Key Battles: Bournemouth v Tottenham

Mauricio Pochettino’s primary strategy coming into Sunday’s game against Bournemouth is fairly simple: win.

Tottenham’s September was about as good as anyone could have expected. Three consecutive wins in the Premier League had more than made up for the lackluster series of draws that had begun the season. Pochettino even won Premier League Manager of the Month for his team’s run of success.

October hasn’t been as kind to Pochettino nor the club as a whole. Injuries have coincided with some surprisingly tricky opponents to reduce the club’s output once again to hard-fought draws. Thursday’s Europa League game against Anderlecht actually ended in a surprise loss, leaving the club third in their group.

Newly promoted Bournemouth, then, should offer some welcome respite from these glum outcomes. Eddie Howe’s side can be tricky, but Pochettino can be more confident of his team’s ability to overcome the Cherries than he could the likes of Swansea and Liverpool.

That’s not to suggest that it will be easy. Despite this being the club’s first ever season in the English top flight, Bournemouth have been playing a surprisingly brave game against opponents. If it hasn’t exactly paid off – the club sits 17th, just two points above the relegation zone – it certainly remains admirable.

All that said, no one should expect Bournemouth to attempt to take the game to Tottenham the same way that, say, Manchester City did. They’ll play more responsibly, more tightly and try to catch Tottenham out on breaks from the wings with Matt Richie and Marc Pugh.

It might end up being a game not unlike Tottenham’s week three matchup against Leicester City. In that match, Leicester succeeded in dividing the two halves of Tottenham’s midfield and prevent effective build up play from the central midfield pair. Ryan Mason and Eric Dier played plenty of passes in that game but without the likes of Christian Eriksen dropping deep to receive the ball, most of those passes ended up being lateral ones to the fullbacks.

Thankfully for Spurs, Eriksen should feature from the start Sunday. Combined with the brilliant two-way play of Dele Alli – in for the injured Ryan Mason – Tottenham should be able to overcome any attempt to divide them.

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Considering Bournemouth’s wide threat, whoever starts wide in Tottenham’s attack will need to muster a good amount of defensive discipline and track back when needed. Mousa Dembélé and Érik Lamela should start from the right and left respectively and can be counted on for such play.

Bournemouth have conceded almost two goals per game to the opposition while only scoring barely more than one of their own, a set of figures that suggest that the Cherries might be Tottenham’s easiest opponents yet this season. This game might be Harry Kane’s best chance yet for refinding his form from last term, assuming he can get the service he needs from Eriksen and Lamela.

There are no easy games in the Premier League these days, so a result against Bournemouth is by no means guaranteed. Tottenham should be sure not to underestimate them as it seems they underestimated Anderlecht on Thursday. Concentration will have been the buzzword around the training ground since Thursday, and for good reason. Spurs cannot afford to sacrifice points even at this relatively early stage.

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