Our 2023/24 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) team previews continue with Tottenham Hotspur.
In these guides, we’ll be looking at the best players for the upcoming season, taking a stab at predicted line-ups for Gameweek 1, reviewing pre-season and more.
You can read our stats-based review of Spurs’ disappointing 2022/23 campaign here.
Data in this article comes from our Premium Members Area, which you can access with a discounted pre-season subscription.
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TOTTENHAM: REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL
For all of Spurs’ problems last season, goals weren’t one of them. No team was involved in more than their combined 133, scoring the fifth-most (70) at the right end. The Lilywhites weren’t involved in one goalless encounter, while six matches ended with at least six goals – for better or worse.
The appointment of attack-minded Ange Postecoglou as the new head coach should see things continue in that manner.
Arriving from Celtic with a multitude of honours, Postecoglou has scrapped the wing-back system of Antonio Conte and instilled a 4-3-3 formation.
His hardcore philosophy is never compromised, judging by this response when asked about possibly trying a more conservative approach.
“If you are a strict vegetarian, you don’t drop into Macca’s [McDonald’s] just because you are hungry, mate, you know? This is what I believe in” – Ange Postecoglou
An underwhelming eighth-placed finish at least allows Spurs to regenerate without midweek European football to prepare for.
TOTTENHAM: REASONS TO BE FEARFUL
Life without Harry Kane (£12.5m).
Entering the final year of his contract, teams have been chasing the Spurs talisman all summer. Bayern Munich seem confident of completing a big-money deal but the saga threatens to drag into the latter half of August.
The positive vibe mightn’t be so great when the realisation sinks in that Kane – scorer of 210 Premier League goals over the last nine campaigns – has finally left and there’s a huge hole up front.
From an FPL perspective, he’s just had his best-ever season: 30 goals and a total of 263 points, merely nine below Erling Haaland (£14.0m). Kane was the only player with more attempts (130) than Haaland and he created more chances (57) than all other forwards.
Another reason for nerves is their defence, though underlying stats tell a different story. Whereas Spurs let in the sixth-most goals with 63, their expected goals conceded (xGC) actually ranked sixth-best and big chances conceded were up in fifth.
SUMMER TRANSFER ACTIVITY
The captures of goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario (£5.0m) and incoming centre-back Micky van de Ven could put a stop to this leakiness. Of all the goalkeepers to start at least 20 matches, just four made fewer saves than Hugo Lloris (£5.0m). Likewise, no team made more errors leading to a goal than Tottenham’s 10.
Meanwhile, the loan deals of Dejan Kulusevski (£7.0m) and Pedro Porro (£5.0m) were made permanent, whilst loaned-out individuals such as Giovani Lo Celso (£5.0m) and Destiny Udogie (£4.5m) have returned to the club.
Their headline signing so far is creative midfielder James Maddison (£7.5m). He should be approaching his peak years, so the £40m purchase from Leicester City seems astute.
Joining these is freebie Manor Solomon (£5.5m). Spurs took advantage of Shakhtar Donetsk’s situation, as a FIFA rule allows non-Ukrainian players to suspend their contracts until June 2024 due to war, yet his Shakhtar deal expires beforehand in December.
PRE-SEASON REPORT
| Jul 18 | Tottenham Hotspur 2-3 West Ham United (Optus Stadium, Perth) | Lo Celso (Sanchez assist), Udogie (Perisic assist) |
| Jul 23 | Tottenham Hotspur P-P Leicester City (Rajamangala National Stadium, Bangkok) |
| Jul 26 | Tottenham Hotspur 5-1 Lion City Sailors (Singapore National Stadium, Singapore) | Kane pen (Sarr assist), Richarlison (Lo Celso assist), Richarlison, Lo Celso (Solomon assist), Richarlison (Royal assist) |
| Aug 6 | Tottenham Hotspur v Shakhtar Donetsk (Tottenham Hotspur Stadium) |
| Aug 8 | Barcelona v Tottenham Hotspur (Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys) |
As of now, Tottenham have only played two friendlies. An entertaining 3-2 loss to West Ham United in Perth, before a waterlogged pitch postponed Bangkok’s meeting with Leicester. Three days later, Richarlison‘s (£7.0m) hat-trick helped them overcome the Lion City Sailors in Singapore.
Our Pre-Season Minutes Tracker shows that both matches featured entirely different line-ups in each half, meaning nobody has exceeded 90 minutes. Their upcoming games versus Shakhtar and Barcelona should hopefully deliver more clues into Postecoglou’s plans.
For example, is 20-year-old Udogie the favoured left-back? At Udinese, he bagged three goals and four assists in last season’s 33 Serie A appearances. He’s already scored in the friendly with West Ham.
A whopping 68 team shots occurred over this pair of matches, with over 75% possession averaged. It shows that Postecoglou’s message to make many short passes and use a high press to win the ball back has been received. He also instructs full-backs to invert towards central areas rather than overlap.
OPENING FIXTURES
The combination of a new boss and few pre-season minutes will make Spurs a ‘wait and see’ side for many. Between Gameweeks 1 and 8, it’s a fixture run that ranks seventh according to our Season Ticker.
Then, from Gameweek 3, no team has a more appealing streak of opponents until Gameweek 13.
Not that Brentford (a) is a particularly bad way to start proceedings – the side that conceded the second-most shots on target (197) and fourth-most goal attempts (559) of 2022/23. Any developments before then on Kane and thus Richarlison would be much appreciated.
PREDICTED GAMEWEEK 1 LINE-UP
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