Tottenham will hand a late fitness test to Dele Alli after he picked up a minor ankle injury before Sunday’s 2-1 win over Swansea City, although Pochettino is unlikely to take any risks with the midfielder ahead of Saturday’s huge North London derby.
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Gabriel, Francis Coquelin – who put in a powerful display against the Swans – and Alexis Sanchez all feature while Connor Wickham represents Crystal Palace following his brace in the Eagles’ 2-2 draw away to Sunderland.
Argentine manager Mauricio Pochettino has truly found his ideal Spurs setup, with the club not only solidifying a spot in the top four, but also storming their way closer than ever to a first top-flight title in 55-years. The pitch doesn’t help to try play the way we wanted to play and it was hard to turn the result.
“We need to be positive and it is important to be ready for Saturday”.
“The players are very disappointed”.
A rejuvenated Tottenham continued to surge forward in search of an equaliser and will have been wondering how they were not level when Adrian pulled off an excellent double save to keep out Toby Alderweireld’s fierce low effort and Harry Kane’s follow-up.
It’s the fourth home game in a row the 25-year-old has netted, but he played more like a right-wing back as West Ham’s compact defensive work stifled Spurs.
“The first half was poor”.
“If Tottenham come through that, they win the league I think”. We are going to approach the remainder of the season very confidently and thinking only about the game against Everton, who, at least on paper, are one of the best teams in England.
“We had more freedom in the second half but if you don’t score it’s hard to get the points”.
“My concern about both Leicester and Spurs was the way they were relying on the same players so much but fair play to Pochettino and Ranieri, they made changes that won them games at the weekend”.
– West Ham are now unbeaten in 12 successive home league games (W7 D5 L0) – their best run since April 1998 (14 games).
“In this period, for a team like us, or Arsenal or Manchester City, we play a lot of games and we come from a period where we have a game every three days so it is always tough”.
“We are really not thinking about that, and we shouldn’t be”.
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Sometimes that means tracking runners behind the full-backs so that a center-back doesn’t get dragged wide and out of position.
