TOTTENHAM – LEICESTER | Saturday 6:30pm
Tottenham’s first defeat of the season came on the second day of the Champions League. In Lisbon on Tuesday, Spurs collapsed in the final minutes against Sporting CP when the result seemed to be nailed down at 0-0. Paulinho and Arthur Gomes scored the two goals that castigated Antonio Conte’s side in the dying minutes. It was an unexpected setback that sent the Salento coach into a rage, and he was apparently very harsh with his players in the locker room, with some even saying that some ‘punishment’ had been meted out to some
Until the Portuguese trip, almost everything had gone smoothly for the London outfit, always victorious with the exception of the two derbies against Chelsea and West Ham, Spurs’ only two games that ended in draws. Before the stop for the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Tottenham had won 2-1 over Fulham, gaining second place in the standings: 14 points, the same as Manchester City and one less than the leading Arsenal. In short, beyond what was the epilogue in Portugal, Kane and his teammates are proving that they can compete at high levels and an immediate reaction seems very likely in the championship match with the tail-end Leicester.
Dark night for the Foxes, the only team along with Everton still without a win after six matches. In the league the consecutive defeats are five for Brendan Rodgers’ men, who continue to remain in the balance. After somehow holding their own against Chelsea and Manchester United, Leicester sank at Brighton, conceding five goals (5-2).
Barnes
The Prediction
Tottenham do not enchant from a playing point of view and have been struggling to find the way of goal lately, but victory against Leicester should not be in question. Conte expects a reaction after the cup defeat and it is likely to come against the team currently struggling the most in the league.
The likely Tottenham-Leicester line-ups
- TOTTENHAM (3-4-3): Lloris; Romero, Dier, Lenglet; Emerson, Hojbjerg, Bissouma, Sessegnon; Richarlison, Kane, Son.
- LEICESTER (3-4-1-2): Ward; Faes, Amartey, Evans; Justin, Tielemans, Ndidi, Castagne; Maddison; Daka, Iheanacho.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-0
