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Five keys to Tottenham topping Wolves in the Premier League

By Aaron Coe

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 01: Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on March 1, 2020. (Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 01: Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on March 1, 2020. (Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images) /
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LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 16: Dele Alli of Tottenham Hotspur gets past Leander Dendoncker of Wolverhampton Wanderers during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on May 16, 2021, in London, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 16: Dele Alli of Tottenham Hotspur gets past Leander Dendoncker of Wolverhampton Wanderers during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on May 16, 2021, in London, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /

Offensive keys for Tottenham v Wolves

Trying to take advantage of the vertical space between the defense and the goalkeeper is one of the two main areas to try and attack the Wolves likely 3-4-3 formation. The other place to look to find some space is in the corners.

Can Tottenham stretch the Wolves’ defense?

One of the advantages of three center halves in the back is the ability to prevent a lot of balls from getting clean looks in the box. A compact group of defenders can make finding a clear target extremely difficult. However, the way to beat this is to get the defenders to move off their spot and get out of their cover positions in front of the goal.

Outside of getting behind the defenders over the top the best way to move them off their spot is attacking the corners of the pitch where the backs have to defend in space. If Lucas Moura and Steven Bergwijn can get the ball wide in the attacking third they should be favored when running at the Wolves defense.

Even better, Tottenham can get multiple players on the wings in the attack, forcing those backs to not only defend the ball but extra space well outside the mouth of the goal. If the Lilywhites can stretch the Wolves’ defense both vertically with the long ball and horizontally by attacking the corners they can create space in the box.

Can the Spurs get some service, please?

One of the better sights during the preseason for Tottenham offensively was the return of the cross. Under Jose Mourinho, Tottenham has reduced their volume of crossing leaving Kane hungry for more service, despite his goal-scoring tally.

During the preseason this had seemingly changed as Tottenham was getting the ball wide and more importantly getting the ball served into the box with a number of crosses.  However, last week against Manchester City the crosses were few and far between as Tottenham managed just a dozen crosses and three of those were corner kicks according to whoscored.com.

Whether Kane plays or not, Tottenham needs to put the ball into the box more often to create more opportunities for good things to happen offensively. Even better, they get some attempts on target off the crosses because there is more space from the defense responding to the ball out on the wings.

Some of the best Tottenham teams under Mauricio Pochettino, like the recent Liverpool Premier League Championship team, were crossing machines. If you get the ball in the box, good things can happen.

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