Tottenham vs Watford preview: Hornets looking to complete league double over Spurs

Tottenham will look to solidify their place in the top four with a positive result against Watford on Wednesday (kick-off 8pm).

However, Watford won the first meeting this season 2-1 at Vicarage Road, which was their first league win against Tottenham since 1987.

Mauricio Pochettino - whose team are seven points clear of Arsenal in fifth - has defended the time Tottenham are taking to make the next step, having last weekend said trophies "only build ego."

"We are so close. We need to try to keep working. The fans who are not happy are going to appreciate the job that everyone is doing at this football club in the future," Pochettino said.

"Patience is difficult in football, like in life. We see something and we want it straight away.

"Football is about building, believing and working hard to develop the project. It's easy to destroy but so difficult to build.

"To build the new stadium the club is working for 18 years and to destroy the old White Hart Lane was easy: it took one afternoon."

Interestingly, Spurs are on a club record 27 games without a league draw (W20 L7) since a 1-1 draw against Brighton in April last year. If they register a win or defeat at Wembley it would match the overall Premier League record run of games without a draw (28) recorded by Bolton in 2011.

Team news

Tottenham are set to be boosted by the return of Heung-min Son for Wednesday's Premier League match. Son has missed the last three matches at the Asian Cup.

Moussa Sissoko has returned to training from his knee injury for Spurs but Ben Davies remains unavailable after going off in their Carabao Cup defeat against Chelsea last week.

Both Harry Kane and Dele Alli continue their rehabilitation from longer-term issues.

Meanwhile, Hornets boss Javi Gracia has a selection dilemma for the trip to Wembley after making 11 changes to his side for the 2-0 FA Cup victory over Newcastle at the weekend.

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Gracia must decide whether to reward Isaac Success and Andre Gray for their goalscoring exploits or return to the familiar front line of Troy Deeney while Abdoulaye Doucoure still remains out.

Opta stats

• Tottenham are unbeaten in their last seven home games against Watford in all competitions (W6 D1) since a 2-3 loss in a League Cup match in October 1994.
• Watford are looking to do the league double over Tottenham for the very first time.
• After winning their first three away league games against Spurs by an aggregate score of 9-3, Watford have lost each of their last eight such visits, scoring three and conceding 22.
• Watford could become the first side to do the league double over a 'big six' side from outside of those clubs since the 2015-16 campaign (West Ham vs Liverpool and Newcastle vs Tottenham).
• Spurs have won their last 10 Premier League games on a Wednesday by an aggregate score of 26-3. Meanwhile, Watford have played more Premier League games on Wednesday without ever winning than any other side in the competition (P13 W0 D4 L9).
• Tottenham haven't drawn any of their last 27 Premier League games (W20 L7). Victory or defeat here would equal the record set by Bolton between March-December 2011 of 28 games without a draw in the competition.
• Tottenham have lost their last two home league games, last losing three in a row in September 2008. They last lost three in a row at home within the same season in February 2007.
• Watford are unbeaten in four Premier League away games (W2 D2), scoring at least twice each time. The Hornets have won their last two Premier League games in London (vs West Ham and Crystal Palace) - they've never won three consecutive top-flight games in the capital.

Merson's prediction

It's a massive game for Tottenham! They suffered another cup exit at the weekend so they need to get back to winning ways, and fast!

Mauricio Pochettino has said the focus is on top four so he cannot afford defeat here.

Watford rested almost everybody against Newcastle. They made 11 changes so they will be raring to go at Wembley.

This will be a very hard game for Spurs but I'm backing them to edge it.

PAUL PREDICTS: 2-1 (15/2 with Sky Bet)

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