Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Burnley

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Saturday 1st April 3pm
Premier League
Turf Moor​

Our players seem to have survived the international break intact, so now we're back to the real thing.
A tricky trip to a side who have a very strong home record is a massive potential banana skin.
If the table was purely based on home games, then our hosts would be 6th. We'd be top, annoyingly.
We need to be at our best to avoid becoming April Fools.

Sean Dyche's side are currently having a bit of a poor run, having failed to win a game in February or March.
This dip may be a little misleading though, as they've only played two home games during that time.
A draw with Chelsea in the league was a good result, but a loss to Lincoln was quite the opposite.
Even with this mini-slump, their manager take hope from the fact that their losses were all by a single goal.
Liverpool, Swansea and Watford all edged tight games and all were away from Turf Moor.

The game at White Hart Lane was another narrow away loss for Burnley.
It arrived a week before Christmas and we were in a generous mood at the back at the start.
Despite creating chances ourselves, we looked sloppy and disorganised, going behind to virtually their only chance.
Ashley Barnes took advantage of some chaotic pinball to fire home.
He then spent the rest of the half fouling people and was lucky not to be sent off.

Going behind seemed to shake the lethargy a little and we were soon level.
Walker centred for Alli to fire home, which was a little surprising, as he'd been having a poor game.
The teams went in level, but we were well on top and the dominance told in the second half.
Dyche was angered by our winner though, as it was provided by Sissoko.
That's bad enough on it's own, but he escaped dismissal shortly beforehand for a poor tackle.
His pass to set up Danny Rose didn't go down well with our gruff opponent.

There was no corresponding trip last season, as Burnley were in the Championship.
Here are some previous Spurs goals at Turf Moor, instead:


Neither side has any suspensions for this game.
Kane, Rose and Lamela all continue to miss out, while Janssen faces a late test, following his illness.
Burnley's only absence is Spurs old boy Dean Marney, who is out for the season, unfortunately.

Lineups for each side's last league game:

Spurs: Lloris; Dier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen; Walker, Wanyama, Dembele, Davies; Eriksen, Alli; Son.
Subs: Vorm, Trippier, Wimmer, Winks, Sissoko, Onomah, Janssen.
League form: DWLWWW.

Burnley: Heaton; Lowton, Keane, Mee, Ward; Boyd, Barton, Hendrick, Arfield; Barnes, Gray.
Subs: Robinson, Flanagan, Tarkowski, Westwood, Defour, Brady, Vokes.
League form: LDDLLD.

Referee: Stuart Atwell.

TV: Not televised.

Did Son do well enough against Southampton to keep his place?
Do we need to change anything in the system to deal with Kane's continued absence?
Is there anything different that we need to do to deal with Burnley's tactics?

 

Pochettino pre-game presser, courtesy of @The RDBD :

 

That Modric goal in the first game after securing CL qualification was superb and we started that game well enough before completely imploding. Hope we don't go the same way tomorrow!!

 

If I didn't know who it was, then I'd have thought it was our other Croatian, Kranjcar.
The little shimmy, step-over and then smashing it in at the near post? Much more likely to come from him.

 

Paul Stewart .

 

We are going to have to play fast and forward from KO to get the leading goal, as Burnley
play a serious game of attrition and need to be forced to open out early to get something
from the game.

 

This is a game that could actually provide a more accurate assessment of where we're at - more than an NLD or other top 6 clash.
A win at one of the trickiest of venues will send out significant messages!
COYS!!

 

Janssen out could be a big blow - he relishes these tough, scrappy opponents.

I would go with the same side that beat Soton. We were excellent in the 1st half but once again seemed to relax and take our foot off the pedal far too prematurely. We rarely manage to play full throttle after an intl break but this is one game where I think we'll have to.

A number of sources suggest that Rose could make his return next weekend, and that Kane could feature against B'mouth the week after that.

Realistically I would take a draw from this game as most of the chasing pack have really tough fixtures this week and could all drop points. But at the end of the day we have the quality to beat them and therefore need to aim higher than a draw.

 

Isn't this the other way round? I thought Pochs comment yesterday suggested Rose was a way off returning.
Agree about Janssen - his game would be ideal for Burnley.

 

If anyone can explain Ben Alnwick's determination to concede a minimum of three goals every single time he faced Burnley I'd like to hear it

 

He's ****, mainly. Kept a fair number of clean sheets in League One this season, though.

 

That chevron in the Burnley badge is really pixelated, they should redraw it using a better graphics package.

 

Quick on the draw again

 

I was actually thinking the opposite. 5th post?! I had to wade through 3 whole responses to the OP before seeing his name? Disgusting. I don't come onto this forum for that kind of slipshod crap.

 

This is a nightmare match for us...our last 3 matches at their place were a 4 -2 loss in the prem, a 1 all cup draw and a nil nil in the prem.
They have a great home record and we ain't doing very well away from home since xmas.

 

Hmmm, a different line-up. Trippier and Davies as full backs. Winksy in the middle with Janssen up front.

walker, Dembele and Son are on the bench, so the additional changes must relate to tactics/post-international issues rather than being out injured.

 

GKN sighting!!!

 

I'm surprised we've put out a team that lacks pace. Burnley will be hard enough to break down as it is, let alone without the speed to get in behind them.

 

Pace off the bench?? Just hope we cope for the first 60 mins!!

 

Time for Janssen to shine, I guess

Shout out to Southgate for running Walker into the ground too