5 Things you need to know about Spurs ahead of the Premier League season

1. Last but not least for the Premier league previews is Tottenham Hotspur who are are coming off back-to-back 17th place finishes in the Premier League, last season was catastrophic for Spurs with Thomas Frank starting off the season relatively well but playing some of the most horrid football you’ll see with a good away record and an abhorrent home record that had Spurs in 16th place by the time he was sacked in February. Igor Tudor came in and the situation somehow got worse with the Croatian drawing one and losing four of his five Premier League games, he also was part of Spurs’ Champions League exit to Atletico Madrid which was the least of their concerns in the midst of a relegation battle. After just six weeks in charge he was dismissed with the club bringing in Roberto De Zerbi to try and save the club from relegation, a task which he succeeded in with wins against Wolves, Aston Villa and Everton saving the club from an unbelievable relegation. Surely it’s only up from here for Spurs, right?

2. What has Spurs’ transfer window looked like so far? They needed plenty of incomings and that’s what they’ve got so far with Sandro Tonali coming in from Newcastle, Mateus Fernandes coming in from West Ham, Jean Paul Van Hecke coming in from Brighton along with the free transfers of Marcos Senesi, Andrew Robertson and Martin Dubravka. Outgoings wise there has also been a few with Cristian Romero going to Atletico Madrid, Luka Vuskovic going to Brighton, Djed Spence going to Inter Milan and Will Lankshear moving to Middleborough. The likes of Joao Palhinha, Randal Kolo-Muani, Radu Dragusin and Yves Bissouma have all left the club as well following loans or contracts ending. I would expect more incomings for Spurs before the end of the window with the club linked with the likes of Savinho from Man City and Cody Gakpo from Liverpool, whether it’s one or the other or both I’m not so sure but I do think the Savinho one is a matter of time. I still think they also need a striker but the hope is that Solanke will be back fit and firing this season so that’s less of a priority than a winger at moment I think, what more do Spurs need to do in the market? Quite a bit you’d imagine.

3. What has Spurs’ pre-season looked like so far? They kicked off their pre-season with a 1-0 win over MK Dons with Mateus Fernandes scoring an absolute beauty in his unofficial debut for the club, after that came a 2-0 win over Auckland with Richarlison and Dane Scarlett getting on the score-sheet in a match that attracted a record crowd for men’s football in New Zealand with 40,112 people turning up for the match. After that came a 1-1 draw with Sydney with Mathys Tel scoring a beautiful free-kick as Spurs’ only goal of the game, following that came a 2-1 win over Chelsea with Sandro Tonali getting his first Spurs goal before Kevin Danso was sent off early in the second half. Despite that Richarlison scored a last-minute winner to give Spurs the win over their rivals in Sydney, as of writing this their last pre-season game was against Getafe last week in a 1-1 draw with Conor Gallagher scoring Tottneham’s only goal of the game. They play Hoffenheim tomorrow at the Tottenham Hotspur Arena before kicking off the Premier League season at Brentford next week.

4. Who are the players to watch for Spurs this season? This is actually quite a tough one but there’s plenty of players that simply cannot have a worse season than the one they had last year, first of all Micky Van ve Den is fresh off signing a new contract so I’d expect his level to go up massively from where it was last season. The next one has to be Mateus Fernandes who was a standout performer in a shocking West Ham side last year, he brings some much needed athleticism into that midfield alongside Sandro Tonali where Spurs are have levelled up hugely. The attack is definitely still a worry for me anyway but if Savinho does come in I’d expect a big season from him as he hasn’t really had a chance to prove himself at City over the past couple of seasons, whether he gets back to the form we saw at Girona I’m not so sure but he adds some much needed quality to that Spurs attack if he comes in. Basically every Spurs player has a point to prove this season which I think is a massive advantage for De Zerbi heading into the season, one things for sure it’s not going to be boring at Spurs this season.

5. Predictions for Spurs this season? This ones quite tough with so much work still to be done in the window but I think Spurs have to be challenging for the Champions League places this season considering they have no European responsibilities this year, considering the money they have spent I imagine the bosses at Spurs will be thinking the same. I don’t see Spurs challenging for the cups but you never know a good draw could easily see them in the semi-finals of both competitions, Spurs are in desperate need of a season of stability so even making the Europa League this season I think would be seen as success . What do you forsee Spurs achieving this season? It’s hard to know with two weeks left of the window.