Monday 28 December 2015 15:04, UK
Tottenham will make a late decision on Mousa Dembele's fitness ahead of their Premier League trip to Watford on Monday afternoon.
Spurs have rediscovered their winning touch in recent weeks, cruising to a comfortable 3-0 win against Norwich on Boxing Day, with Tom Carroll scoring his first top-flight goal.
Victory lifted Spurs into the top four - two points ahead of Crystal Palace in fifth - but seventh-placed Watford are on a fantastic run themselves and picked up a point at Stamford Bridge on Saturday during a 2-2 draw in which they led twice.
Team news
Nathan Ake returns to the Watford squad for the visit of Spurs after the full-back missed the Boxing Day draw at Chelsea under the terms of his loan deal from Stamford Bridge.
Watford boss Quique Sanchez Flores has no new injury worries, but is still without defenders Tommie Hoban (groin) and Joel Ekstrand (knee).
As well as checking on Dembele's fitness after the Belgian international took a knock to his ankle in the Norwich win, Mauricio Pochettino will monitor Ryan Mason, who is progressing well following an ankle problem.
The visitors, however, will be without both Clinton Njie (knee) and Alex Pritchard (ankle).
Opta stats
Watford are unbeaten in their last five league home games against Spurs (W2 D3).
Watford's last win over Tottenham in all competitions was a 3-2 League Cup victory at White Hart Lane in October 1994.
This will be the first Premier League meeting between managers Mauricio Pochettino and Quique Sanchez Flores - their first ever meeting in La Liga saw Flores' Atletico Madrid side beat Pochettino's Espanyol outfit 4-0 at home (Nov 2009).
Watford have kept six clean sheets in their nine Premier League home games so far in 2015-16.
The Hornets will be looking to win three successive top-flight home games for the first time since December 1986 (four in a row).
Since losing away to Manchester United on the opening day (0-1), Tottenham are unbeaten away from home in the Premier League (W3 D4).
Merson's prediction
I'm looking forward to this one. It's an excellent derby game. Watford have been brilliant so far this season and I'm expecting a tough game for the Hornets, even after a really good draw at Stamford Bridge.
It's going to be close and I think Tottenham, who are coming off an impressive win, have enough to get a point at Vicarage Road. There's not a lot between the two sides at the moment.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-1 (5/1 with Sky Bet)
Betting
Tottenham are Sky Bet's 11/10 favourites for the victory with Watford 13/5 while the draw is priced at 23/10. Mauricio Pochettino's men were cut from 4/5 to 8/13 for a top-four finish after their convincing win over Norwich on Boxing Day, while the Hornets are still considered outsiders at 80/1 despite only being three points behind their fourth-placed visitors. The Soccer Saturday pundits are all backing Troy Deeney to score first at 13/2, but it is Harry Kane who heads the first goalscorer betting at 4/1.
