Roker Report

As reliable as ever with his feet and confident when coming with the ball, well protected once again though and never had a proper save to make.

Did OK at the back, moved positions quite a bit and coped well. Had a good effort from range in the first half after cutting past a couple of Spurs players.

Another fantastic performance by Mukiele, was so good defensively and then made an impact going forward from right back after the substitutions.

The nearest man to the back post when the Spurs player was left free for their goal but was strong defensively other than that and had a good battle with Richarlison.

Worked hard down the left, no real chance going forward even though he tried to provide support and was quick to get close to any attacking threat down that side.

Thought he was one of the few players to come out with credit in a first half where we looked tired, very reliable on the ball and in whatever position he found himself in. Kept that up after the break when he moved into midfield.

Looked as leggy as his team-mates in the first half but grew into the game and helped us take control after the break.

Struggled to get into the game in the first half but the was instrumental as we got hold of the game, hit the post with a header after ghosting into the box and played a great first time ball to Brobbey for the goal.

Had some dangerous runs around the opposition box but then took one too many touches and allowed Spurs to clear. Played a lovely ball to the outside for Brobbey to run into for a blocked shot.

Did put a good shift in defensively but still does not look confident with the ball to feet, often giving the ball away cheaply. There was one good cross to the back post that allowed Hume to get a header into the six yard box but that was cleared.

Extremely quiet in the first half but we got him more into the game after the break and he caused plenty of problems for the home side. Not only did he do brilliantly for the goal, playing a classy one-two with Le Fee before smashing the ball home but he was unlucky when his shot was blocked after being played in by Mayenda and also got back to help out defensively.

Replaced Cirkin as the team was rejigged but seems to be struggling a bit with the ball to feet since he returned.

Slotted back in as if he wasn’t away, shutting down anything that came near him.

Tidy on the ball and made himself an option with clever runs down the channel, the ball didn’t find him though.

Nordi is my man of the match, once again. Such a colossus at the back, putting in a huge shift defensively alongside Alderete and then made himself dangerous going forward when he switched to right back, putting in dangerous crosses and even picking out Brobbey in the move that resulted in the goal.

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Martin Wanless predicts...

Score prediction: Spurs 0 Sunderland 2

Sunderland’s first goalscorer: Granit Xhaka

After a hard fought draw against Manchester City, the game against Spurs gives us a good opportunity to get maximum points on the board.

Spurs don’t have the best home record and I think there’s three points here for us if we want it.

I’m going for a win — with Xhaka getting the opener on his return to North London.

‘The Champion’ Malc Dugdale predicts...

Score prediction: Spurs 1 Sunderland 3

Sunderland’s first goalscorer: Brian Brobbey

The Lads were immense in midweek and I simply don’t think Spurs are in a place to deal with that, despite our team missing seven players who would fight for a starting berth if available.

Brobbey was unlucky against City and on another day, he and others could’ve nicked that game for us.

I’m backing the Lads to extend a poor home run for Spurs — who coincidentally, a lot of my extended family follow.

To John, Kyle, Joe and all my other family members who support Spurs (and who I would look to for on any other day), hopefully I’m apologising for adding to your misery come 5:00pm.

Jack Howe-Gingell predicts...

Score prediction: Spurs 1 Sunderland 2

Sunderland’s first goalscorer: Enzo Le Fée

A proper tough performance on Thursday. We got stuck into Man City and let them know they were in a real battle. Everyone stepped up,and it was real pleasure to see.

It’s a quick turnaround to today’s game with Tottenham, and the Lads will need to not rest on their laurels, and push on if we want to get anything.

Tottenham are having a “typical Tottenham” season thus far — although they don’t seem quite as dire as last season. Going away is always difficult at this level, but I really fancy us to go and get something.

Hopefully Eliezer Mayenda will keep his place in the side after a very encouraging display. He caused the City backline regular concerns, and did the spade work defensively — which is an absolute must.

We’ve ridden the wave of the “difficult December run” and come out relatively unscathed. Let’s keep pushing on, and see how far we can go.

Will Jones predicts...

Score prediction: Spurs 1 Sunderland 1

Sunderland’s first goalscorer: Omar Alderete

Still feeling the after-effects of Thursday night; the effort against Manchester City took some doing, and now it’s straight back down to London with tired legs and a short bench.

Spurs are a strange side — one minute they’re flying and the next they’re a mess, and their home crowd doesn’t need much encouragement to turn. If we stay organised and don’t give them anything early, you can feel the pressure shifting.

We probably won’t dominate the ball and that’s fine. Keep it tight, scrap for everything, and see where it takes us.

An Alderete goal from a set piece feels very “us” at the minute — and a point here would be a good latest return from a brutal run.

Matty Foster predicts...

Score prediction: Spurs 0 Sunderland 1

Sunderland’s first goalscorer: Granit Xhaka

What a performance it was on Thursday, as our impeccable home form went on.

We’re on the road for the next two, starting with a Spurs side who are hard to read from one game to the next, and although the Stadium of Light has been a fortress, the same can’t be said for Spurs and their stadium.

Barring the current bottom three, they have the worst home record, with only two wins out of nine and five defeats.

This is a cracking opportunity for us to put some more points on the board.

I predict us to frustrate Spurs, get the home crowd unsettled and nab a late winner.

Anthony Gair predicts...

Score prediction: Spurs 0 Sunderland 1

Sunderland’s first goalscorer: Eliezer Mayenda

This one will be one of those games where we’re actually on top for most of it, as Spurs fans get on their players’ backs.

I’m hoping we’ll attack for most of it, and that we try and just get as many shots at Vicario as possible.

Either way, if we turn up and play the way we did against Manchester City, we’ll be absolutely fine.

Gary Winter predicts...

Score prediction: Spurs 1 Sunderland 1

Sunderland’s first goalscorer: Eliezer Mayenda

What an unbelievable showing of grit, determination and organisation we witnessed against Manchester City.

It was astonishing to see us competing with Pep Guardiola’s side and listenening to him commending our play and say that we are “really good”. Let that sink in.

Tottenham have won just two games at home in the league, so this really is a big opportunity for us to get a result.

My only reservations are that we put in a hell of a shift on Thursday night, so I wonder if we can reasonably be expected to reproduce that same intensity again. Spurs have come off a match against Brentford described by fans on socials as one of the “worst games they’ve ever seen”, so they’re expecting a bounce back.

A draw would be a good result amongst a difficult run of fixtures and a busy schedule that’s stretching our wafer-thin squad. Mayenda looked sharp against Man City and I think he can grab our first goal today.

Brett Lyons-Davis predicts...

Score prediction: Spurs 0 Sunderland 2

Sunderland’s first goalscorer: Enzo Le Fée

Wow! What a performance on New Year’s Day.

The Lads gave absolutely everything and although they were under a lot of pressure, they could’ve nicked something. Hopefully they’ve had plenty of rest after Thursday as two London trips within a short period of time are calling.

Who knows what you are going to get against Spurs?

They can be sublime one minute and absolute garbage the next. If we go there and play with the same intensity as we did Manchester City, we’ll be coming home with the three points and a fantastic start to 2026.

Last Time Out…

Time and again, this team never ceases to amaze me.

The draw against City was described to me by a neutral family member as “the best 0-0 he’s ever watched” — and we were part of that.

Although we were under the pump a bit later, some great chances — especially for Brian Brobbey and Trai Hume — could well have swung that in our favour, but we all would’ve taken a point before the game kicked off and hence it was to be.

Last Game Predictions…

Confidence was lacking as we welcomed The Citizens to Wearside, but we did very well and those who didn’t foresee a battering or a narrow loss were best-placed.

No goals scored for either side so that extra point was negated, but the league point we just took off the potential champions was more than enough to compensate.

Predictions Table & Standings

Brett now has two fellow predictions lads breathing down his neck, in the shape of Jack and 2024/2025 champion Malc.

Other than those two, the only lad to pick up points was basement grafter Gair, who narrowed the gap to those above who had less faith — and took just rewards.

How the points are awarded

Just a quick reminder of how we allocate points to our match-by-match predictions:

Correct score = Three points

Correct outcome (but not correct score) = One point

Correct first Sunderland goalscorer = One point (no goalscorer is a valid call)

Possible deductions for being lazy and not submitting on time = a two-point deduction.

Sunday 4th January 2026

Tottenham Hotspur v Sunderland - Premier League

Stadium of Light Kick-Off: 15:00

Tickets & Match Coverage

Tickets: Tickets are sold out.

TV/Stream: Full live match coverage is available via Sky Sports.

Radio: Full live match commentary available via BBC Radio Newcastle (not online)

Don’t forget to follow the blow-by-blow account of the game on the Roker Report Twitter feed (@RokerReport) and check out the player ratings after the full-time whistle at www.RokerReport.sbnation.com!

The build-up...

It’s our first trip to Spurs’ fancy new stadium today, so it’s been a trip that many of us fancied when the fixtures were released - and it’s a good one to kick off away days in 2026, although I did like the obscured view we used to have at White Hart Lane.

It’s not just a decent trip because of the first visit to their new toy, but it doesn’t look too bad on paper. We are currently looking at a point per game on the road - nine points from nine games if you were wondering about the maths - but I got a shock when I looked at Spurs’ home form.

At the time of writing, only Burnley, West Ham United, and Wolves have taken fewer points on their own patch, with just two wins on the board in their nine games so far. The first of those wins came on the opening day against Burnley, and the second was a recent 2-0 victory over Brentford at the beginning of December.

Any manager of Spurs with runs like this has to get slightly nervous - even without the presence of Daniel Levy - but with Thomas Frank, it definitely feels like they will give him the time he needs.

But our record against Spurs is crap. We haven’t beaten them home or away in any competition in the previous thirteen games, which takes us back to the Darren Bent game in 201,0 where he scored two and missed a penalty in a 3-1 win. At their place, we go back to August 2008 when Roy Keane’s Sunderland beat Juande Ramos’ side 2-1 with goals from Kieran Richardson and Djibril Cisse, who scored on his debut that day.

It’s been the best part of twenty years since we beat them down there, so hopefully we’re due one.

The betting...

The bookies have the Lads at 18/5 to win the game, while Spurs are priced at 4/5, and the draw is 9/4.

Head to head... at Spurs

(All competitions)

Sunderland wins: 15

Draws: 13

Spurs wins: 33

Sunderland goals: 67

Spursgoals: 112

Last time we met... at Spurs

Sunday 18th September 2016

Premier League

White Hart Lane

Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Sunderland

Sunderland: Pickford, Denayer (McNair), Kirchoff (Khazri), Kone, Djilobodji, Manquillo, Cattermole, Ndong, Pienaar (Watmore), Januzaj, Defoe Substitutes not used: Mika, Love, O’Shea, Gooch

Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Walker, Vertonghen, Wanyama, Alderweireld, Dier (Davies), Sissoko, Dembele (Lamela), Kane (Janssen), Alli, Son Substitutes not used: Vorm, Trippier, Winks, Eriksen

Attendance: 41,107

Prediction…

Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Sunderland

I reckon we’ll frustrate them today and take a point.

“We had the better chances at the start. We knew we were playing against a good side, and the speed of the game was unbelievable. Some players could not handle it in the end.

“We had to score a goal, but it was not to be. At the end of the game, the better side had more luck than we had. Some players still need match fitness.

“Everyone did well, but up front we could not score that chance we got.”

Spurs had beaten the Lads 3-1 earlier in the season on their patch and arrived in fourth position looking to do the double over ninth placed Sunderland. A teenage Raich Carter had other ideas!