Here’s James with his features article on whether the number of players participating in the latter stages of the World Cup and the lack of transfer activity in the summer will prevent Tottenham from being title contenders.
Will the World Cup and lack of transfers prevent Tottenham from winning the Premier League?
It seems to be business as usual in the Tottenham camp as while the side are challenging for the top 4, appear to be lacking the killer touch necessary to claim the league title.
There’s certainly no shortage of hunger amongst the Spurs faithful for a Premier League title, and nobody would deny the managerial talent of their head coach, Mauricio Pochettino. But with some mediocre performances, like their defeat to Watford, it seems that this could be yet another frustrating season for their fans.
So what’s behind this troubling issue? A few fans have pointed out how the close proximity of the 2018 World Cup to the start of the 2018/19 Premier League season has meant that many of their star players haven’t had a summer break to rest after a gruelling season.
There were no less than nine Spurs players in the World Cup semi-finals, and whilst this did plenty to boost the prestige of the club, it left many stars looking a little weary for the opening of the Premier League season.
It’s an issue that has certainly played into many news stories regarding Tottenham’s star striker, Harry Kane. Whilst Kane has managed to score five goals for his club this season, it has been noted that he has been missing the spark of last season and seems to be playing in a deeper position. There are also big questions about who could fill his shoes if Kane needed rest related rotation. Although Lucas Moura and Erik Lamela filled in capably in the absence of Eriksen and Alli, there’s the growing feeling that Tottenham should have made more of the summer transfer period to boost their ranks.
With Dele Alli still having to overcome his troubling hamstring injury, it seems as though Tottenham’s incredible decision to become the first club in 15 years not to make a summer signing could leave the side worryingly exposed. The team were tipped to sign the young Aston Villa star, Jack Grealish, but the deal was rejected by Villa. Whilst Po-chettino sounded fairly philosophical about the lack of big money signings, it remains to be seen whether this move will hamper Tottenham’s ambitions.
After nine games of Premier League action, we checked the betting resource Betting.co.ke to see how bookmakers like Betfair rate Spurs’ chances of breaking their Premier League deadlock. Whilst Tottenham are still in the running, they are only fourth-placed behind Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea in the betting odds.
Such a result would be respectable, but it’s clear that a top four finish would only compound the overriding impression that Tottenham are a good club, but just don’t have the firepower to take on the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool.
With tough Premier League games against the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea in the next month, it seems that big things need to happen very soon if Tottenham hope to have any chance of lifting that long-awaited Premier League trophy.
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