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Pundit Mark Lawrenson has backed Tottenham Hotspur to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League on Saturday, February 17.
Spurs will host Wolves at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on the back of some good form in the league. They have won six, drawn two and lost one of their last nine league games and beat Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 at home last time out.
Ange Postecoglou's side are fourth in the standings, seven points behind leaders Liverpool. Meanwhile, Wolves are 11th and have won just two of their last five league games. They lost 2-0 against Brentford at Molineux in their last game.
Mark Lawrenson reckons they could've lost by a bigger margin against the Bees and doesn't see them beating Spurs on Saturday. He wrote in his column for Paddy Power:
"Wolves lost last time and the 2-0 scoreline could have been worse because Brentford were really good.
"I’m going to back Tottenham here. The way they start in games, I can’t see Wolves holding them off in the first 20 minutes and then the game’s completely different if you’re a goal down early on."
Prediction: 2-0
Wolves won the reverse fixture 2-1 back in November. An injury and suspension-plagued Spurs side scored in the third minute via Brennan Johnson. However, Wolves dominated the game and incredibly scored twice in stoppage time via Pablo Sarabia (90+1') and Mario Lemina (90+7').
Tottenham suffer big blow as both first-choice fullbacks set to miss Wolves clash
Spurs right-back Pedro Porro and left-back Destiny Udogie are both set to miss the clash against Wolves due to their respective injuries. In his pre-match press conference, Ange Postecoglou confirmed (via Football.London):
"We’ve had a couple of setbacks this week. Destiny [Udogie] obviously picked up a little bit of a knock last week. Not available for tomorrow, don’t think it is anything too serious. With no game next weekend, he should be back.
"Pedro [Porro] picked up a strain at training. Again, probably a couple of weeks for him. With the game break hopefully he doesn’t miss too many."
Both Porro and Udogie have been crucial for Tottenham this season. Porro has made 25 appearances across competitions this campaign, registering one goal and eight assists. Meanwhile, Udogie has registered two goals and three assists in 23 games.
Tottenham were scheduled to face Chelsea away after Wolves but the game has been postponed due to the Blues' EFL Cup final against Liverpool on February 25. Hence, they will hope both players can get enough recovery time ahead of their next game against Crystal Palace at home on March 2.
