message to the manager with a brace against Atletico, and the Dutchman has almost certainly played his way into a start on Sunday too.

On Nottingham Forest's end, winger Dilane Bakwa was unable to complete the full 90 on Thursday due to an unspecified injury, although there are no serious concerns about the 23-year-old's fitness at this stage.

The same cannot be said for Willy Boly (knee), Jair Cunha (ankle), Chris Wood (knee), Nicolo Savona (knee) and John Victor (knee), all of whom are expected to remain out until after the international break.

Pereira's midweek selection was that of a man prioritising the Premier League survival fight, so expect the likes of Murillo, Morgan Gibbs-White, Elliot Anderson and Igor Jesus to return to the XI in North London, but Callum Hudson-Odoi's availability is clouded in uncertainty after he was missing from the squad on Thursday.

Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:

Vicario; Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Spence; Sarr, Gray; Tel, Simons, Richarlison; Kolo Muani

Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:

Sels; Aina, Milenkovic, Murillo, Williams; Anderson, Sangare; McAtee, Gibbs-White, Dominguez; Jesus

We say: Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Nottingham Forest

Whether Tudor is indeed just papering over the Tottenham cracks remains to be seen, but - whisper it quietly - Spurs finally look more like a football team again.

Forest's midweek fatigue should not play too big a part given Pereira's rotations, but with the hosts' attacking options all cutting the mustard recently, we have faith in the Lilywhites to finally snap their Premier League hoodoo and take a massive step towards survival.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.