A second, pesky international break of the season out of the way leads us to an away trip to North London and the newest & largest [Wembley aside] stadium in our country’s capital.
Can’t wait!
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| Tottenham Hotspur Stadium |
Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:
(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 11/11!)
Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:
_____________________Jesus____________________
_Sterling________________________________Torres_
___________De Bruyne________Silva______________
_____________________Rodri_____________________
Cancelo__________________________________Walker
_____________Laporte________Dias_______________
____________________Ederson___________________
Subs: Steffen, Garcia, Stones, Gundogan, Foden, Mahrez, Aguero.
With so many of our players having a fantastic week for their respective international teams, many would hope to take their fine performances and ‘hit the domestic ground running’. Therefore, I think there’s gonna be a couple of slightly disappointed faces on the bench later on today…but hopefully, also, gritted teeth and a revved up engine ready to burst onto the pitch if they get the opportunity.
Ederson starts in net.
A back-4 of Joao on the left flank, Kyle on the right with Aymeric and 2-goal-hero, Ruben, in the middle of the defence.
I’m going for Rodders to be our one & only holding midfielder with a quartet of attacking midfielders / wingers ahead of him in the form of Raheem, who we are told should be fit enough after picking up a slight niggle whilst away with England, Kevin, Bernardo and Ferran; who got himself a hattrick as his Spanish side thrashed Germany 6-0 the other day!
Although he has proper competition for his place once again; I’m going for our manager to stick with Gabriel ‘up top’ for now. We could see an even more fluid [than usual] system this evening, with no particular out & out striker and, with, Raheem, Gabriel & Ferran all swapping placing and ‘avin’ a go…
Zack is the back-up keeper; Eric & John are the defensive replacement options from the side, I would guess. Ilkay, Phil, who played impressively in England’s last match and, where, he got himself a brace, Riyad, who scored a cracker for Algeria too and a returning Sergio make up the midfield / wing / attacking options from ‘the 7’. I think both Phil & Riyad will be the most disappointed players there, if I’m right.
Notable absences:
- Benjamin Mendy – ‘The word’ seems to be that he is making progress / is back in training following his LATEST injury-niggle but this game comes too soon for the Frenchman.
- Oleksandr Zinchenko – May have to isolate following confirmed cases of Covid-19 with his international teammates.
- Nathan Ake – Injured with ‘a hammy’. Could be another couple of weeks but not too sure on that; could be a little longer.
- Fernandinho – Has recovered from his injury and was, indeed, back in training / looking forward to being in contention today. However, he now-apparently has a stomach upset, which will keep him out of this one.
Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?
I'm always a little concerned about our left-defensive flank and that's despite Joao Cancelo improving his game recently. It's not his natural side though, of course, and so I'm sure there'll be some kind of plan from Spurs to raid down their right / our left.
But, having said that, I'm more than happy with that 11 should it be correct.
I’m hoping this isn’t the case, of course, but I seem to recall that we can often look at little ‘out of sorts’ as our lads get back together [after playing for their individual countries] for the first time in around a fortnight. Of course, that goes for opponents too.
I just hope we don’t have a game such as we had the last time we visited postcode N17 back in February 2020 because that game can most-certainly be described as a…“frustrating day at the office”; a game that included…
· The sending-off of Oleksandr Zinchenko for a ‘second yellow’.
· A missed penalty by a German (Ilkay Gundogan)!
· 67% possession away from home; 19 shots ‘in anger’ but only around 1/3 of those on target; resulting in 0 goals.
· And finally, a deflected 2nd goal by Heung-Min Son to kill us off in a 2-0 defeat.
Very frustrating indeed and I think that illustrates perfectly, in just one game, how our season largely went last-time-round; most certainly in the league at least.
Our hosts certainly have attacking personnel that can hurt you if you blink too long and their team is managed by a fella who likes to smother the opposition in a desperate attempt to stop them scoring. If that combination of defensive tightness and dangerous counter attacking works then it can be a daunting proposition for any visiting side.
They’re in good form too and sit in 2nd place, just 1 point off the league leaders. A tough evening does indeed lie ahead for us.
But we’re in decent form ourselves and, as I’ve already stated, we have players who should come back ‘buzzing’ from their international ventures. And don’t underestimate the power of a manager extending his contract, especially one of such quality as Pep Guardiola – the players will be lifted by that, I’m sure!
I think it’ll be a crackin’ game and a close one. There might not be many goals if their manager’s plan largely works and with our improved defence also…but they have lost a key defender in Irishman, Matt Doherty, after testing positive for Covid-19.
I am very much swaying towards a draw for this one but I just have a feeling we’ll ‘pip ‘em’ today. 3 points to The Blues.
Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…
Prediction: Draw
Result: Lost
(Pre-match blog posting from that game)
Expected weather conditions during the game: A very slight chance of some very light rain but it could also easily remain dry for the game. And as far as the temperature goes, 12C / 54F for an early evening KO (5:30pm GMT) in November isn’t bad at all! Even the expected brisk, south-westerly breeze shouldn’t affect play in the fully enclosed, high-sided stadium. Decent conditions for a game of footy.
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