Sunderland AFC v Tottenham Hotspur Preview: Spurs Search for First Win of 2026

Tottenham Hotspur travel to the Stadium of Light for their Premier League clash against Sunderland AFC.

It is a must-win game for Spurs, as a 4-0 win for West Ham United earlier in the weekend sees the North London side drop into the relegation zone.

Tottenham head into this fixture having not won a Premier League game since 28th December 2025, making it a 13-game run without a victory.

Roberto De Zerbi will make his first appearance as Spurs manager this weekend in an attempt to save them from the drop zone.

The hosts have also seen a dip in form since their impressive start to the season.

They have won just three out of their last ten games in the league and sit 11th in the table. They do, however, come into this game off the back of a huge 2-1 victory against rivals Newcastle United last time out.

History heavily favours the visitors, as the Black Cats have only claimed one victory against Spurs since 2010, in 16 games.

However, prior to this season, the two sides had not faced each other since 2017.

Injuries have been a huge problem for Spurs this season, and heading into this game is no different.

They currently have nine first-team players out with injury. The injury list includes Pape Matar Sarr, Yves Bissouma, Guglielmo Vicario, Ben Davies, Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison, Rodrigo Bentancur, Wilson Odobert, and it was confirmed by the club yesterday that winger Mohammed Kudus suffered a setback in his return from injury.

Sunderland have also had injury problems.

They currently have six players unavailable due to injury: Simon Moore, Daniel Ballard, Bertrand Traoré, Jocelin Ta Bi, Nilson Angulo and Romaine Mundle will all be absent this weekend.

In what has been nothing short of a disastrous season for Tottenham Hotspur, they will be hoping a change in manager will be just what they need in order to claim their first league victory in 2026 a win which could prove pivotal in their hopes of survival.

Predicted Lineups

Sunderland:

Robin Roefs; Trai Hume, Nordi Mukiele, Omar Alderete, Reinildo; Noah Sadiki, Enzo Le Fée, Granit Xhaka; Chemsdine Talbi, Eliezer Mayenda, Brian Brobbey

Tottenham Hotspur:

Antonin Kinsky; Destiny Udogie, Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Pedro Porro; Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall; Mathys Tel, Xavi Simons, Randal Kolo Muani; Dominic Solanke