Igor Tudor revealed James Maddison could feature for Tottenham before the end of the season as they prepare for their huge clash against Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.

Maddison suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury at the start of August and has been missing throughout 2025-26, a season in which Spurs have struggled in his absence.

Spurs sit 16th in the table, just one point above the relegation zone, and 17th-place Forest, but if results go against them, they could be spending the international break under the red line.

They have not won a Premier League game in 2026, though Tudor picked up his first point since replacing Thomas Frank last weekend in a 1-1 draw with Liverpool.

He then earned his first win, a 3-2 victory over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, though they were still knocked out after a 7-5 aggregate loss.

But in a boost to Spurs' injury-hit squad, Tudor expects Maddison to be back on the pitch before the end of the campaign.

"Maddison is already doing interesting things as well. With the ball and sprinting as well. I saw him; he is positive," Tudor said.

"We have this big three weeks after the game on Sunday. We need to check, but [Mohammed Kudus] is progressing very well. Already a little bit with the ball.

"Rodrigo [Bentancur], Maddison as well. We hope the medical staff will make us some nice surprises in the next weeks, which would be very important to have."

Spurs also confirmed on Friday that Guglielmo Vicario will undergo surgery on a hernia next week. He is expected to feature against Forest, but his rehabilitation period will be around a month.

We can confirm that Guglielmo Vicario will undergo surgery next week on a hernia.

The minor procedure for the Italy international goalkeeper has been timed to have as minimal impact on our season as possible.

Guglielmo will commence his rehabilitation with our medical staff… pic.twitter.com/7hYaJyTQrK

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) March 20, 2026

As for Forest, they have drawn their last two matches against Manchester City and Fulham to stay above the relegation zone, but have not won their last seven league outings.

They reached the Europa League quarter-finals with a penalty shootout victory over Midtjylland on Thursday, and Vitor Pereira is relishing the test Tottenham will pose.

"It's a very important match, but in the end it's 11 vs 11 on the pitch," he said.

"It's not only about this game. We must have the mentality to get points from all eight games [remaining]."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Tottenham – Richarlison

Despite starting fewer than half of their games (14/30), Richarlison has scored more than twice as many goals as any other Spurs player in the Premier League this season (nine).

Nottingham Forest – Elliot Anderson

Elliot Anderson has made more successful passes than any other midfielder in the Premier League this season (1,679).

He also leads all Forest players for chances created (45), though he only has two assists this term.

MATCH PREDICTION: TOTTENHAM WIN

Tottenham have lost their last three Premier League games against Forest, having won six in a row against them before that. They lost the reverse fixture 3-0.

Only at Southampton (five) do Forest have more away wins in the Premier League than they do at Spurs (four), winning this exact fixture 2-1 last season.

Spurs remain winless in 12 Premier League games (D5 L7); in their top-flight history, only from April to November 1912 (13) and from December 1934 to April 1935 (16) have they ever gone longer without winning.

However, they are expected to use their home advantage on Sunday to pick up their first win of 2026. Their 12-game winless streak started at the turn of the year, and only three sides have had longer runs without a win from the start of a calendar year, all of whom were relegated.

Forest also have their struggles, though. They are winless in seven Premier League games (D4 L3), while only bottom side Wolves (15) have failed to score more in different games than them this term (14).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Tottenham – 47.9%

Draw – 26%

Nottingham Forest – 26.1%