Preview of Tottenham vs Burnley Premier League Battle
By Aaron Coe
Players to Watch Tottenham & Burnley
In terms of players to watch it should start with both goal keepers. Hugo Lloris has had a dip in form this season that has coincided with Spurs slide. While Lloris is not alone in his drop in overall play as the goalkeeper any mistake is greatly magnified. Lloris will be much busier than Joe Hart was midweek in Europa League.
After the press conference incident Nick Pope has to be thinking a bit. Was his head turned by the idea of Tottenham wanting to transfer for him. What did he think about journalist throwing out a figure like 50 million – kind of obscene for a keeper? What did Pope think about the beer and chips comment? Pope might not have thought one second about any of it or he might have. We may not know until we see how he performs on Sunday afternoon.
The other players to really keep an eye on in this match are the Tottenham fullbacks.
Presumably after playing last weekend but not midweek Sergio Reguilón will be back at left fullback. Additionally, Serge Aurier has been practicing for a bit and should be available. Aurier and Reguilón are not the two best fullbacks in the world but they are better than Doherty and Davies.
Reguilón provides a much more dynamic presence moving forward with his pace and aggressiveness with the ball. Ben Davies is more of a position oriented overlapping fullback, Reguilón is a free flying risk taker.
Likewise Serge Aurier provided a more end line to end line presence than does Matt Doherty. This is particularly true on the defensive end where Aurier has been known to stick his nose in. Like Reguilón, Aurier also provides a bit more pop going forward as he both has more pace and a greater willingness to use it than does Doherty.
Regardless of who the two center-halves for Spurs are, they should both look better with Reguilón and Aurier on either side of them.