Tottenham are one of the most exciting teams in the Premier League to watch right now. They’ve scored the second-most goals in the division and often play with an incredibly attacking front five.

The flip side of that is their defensive frailties. They have already lost to Newcastle, Arsenal, Brighton and Crystal Palace but come into this one off the back of an incredibly convincing 4-1 victory over Aston Villa.

They’re balancing their Premier League task of ideally trying to reclaim a Champions League spot with a Europe League campaign in which they were unbeaten in until Thursday night’s 3-2 loss to Galatasaray.

Goalkeepers

Spurs' number one is 28-year-old Italian Guglielmo Vicario. The big keeper has made 22 saves with a goals prevented rate of 1.42. He’s comfortable on the ball, which is crucial as Tottenham are wholly committed to playing out from the back.

Vicario has the lowest average pass length of all keepers in the league at just 20.72 yards. Every single goal kick he has taken has gone short with a launch percentage (goal-kicks longer than 40 yards) of 0%.

If Vicario gets injured, then Tottenham could be struggling in the back-up department with 36-year-old Fraser Forster the current second choice. He’s started one Carabao Cup game and two Europa League games so far, making a number of good saves against Galatasaray, but also having a hairy moment fumbling as he came out to claim an easy ball.

Brandon Austin (0 first team appearances) and Alfie Whiteman (1 Europa League appearance in 2021) are the other two keepers in the squad.

Defenders

The big news for this one is that one or potentially both of Tottenham’s first-choice centre-backs could be missing for this one.

Micky van de Ven has been one of the outstanding defenders in the Premier League since he joined in August 2023 with his pace and ability to bring the ball out of defence his stand out attributes. He strained a hamstring in the Carabao Cup game against Manchester City and is set to be out until after the international break.

His partner, Cristian Romero, also limped off against Aston Villa having started all previous ten games. The Argentinian is a tough tackler but also carries a threat from set pieces so could also be a big miss if he isn’t fit.

That could leave a pairing of Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies having to start this one. Twenty-two-year-old Romanian Dragusin joined in January 2024 from Genoa having previously come through Juventus’s youth system. He’s had a mixed start to the games he’s had this season with a straight red for a professional foul against Qarabag the undoubted low light.

Having experience next to him will be crucial and Davies will certainly provide that. The 31-year-old Welshman has 335 appearances for Tottenham as either a centre-back or left-back. He also has 89 caps for Wales and will bring a left-sided balance to the pairing.

Pedro Porro is crucial to the attacking way that Tottenham play, filling a very advance role on the right-wing. His 58 crosses put him third in the league and the fact that ten of those were delivered into the penalty box is a league high. He doesn’t shirk the defensive side either having won 15 tackles and made 13 blocks in total.

On the opposite side Destiny Udogie is another progressive full-back. Still only 21, he’s an Italy international and alongside Porro is the main outlet for Spurs' ball progression out of defence. He’s played 50 progressive passes and made 22 progressive carries both of which put him in the top eight in the division.

Also in the squad are 18-year-old wonderkid Archie Gray, who was signed from Leeds this summer, Djed Spence who also spent time on loan at Elland Road last season, and Sergio Reguillon, who spent time out on loan at Manchester United and Brentford last term.

Gray is the one who’s featured the most with starts in the Europe League and five appearances off the bench in the Premier League.

Midfield

The Postecoglou attacking vibes continue into midfield with one holding midfielder usually flanked by two more attacking players. Filling that holding role is either Rodrigo Bentancur or Yves Bissouma.

Bentancur has made six starts to Bissouma’s four and has started the last two against Aston Villa and Manchester City in the cup. Bentancur keeps things ticking. He has a 92.4% pass completion and is excellent at reading the game with 11 interceptions.

Bissouma does a similar job but with a slightly different style, bringing more thrust to that position and has broken into the box on a couple of occasions to score twice against Everton and West Ham.

Twenty-two-year-old Pape Matar Sarr is a bit more of a hybrid midfielder. He has defensive attributes but provides more balance and physicality in midfield that can sometimes be lacking in the games that require a bit of grit in midfield.

This was most noticeable when he replaced James Maddison at half-time against West Ham and completely changed the game, helping Spurs get on top in the midfield battle. He has three goals so far this season, two in the Europa League and one against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup.

When Tottenham go all-out attack it’s usually Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison who play almost as two inverted tens ahead of the holding midfielder.

Maddison has been in top creative form this season with three Premier League assists already and has made the third-most progressive passes in the league. He has 44 passes into the final third, 18 into the penalty area and 19 key passes. Marking him tightly if he plays will be crucial to stopping the Spurs supply line.

Twenty-four-year-old Swede Kulusevski is also in excellent form. He has three assists in his last two games to bring his season total to five and has scored goals against Manchester United and West Ham.

His 57 touches in the opposition penalty area are second to only Bukayo Saka and Bernardo Silva with his ability to pick up pockets on the right side of midfield and drive inside one of his main assets and something that Ipswich’s left-sided midfielder will need to keep a close eye on.

The final option in midfield is 18-year-old Lucas Bergvall, who signed from Djurgardens this summer. He’s been given opportunities in the Europe League and looks to already be showing his promise.

Attackers

Tottenham’s most in-form attacker right now is former Forest player and son of Town icon David Johnson. Welshman Brennan has seven goals in 15 appearances for Spurs this season and has mastered the knack of finding himself in the box at the right time.

The 23-year-old has developed a good understanding with Son Heung-min, who has been starting on the left-hand side as an inverted attacker in recent games.

He is also in good form with three goals and three assists in seven Premier League appearances. He’s a clinical finisher with one in every four shots of his resulting in a goal. He’s now 32 years old and one of the experienced heads in the squad, and has the ability to grab games by the scruff of the neck.

Last year, Spurs operated without a standard number nine after the sale of Harry Kane but that has been rectified in this summer's transfer window with the signing of homegrown talent Dominic Solanke.

Proven Premier League goalscorers are hard to come by but that’s exactly what Spurs signed with the 27-year-old's Bournemouth record reading 77 goals in 216 appearances. He’s carried that form on in a Spurs shirt with five in his first 13.

Richarlison and Timo Werner are the extra two heads in the attacking unit who are experienced in the Premier League but both have a point to prove.

The 27-year-old Brazilian has had six separate injuries in the last 12 months. He is a doubt again for this one having come off the bench against Aston Villa, providing an assist but injuring himself once more in the process.

Werner was prolific in the Bundesliga but it didn’t work out for him in his spell with Chelsea. He returned to Leipzig in 2022 but joined Spurs on loan in January looking to prove a point. He got his first goal of the season against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup but also spurned some other glorious chances as his finishing still needs work.

The other options in the attacking areas are summer signing from Burnley Wilson Odobert, who made five appearances at the start of the season but has been struggling with injury issues ever since and 17-year-old Mikey Moore, who became the youngest player to play for Spurs at the end of last season and has been given more opportunities, particularly in the Europa League, this season.

He was handed his first Premier League start against Crystal Palace but looked out of his depth. There’s no doubt this season will be a good learning experience for him, however, and he could be pushing for more regular action in the next couple of years.

The Teams

Once again the performance was there against Leicester so I can’t see too many changes for this one. Dara O’Shea has been playing through a pretty serious back injury so it remains to be seen whether he’ll be fit to start this one. If not, Luke Woolfenden could come back in.

Kalvin Phillips's controversial double yellow card means he’ll be missing so we’re likely to see a Sam Morsy/Jens Cajuste pairing in there. Massimo Luongo is fit again, so he’s an outside shout as well.

There’s one other change I can see and that’s a tactical one in the frontline. Liam Delap is undoubtedly one of the most talented players in the squad but Tottenham’s high line will leave a lot of space in behind which will suit George Hirst down to the ground.

For Tottenham, both Romero and Van de Ven look set to miss out due to injury and there could be tiredness in the squad having faced a Thursday night trip to Turkey to face Galatasaray.

There were a lot of changes in that one and it’s likely to be a full midfield switch but some of the defence and attacking line may have to play back-to-back games.

Prediction

That win still hasn’t come yet, Tottenham, Manchester United and high-flying Nottingham Forest are up next. Town showed character against Manchester City and Liverpool but were eventually outclassed.

Spurs certainly showed vulnerabilities on Thursday night with their makeshift defence struggling to play out from the back causing themselves all sorts of problems which gives me some hope.

Town’s performance against Aston Villa should give fans some hope that they can compete against the best in the division but Tottenham have four wins out of five at home so I can’t see it. I’m going for a competitive 2-1 defeat.

bobble added 09:18 - Nov 19 Easybeats 2..1 to town
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