Preview: Tottenham Hotspur vs Doncaster Rovers

Premier League meets League One in Wednesday's EFL Cup third-round showdown, as Tottenham Hotspur welcome Doncaster Rovers to their North London home.

The Lilywhites bypassed the first two rounds thanks to their European participation, while their third-tier visitors have already taken down Middlesbrough and Accrington Stanley away from home.

Match preview

Starved of domestic success since a Jonathan Woodgate-inspired triumph in this competition in 2008, Tottenham are long overdue another slice of English football stardom, even if they did conquer the continent in the secondary term last season.

The reigning Europa League champions have contested three EFL Cup finals since last lifting the trophy aloft 17 years ago, but they settled for runners-up medals in 2009, 2015 and 2021 and were agonisingly bested by Liverpool in the semi-finals of the 2024-25 edition.

Third-round exits are also not uncommon for Tottenham, who lost at this stage as recently as the 2022-23 season to Nottingham Forest, while lower-league Colchester United stunned Spurs on penalties in the third round of the 2019-20 EFL Cup.

However, it is difficult to envisage a seismic shock taking place on Wednesday evening, especially with Spurs able to reflect on far more positives than negatives during the earliest days of Thomas Frank's tenure, including four wins from their last six in all competitions.

The hosts had yet to show a resilient edge before the weekend's Premier League trip to Brighton & Hove Albion, but they harnessed their fightback powers to draw 2-2 after falling 2-0 down at the Amex Stadium, whereas their visitors were on the other side of the comeback coin.

A goal to the good against AFC Wimbledon in their most recent League One encounter, Doncaster Rovers succumbed to second-half strikes from Ryan Johnson and Myles Hippolyte in a 2-1 loss to Johnnie Jackson's men, as their painful plight continued.

Between August 23 and September 6, Grant McCann had masterminded five straight victories across all competitions, including a 2-0 beating of Accrington Stanley in the second round of the EFL Cup after an astounding 4-0 battering of Middlesbrough first up.

However, Wednesday's visitors have now lost back-to-back fixtures to Wigan Athletic and most recently Wimbledon, bumping them out of the playoff places in the League One table at this embryonic stage, although they only trail Barnsley and Huddersfield Town on goal difference.

Defensive concerns have been building for the past few weeks for Doncaster, who have shipped seven goals in their past four games after keeping three successive clean sheets in their three prior fixtures, hardly reassuring reading before a visit to Premier League territory.

Rovers have also lost each of their last four EFL Cup third-round matches since progressing to the quarter-finals of the 2005-06 edition, and their run in the 2009-10 tournament was ended by Tottenham, who pummelled their upcoming foes 5-1 in that second-round clash.

Tottenham Hotspur form (all competitions):

Doncaster Rovers EFL Cup form:

Doncaster Rovers form (all competitions):

Team News

It is as you were in terms of Tottenham's injury situation, as James Maddison (ACL), Radu Dragusin (ACL), Dejan Kulusevski (knee), Kota Takai (foot), Yves Bissouma (knock) and Dominic Solanke (ankle) are still sidelined, but Randal Kolo Muani and Ben Davies should be back from a dead leg and knee twist respectively.

Frank still has plentiful options for change and will no doubt shuffle the pack considerably for Wednesday's game, where Antonin Kinsky, Archie Gray, Kevin Danso, Mathys Tel and maybe even Dane Scarlett should be among the starters.

Tottenham either loaned out or sold a plethora of their promising academy products this summer, but the likes of Callum Olusesi and 16-year-old Luca Williams-Barnett could push for involvement; the latter scored a hat-trick for the Under-21s in a 6-3 win over Leicester City in the Premier League 2 on Friday.

Among the surfeit of youngsters Tottenham sent elsewhere was Damola Ajayi, the 19-year-old winger who is currently representing Doncaster, but he will be ineligible to face his parent club on Wednesday night.

Ajayi was only a substitute in the weekend's loss to Wimbledon anyway; instead, Luke Molyneux and Jordan Gibson should line up in support of 39-year-old marksman Billy Sharp.

On the injury front, midfielder Harry Clifton recently sustained a hamstring tear in Rovers' loss to Wigan, and McCann expects the 27-year-old to miss around six weeks of action.

Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:

Kinsky; Spence, Danso, Davies, Udogie; Sarr, Gray, Simons; Johnson, Scarlett, Tel

Doncaster Rovers possible starting lineup:

Lawlor; Sterry, McGrath, Pearson, Maxwell; Bailey, Close; Molyneux, Crew, Gibson; Sharp

We say: Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 Doncaster Rovers

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Owing to lack of academy products knocking on the first-team door, Frank will have no choice but to send out a largely experienced XI, one that should get the job done with minimal fuss.

Doncaster have won their first two EFL Cup games of the season by an aggregate score of 6-0, but McCann's men are now looking more vulnerable defensively and will surely bow out in North London.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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