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Tottenham vs Huddersfield – Premier League Match Preview

The ‘Beast from the East’ may well have decimated the sporting calendar this weekend but thankfully all the seven Premier League fixtures which take place today remain unscathed, one of those is at Wembley as Tottenham play host to Huddersfield this afternoon.

Mauricio Pochettino’s men have already played in these drab conditions what with their F.A. Cup 5th Round Replay against Rochdale on Wednesday night, a game that was undoubtedly remembered more for the controversy with the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

It was a situation that was more than borderline farce by half time with the two teams level at 1-1 even though Tottenham had two goals disallowed thanks to the video nasty, however Spurs did manage to go up through the gears after the restart as they eventually eased to a 6-1 win and a place in the Quarter Finals.

Today though the focus switches back to the Premier League and the opportunity to further extend their gap over Chelsea, a win today would see them increase the gap over Chelsea to five points for at least 24 hours with the defending champions having to go to the champions elect Manchester City tomorrow afternoon.

Even if Chelsea were to win tomorrow a win for Tottenham would continue their momentum as a run of 10 Premier League matches without defeat (the current longest streak in the division) has seen them move into fourth at the expense of Antonio Conte’s men.

The breakthrough was made last weekend when they made the short journey to Selhurst Park to face Crystal Palace, Roy Hodgson’s side was for all intents and purposes a second string one due to the fact their injury list is getting longer by the week.

That said it was not a vintage performance from the visitors as they needed an 89th minute goal from Harry Kane to secure all three points, up until that point it looked like being one of those afternoons as they missed countless chances to put Palace to the sword.

Perhaps though the result is a measure of just how much the team has improved over the course of the season, you could well argue that earlier in the campaign it is a result that they don’t get and it becomes another frustrating away day.

Today though it is Huddersfield that stand in their way as they will look to halt their opponents momentum while continuing their own. That is because successive Premier League wins has given them a small amount of breathing space between themselves and the drop zone.

They followed up an impressive 4-1 win over Bournemouth with an all important 2-1 win over West Brom last weekend. A result that heaps even more pressure on Alan Pardew while seeing David Wagner’s men start this weekend is the relative comfort of 14th.

There may be a few places between them and Swansea in 18th but the overriding factor here is that there are only three points between the two clubs, it only takes a result or two not to go their way and they could be sucked right back into the mix again.

When these two teams met back in September of last year Tottenham strolled to a 4-0 win at the John Smith’s Stadium it was an imperious performance from the away side while the home team were given a harsh dose of Premier League reality.

David Wagner may well have been admired to sticking to his principles during that late summer lunchtime but it was almost footballing suicide as they were given the runaround by last season’s Premier League runners-up, the question is whether or not there is a change of approach later on.

You get the feeling that Wagner will have identified the blueprint that some of the lesser teams have used in a bid to stifle Tottenham, even then you could say as of late that the code has been cracked as those early season stutters have long been forgotten.

There may well be Juventus around the corner but there is no understating how important this game is, a win would solidify a Champions League spot and put their top four destiny in their own hands, they simply cannot afford to pass this one up. It should be a home win, truth be told it can’t afford to not be.

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