Tottenham: Matches to Come More Important than Losses

Tottenham Hotspur are in a mini slide during a busy stretch; however, it will be the next four matches that determine how successful Spurs were in this run of games.

Tottenham Hotspur knew that the course of 13 matches from late November to early January was going to have a major impact on the season. With just four matches left in that stretch, the jury is still out on what that impact will be. How Tottenham perform over the next 10 days will go a long way to determining how success is defined this season.

Tough Stretch on Three Fronts

Tottenham Hotspur started what is likely to be the busiest part of their season with a win over Manchester City, just one month ago. Although, it seems ages ago now, that started a stretch of 13 games in 43 days across three different competitions. That win was the start of a good run to begin this stretch of 13 games as Tottenham took care of business in Europa League and pushing along in the Premier League.

Europa League

Since that Manchester City match-up Tottenham have played three games in Europa League to finish out the Group Stage. Tottenham took 7 points from those three matches, winning both at home and drawing LASK in Austria.

The final victory over Royal Antwerp avenged Spurs only loss during the Group Stage and took Tottenham to the top of the group. Winning the group certainly benefited Tottenham as they drew Wolfsberger in what should be a winnable match-up. Europa League is currently done until February when the round of 32 matchup with Wolfsberger is set to run.

Up and Down in the League

Nine of the 13 games for Tottenham in this busy stretch are part of the Premier League season. With 38 games all season and only nine matches played in nearly three months prior this is clearly a critical stretch representing nearly ¼ of the season.

Tottenham started well with the win over City and were buoyed by the draw at Stamford Bridge where Spurs felt maybe they could have won. Follow those two matches up with a win over archrival Arsenal and suddenly things are looking great. 7 points from a major run and Spurs were up to the top of the league.

Then came the draw at Palace, which has been followed by consecutive losses at Liverpool and home to Leicester City. Suddenly what looked great just a week or so earlier is looking a bit cloudy, with 1 point from the last nine available. All told Spurs have taken 8 points from the last 18, which is only a pace for 50 a season.

However, if you look at that schedule of games, it has been a tough run. While every game in the league is difficult, Tottenham are about to enter a more winnable stretch and it begins with their third front in the Carabao Cup.