Spurs’ Stoke City Preview

Just as last week, Spurs face off against their Premier League opponents after Leicester City has done their work for the matchday. Spurs could be ten points behind upon Monday’s first whistle.

No matter, though, because there are more immediate grudges to be leveled. More than just about any other side in the Premier League, Stoke City has proven to be a thorn in Mauricio Pochettino’s arrival at the beginning of the last season. He’s failed to take anything more than a point from Mark Hughes’ side in the past three meetings.

That includes one of the most discouraging parts of the beginning part of the season. Spurs had just lost to Manchester United under unfortunate circumstances in the season opener, but clearly felt confident in the first half against the Potters. Eric Dier scored Spurs’ first goal of the season, followed with a second by Nacer Chadli just before halftime.

Were this current incarnation of Pochettino’s side to play after those halftime circumstances, they would inevitably cruise to victory with little to no effort. At the time, though, Spurs had yet to find their rhythm, and a resurgent Stoke City were able to make a shock comeback in the second half that included a penalty conceded by new man Toby Alderweireld.

For matters of league position as well as pride, Pochettino will be anxious to earn his first win at Spurs’ over Stoke City. On paper, that should be decidedly easier than the last time out. Spurs are, of course, second in the Premier League after a wildly successful run through the second half of the season.

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Stoke City, meanwhile, are still experiencing some growing pains. Hughes is attempting to dramatically overhaul the Stoke City of old, infusing the squad with quality players like Bojan Krkic, Xherdan Shaqiri and Giannelli Imbula. This season is chock full of hints that those efforts will pay off, particularly in Stoke’s matches against bigger sides. They not only drew that early match against Spurs, but also beat both Manchester clubs and pulled off more credible draws against Leicester, Arsenal and West Ham.

Unfortunately for the Potters, their record against more modestly sized clubs is not quite so impressive. Despite their record against the big fish, they are still only 9th in the Premier League table and have only one win to their credit in the last five matches.

It’s in Stoke’s last loss, against Liverpool, where Spurs might find some hope of besting their hosts. Jürgen Klopp fielded a weakened side in anticipation for Liverpool’s match against Borussia Dortmund on Thursday, but the mix of first team regulars and backups managed a 4-1 win over their visitors.

They did so by using a classic bit of Klopp’s pressing, but also exploiting Stoke’s weakness in wide areas. Indeed, three of Liverpool’s four goals began from crosses to the wide left or right of Stoke’s penalty box. The full-backs and midfield were either defending too narrowly or too poorly to stop said crosses, and Stoke’s centre-backs were unable to contain Divock Origi or Daniel Sturridge.

The pressing, of course, will come naturally to Spurs. What might be more difficult is exploiting the wider areas of the pitch. With Christian Eriksen and Érik Lamela preferring to drift into the center of the pitch, what width Spurs can create is left to the full-backs. Danny Rose achieves that well from the left, but Kyle Walker’s tendency to drift inside might mean that a Stoke’s weakened left flank will not be exploited to the level it rightfully should. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Kieran Trippier return to action on the right instead.

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Stoke seem to thrive as underdogs, conceding the ball and timing their passes forward onto the feet of Bojan, Shaqiri or Marko Arnautovic. While Spurs are less vulnerable to this kind of reactive play than they once were, there’s enough of a risk that Eric Dier and everyone behind him will have to think twice about pressing too high forward.

In the end, how this match looks on paper should bear out into reality. Spurs have everything to play for – if not the title itself, then certainly a Champions League place – while Europe might be too far out of Stoke’s reach at this point. Expect Pochettino’s boys to come out confident and stay that way.