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Tottenham Hostpsur maintained their brilliant form during the festive period when they thumped Bournemouth 5-0 at Wembley. That victory followed Spurs’ 6-2 thrashing of Everton last Sunday, and the North Londoners have now won their last 8 out of 9 league matches.
That streak, coupled with Manchester City’s alarming defeats to Crystal Palace and Leicester, has propelled Tottenham into the title picture. Mauricio Pochettino’s side are now second in the table, just six points behind Liverpool. With half of the season gone, Tottenham fans can dare to dream of a first league title in the English top flight since 1960/61.
Unfortunately for the Spurs fans, there is still one side still not showing any signs of stopping. Here are 3 reasons why Tottenham will once more come up short in their chase of the Premier League title this season.
#1 Loss of Son Heung-Min for the Asian Cup
Tottenham’s remarkable form this season has been partly due to the brilliance of Son Heung-Min. The South Korean has been vital in conjuring some important goals, and providing width in Tottenham’s build-up play. Just like a three-legged stool, the loss of Son for the Asian Cup in January will impact massively on Tottenham’s standing in the Premier League title race.
Spurs have moved to negotiate with Korea Football Association that Son be allowed to join up with his teammates in UAE following Tottenham’s meeting with Manchester United at Wembley on 13th January. That would be three weeks late after foreign-based players would be expected to join the National squad.
Son is expected to miss games against Fulham, Watford and Newcastle United. If South Korea advances to the final, he will miss the league cup semi-final against Chelsea and a potential FA Cup fifth-round tie. While Tottenham have a number of key players to cover Son’s position, his absence will be felt especially if Tottenham manage to claw Liverpool’s lead at the top.
#2 Lack of squad depth
According to the Daily Mail article earlier this season, Tottenham became the first club since the transfer window concept was introduced in 2003, not to sign any new face.
Many fans and pundits alike tipped Mauricio Pochettino’s side to struggle to match last season’s achievements. However, Tottenham have so far exceeded expectations. They have usurped Manchester City into second place.
The problem with Tottenham failing to add new players is that there is a lack of squad depth in the team. This has proven to be extremely difficult for Pochettino to shuffle his team throughout the season. The Argentine tactician demands a high pressing game style similar to Guardiola. If Tottenham are still in the title race by April, we could see some very tired legs.
#3 Manchester City defeats are just a blip
Tottenham fully deserve their recent brilliant rise in the table. That was partly contributed by some shocking losses of their major rivals Chelsea and Manchester City. This does not in any way mean both the two heavyweights are in crisis or are out of the title race.
In fact for Manchester City’s case, they largely missed the presence of Fernandinho and the creativity of David Silva in their loss against Crystal Palace. The important for Pep Guardiola is that he will have his boys back in the team again, and their clash against Liverpool in a fortnight’s time could be a chance for redemption
