TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR V LEICESTER CITY PREMIER LEAGUE SUNDAY 20 DECEMBER TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM KICK-OFF: 2.15PM GMT THFC Injuries & Suspensions - Gareth Bale (75%, illness) - Erik Lamela (out, calf/shin/heel) - Japhet Tanganga (out, shoulder) Leicester Injuries & Suspensions - Calgar Soyuncu (out, groin/hip/pelvic) - Ricardo Pereira (out, groin/hip/pelvic) - Timothy Castagne (75%, thigh) - Daniel Amartey (out, thigh) Form (all comps) THFC - LDWWD Leicester - LWWWL Officials Referee: Craig Pawson Assistants: Simon Bennett, Eddie Smart Fourth official: David Coote VAR: Paul Tierney Assistant VAR: Harry Lennard Odds (for entertainment purposes only) Tottenham win: +110 Draw: +250 Leicester win: +265 Well well well, here we are, getting ready to begin THICK AND FAST™ season! 5 matches over the next two weeks (4 PL, 1 LC)! I'll put the marker out there and say that the season will be defined by this stretch of games. 12 points is not a completely unreasonable expectation, but also probably not a completely realistic one (gotta love Spurs, eh?). Leicester (H), Stoke (A-LC), Wolves (A), Fulham (H), Leeds (A) Anyways, enough big picture, let's look at this match. I'm officially worried about Tanganga. I get wanting to be like Ledley King, but maybe the injuries are a little too much. The injury report otherwise is more of the same. At some point we'll see Bale start in the league, and I hope it's this match. Bergwijn is helpful on defense, but as we saw against Liverpool, his end product isn't quite up to snuff. ek's predicted XI Lloris Aurier - Dier - Alderweireld - Reguilon Sissoko - Hojbjerg Bale - Ndombele - Son Kane PL Match Centre Tottenham Match Centre Leicester Match Centre This match will be broadcast on NBCSN in the US.
Bale is a good shout. He would be perfect for Jose's rope-a-dope style - imagine if it were Bale clean through on goal instead of Bergie... Maybe Doherty will be back in at RB with rotation. I think we will start to see more of Dele, it looks like he is slowly extricating himself from Jose's doghouse.
It will be interesting to see how much squad rotation there is. This is a big game, but the one on Wednesday is even bigger.
Winks on for Aurier. Winks and Bale in at the same time. Who'd've thought that'd be a sign of things gone horribly wrong.
A Spursy day to end a Spursy week. In another season when most of the big names are underperforming and a real window to winning the league opens Leicester beats us at home.
For all you people who were giddily talking about winning the league, just another reminder that this is Spurs and they will always let you down.
Starting to be a concern, aside from the cameo against Brighton, he has been a massively expensive pantload.
As a fan of Bale, his performance today was the most disappointing thing about the result. He didn't show enough to merit being a regular starter even though RW is up for grabs right now.
How do you stop Harry Kane, Son Heung Min, Gareth Bale, Kevin Debruyne and Mo Salah from playing? Hire Jose Mourinho.
I'm a Madrid fan, but I was hoping for Bale to return to form for the Spurs. He just looked disinterested in the game.
the players just didn't look sharp - I think they're tired. We have a deep squad, but some players are playing every minute of every game - again.
I am beginning to think this core of players just doesn't have the mentality to win anything. Hopefully I will be proven wrong, but our recent history doesn't show otherwise. I look at Liverpool who, despite having several key players out, have beaten us, Leicester 3-0, Wolves 4-0 and Crystal Palace 7-0, not to mention them rolling over some teams in the CL. Now when Klopp took over there, they were miles away from winning the PL or the CL, but the German has transformed them into a machine like we saw in the glory days of Liverpool. Klopp is a big part of that transformation, but it can't all be down to the manager, ultimately the players have to deliver and they have delivered. At Spurs, various managers, the chairman and the board have been blamed for lack of success, but at some point, you have to look at the players. I mean it's not like our managers have been given scraps to work with. We have had players of the year, young players of the year, golden boot winners and players who have commanded massive fees in transfers to top clubs. If you had given me a list of all the players to have worn a Spurs shirt the last decade and told me that we would not have won even one trophy, I wouldn't have believed it. Even Arsenal, as shambolic as they have been over the last decade, have won 4 FA Cups.
On the bright side, I read that Stoke's top 5 goalkeepers are all ruled out of tomorrow's match - 4 injured, one cup tied. Just have to put some shots on goal, now.