Preview of Tottenham Hotspur Trip to Turf Moor Versus Burnley

Tottenham Hotspur make the annual trip to Turf Moor to play Burnley on Monday, so what can we look forward too as Spurs take on the Clarets in Premier League action?

While Tottenham Hotspur are not thrilled with their start to the season, with a couple tough draws and a defeat accompanying two lopsided victories, Burnley has had a truly lousy start to their season. However, as Jose Mourinho has made clear in his pre-match press conferences, if anyone thinks this game will be a walkover, they are sorely mistaken. So, what can we expect as Spurs travel to Turf Moor?

Burnley’s Tough Start

Nothing has quite gone right for Burnley to start the season. For starters Burnley had to start their season a week later than everyone else, as Manchester was given extra time to rest from the previous European season. So, when they were playing their first game, Leicester City were playing their second and it showed, as the Foxes down the Clarets 4-2.

Burnley got out on the front foot and took an early lead in the game by a Chris Wood goal at 10 minutes. However, two Leicester City goals and an own goal later and Burnley was down 3-1 with 30 minutes to go. Both teams scored again, but Burnley have managed only 1 goal in four Premier League games since that second goal against Leicester City.

Following that loss, they lost 0-1 to Southampton who took the lead five minutes in and never relinquished it. The Clarets, lost 3-1 to Newcastle, giving up two goals in the last half hour after tying the match at the hour after trailing for 45 minutes. Last week Burnley drew West Bromwich Albion 0-0, earning them their loan point on the season and likely building some measure of confidence in their defense.

Burnley has taken some 41 shots in their four Premier League games, at just over 10 attempts per match, they are getting shots off. However, the problem is the shots have not been good, as only 14 of the 41 attempts by Burnley have been on target, which is just 34%. Of those 14 on target only 3 have scored, which means Burnley has scored on only 7% of their shots this season.

For comparison, Tottenham have taken 74 shots, with half, 37 being on target and 15 of those 37 scoring goals. That means Tottenham have scored on about 20% of their attempts on target this season. Sure, there have been a lot more chances, but the finishing has just been better.

Tough Match-up for Tottenham

Regardless of how they have been performing, we know Burnley is going to play hard and work to be in the game. The Clarets are not a team to sit back in a deep block and challenge you to unlock them, rather they are going to come at you and take their chances. Averaging nearly 400 passes per game, expect Burnley to fight for the ball and then be direct when they get it. The Clarets average 75 long balls per game, which is about 19% of all their passes. The defense better be ready.

Over the last two seasons, Tottenham have met Burnley four times in league. Spurs have outscored the Clarets 8 to 3 in those four matches, however, the teams drew one, Burnley won one, and Spurs won two. That goals against difference is really skewed by Tottenham’s 5-0 victory last December.  The match where Heung-Min Son scored that goal. Those other three games are split 1-1-1 with three goals scored by each time.

Ultimately, Burnley matches up with Tottenham pretty well and as is the case with many teams Spurs will face, they need to work to take the lead and stretch the field and not allow Burnley to play from the front foot. However, that is the same thing we said last week, and Tottenham did before they surrendered three goals late to West Ham and leaving with a draw.

Tottenham need to take the game seriously, from the opening kickoff until the final minute. If they can do that, Spurs should win, but it will be tough. Here at HotspurHQ, we think it will end up 4-1 in Spurs favor, but the game is much closer than the score. If you are interested here is our Projected XI for Burnley.