Tottenham v Sunderland Lineup

The Premier League returns Tuesday after a weekend off to accommodate the FA Cup, and Tottenham are raring to sustain their unbeaten streak.

Said streak began in mid-December,  just ahead of the busy festive period, and sustained itself through the new year.

Prior to a draw at Manchester City, that was a pure winning streak with 18 points earned over six matches. Tottenham were duly elevated back into the title race, and a win against Sunderland would strengthen their case to stay there.

To that end, Maurcio Pochettino has named a strong starting XI — one that will draw tactical inspiration from last year’s successes.

Pochettino spent the last month and a half refining and honing a 3-4-2-1 formation that seemed to work wonders. If it had a downside it was that it was very dependent on Jan Vertonghen to work. With the Belgian injured and Kevin Wimmer evidently not qualified to fill his shoes, a return to a 4-2-3-1 formation seems reasonable.

For the most part there are no surprises here with the exception of Hugo Lloris’ absence. The goalkeeper wasn’t slated to miss this match, and yet Michel Vorm is in between the sticks for the second time in the last four days.

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Toby Alderwiereld and Eric Dier will take up the centre-back roles, with Danny Rose and Kyle Walker manning the flanks. Victor Wanyama and Mousa Dembélé will sustain their run in the center of the park.

The formational switch allows Pochettino to add in another member to the attack. Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and Harry Kane all continue on as they did against City, but now they are joined by Heung-min Son. The South Korean scored the equalizer against City as a substitute, then scored twice in Saturday’s 4-3 win over Wycombe. It’s safe to say he’s earned another start here.

How all this comes together at the Stadium of Light remains to be seen. Historically this formation does wonders against smaller teams, and at the moment they don’t get much smaller than Sunderland. David Moyes’ side is struggling with injuries right as the light seems to be fading on their survival chances.

Next: Don't Expect Much from Tottenham on Deadline Day

Check back here after the match for a recap, then come back in the coming days for some more analysis on what should be an easy Spurs result.