Date: Wednesday, October 30 Venue: White Hart Lane Kick-Off: 19:45 Tottenham will be looking for their second win over Hull City in the space of just three days when the two sides meet again in the fourth round of the Capital One Cup tonight.
Team News
Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas is set to rotate his side, meaning the club's record signing Erik Lamela could start. However, Danny Rose and Younes Kaboul lack match fitness and will not be risked. Hull boss Steve Bruce is still without most of the first team regulars who were absent the last time these sides met at the weekend. Jake Livermore is once more ineligible to play against his parent club due to the stipulations agreed in his loan deal. (bbc)
Key Stats
This is the first ever meeting between these two sides in League Cup competition, and the second in the space of three days following Tottenham's 1-0 Premier League win last weekend. Spurs have not lost in 90 minutes at home in the League Cup since losing 3-1 to Birmingham City in October 2000 - a run of 18 matches. Hull have reached the fourth round of the League Cup for the first time since 1977-78, when they lost 5-1 at Tottenham's London rivals Arsenal. The Tigers have been eliminated on six of the last seven occasions that they have faced Premier League opposition in this competition.
Likely Line-Ups
Tottenham Friedel, Walker, Chiriches, Dawson, Naughton, Dembele, Sandro, Lamela, Sigurdson, Eriksen, Defoe Hull City Jakupovic, Rosenior, Figueroa, McShane, Bruce, Elmohamady, Quinn, Meyler, Boyd, Koren, Graham
Match Preview
Tottenham will be looking for a repeat performance of their 1-0 win over Hull, just three days after seeing off tonight's opposition in the Premier League. However, if we are to have a repeat scoreline, we're all in for a drab affair, with Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas' post-match interview being perhaps the single-most noteworthy incident the last time these sides met. The Portuguese manager hit out at his own club's fans and called for them to give the team more support, branding the atmosphere on Sunday as "very tense, very negative". It will be interesting therefore to see how the home support reacts to those comments tonight, especially given we're not exactly in for a goal-fest here. Hull have proven since their promotion back into the topflight that they're a difficult team to break down, conceding just 10 goals in nine matches. And, given that Spurs have scored just nine in nine, Tottenham fans may not have much to cheer about. I'm still going for a home win, with Spurs to narrowly prevail once more. Prediction 1-0
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
