The win at Southampton, and the League Cup triumph over United, temporarily halted the free fall of Tottenham Hotspur, but taking a step back shows the sober reality of this club. Spurs have just one win in six league matches after the Boxing Day defeat to Forest and the gap between them and the actual contenders just continues to grow. It has been a very forgettable 2024, and unfortunately the calendar turning is not going to magically change that.
December’s deluge of fixtures wraps up with a visit from Wolverhampton Wanderers, a side squarely in the relegation fight. Given that Tottenham has taken a grand total of two points from the clubs currently sitting between 15th and 19th, this opponent is nothing to get excited about. This is a dark time and a single win is not going to fix everything (see: Soton), but how many more poor results can this club really endure?
Tottenham Hotspur (t-12th, 23pts) vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers (17th, 15pts)
Date: Sunday, December 29
Time: 10:00 am ET, 3:00 pm UK
Location: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London
TV: Peacock (US)
Obviously, disappointment is relative. Wolves will feel like Spurs have no room to complain as they have the actual worst defense in the league and are facing a critical second half of the season. Gary O’Neil has found a way to boost this attack in his second year in charge at least, getting his club into the top half in goals scored thanks to efforts from Jorgen Strand Larsen and Matheus Cunha, who has scored in each of the team’s last two outings — both wins.
Spurs have done terribly in this fixture, losing three of the past four including both contests last season. Brennan Johnson’s third-minute goal at Molineux was rendered meaningless after the visitors conceded two stoppage time goals in November. A Joao Gomes brace in the reverse fixture led to another one-goal Wolves victory despite a nice effort from Dejan Kulusevski.
From worse to worser
The Tottenham defense continues to feature an absolutely random assortment of characters, as will be the case for the foreseeable future. Radu Dragusin left injured on Boxing Day, while Ben Davies is now expected to take even longer to return. Not that he would help at center back, but Djed Spence earned himself a one-match ban for this weekend just to add to the hilarity of the dissipating defensive corps.
Wolves have really struggled away from home, but did score three at Leicester last weekend. Meanwhile, Spurs have a total of one clean sheet at the new Lane this season in the league (MW2) and will almost assuredly give up at least one goal on Sunday. Whether the fault lies with the players, the system, or the lack of squad depth is fully up for debate, but whatever criticism is lobbed at this defense right now is hard to appeal.
Somebody, anybody
There are a thousand ways to dig into this team’s flaws right now, but to me the only way out of this hole (aside from getting everyone back healthy) is the intangibles. Even with so many absences, there is plenty of talent on any given team sheet and Spurs need the big names to put the team on their back and grind out some results. Kulusevski is certainly trying his best, with goals in five of the last six, but there are too many other attackers on this team for these frustrating low-output performances that keep occurring.
As mentioned, Wolves have allowed buckets of goals all season, but this type of defense has often caused trouble for Tottenham. Additionally, the visitors are coming off consecutive clean sheets after allowing just 1.2 xG combined to Leicester and United, setting the stage for a potentially frustrating afternoon for Ange Postecoglou’s gang. Another lopsided win is certainly possible, but how often has that actually materialized this year?
