On Saturday evening, Tottenham Hotspur will travel to Deepdale to face Preston North End in the fourth round of the FA Cup. The Spurs have not won a trophy in almost 15 years.
The hosts defeated Huddersfield 3-1 to get to the fourth round, while Spurs defeated Portsmouth 1-0 earlier this month in North London.
Match preview
A weak defence continues to plague Ryan Lowe’s Preston North End squad, but three wins from four in all competitions has been a great start to 2023, as the Deepdale club defeated fellow Championship side Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup third round.
Before the hour mark, Florian Kamberi gave the Terriers the lead, but goals from Tom Lees, Bambo Diaby, and Alan Browne flipped the game on its head, and the Terriers were dragged back down to earth with a 4-0 home loss to Norwich City.
Browne and Ryan Ledson scored within the opening 15 minutes of their team’s 2-1 victory over Birmingham City at St. Andrew’s last weekend. Lukas Jutkiewicz scored a late consolation goal for Birmingham City.
The 11th-placed Preston, who are only two points away from the top six in the tightly-packed Championship table, are certainly capable of making a playoff push, and the two-time defending FA Cup champions are now attempting to reach the fifth round for the first time since the 2014-15 season, when they fell to Manchester United.
It is not the hosts’ form at Deepdale that has them in contention for a playoff spot, as they have won only four games in front of their own fans all season, and the loss to Norwich was their fourth consecutive Championship setback at home.
In January 2023, Antonio Conte will be in command of Tottenham Hotspur.
Unlike the thrilling four-goal extravaganza that took place at Deepdale in the third round, Tottenham’s match against League One side Portsmouth was much more subdued, but the Lilywhites’ dependable talisman produced one moment of brilliance to seal the victory.
Harry Kane scored a magnificent winner to advance Tottenham to the fourth round, and the England captain scored another magnificent goal in Monday’s 1-0 victory over Fulham, etching his name into another page of the Lilywhites’ record books.
Now tied with Tottenham’s all-time leading scorer Jimmy Greaves on 266 goals, Kane will have the record in his sights at Deepdale as the eight-time defending FA Cup champions look to end a recent fifth-round rut.
In fact, Spurs have been eliminated in the fifth round of the FA Cup in each of the last three seasons, most recently against a lower-division team in Middlesbrough last season, and their last two FA Cup eliminations have occurred on the road.
Preston and Tottenham will resume hostilities this weekend for the first time since the 2009-10 League Cup, in which Tottenham won 5-1 behind a hat-trick from Peter Crouch.
Preston have added Manchester City’s 19-year-old Liam Delap to their assault this month, although he is cup-tied for this match because he played in the third round for Stoke City before joining Preston.
In addition to Emil Riis Jakobsen and Sean Maguire, Tottenham loanee Troy Parrott cannot face his parent club, thus Ched Evans and Everton loanee Thomas Cannon should spearhead the assault.
Ben Whiteman and Brad Potts have returned to training and should be available for selection for the hosts, who might deploy Manchester United loanee Alvaro Fernandez on the left side of a 3-5-2 formation.
Antonio Conte will be able to deploy his recent loan signing Arnaut Danjuma, whose arrival from Villarreal was disclosed on Wednesday, just hours after he finished pre-announcement media obligations and signed his Everton deal.
Danjuma bolsters an offense that is still without Lucas Moura due to a long-standing tendon injury, and Harry Kane has surfaced as a slight doubt owing to illness, so Danjuma might make his debut right away.
Conte was unafraid to make substitutions for the match against Portsmouth and should allow Fraser Forster, Oliver Skipp, and Ryan Sessegnon a chance to prove themselves.
Possible Preston North End starting lineup: Woodman; Hughes; Diaby; Lindsay; Browne; McCann; Johnson; Fernandez; Evans; Cannon
Tottenham Hotspur probable starting lineup: Forster; Tanganga, Dier, Lenglet; Doherty, Skipp, Bissouma, Sessegnon; Kulusevski, Richarlison, Danjuma
We say: Preston North End 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur
A series of attacking injuries does not auger well for Preston, whose home form throughout the season has left much to be desired, and we do not anticipate an FA Cup upset at Deepdale.
Tottenham is currently not invincible, but a win at Fulham would have done wonders for the team’s confidence. The Lilywhites should keep their title aspirations alive with a professional effort and straightforward victory.
Who will win Saturday’s FA Cup clash between Preston and Spurs?
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