Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Tottenham’s unbeaten run in the Premier League came to and end last Saturday at the hands of the all conquering Chelsea side. Today they play host to a Swansea side who travel to North London off the back of that incredible 5-4 win over Crystal Palace last weekend.
Defeat for Mauricio Pochettino’s men last Saturday has seen them lose further ground on the Top 4 and they will look to return to winning ways this afternoon and look to bridge the gap to the quartet of clubs that currently sit above them
In that defeat to Chelsea it’s fair to say that Spurs were on top for 44 minutes of the game but they failed to land that all important knockout blow after going ahead through Christian Eriksen’s fantastic effort early on. The two lapses of concentration they had in that game they were punished for but ultimately that is the difference between being first or fifth right now.
If we are talking about lapses of concentration then Swansea had four last week but unbelievably still came away winning what was frankly a bizarre game of Football against Crystal Palace. What a roller coaster of emotions to be 3-1 up and then 4-3 down then many fans would have seen enough but there was still time for enough bad defending to allow Swansea to pull off one of most unlikely escapes you will see.
If Bob Bradley had any hair he would have torn it all out after watching that performance. Praise has to go to the whole side for fighting back to win but a lot of criticism must go to the defence for conceding four incredibly sloppy goals.
Bradley will obviously need to address those concerns but at the same time must make sure to give credit where credit is due to his unit of players. In a bizarre way the nature of the win may do more to galvanise the squad than just a 1-0 win might have done
It’s as almost to say ‘look there have may have been an element of farce to that win, but let’s use that as a positive and now and try to pull ourselves away from the drop zone’ The question now is whether that win can be used as a springboard for better things.
Some conspiracy theorists are saying that Swansea may rest key players for this clash as they face Sunderland next Saturday in what is already being labelled a ‘6 pointer’ it may be early in the season but there is doubting the magnitude of that encounter next week.
It’s a risky strategy for Bradley if he starts pinpointing games and saying this one doesn’t matter as much. Swansea can’t afford to throw away all their efforts from last Saturday so although they go into the game as outsiders they can’t go in with the mentality that this one doesn’t matter.
For Tottenham they look set to welcome back Toby Alderweireld and for many that return cannot have come soon enough. Obviously the absence of Harry Kane was big but the injury to the Belgian international has almost been the bigger detriment to the side.
Without his commanding presence at the back, Spurs have been caught at sea at times and the fact that they have only kept 1 clean sheet in their last five league matches speaks volumes. The return of Alderweireld will be a massive boost this afternoon.
And I think that return will provide the calming influence that Spurs have lacked as of late. Spurs need to get back to winning ways but not only that need to get a run of wins under their belts if they are to get back into a title race which they have lost ground in.
Unfortunately for Swansea their momentum will have to come to a halt today as I think Spurs will have just a bit too much for them. I’ll go for both teams to score as I have a sneaky feeling Gylfi Sigurdsson will score against his former club but Tottenham will have enough to win. Home win for me.
Editors Note: The team news is in and Toby Alderweireld will not feature again. It may increase Swansea’s chances slightly but I still think Tottenham will have enough to win this
