Tottenham Hotspur are fresh off an emotional draw at the Camp Nou, a European stalemate with Barcelona that ended up being enough to get them through to the UCL knockout round. A letdown could be expected, but luckily for Spurs, the next opponent, Burnley FC, isn’t all that much of a challenge.
The Clarets, who finished a pleasantly surprising 7th last season, are really struggling this year, and they have not fared well against Tottenham. In eight previous Premier League meetings, Tottenham have won five, and Burnley just one; to go along with two draws.
Let’s take a look at the injury and fitness situation for both sides. Goalkeeper Nick Pope remains out for Burnley, but manager Sean Dyche otherwise has a fit squad to make selections from.
In shifting over to the hosts, Mousa Dembele and Victor Wanyama remain sidelined as long term absentees for Spurs, while Kieran Trippier, Serge Aurier, Davinson Sanchez and Juan Foyth will face late fitness tests to see if they can return to action.
Pochettino told the media that all five players could feature this weekend. Here is a little more detail, via Alasdair Gold of Football.London:
Trippier (groin) is 'continuing an individual preventative and conditioning programme' and Wanyama (knee) is continuing his rehabilitation. Sounds like Kyle Walker-Peters gets another game on Saturday.
— Alasdair Gold (@AlasdairGold) December 13, 2018
Tottenham Hotspur vs Burnley FC FYIs
Kick-off: 3pm (BST), 10am (EST), Saturday December 15th, Wembley Stadium, London
Odds via 888Sport: Tottenham 1/6, Draw 13/2, Burnley 17/1
Tottenham Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Prediction: Tottenham 3, Burnley 1
Feel free to post your own starting XI predictions, as well as your best guess as to what the final score will be. Enjoy the match everybody!
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.