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2023/24 English Premier League
Matchday 17
Nottingham Forest v Tottenham Hotspur
City Ground
West Bridgford, England
Friday, 15 December 2023
Kick-off is at 22h00
Tottenham will be hoping their sticky patch is behind them when they travel to the City Ground to face Nottingham Forest on Friday, December 15.
Spurs went unbeaten in their opening 10
Premier League matches, but then failed to win their next five games before halting that poor run of form with a 4-1 victory over Newcastle at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on December 10.
Ange Postecoglou's side remain three points outside the top four in fifth position, although they opened up a three-point gap to Manchester United, who lost 3-0 against Bournemouth at Old Trafford.
The North Londoners are five points behind Aston Villa (3th), a further one adrift of arch-rivals Arsenal (2nd) and seven shy of league leaders Liverpool.
The Reds halted a four-match losing streak with a 1-1 draw at Wolves on December 9, which took them five points clear of the relegation zone in 16th place.
Sheffield United (20th) and Everton (17th) both won on matchday 16 to move closer to safety, while Burnley (19th) also picked up a point in a 1-1 draw with Brighton at the Amex.
Neco Williams will be pushing for only his third start of the season after impressing on the right flank at wing-back against Wolves. The Welshman notched his first assist of 2023-24 with a fine cross for Harry Toffolo to head the Tricky Trees in front on 14 minutes and delivered another pin-point ball for his fellow defender to miss the target from close range later on in the second half.
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Son Heung-Min was outstanding for Spurs against Newcastle, creating the first two goals for Destiny Udogie and Richarlison before getting on the scoresheet himself from the penalty spot after being brought down by Martin Dubravka. The South Korean star has now reached the 10-goal mark for the season from just 16 appearances, while he's also registered four assists.
Forest head coach Steve Cooper hailed the performance and attitude of Williams, who has struggled with injury this term but took his opportunity against Wanderers.
"He deserved the opportunity. I cannot speak highly enough of Neco, his attitude and how he's conducted himself in the last couple of months," Cooper told Forest TV.
"He is a fantastic young boy and a good young player who has improved in so many things we have been developing with him.
"The Wales games have been good for him, you could tell that with his fitness levels today. I'm proud of Neco today, he doesn't like not playing, but he sets a brilliant example."
Postecoglou felt the difference between the Magpies game and their previous five encounters was that the players believed in themselves on this occasion, having held onto their lead for the first time in six matches.
"It's fair to say all our starts have been good in recent weeks, I just felt today we had a little more belief, and Sonny [Heung-Min] was a big difference there," Postecoglou told SPURSPLAY.
"I thought he set the tone really early for us and the other lads fed off that, that's what you want from your leaders. Pape's [Sarr] energy, Richy's [Richarlison] energy, just making those two changes helped us enormously.
"I'm pleased for the lads, they got their rewards today for a really strong performance. In general, our performance was probably at the level it has been, but we were more effective in the front third and, defensively, I thought we were outstanding."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Forest - 1
Tottenham - 4
Draws - 0
Premier League Matchday 17 fixtures:
Friday, December 15
22h00: Nottingham Forest v Tottenham Hotspur
Saturday, December 16
17h00: Bournemouth v Luton Town
17h00: Chelsea v Sheffield United
17h00: Manchester City v Crystal Palace
17h00: Newcastle United v Fulham
19h30: Burnley v Everton
Sunday, December 17
16h00: Arsenal v Brighton & Hove Albion
16h00: Brentford v Aston Villa
16h00: West Ham United v Wolverhampton Wanderers
18h30: Liverpool v Manchester United
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