The ideal Europa League set-up for Tottenham Hotspur

 

With the COVID-19 pandemic wrecking havoc worldwide, the Premier League was subjected to a lengthy suspension over a period of four months from mid-March till mid-July.

Tottenham Hotspur, which had been in a crisis prior to the suspension, found themselves beneficiaries of this pause as key players such as Harry Kane were able to be nursed back to the starting line-up, and the squad was able to adjust themselves to the tactics of new manager, Jose Mourinho.

However, with the damage already dealt prior to the suspension, Spurs found themselves out of contention for next season’s UEFA Champions League, and face stiff competition for the UEFA Europa League spots.

With one game left in the 2019-20 Premier League season, Europa League qualification is no longer in the hands of Tottenham Hotspur. Even if Spurs win away at Crystal Palace in their final game, a victory for Wolverhampton Wanderers over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge will still leave Spurs in 7th place, which does not necessarily guarantee a place in next season’s Europe League.

The FA Cup, which has yet to conclude, could result in the 7th placed Premier League team losing out on Europa League football next season should Arsenal beat Chelsea in the finals in August.

This means that Chelsea has a huge role in deciding if Spurs will qualify for the Europa League. A Chelsea FA Cup victory, coupled with a Spurs top 7 finish, would ensure Europa League for the latter next season. This means that Spurs are vulnerable to Chelsea’s FA Cup finals performance if they are unable to leapfrog Wolves to 6th place in the league table (a position that is not in Spurs’ hands, but rather in that of Wolves).

With 2 of the UEFA Champions League spots for next season already occupied by Liverpool and Manchester City, the last 2 spots are contested by Manchester United, Chelsea and Leicester City.

While Spurs will be hoping for a Chelsea victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers today in order for them to qualify for the Europa League, a Chelsea win, coupled with a Manchester United win, will help Spurs a lot for the Europa League next season as well.

Should Chelsea and Manchester United join Liverpool and Manchester City in the Champions League next season, the English teams in the Europa League could be Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers/Arsenal (the latter depending on the results of the FA Cup finals).

This would make Spurs’ journey in the Europa League much easier.

Spurs have a 50% win rate over Leicester City (18% draw and 32% lost), 49% over Wolves (21% draw and 30% lost), making these two teams better opponents for Tottenham to play against in the Europa League.

In contrast, Spurs only have a 27% win rate over Manchester United (25% draw and 48% lost), 33% over Chelsea (24% draw and 43% lost), and 33% over Arsenal (26% draw and 41% lost). While Spurs have performed well against United and the Gunners in recent seasons, it would still be more difficult to face any of these three teams compared to Leicester and Wolves.

Therefore, with these statistics in mind and assuming that Spurs qualifies for the Europa League next season, the following table is the list of ideal outcomes for Spurs, from best to worst.

Best outcome for Spurs (best to worst)	English teams in next season’s Europa League	Condition
1	Spurs, Leicester	Chelsea beats Wolves Man Utd beats/draws Leicester Wolves win this season’s Europa League Chelsea beats Arsenal in FA Cup finals
2	Spurs, Wolves	Chelsea beats Wolves Leicester beats Man Utd Man Utd win this season’s Europa League Chelsea beats Arsenal in FA Cup finals
3	Spurs, Leicester, Wolves	Chelsea beats Wolves Man Utd beats/draws Leicester Chelsea beats Arsenal in FA Cup finals
4	Spurs, Arsenal	Chelsea beats Wolves Leicester beats Man Utd Man Utd win this season’s Europa League Arsenal beats Chelsea in FA Cup finals
5	Spurs, Leicester, Arsenal	Chelsea beats Wolves Man Utd beats/draws Leicester Arsenal beats Chelsea in FA Cup finals
6	Spurs, Chelsea	Wolves beat Chelsea Leicester beats Man Utd Chelsea beats Arsenal in FA Cup finals Wolves win this season’s Europa League
7	Spurs, Man Utd	Chelsea beats Wolves Leicester beats Man Utd Wolves win this season’s Europa League Chelsea beats Arsenal in FA Cup finals
8	Spurs, Wolves, Chelsea	Wolves beat Chelsea Leicester beats Man Utd Chelsea beats Arsenal in FA Cup finals
9	Spurs, Man Utd, Wolves	Chelsea beats Wolves Leicester beats Man Utd Chelsea beats Arsenal in FA Cup finals
10	Spurs, Chelsea, Arsenal	Chelsea draws with Wolves Leicester draws with Man Utd Arsenal beats Chelsea in FA Cup finals
11	Spurs, Man Utd, Arsenal	Chelsea beats Wolves Leicester beats Man Utd Arsenal beats Chelsea in FA Cup finals

Therefore, despite Spurs needing Chelsea to beat Wolves today, and beat Arsenal in the FA Cup finals as well, a Manchester United victory over Leicester City will be immensely helpful as well. Of course, Spurs would also need to do their part by beating Crystal Palace today to set up the ideal Europa League English team combination for next season.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Top 4 Battle with Arsenal, Squad Against Everton – Everything on the 2018-19 Premier League Finale

It is finally the last matchday of the 2018-19 Premier League season, and despite recent poor performances, Tottenham Hotspur have somehow managed to remain within the top 4 places thanks to the equally poor performances from Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United.

Manchester United’s draw against Huddersfield Town on matchday 37 ensured that Spurs can no longer finish below the Red Devils while Arsenal’s draw with Brighton and Hove Albion have boosted Spurs’ chances of a top 4 finish.

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So can Tottenham Hotspur still finish outside of the top 4 after today? Mathematically, yes. Spurs are currently on 70 points, with a goal difference of +28 while rivals Arsenal are on 67 points with a goal difference of +20.

A home defeat for Spurs against Everton and a away victory for Arsenal against Burnley, coupled with a goal swing of 8 will make the worst outcome happen as Arsenal have scored more goals than Spurs, so an equal tally of points and goal difference will see the Gunners leapfrog the Lilywhites.

However, a victory or a draw against the Toffees will ensure that this does not happen and you can be sure that Mauricio Pochettino will be urging his side to go all out at home against Everton.

This will not be easy though as Spurs, having gone through two transfer windows without a single signing, have been plagued with injury concerns and could possible be without 8 players for this final match, namely Harry Kane, Harry Winks, Jan Vertonghen, Davinson Sanchez, Victor Wanyama, Danny Rose, as well as Son Heung Min and Juan Foyth who are suspended.

This leaves Spurs with only one centre-back in Toby Alderweireld, and Pochettino could call upon left-back Ben Davies to fill in as his partner as he did earlier this season while Eric Dier is another option.

Should Davies be called upon the left-back position could be left empty as Danny Rose is injured as well, and young Kyle Walker-Peters could start as he can play both right-back and left-back.

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Fit-again Serge Aurier could start at right-back with the disastrous performances from Kieran Trippier recently.

In central midfield, young Oliver Skipp could start alongside Moussa Sissoko with Luke Amos, Harry Winks and Victor Wanyma doubts. Eric Dier could possibly start but may be left on the bench as a defensive cover.

Kane’s injury and Son’s suspension mean that Lucas Moura could start upfront with Vincent Janssen and Fernando Llorente on the bench as impact substitutes with the latter two not having the speed to deal with the pacey Everton.

Erik Lamela, who is back from injury, could link up with Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen in the attacking midfield role.

On the bench, Kieran Trippier could be on standby along with youngsters Timothy Eyoma and George Marsh.

Despite the severely depleted squad, you can be sure that Spurs will give everything to finish in the top 4, otherwise their Champions League hopes for next season will lie on winning the Champions League finals against Liverpool.

Match Preview: Tottenham Hotspur vs Burnley (Premier League)

After an exciting UEFA Champions League final group stage match which saw Tottenham Hotspur draw with FC Barcelona to secure a spot in the last 16, it is back to Premier League action as Burnley awaits.

Spurs are the favourites to win this match, but a Burnley side pumped up by their win over Brighton & Hove Albion cannot be underestimated.

Burnley beat Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 to snap their winless run

Team Form:

Spurs have won 5 of their last 6 Premier League matches, with the only defeat coming against Arsenal at the Emirates.

On the other hand, Burnley has only won once in their last 6 Premier League matches, but with their winless run finally snapped in the last match against Brighton, Burnley’s fans would be dreaming of bigger things today against Spurs.

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Team News:

Spurs have no fresh injury concerns, with Mousa Dembele, Victor Wanyama, Kieran Trippier, Serge Aurier, Davinson Sanchez and Juan Foyth on the injury list.

However, the good news is that the latter 4 may come back today or would be closing in on a return with a fitness assessment lined up for them. With the Lilywhites thin on their defence, it would be welcoming to have these defenders back.

Burnley are missing Stephen Ward and Nick Pope, with Steven Defour and Johann Gudmundsson optimistic of a return today or in the near future.

Spurs target, Nick Pope, is out injured

Team Stakes:

With Manchester City losing to Chelsea last week, Spurs have closed the gap to the top to 6 points, and with league leaders Liverpool taking on Manchester United this weekend, any result other than a win for Liverpool should give Spurs the hope of further bridging this gap.

Burnley are 2 points off the relegation zone, and with 18th place Huddersfield Town taking on fellow strugglers Newcastle United (3 points off relegation zone) this weekend, Burnley will be looking for a strong result to leave this party.

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Previous Results:

*Only results from the last 2 seasons are displayed as Burnley was not in the Premier League in the 2015-16 season.

2017-18

Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Burnley (Dele Alli, Chris Wood)

2016-17

Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Burnley (Dele Alli, Danny Rose, Ashley Barnes)

Dele Alli has scored against Burnley in the past 2 seasons

Spurs Predicted Starting Lineup:

With the Carabao Cup against Arsenal next week in mind, Spurs may opt to rest the likes of Danny Rose and Son Heung Min.

Spurs Fan Prediction:

Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Burnley (Harry Kane to score first)

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Match Preview: Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur (Premier League)

The first North London derby of the 2018/19 season has finally arrived, and it will be a match of paramount importance to both teams.

Tottenham Hotspur currently sits 3rd in the Premier League table, 2 points ahead of 4th place Chelsea and 3 points ahead of 5th place Arsenal.

Chelsea plays Fulham in the West London derby 2 hours before the North London derby, and should the Blues win, they will be temporarily 1 point ahead of Spurs, making it important for the Lilywhites to beat Arsenal to reclaim the 2 point lead.

Should Spurs beat the Gunners, the gap between these two rivals will extend to 6 points. However, should the Gunners prevail by any goal margin, they will leapfrog Spurs in the Premier League table.

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Team News

Tottenham Hotspur will miss Kieran Trippier, Davinson Sanchez, Mousa Dembele, Erik Lamela and Victor Wanyama through injuries.

Arsenal will equally be missing five players, with Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Danny Welbeck and Alexandre Lacazette all on the sidelines.

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Team Form

Tottenham Hotspur are currently on a six match winning run. The last match that they were unable to win was a 0-1 defeat to Manchester City in October.

Arsenal are on a two match winning run, with the last non-winning match being a 1-1 home draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers in early November. However, the Gunners are currently on a 18 match unbeaten run in all competitions, with their last defeat being a 3-2 match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

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Predicted Spurs Starting Lineup

Jan Vertonghen is unlikely to start as he just came back from injury and played the full match against Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League a couple of days ago, which means another start for young Juan Foyth.

Danny Rose is also unlikely to start as he has yet to play since coming back from injury, so this is perhaps Ben Davies’ final chance to impress.

Spurs Fan Prediction: Arsenal 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur (Son Heung Min to score first)

Match Preview: Tottenham Hotspur vs Chelsea [Premier League]

Match Intro

After yet another international break, Tottenham Hotspur fans will finally see their club back in Premier League action as they host Chelsea at the Wembley Stadium.

This is one of the fiercest London derbies played in the Premier League, with clashes often inevitable between these two sides.

The 2016 match in Stamford Bridge caused a huge amount of mayhem as blows were exchanged, including Mousa Dembele’s infamous eye-gouge on Diego Costa. This incident was later coined the “Battle of the Bridge”.

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Match History

Tottenham Hotspur has only won this home fixture twice in the last five seasons, with the most famous one being the 5-3 victory in the 2014-15 season.

The other three seasons have yielded two draws and one victory for Chelsea, with the latter being last season.

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Team News

There are no injury concerns for Chelsea, but the same cannot be said for Tottenham Hotspur.

Danny Rose (groin), Kieran Trippier (groin), Mousa Dembele (ankle) and Davinson Sanchez (hamstring) remains out for Spurs, but there is good news in the return of Jan Vertonghen as the Belgian has already started training with the team.

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Predicted Starting Line-up

Harry Kane is a definite starter, with Son Heung Min and Lucas Moura both likely to start as they were not called up by their respective countries during the international break.

Spurs Fan Prediction

Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Chelsea

Match Preview: Crystal Palace vs Tottenham Hotspur (Premier League)

It is finally the last match of Tottenham Hotspur’s hectic schedule, and it is a trip to Selhurst Park to face fellow London side, Crystal Palace.

Spurs will be hoping for a 4th consecutive victory, following wins over West Ham United in the Carabao Cup, Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League and PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Champions League.

Spurs will also be the more confident side entering this match as they have won their last 6 London derbies (Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Chelsea, Fulham, West Ham (twice)) while Crystal Palace have only won once out of their previous 6 London derbies (2-0 Fulham in August).

In terms of home and away records, Spurs have won 7 of their 10 away games this season, drawing once and losing twice. Crystal Palace have won none of their home games this season, drawing twice and losing thrice.

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Since Crystal Palace’s last promotion to the Premier League following the 2012-13 EFL Championship playoffs, the Eagles have only won one Premier League home game against Spurs (2-1 win in 2015), losing the other 4 matches.

Team News:

Crystal Palace have a quintet of injuries with Wilfried Zaha, Joel Ward, Connor Wickham, Scott Dann and Christian Benteke all out of today’s match.

Tottenham Hotspur will be relieved with the return of Eric Dier and Victor Wanyama while Danny Rose, Jan Vertonghen and Mousa Dembele remains out.

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Tottenham Hotspur Predicted Starting Lineup:

With the international break just around the corner, Mauricio Pochettino may be tempted to play his strongest XI in order to maintain the chase on the league table.

Harry Kane is a definite starter, with playmaker Christian Eriksen also expected to pull the strings in midfield.

Harry Winks’ outstanding performance in recent times may mean that he will start the 4th game in a row, shielding the center backs of Davinson Sanchez and Toby Alderweireld.

Kieran Trippier is likely to start given that he still has Pochettino’s trust, but time may be running out for the Englishman.

Spurs Fan Prediction:

Crystal Palace 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur (Harry Kane to score first)

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Match Preview: Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester City (Premier League)

Tottenham Hotspur are back in Premier League action today after the devastating 2-2 draw with PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Champions League last week.

Spurs have won their last 4 Premier League matches since the 1-2 home defeat to Liverpool in mid-September.

However, Manchester City will provide Spurs with an equally stern test as the reigning champions are yet to lose this season, with 7 wins and 2 draws.

With Crystal Palace grabbing a late equaliser against Arsenal yesterday, a win for Tottenham Hotspur will see them leapfrog both the Gunners and Manchester City into third place.

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Spurs are unlikely to overtake Chelsea in the table even if they win as they will have to beat City by at least a 8-goal margin to achieve that.

Defeat for Spurs will see them trailing Liverpool and City by 5 points, Chelsea by 3 points, and Arsenal by 1 point, and this match may well be a season defining one for the Lilywhites.

Match Details:

The clash will be held at Wembley Stadium, one day after the NFL match between Jacksonville Jaguars and Philadelphia Eagles, which left the pitch in a poor state.

Despite Mauricio Pochettino’s joke that the poor condition of the pitch may play out in Spurs’ favour, both sides are expected to be affected.

Team News:

Danny Rose and Jan Vertonghen are still out with a groin injury and hamstring injury respectively, but Dele Alli could make his return today since the League Cup third round win over Watford.

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Michel Vorm is likely to start on the bench again today ahead of Paulo Gazzaniga, with his substitute appearance in the Champions League dismissing any rumours that the Dutchman has been demoted in favour of the Argentine.

Manchester City will still miss Ilkay Gundogan through a hamstring injury, but Kevin de Bruyne, Fabian Delph and former Spurs player Kyle Walker will all be fit to play.

Danilo is a doubt for City but could also feature.

Expected Spurs Starting Lineup:

Dele Alli is expected to go back straight into the starting lineup as he has had ample time to train with the first team.

Christian Eriksen is also expected to start today after starting in the Champions League match against PSV Eindhoven last week.

Last Season:

Tottenham Hotspur 1-3 Manchester City
*Gabriel Jesus ’22
*Ilkay Gundogan ’25 (P)
*Christian Eriksen ’42
*Gabriel Jesus ’45+1

Spurs Fan Prediction:

Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Manchester City (Harry Kane to score first)

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How Worth it is it to buy each Premier League’s Away and 3rd Kit?

We are now close to one-third of the 2018/19 Premier League season, and for some of you who have eagerly purchased all your club’s kits for this season, you may be left disappointed on match days as the away kit and 3rd kit will hardly feature.

Indeed, when we look at the breakdown of the Premier League fixture (ignoring European competitions, League Cup and FA Cup), the home kit definitely features the most.

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There are 38 matches for each Premier League club in every season, with 19 home games and 19 away games.

This means that the home kit of each club will feature at least 19 times in a Premier League season.

If we assume that each club then dedicate the remaining 19 away games to the away and 3rd kit respectively, the away kit should feature 10 times and the 3rd kit 9 times.

However, that is hardly the case as clubs still prefer to use the home kit for as many away games as they can, especially for derbies and matches against bigger clubs.

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If that is the case, the 3rd kit becomes redundant as the away kit itself will barely be featured, much less the 3rd kit. However, releasing 3 kits every season is profitable for clubs as one extra jersey purchased contributes more revenue.

For this season, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Watford did not release a 3rd kit as they are not in any European competitions and they are the only 2 clubs with a yellow home kit, thus, the colours would not clash with any clubs, and they can just use the away kit against each other.

In the 2015/16 season, Stoke City, then a Premier League club, traveled away to AFC Bournemouth, but as both their home and away kit clashed with Bournemouth’s red and black home kit, Stoke released a one-off white 3rd kit that is not available for purchase, thus, saving some money for their fans.

Stoke City’s 2015/16 season one-off 3rd kit

Therefore, if clubs want to earn money off the 3rd kit from their fans, they should play with each kit several times in that season to ensure that the fans’ money are not wasted.

As of 22 October 2018, before match day 9 between Arsenal and Leicester City, each club would have played at least 10 matches across all competitions:

However, as can be seen, some kits are still yet to feature (Tottenham Hotspur’s away kit, Liverpool’s away kit, Manchester United’s 3rd kit, Arsenal’s 3rd kit, Leicester City’s away kit, Newcastle United’s away kit, Brighton & Hove Albion’s 3rd kit, AFC Bournemouth’s 3rd kit).

Some of the kits that have yet to feature this season may have been used by the club in the pre-season tournaments or friendlies, but fans do not buy their club’s jerseys just for the pre-season.

This is an important point to note as if clubs expect more revenue from jersey sales but do not commit themselves to using them, fans will simply lose confidence and jersey sales for away and 3rd kits may just dwindle.

The kits that are still not used in any competitions yet this season

For clubs such as Liverpool, Arsenal, Leicester City and Newcastle United, the situation is even worse as their home kit is used for 90% and more of their matches played so far this season. That is more than Wolverhampton Wanderers and Watford, which do not even have a 3rd kit.

Among clubs that are participating in European competitions this season, they would have played more matches than other clubs, but yet Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal have only used 2 of their jerseys and have a home kit usage of 75% and more.

There is no excuse for the above mentioned 4 clubs as Manchester City, Chelsea and Burnley have all managed to rotate the use of each jersey, with Manchester City doing so the best with a home kit usage of only 58%.

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To sum up, Premier League clubs are simply not doing enough to repay the support of their fans for buying their jerseys. As a Spurs fan, I remain increasingly disappointed that the club is not using its away kit even on away matches.

If that is the case, fans would simply be better off in buying just the home kit of the club that they support.