Tottenham vs. Burnley
Venue: Wembley stadium
Kick off: 4PM
Tottenham Hotspur will be looking to back up their Champions League progress with more success on the domestic front when they welcome Burnley to Wembley this afternoon.
The home side go into today’s tie sitting third in the Premier League table, whereas Burnley are in 17th place and only two points clear of the relegation zone.
Spurs have had more to deal with than most top teams so far this season – admittedly some of which was of their own making – yet they could finish this weekend just three points off the summit of the Premier League should results fall kindly for them.
Liverpool and Manchester City have set the standard over the opening 16 games of the campaign, but any suggestions that it is only a two-horse race at this stage would be given a short shrift by Tottenham fans.
For them to even be in this position is an achievement given that they did not sign a single player in the summer, saw their existing squad hit harder than anyone by the World Cup and have also been forced to play all of their home games at Wembley due to the seemingly never-ending problems with their new stadium.
Tuesday night‘s draw with Barcelona in Camp Nou saw the Argentine’s stock rise even higher as Spurs booked their place in the last 16 of the Champions League, albeit with a helping hand from Inter Milan’s slip-up against PSV Eindhoven.
A win today would see Pochettino become only the seventh manager to win 100 Premier League games in charge of a single club, and nine of those have come in Tottenham’s last 11 league outings.
The only teams to have beaten Spurs in that time are Manchester City and Arsenal, the latter of whom await them at the Emirates Stadium again on Wednesday, this time in the EFL Cup.
The prospect of getting swift revenge for their derby defeat earlier this month coupled with the prospect of moving into the semi-finals of a cup competition may cause Tottenham to take their eyes off this match, so Pochettino will be careful to ensure that they do not take Burnley lightly.
Spurs have lost two of their last five home league games – as many as they had suffered in 39 prior to that – but they have won their last four across all competitions and are bidding to make it five on the bounce for the first time this season.
The hosts will be heavy favourites to do so against a Burnley side struggling at the wrong end of the table, and victory would be an ideal way to cap off what has already been a memorable week for the club.
Tottenham possible XI:
Lloris; Walker-Peters, Alderweireld, Vertonghen. Davies; Winks, Dier, Lucas, Alli, Eriksen; Kane
Burnley possible XI:
Hart; Bardsley, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor; Lennon, Westwood, Cork, Brady; Wood, Barnes