Spurs v West Brom - history, stats and facts

We host West Bromwich Albion on Sunday lunchtime in the Premier League (12pm kick-off).

Ahead of the meeting at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, we take a look at the history of the fixture, some of its recent key moments, the statistics behind both sides’ seasons so far, as well as the pre-match view from our opposition.

The history

We have endured a barren spell against West Brom at home in recent years having won just once in our last six home meetings with them. That victory came just over four years ago as we put four past the Baggies in January, 2017. Harry Kane scored a hat-trick that day while Gareth McAuley scored an own goal as we cantered to a 4-0 win in the Premier League.

Despite our lack of recent home triumphs against the West Midlands outfit, we rarely lose to them on our own turf, having suffered just one defeat to them in our last 14 such encounters in all competitions - that only defeat came in September, 2014, as a late James Morrison strike earned West Brom a 1-0 win. We had won five out of our last seven such meetings before that. And that form extends to include away games as well, as we have avoided defeat in 16 of the last 18 league meetings between the sides, winning seven and drawing nine.

West Brom are also currently winless in their last 11 Premier League outings in London (D2 L9) and they have lost each of their last five top-flight games in the capital, conceding at least twice each time.

Spurs versus promoted sides

In recent years, we have enjoyed coming up against newly promoted sides at home in the Premier League. In our last 26 such meetings with promoted clubs, we have taken all three points on 23 occasions while we have lost just once. One of our players who seemingly also thrives in these games is Heung-Min Son. In his last 15 Premier League outings against promoted sides, the South Korean has been directly involved in 16 goals, scoring nine and assisting seven. That includes two direct goal involvements in three games so far this season as he scored and assisted in our 3-0 win over Leeds United last month. In the 2019/20 season he was directly involved in five goals in just four such games (four goals, one assist).

West Brom will start Sunday’s game in the relegation places, sitting 19th and 10 points adrift of safety. Against sides starting the day in the drop zone, we have lost just two of our last 28 games (W20 D6).

Sweet Sundays

We enjoy playing on Sundays in the Premier League. Having played 289 games in the competition on a Sunday, we have earned 135 wins (47 per cent). Only on Tuesdays (56 per cent) do we have a better win rate on a specific day of the week in the league's history.

So far this season, six of our nine victories in the Premier League have come on a Sunday (66 per cent), which includes our 1-0 triumph over West Brom at the Hawthorns back in November. However, we have only won one of our last five league outings on a Sunday. That was our 3-1 win over Sheffield United last month, which was also the last time we picked up three points in the competition.

West Brom, on the other hand, have failed to win any of their last seven Premier League games on Sunday, losing six times in that run (D1).

Last five meetings

8 November, 2020 - West Brom 0-1 Spurs - Premier League
5 May, 2018 - West Brom 1-0 Spurs - Premier League
25 November, 2017 - Spurs 1-1 West Brom - Premier League
14 January, 2017 - Spurs 4-0 West Brom - Premier League
15 October, 2016 - West Brom 1-1 Spurs - Premier League

‘We need to break the dynamic of three defeats’

For the first time since November, 2012, we are currently on a run of three back-to-back Premier League defeats - a barren spell that we need to end.

It has been a run of results that has disrupted our progress in the Premier League yet, with the dramatic changes and shifts we have already seen throughout this season in the competition, we know just how quickly fortunes can turn back around. Jose Mourinho wants to see the start of that change come full-time on Sunday.

Like with any Premier League game, he knows it will be a difficult test for the team to come away with all three points, especially with West Brom battling for their lives at the bottom end of the table. But, having already taken on West Brom this campaign in that aforementioned 1-0 win back in November at the Hawthorns, we know what we can expect from the Baggies. And, if we were to take victory on Sunday and thus complete the double over the West Midlands outfit, it would be the first time we have done so in nine years.

"The most important thing now is West Bromwich," said Jose. "I don’t even want to think about Everton or about City. After City, we go to Austria, again on Europa League, which is a big competition for us, we have good expectations in that competition, but I don’t even want to think about that.

"I want to think about West Bromwich. That’s a big game. Sometimes big games are just against the top six, or the London derbies or whatever. Other times, big games can be games can be like this. It’s also a big game for West Bromwich, because they need a victory, they need points, they need to survive, they need to get out of where they are.

"It’s a big game for us, because we need to leave the position where we are, which is not a dramatic position like theirs, but is a very bad position for us, we have to leave it, we need to win, we need to break the dynamic of three defeats."

In mid-December, with the team in a perilous position in the table, West Bromwich Albion decided to replace Slaven Bilic as Head Coach with Sam Allardyce - a manager with a reputation for being able to turn around teams that find themselves in difficult positions.

So far though, it has been a difficult start to life for Allardyce at the Hawthorns with just one win from his first nine games (D2 L6) in charge - a run that includes 5-0 defeats to Leeds United and Manchester City, a 4-0 loss to Arsenal and a 3-0 reverse against Aston Villa, all of which came at home. In those first nine games under the former England boss, West Brom have also conceded 26 Premier League goals - as many as they did in their 13 games under Bilic. The record for most goals conceded in a manager’s first 10 Premier League games at a club is 28, jointly held by Danny Wilson at Barnsley (1997), Nigel Adkins at Southampton (2012) and Slavisa Jokanovic at Fulham (2018).

Meanwhile, Baggies goalkeeper Sam Johnstone conceded his 50th Premier League goal in his side’s 2-1 defeat to Sheffield United on Tuesday in just his 21st appearance in the competition - that is the joint-quickest a goalkeeper has ever conceded 50 in the Premier League, along with Barnsley’s David Watson in 1997/98.

Allardyce has never beaten Jose Mourinho in the top-flight. In 12 meetings between the pair in the competition to date, Jose has come out on top nine times (D3). However, the West Midlands outfit have picked up 80 per cent of their points under Allardyce so far (four) on the road. Across the Premier League in fact, teams are faring far better on their travels this season with away teams having taken all three points in 41 per cent of games so far - a trend that the Baggies boss is hoping will play into his side’s favour come Sunday.

“There will obviously be no fans there on Sunday, which is an advantage for us,” Allardyce explained. “I say that because, for the first time ever, I believe, there are more away wins in the Premier League than there are home wins.

“We don’t have to deal with that pressure of home supporters, but we do have to deal with Tottenham’s talented squad and their talented manager. I have to get my team on top of our game to try and achieve a result there on Sunday.

“I think Jose will change his team and his system and we will have to be ready for whatever players he decides to pick. Their load is two games every week at the moment so any fatigue we can take advantage of, we have to be ready for. We have to be in this game until the very end.”