With each winless game that passes, a once unthinkable fate for Tottenham becomes increasingly likely. The facts are that Spurs now stand five games away from a first season in the second tier for almost 50 years, and one match from equalling the club's worst-ever winless league run, set in 1935. A team sheet featuring midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur, making his first start since undergoing hamstring surgery in January, and James Maddison, returning to the squad after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in pre-season, already provided a pre-match lift.