Scout Notes – Spurs Battle Back

Tottenham Hotspur produce a memorable fight-back to keep their Champions League hopes very much alive, while Manchester City all but book their place in the quarter-finals with a 4-0 win in Basel.

Spurs’ passage to the Champions League last eight might not be as assured as City’s, but Mauricio Pochettino’s men did their prospects a power of good with a stirring 2-2 draw away to Juventus.

Disaster beckoned when the Italians took a quick-fire 2-0 lead in Turin, but a goal in each half from Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen, both involving Dele Alli assists, tipped the tie back in the Londoners’ favour.

Pochettino made only two changes from the side that started the 1-0 win over Arsenal on Saturday, with Erik Lamela replacing Son Heung-min and Serge Aurier in for Kieran Trippier.

However, the Ivorian full-back picked up a booking which rules him out of the second leg on March 7.

Spurs play three matches before that – an FA Cup fifth round tie at Rochdale this weekend and then league fixtures away at Crystal Palace and home to Huddersfield.

That third match is now highly likely to feature Aurier, with Trippier saved for the Juventus clash that follows four days later.

Rotation in defence has mainly involved the full-backs this season and with Danny Rose now back to full fitness, it seems only a matter of time before Ben Davies, who started last night and has played eight of the last nine league matches as well, is handed a rest.

It would be a major surprise if Rose doesn’t feature in the FA Cup on Sunday. How Pochettino utilises his full-backs after that is rather more open to question.

That hasn’t stopped major investment in Davies, with a 12-point haul against Arsenal tempting 117,000+ managers to make him the most popular pick ahead of Gameweek 28.

But the Juventus tie is so finely poised that the Welsh international could well be saved for it, which would likely mean Rose featuring in at least two of the aforementioned trio of matches that precede it.

Elsewhere, Lamela’s start in Turin was put down to his previous time in Serie A with Roma, according to his manager:

“Erik Lamela knows what it means to play here against Juventus and we believe this experience will help the team.”

The 11.8% of managers who own Son will be a little relieved that he was handed just eight minutes off the bench – the South Korean has started every league match since Gameweek 15, so was clearly due a break.

But Lamela’s return to fitness, plus the signing of Lucas Moura, who came on late for his debut last night, ramp up the competition among Spurs’ attacking midfield slots.

Spurs’ schedule (cry HUD bou NEW) is kind and their form excellent – they’ve beaten Man United and Arsenal at home and secured away draws at Liverpool and now Juventus.

But unless Rochdale pull off a major FA Cup shock this weekend, Spurs will be in the quarter-finals and will, therefore, miss the Gameweek 31 clash with Newcastle.

And with their finely poised Champions League tie sandwiched between league matches with Huddersfield and Bournemouth, a degree of rotation could be on the cards.

Rampant City March On

Pep Guardiola was always going to rotate his players to cope with a busy period involving action in four competitions from now until early March.

Last night’s ruthless 4-0 win in Basel should now mean he’ll be able to rest some key players for the return leg in Manchester on March 7.

City entertain Chelsea before the tie concludes and then travel to Stoke City the Monday afterwards.

Before all of that, Guardiola’s side play Wigan in the FA Cup this Monday, Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final six days later and then the Gunners again in a Gameweek 28 trip to the Emirates on Thursday, March 1.

The Chelsea fixture follows three days after that.

The situation would be complicated further should City fail to see off Wigan at the first attempt as any replay would push the Arsenal fixture out of the Gameweek 28 schedule.

But assuming that his all-conquering team win their FA Cup fifth round tie at the first time of asking, it would seem likely that most of Guardiola’s key assets will be asked to play three major fixtures – the Arsenal match-ups and the Chelsea clash that follows them – in seven days.

The significance of last night’s result then kicks in as rest will surely be on the agenda when Basel come to the Etihad Stadium three day after Gameweek 29’s visit from the Blues.

The coach implied as much when he spoke post-match.

“Of course, we will be focused against Basel at the Etihad, but with Arsenal and Chelsea to play it’s important to be focused there, too.”

It’s all ifs and buts for now, but what is rather clearer is the fact that Guardiola’s squad is creeping closer to full strength at just the right time.

Both David Silva and Leroy Sane returned after injury lay-offs last night, the pair handed run-outs in the 57th and 63rd minutes respectively.

And Guardiola also hinted that Gabriel Jesus could be back in contention as early as next week from a knee injury that has kept him sidelined since Gameweek 22.

“For the next game at Wigan (on Monday) they will be ready. Now except (Benjamin) Mendy we have all our squad and we can use them in all competitions.”

The Brazilian’s imminent return to fitness is of major interest to 30.4% of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers with Sergio Aguero in their squads.

The Argentine is in blisteringly good form. His strike to make it 3-0 in Switzerland last night was his 14th in 11 matches since the start of the year – no player in 2018 has netted as many across the top five European Leagues in all competitions.

His four goals against Leicester City on Saturday has led to renewed FPL interest, a further 88,000+ purchases making him the second most popular buy ahead of Gameweek 28 despite the hectic and tricky schedule to come.

If Jesus is fit to face the Latics, Aguero – who has played from start to finish in the six league matches since Jesus was injured and played 86 minutes last night – could finally be handed a breather.

Similarly, the return of Sane and form of Bernardo Silva could also allow Guardiola to manage Raheem Sterling’s minutes, given that the England international has been involved in every league match since Gameweek 10.

Even the prospect of a blank in Gameweek 31 if City beat Wigan doesn’t seem to be deterring investment in the side’s major players, with Kevin De Bruyne also among the top five for transfers-in this week.

The Belgian produced yet another assist – he has a league-leading 16 domestically – when his near-post corner was headed home by Ilkay Gundogan to open the scoring in Basel.

Bernardo Silva doubled the lead, and Gundogan concluded the rout in the second-half when he curled home from an Aguero assist.

Guardiola made just two changes from the team that demolished Leicester 5-1, as Vincent Kompany and Fabian Delph returned to the starting XI, with Aymeric Laporte dropping to the bench and Oleksandr Zinchenko missing out.

City’s defence has been fragile of late, the clean sheet in Switzerland decidedly welcome for a unit that has managed just one shut-out across the last six matches in the league.

That has prompted sales in Nicolas Otamendi – only two players have been sold more than the 42,000+ managers who have moved him on ahead of Gameweek 28.

The centre-half played last night and has missed just one league match all season. Given that he has started 16 of the last 17 in all competition – and a run of eight straight matches – it would be a major surprise if he’s not rested for the Wigan tie at the very least.

City’s form is now so irresistible that even forthcoming fixtures with Arsenal and Chelsea and the team’s heavy workload are not dissuading Fantasy managers from holding on to, or even investing in, most of their key assets at present.

Last night’s emphatic victory at least offers up a window for rotation during what remains an otherwise complex and packed period.