Tottenham to Take on Threadbare Sunderland

By Ryan Wrenn | Jan 31, 2017

SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - JANUARY 14: Jermain Defoe of Sunderland reacts during the Premier League match between Sunderland and Stoke City at Stadium of Light on January 14, 2017 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images) /

Tottenham will face off against a Sunderland short of options thanks to injury, suspension and baffling transfer market deals.

Mauricio Pochettino would already plenty to be confident about. For the past six meetings with Tottenham, Sunderland have only taken a share of the points once — a 2-2 draw in September of 2014.

The last of those encounters suggested that, perhaps, David Moyes could squeeze some quality out of a side that narrowly avoided relegation for the past two seasons. While they struggled to create going forward when the two sides met at White Hart Lane in September, their defense held Tottenham to just a single goal.

Even so, Sunderland leaned heavily on their young goalkeeper Jordan Pickford to keep out Spurs’ eight other shots on target. Spurs’ confidence will have risen on the news that Pickford will be unavailable due to injury on Tuesday. And he’s not alone.

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Paddy McNair, Duncan Watmore, Victor Anichebe and Jan Kirchhoff are also slated to miss out due to injury. Centre-back Papy Djilobodji will serve out a suspension on the day as well. Moyes will take some small solace in the return from international duty of Lamine Koné and summer arrival Didier Ndong however.

In truth, these absences might not matter much. Even when healthier, Sunderland tend to be as resilient as wet cardboard. They sit bottom with the third most goals conceded and tied for second least goal scored. Whatever glimmer of hope Moyes’ arrival might have lent earlier in the season is all but faded.

The January transfer window offers Sunderland and other struggling clubs a limited chance to revamp and rebuild. With the prospect of relegation very real once and pulling up at the last second unlikely to work yet again, Moyes and company should be scrambling.

Instead, they have done the exact opposite. On Monday it was announced that Patrick van Aanholt was to be sold to Crystal Palace to the tune of £14 million.

That’s a decent sum, but it comes at the expense of a player that often looks like Sunderland’s best in any given match. It can be hard to make a case for the centrality of a full-back of course. That Sunderland would part with any of their star players while they sit bottom of the league is slightly baffling however.

As of Wednesday morning it appears as if the club hope to redirect part of their van Aanholt profit into the acquisition of Leicester City striker Leonardo Ulloa. That’s the same Ulloa who will turn 31 this year and has thus far started in precisely one Premier League match this season.

Next: Mauricio Pochettino's Press Conference for Sunderland v Tottenham

While the club also brought in Darren Gibson and Bryan Oviedo from Everton, this is transfer window is serving as a convenient microcosm of the perils of perpetually underachieving. When you’re constantly at risk of the drop, it’s hard to convince top talent to come play for you — even if you’ve got money to burn.

So it is that Tottenham will take on a Sunderland team stripped of quality and at ends with itself on how to improve their plight. The struggle against lowly Wycombe on Saturday is proof that Tottenham can’t underestimate any opponent. There is not a team in the league Pochettino could better hope to earn three points against at the moment however.