Scouting The Doubles – Tottenham

Tottenham’s quest to muscle their way into a top four berth sees them welcoming a buoyant Swansea City side to the Lane on Wednesday, before making the short trip across the capital to face Queen Park Rangers in their second match of Gameweek 28. While there’s doubtless a couple of standout candidates for Spurs coverage in their double, the north London club’s recent exploits in domestic and European cups raises one or two questions regarding rotation.

The Prospects

First up for Tottenham is a match-up with the Swans on Wednesday evening. The visitors’ form has fluctuated in their previous 10 outings, yet back-to-back victories – which included the Welsh outfit’s first ever double over Manchester United – means Garry Monk’s side enter this clash in high spirits. Furthermore, they’ve recorded wins and clean sheets in two of their previous three road matches, shutting out Southampton and Burnley.

That being said, inspecting the underlying stats from their victory over Burnley suggests they aren’t dominating matches, with Swansea scraping the win through a Kieran Trippier own goal, having only fashioned two attempts on goal. In the wake of Wilfried Bony’s transfer to Manchester City and Bafetimbi Gomis’ sporadic attacking returns, Ki Sung-Yeung has emerged as an unlikely goal threat, registering two goals in his previous four starts. Considering Tottenham are without a clean sheet in their last four home ties, the South Korean midfielder will fancy his chances to build on a five-goal haul this term.

Spurs close out a testing run of four matches within the space of 10 days when they visit London rivals QPR on Saturday afternoon. R’s boss Chris Ramsey will hope to avoid a repeat of the reverse fixture, in which Tottenham humbled the Hoops 4-0 at the Lane. Charlie Austin, who’s scored six in his last nine appearances, will be central to the hosts’ desire to enact revenge.

The Likely Lads

Having netted 12 times in his last 11 league starts, Harry Kane is the form player of the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) by some margin. Despite a fixture pile-up complicating matters, the 6.2-priced Kane remains an essential pick – however, bearing in mind that he’s the most popular player in the FPL by some distance (45% ownership), it’s likely that our additional coverage for the double could be key to making a difference.

After starting 34 consecutive league matches, Christian Eriksen (8.4) dropped to the bench for the trip to West Ham, with his manager clearly having one eye on the Capital One Cup Final. With Spurs now out of the Europa League and looking to bounce back from their loss to Chelsea, though, can Pochettino really afford to rest Eriksen as he looks to finish the season strongly? This hot topic by Jonty on Eriksen’s prospects is certainly worth a read.

Intriguingly, it’s worth noting that Eriksen has never gone more than three matches without finding the net this season – food for thought, given that’s he’s failed to notch in his last trio of appearances. With six sets of double figures already accrued and an average of 4.8 points per appearance, the Dane’s potential is obvious – little wonder over 80,000 have already snapped him up this week.

With uncertainty surrounding the other spots in midfield and the Spurs defence far from impressive, it could be argued that, aside from Kane and Eriksen, any other option looks no more than a punt. For those eyeing up the Spurs defence, Hugo Lloris (5.6) is nailed-on and has been the best points scorer, boasting an average (3.7) that surpasses that of Danny Rose (3.4) and Jan Vertonghen (2.9). This can primarily be attributed to his propensity for picking up save points, having made at least three saves in nine of his last 10 outings. Six clean sheets for the campaign hardly inspires confidence, yet QPR’s inability to score in three of their four home encounters increases the chances of a shut-out.

The Cheeky Punt

As highlighted by Ludo’s recent community article on Navigating the Spurs double Gameweek, rotation is a concern here and limits our reliable options. If you’re willing to roll the dice, though, Mousa Dembele (5.2) looked to have generated some momentum recently – with one goal and two assists in three outings – before he was hauled off at half time against West Ham following a wretched 45 minutes. Named amongst the subs yesterday, he has, nonetheless, started each of the last seven Premier League outings, whereas Nacer Chadli has failed to feature in the first XI in the league since Gameweek 22, at a time where Erik Lamela has started each of the last four. Chadli’s reinstatement to the first-team for yesterday’s loss to Chelsea perhaps hints at increased pitch time but, despite an impressive 4.6 points per appearance (Eriksen has 4.8), there’s no doubt he remains a real risky prospect in terms of guaranteed pitch time judging by recent team sheets.

Danny Rose has been an unlikely source of attacking returns in recent weeks. The left-back has started each of the last seven and tallied two goals over that period and, at 4.9, the former Leeds full-back is one of the cheaper routes into Spurs’ back line. Rose should be less prone to rotation than others, having been rested for their Europa League clash against Fiorentina, but Pochettino could still hand Ben Davies a start, thus slightly denting his prospects in spite of his recent form.

Jan Vertonghen looks the most likely defender to play from start to finish in both encounters, though the downside is that his form isn’t on par with Rose. While Eric Dier and Federico Fazio have shared centre-back duties, the Belgian international has completed Spurs’ last 15 league matches and scored in Gameweek 22. Potential investors will have to weigh up whether his 5.9 price tag is justified, though, considering the wealth of superior alternatives in that price bracket beyond the double Gameweek.