Tottenham vs Stoke City – Featured Picks

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So less good but with the usual favoritism of the Londoners. Tottenham come from a midweek meeting for the Champions League, which closed the group stage and saw the Spurs clinch 1st place in a group with Real Madrid, Dortmund and APOEL.

The encounter with the Cypriots of APOEL ended with victory for the British by 3-0 with goals from Llorente, Son and N’Koudou. An excellent campaign in the league millionaire but that does not reflect what passes the club of Mauricio Pochettino

who have won only 1 of the last 6 meetings for the Premier League and that makes them reach here in 6th place in the league with 25 points.

A victory is important to recover the good work achieved in the last seasons and that made them finish in 2nd place in the season.

Without losing a home game last season and having finished with the best defense with only 26 goals and being defeated less often (4)

all point to the worst season since those 4 defeats were leveled against Leicester City (2-1) and their first leg defeat by Chelsea at Wembley on Matchday 2 has already made them suffer the first defeat at home.

But sometimes we can not just base ourselves on statistics and the truth is that less good phases all go through. Before those 6 games the Spurs had only lost 1 time and remain one of the best defenses of the race with 13 conceded goals.

The midweek meeting could be a bit of a nuisance, but the truth is that Pochettino thought about this meeting against Stoke and only Dele Alli and Serge Aurier were the usual starters to go to the game.

Quote from: Mauricio Pochettino, Tottenham Coach

“It’s not an excuse, but when opponents play against us at Wembley it’s a historic day for them and brings them extra motivation. You are not only playing against the opponent but also against that extra motivation.

I hope that the victory against APOEL has brought dynamics to the team but all the clubs go through phases of difficulties.

Keeping the same level for 10 months is difficult for a group of players. We have a strong squad with tremendous quality and we have confidence in ourselves. ”

Stoke City are a slightly different team this season and by the negative. The high number of goals conceded is not usual in this team that has always been known for its firmness and defensive rigor within the 4 lines.

They arrive here with the 2nd worst defense of the event having suffered 30 goals in 15 games, giving an average of 2 goals conceded. Out of doors only won once and in the games before the TOP5 suffered 17 goals, where 4 of those games were at home.

They have not conceded goals in two games and ahead of Tottenham are looking for the 3 points with Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Eriksen to lead the attack. Without Martins Indi (Injured) and Jese Rodriguez (Personal Reasons), the task of Mark Hughes complicates for this match.

The Potters have good players but offensively they lack a scoring benchmark.

Quote from: Mark Hughes, Stoke Coach

“The teams have dealt differently with the games against them and Tottenham has not been as fluid as it has been in the past few years and it has affected them. Whenever we faced them we had serious difficulties that we often could not respond to.

We will still try to correct this so that we are harder and harder to win than in the past. ”

The words of Mark Hughes made me look closely at the previous clashes between the two teams and the truth is that Tottenham won the last three matches 4-0.

The fact that they are the 2nd worst defense makes me lose the ability to believe in a surprise because I have always considered this one of the most difficult teams to win from the Premier League to the big clubs.
Prognosis Tottenham vs Stoke:

Tottenham really need wins and the stage they are going through is not the most positive but the quality is there and we can not ignore the huge difference in quality between the two squads.

If Stoke City were this season the hard-hitting team that was formerly Tottenham’s victory would have been of less value to me. Adversaries very complicated and bad luck also had in these last 6 games of the Spurs to add to the fatigue that accumulated of the games of the Champions.

Pochettino had this week the possibility of running the squad and will bring an eleven more prepared and strong than in the previous weeks.

Being a team that inhabited us to thrash when it marks early and before the 2nd worst defense of the race I believe in a comfortable victory of the Spurs.

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