Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Norwich City

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Sunday 5th December 2pm
Premier League
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium​

An improved, if still somewhat dull, performance saw the Bees fall to the Beekeeper last night.
The inevitability of Son scoring against teams that wear yellow got us over the line following an OG.
Up next? Another side that wear yellow and one that are amongst the poorest sides in the division.
We're somehow only 2 points outside the top 4, so we all know what that means for this one.
Can Conte overcome our ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory or will we balls this up?

Norwich did their usual last season, following a dismal relegation campaign by yo-yoing back up.
Teemu Pukki was their top scorer for the third consecutive year, netting 26 league goals.
They returned as champions and it was never really in doubt, as they lead for most of the campaign.
A little jitter at the start as they recovered from a rough top-flight run was swiftly overcome and that was it.
They hit the top after 12 games and never left it.

The summer saw them ploughing a familiar path of selling high and buying low.
Two of their most impressive players left, as Buendia was sold to Villa and Skipp returned from loan to us.
They did spend the Buendia money, but it was spread out across a number of signings.
They also brought in Gilmour from Chelsea and Williams from Utd on loan.
Things did not start well and Daniel Farke was removed after finally winning a game in early November.

Dean Smith replaced his German predecessor 9 days later, having himself been sacked by Villa.
Their form has definitely improved since his arrival and they're unbeaten in the three games he's managed.
They opened with a win over Southampton, drew with Wolves and nicked a late point at St James' Park.
Only conceding 2 goals in those 3 matches is also quite an improvement.
They still sit in 19th place though, so an escape needs to start soon, really.

Romero and Scarlett still won't be fit for this one, but Lo Celso may return.
Rashica, Normann and Zimmermann are out for the visitors, while Byram is a doubt.
Neither side has any suspensions.

Lineups for each side's last league game:

Spurs: Lloris; Sanchez, Dier, Davies; Royal, Skipp, Hojbjerg, Reguilon; Moura, Kane, Son.
Subs: Gollini, Doherty, Tanganga, Sessegnon, Winks, Ndombele, Alli, Bergwijn, Gil.
League form: WLLDWW.

Norwich: Krul; Aarons, Hanley, Gibson, Williams; Rupp; Sargent, McLean, Gilmour, Tzolis; Pukki.
Subs: Gunn, Kabak, Omobamidele, Giannoulis, Sorensen, Lees-Melou, Dowell, Placheta, Idah.
League form: LLWWDD.

Ref: Jarred Gillett (AUS). VAR: Peter Bankes (Scouse).

TV: Not televised.

How would you like to line up for this one?
Would you stick with much of the same lineup from the Brentford match, tinker a little or change it completely?
Which system and tactics would you use and what are you expecting Norwich to go with?

 

Same lineup, I think, unless Conte fancies switching Lucas out for Gil or Bergwijn, as the Brazilian didn’t have his best game against Brentford.

Also:

 

I hate us playing against Tim Krull.
Either has a blinder or waste loads of time.....
Or both

 

Both Spurs and Utd playing opponents this weekend who will have had two days longer to rest and prepare for the game. 3 day gap v 5 day gap. Not fair.

 

In fairness that had less time to prepare for their midweek games so they could argue that was unfair

 

In our case we did have a few extra days before the Brentford game

 

Utd played late on Sunday v Chelsea, whereas Palace played at 3.00pm on Saturday.

 

Chelsea had a days less rest than united did for the midweek game. they are then playing before you tomorrow.

That means Chelsea will have played 3 games from Sunday at 4.30pm to Saturday at 12.30pm.
That's 5 days 20 hours.


United will have played 3 games fromdays at 4.30pm to Saturday at 2pm.
That's 6 days and 21.5 hrs

If our game v Burnley hadn't been postponed we'd have played 3 games from Sunday at 2pm to Sunday at 2pm. That's exactly 7 days.

 

Yes, I take the point. And TV schedules means there is never any uniformity. But having played two games in quick succession, it doesn’t seem right one team gets 5 days rest and the other only 3 days.

 

I agree but it's happened in Europe for decades...CL teams playing Tuesday then Saturday or Wednesday then Sunday whereas EL teams play Thursday then Sunday.

Happens over the Xmas period all the time.
5 games then an fa cup game in a very short time but some clubs get extra days by being the first match (Friday or Saturday) and then the last match on the 2nd or 3rd January.

A list is produced most seasons and a few years back we had 3 days less rest than our top 4 rivals (back when we were good) and then were given the Friday night fa cup kick off after being the last team to play in the Premier League.

 

So chance to go top 4 playing one of the teams at the bottom of the league at home…..
I think we all know how this goes

 

Scuppered by West Ham

 

In the olden days when weekend matches were always at 3pm on Saturdays, about half the clubs played their midweek matches on Tuesday with the other half on Wednesday. Playing Tuesday ought to have been an advantage as half the time you had an extra 24 hours rest for the Saturday game. Odd that anyone chose to play Wednesday.

 

There's nothing odd about the team in second place constantly playing 24 hours after the team in first place

Childmo fans kept telling us this five years ago...

 

Pretty certain that we played all our home midweek games (in all competitions) on a Wednesday and Arsenal played theirs on a Tuesday so we never clashed.

I would imagine that clubs felt like playing on a Wednesday in Europe gave them longer rest after a Saturday match?
But as you post shows, it's a bit of 6 of one half a dozen of the other re the following game.

 

Hesgoal.com guise

best feeds going imo

Very simple

1 pop up

bam HD Spurs

Might buffer now n again

beggers can’t be choosers

COYS

 

So much for the rumours that Sess would start

Also, so much for Doherty's chances of playing for us ever again

 

Emerson is injured?

 

Just seen he’s missing due to illness?

 

At which point does Lavinier start getting on the bench?