Sunshine training follows sunshine football!
For the third year in a row, Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino has taken his team to Barcelona for some mid-season sunshine training, following our excellent win against Everton, which definitely featured some sunshine football, especially with that fourth goal.
It was an all-round great performance by the players, but that assessment has to be tempered against the below par offering of Sam Allardyce's Everton. Allardyce more or less admitted he had to go back to the drawing board to pick up his players for the second time since his appointment as manager.
Pochettino knows that his team has a season-defining two week period approaching, which starts with the mid-week home game against Manchester United on 31st January. That will be followed by a trip to Anfield, where Liverpool ended Manchester City's magnificent undefeated Premier League run in an exhilarating 4-3 win which excited all those with the slightest interest in football.
After Liverpool we have Arsenal at home, which will be only three days before our trip to Turin and the return of Champions League football against last year's losing finalists Juventus. As I write (16th January) Juventus have won their last 6 games and are unbeaten in 11.
Perhaps exiting the Carabao Cup was a blessing after all. Arsenal and Chelsea have a debilitating second leg of their semi-final to play next week, and they are the teams closest to us in the Premier League table (above and below us) at this time. Chelsea also have to negotiate an FA Cup replay against Norwich this week. Marcus Edwards has gone on loan to Norwich for the rest of the season. Former Spur Alex Pritchard was signed for £12 million by Huddersfield so we can look forward to seeing him in March when Huddersfield come to town.
There's a good reason for this warmer weather training for Spurs, despite the fantastic facilities we have at Hotspur Way. Virtually all the squad have travelled. It's great for team spirit (which is great anyway), and they've fitted in a birthday party of sorts for Eric Dier, just 24 yesterday. Anyone will tell you warm weather is good for the bones too!
The recall of Cameron Carter-Vickers from his successful loan period at Sheffield United was a surprise, and as he is cup-tied he cannot help out in our FA Cup Fourth Round game at Newport, which comes just days before that crucial Man Utd game, so it is a bit of a mystery regarding when he is going to get a game for Spurs. Carter-Vickers made 17 Championship starts in a side that was in the promotion or play-off places throughout the time he was with the Sheffield side. He played 90 minutes in most of those games, and even sccored on his debut!
Before the important games coming in a couple of weeks, there is business to be done in our next Premier League game at Southampton. Nothing less than a win will satisfy us in the exciting quest for a top four place and Champions League football next season!
Son Heung-min was our man of the match against Everton (8.7), whilst Harry Kane (now our all-time Premier League top scorer, of course) had to make do with 8 out of 10! Harry still tops the Premier League score chart with 20 so far. He has 28 club goals to his name this season. Son is 10th equal now with 8 league goals, and Christian Eriksen has crept into the top 30 with his sixth league goal of the season.
· See the Everton spursometer in full.
P.S - Any weekend when Arsenal lose and we win is great fun, but it happens quite often these days. This time it was two weeks on the trot, after their FA Cup third round exit at Nottingham Forest! Let's at least maintain that five point gap!
Results 13-15.01.18
Chelsea 0-0 Leicester
C. Palace 1-0 Burnley
Hds'field 1-4 West Ham
Newcastle 1-1 Swansea
Watford 2-2 S'hampton
West Brom 2-0 Brighton
Spurs 4-0 Everton
B'mouth 2-1 Arsenal
Liverpool 4-3 Man City
Man Utd 3-0 Stoke
Premier League Table - 2017-18
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Man City 23 20 2 1 67-17 50 62
2. Man Utd 23 15 5 3 48-16 32 50
3. Liverpool 23 13 8 2 54-28 26 47
4. Chelsea 23 14 5 4 41-16 25 47
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5. Spurs 23 13 5 5 46-21 25 44
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6. Arsenal 23 11 6 6 41-30 11 39
7. Burnley 23 9 7 7 19-20 -1 34
8. Leicester 23 8 7 8 34-32 2 31
9. Everton 23 7 6 10 25-38 -13 27
10. Watford 23 7 5 11 33-42 -9 26
11. West Ham 23 6 7 10 29-41 -12 25
12. C. Palace 23 6 7 10 21-33 -12 25
13. B'mouth 23 6 6 11 24-35 -11 24
13. H'dsfield 23 6 6 11 19-39 -20 24
14. Newcastle 23 6 5 12 21-31 -10 23
15. Brighton 23 5 8 10 17-29 -12 23
16. S'hampton 23 4 9 10 23-34 -11 21
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18. Stoke 23 5 5 13 23-50 -27 20
19. West Brom 23 3 10 10 18-30 -12 19
20. Swansea 23 4 5 14 14-35 -21 17
