Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
This is a game that I will be in attendance at later Today and with White Hart Lane undergoing reconstruction work in preparation for their new stadium built, who knows it could very well be the last ever time I go to the stadium in it’s current guise.
Ex Tottenham man Andros Townsend returns to White Hart Lane on Saturday afternoon but this time it will be in the colours of Crystal Palace as Alan Pardew brings his men over from the short trip from South London for what is always an entertaining London derby.
Townsend’s time at North London was up once he had a row with fitness coach Nathan Gardiner during a post match cool down last season. The move to Palace has come via a short stint at Newcastle where despite his best efforts he couldn’t manage to beat the drop. How he would love to settle old rivalries by getting on the scoresheet on Saturday
Palace have lost two players this week in Yannick Bolasie and Mile Jedinak and are still looking for a new striker to boost their ranks so optimism will not be particularly high in both the Palace camp and with their fans but what better way to allay those fears than by repeating their F.A. Cup win of last season when Martin Kelly’s solitary strike dumped Spurs out the cup.
That said the protracted attempt to sign Christian Benteke looks to be edging closer to completion with the Belgian international set to have a medical in the next couple of days. unfortunately for Alan Pardew he couldn’t get the deal completed in time for Today’s game
For Tottenham they had to make do with just a point at Goodison Park on Saturday and on balance that was probably the fair result. It wasn’t quite the start that Mauricio Pochettino wanted after such a dismal ending last season but a win for them in front of their own fans will go some way to eradicating those memories
Spurs will have to make do without French international and Captain Hugo Lloris after he was ruled out for a month with a hamstring injury. He had to come off before half time at Goodison Park last week with understudy Michel Vorm filling in both last week and Today.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men haven’t won a game of Premier League football in 4 months, yes there has been a summer break in the middle of that statistic but it’s one statistic that they would like to bring to an end this afternoon. Spurs started slowly last season and they will be hoping it isn’t the same situation this time around.
Last weekend saw a real game of two halves at Goodison Park with Everton on top before the break and Tottenham the more dominant side after. That second half dominance was thanks to Vincent Janssen coming off the bench to make his official debut. It will be interesting to see if he has done enough in those 45 minutes to warrant a start Today.
Even without the club bias, I think Spurs will outshine Palace today. Last time these two sides met in the league at White Hart Lane a slender 1-0 win went the way of the North London side. I’d be more than happy if it was the same again this afternoon.
