Ben Davies is set to be part of Tottenham side desperate to get their season back on track at Fulham on Monday night.
The Wales defender has been unable to halt a Spurs slide against their major rivals, which began with a 2-0 home defeat to north London mates Arsenal eight days ago and was accelerated when they crashed 4-2 at Manchester City four days later.
It’s a far cry from their form at the start of the campaign when Antonio Conte’s team won five and drew two of their first seven unbeaten Premier League matches.
Davies has played in 17 of Spurs’ 20 league games, but of the five matches the Swansea-born player has managed since he returned from World Cup action in Qatar, he has only won once.
Not only that, but Spurs’ defence have conceded 10 goals in those five games – giving rise to doubts over the future of Conte beyond the rest of this season.
Spurs currently sit fifth in the table, but they are losing touch with the top four and even though Manchester United lost to Arsenal on Sunday, the gap between Spurs and United stands at six points.
Tottenham fans looking for the London derby factor to cheer them won’t be encouraged by another statistic, either. Their 4-0 win at Crystal Palace on January 4 is their only victory in their last 11 away London derbies in the Premier League – with four draws and six defeats.
On the other hand, Conte can quite rightly point to the fact that those two back-to-back defeats to the Gunners and City, were against the two best teams in the competition.
“I have to analyse the situation,” he says.
“In the last two games we played against the first and the second. In my opinion, we showed we can play and get good results but, at the same time, there are a lot of situations that we have to improve, otherwise you don’t lose both games.
“In the Premier League, it’s full of difficult games. We have to stick together, to fight, to understand that the situation won’t be easy. If we go there with this personality and we pay more attention, we use what happened (at City) to improve the team, I think we can get a good result.”
Lucas Moura is unavailable to Conte because of a heel injury, but otherwise he has a fully fit squad.
England captain Harry Kane needs just one goal to draw level with Jimmy Greaves’ all-time club record of 265, but it’s unlikely to be straightforward against a Fulham side who are riding high in seventh place.
The Cottagers had won four games on the bounce until they were beaten 1-0 at Newcastle last week.
Davies could well find himself up against fellow Wales World Cup squad members Harry Wilson and Dan James, although both began on the substitutes’ bench at St. James’ Park.
