As Tottenham gear up for a bottom-half battle on Saturday, last weekend's headline encounter with Manchester United represented another clash between two sides in the lower echelons of the top-flight standings, which few could have surely foreseen at the start of the term.

However, as Man United's injury crisis worsened while Tottenham's eased, Postecoglou's men came up trumps in the clash between two fallen titans, where James Maddison struck the only goal in a 1-0 win before literally 'taking aim' at recent critic Roy Keane with an imaginary dart.

Slaying Ruben Amorim's men - no matter how deep Man United's crisis may be - was the perfect tonic to back-to-back EFL Cup and FA Cup exits for Spurs, whose only hopes of silverware may now be resting on the Europa League, but things may finally be looking up once more.

No longer working around a double-figure absentee list, Postecoglou has seen the Lilywhites shoot up to 12th place in the Premier League rankings, although the Australian was under no illusions last week that their mid-table ranking remains "unacceptable" for a club of their calibre.

Furthermore, the visitors cannot rise any higher up the division no matter what transpires over the weekend, but they could now achieve a feat they have not managed since the days of Antonio Conte in May 2022, win three consecutive Premier League games without conceding.

Ipswich have to travel back an additional 20 years for the last time that they prevailed in three top-flight encounters on the bounce - last doing so in the 2001-02 campaign - and the brilliant beating of Tottenham did not lead to a sustained upturn in fortunes for Kieran McKenna's side.

Only two more Premier League victories have been added to Ipswich's paltry total since then, and the Tractor Boys are still waiting for their first top-flight success of 2025, having failed to triumph in any of their six games in the competition since the turn of the year.

However, taking a point home from a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa last weekend may have felt as good as three for the Tractor Boys, who had to cope with 10 men for the entire second half and forced their foes to come from behind after Liam Delap's 10th Premier League goal of the season.

The heroics of Alex Palmer in goal ensured that Ipswich would snap a four-game losing run in the top division, but they remain two points adrift of safety in 18th position and come into the weekend having lost six of their last seven home games in the Premier League, including each of their last three.

On a more pleasing note, November's surprise win over Spurs in North London means that Ipswich have now conquered their more esteemed opponents four times in a row in the Premier League, and Tottenham's only success from their last six league trips to Portman Road came all the way back in 1994.

Ipswich Town possible starting lineup:

Palmer; Johnson, O'Shea, Greaves, Davis; Cajuste, Phillips; Philogene, Hutchinson, Clarke; Delap

Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:

Vicario; Porro, Danso, Davies, Spence; Bergvall, Bentancur, Maddison; Kulusevski, Tel, Son