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Injury Hit Tottenham to Bounce Back against Watford

Tottenham have been in patchy form recently, and something that certainly hasn’t helped their cause has been injuries. In their last four league games they have won two and lost two, while during the same time period they won a cup game at home to Chelsea, before losing away against the same team and then being beaten by Crystal Palace in the cup on Sunday.

Every team has injury problems throughout the season, but this one is a bad one for Spurs due to the players that are involved. Harry Kane is obviously a huge miss, as is Dele Alli and they both came at a time when Son Heung-Min was away with South Korea, leaving Spurs with few attacking options. These injury problems often tell you a lot about a team due to how they react, and if they can find a way to pick points up, and so far Tottenham have struggled to overcome things and do that as good as they were doing before.

Having being knocked out of two cup competitions, the league and Champions League is all that remains for them now, meaning that finishing inside the top four is a must. As we go into the games spread across Tuesday and Wednesday, Tottenham are seven points clear of Arsenal and Manchester United who currently occupy 5th and 6th places in the league, and that is a gap they would like to maintain to give them some breathing room.

Arsenal don’t look like being capable of throwing down a huge challenge to Tottenham, but Manchester United continue their good run under new boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and they could well emerge as a big threat to the top four. Between 3rd place Tottenham and those teams are Chelsea, who are four points off Tottenham and they will strongly fancy their chances of catching Spurs in the coming games while Kane and Alli are still out of action.

Watford will see this Tottenham team right now and see an opportunity to pick up something away from home. They have drawn three of their last four games, winning the other one, as well as winning in the FA Cup so they are in a good position right now. They are aiming for the top half of the table, and anything they can pick up in games like this one away against a top four club will certainly help their case in remaining in the top half.

The Tottenham Transfer Policy

While there are many changes happening off the field at Tottenham this season with their move into a new stadium, if there has been one criticism of them over the past year it has been the lack of changes on the field. They surprisingly signed no one in the summer, with Mauricio Pochettino saying that he didn’t need any new players as he was happy with his team.

However, the lack of depth in their team compared to others in the top four has become glaringly obvious due to their recent injury crisis. Despite that, there are no guarantees that anyone will be coming in over the next few days before the January transfer window shuts.

You cannot really stay still in any league in the world, but the Premier League especially is tough to do that. Whether you are at the top fighting for a top four place, or trying to survive near the bottom, squad improvements are always needed. Both areas of the table are competitive, and to keep up and keep winning you have to improve because those around you are doing that.

When Spurs move into their new stadium they will be given an opportunity to really kick on and push even closer to the top of the league. Whether they can actually challenge the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool remains to be seen, but if they want to do that then they have to add more players to their squad. White Hart Lane was their home for a long time, but as they grew and improved as a team, the size of the ground was blamed for them not being able to kick on and splash the cash like other clubs. They will shortly not have that problem anymore, the ball is in their court and if they want to genuinely become title challengers, they are going to have to spend some of the additional income they will be receiving.

Spurs have looked on the cusp of something special for a couple of years now, and the next two or three years look as though it will be the time for them to shine, but they have to spend cash and improve their squad if they want to genuinely become title challengers.

Tottenham vs Watford Betting Tips

Watford will see this as an opportunity to pick something up against a big club with the injury concerns that Tottenham have going into this game. With Dele Alli and Harry Kane out for a few weeks, Tottenham need to find goals from somewhere, although the return of Son Heung-Min from international football will certainly be a boost for them.

Spurs are solid enough at the back, but over the next few weeks they are going to have to put more emphasis on that. They conceded two against Chelsea last Thursday in the League Cup and two against Crystal Palace on Sunday in the FA Cup. That means to win those games, they would have needed to score three goals, which seems highly unlikely based on the attacking options they have right now.

They do have an easier task here though, and that is going to help them keep the number of goals they concede down. They are not taking on the attacking strength of Chelsea and they are highly unlikely to rest players like they did against Crystal Palace. That puts Spurs in the driving seat here, I expect to see a very close game, but eventually Tottenham will have enough to find the back of the net and take all three points.

Tottenham are usually a free flowing attacking team, who put a real emphasis on getting the ball forward, but they may have to move to a slightly more defensive style for the coming weeks. I’m hopeful they can keep a clean sheet here, and that will be enough for them to eventually pick up three points in this game against Watford. I’m backing a Spurs win, as they look to maintain their position in the top four of the Premier League.