Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham Hotspur

The stakes are high for mid-table Tottenham Hotspur as they travel to the City Ground to take on Premier League surprise package Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day.

Nottingham Forest can’t stop impressing this season. After toppling last season’s European finishers Aston Villa (2-1) and Manchester United (3-2), Nuno Espirito Santo’s charges became just the second Premier League side this season to beat Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium at the weekend (2-0), making it three league wins in a row for the second time in 2024/25. Buoyed by a remarkable run of four wins from their last five home league fixtures (L1), Forest spent Christmas in the top four against the odds. However, the Tricky Trees must not rest on their laurels if they’re to maintain their hopes of an unlikely top-four finish because they take on a Spurs side they’ve lost to without scoring in four of their last five competitive H2Hs at the City Ground (W1).

In the meantime, Tottenham finished on the receiving end of a memorable 6-3 scoreline against runaway leaders Liverpool last weekend, losing further ground on the Champions League qualification race. Ange Postecoglou’s men now lag eight points behind fourth-placed Forest after losing three of their five league outings in December (W1, D1). Furthermore, Spurs have stuttered on the road this season, lamenting a substandard win ratio of only 37.5%  (W3, D1, L4). A lack of consistency has seen Tottenham’s last four away league matches fluctuate between victories (2) and defeats (2). With each game (won/lost) in that run coming ‘to nil,’ breaking the deadlock could prove a game-defining moment for either side.