The Big e-Spurs Preview: Everton vs. Tottenham

Spurs make the journey to Merseyside having finished last season on a negative note and head coach Mauricio Pochettino will be keen to ensure that they do not suffer a hangover from losing second place to Arsenal in May.

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Everton vs Tottenham Hotspur - Venue: Goodison Park, Liverpool.

Last season, we enjoyed our best season in the top flight for 26 years but the campaign ended on a sour note as we conceded second place to North London rivals Arsenal on the last day of the season.

Pochettino will be keen to take all of the positives from an excellent nine-month period for the club, but getting so near to gaining the bragging rights over the bitter enemies and missing out will need to be put firmly behind us.

A trip to Everton is not the ideal fixture to try to show that there are no long-lasting effects but Pochettino will see it as a chance to hit the ground running and show that Spurs can build on their exploits from last year.


The Opposition

Full name: Everton Football Club
Nickname(s): The Toffees, The Blues
Founded: 1878; 138 years ago
(as St. Domingo Football Club)
Ground: Goodison Park
Capacity: 39,572
Owner(s): Farhad Moshiri (49.90%)
Bill Kenwright (12.16%) Jon Woods (8.90%)
Other Shareholders: (29.04%)
Chairman: Bill Kenwright
Manager: Ronald Koeman
League: Premier League
2015–16: Premier League, 11th
Website: Club home page

The Last 5 - Everton

Premier League - Everton 3-0 Norwich
Premier League - Sunderland 3-0 Everton
Premier League - Leicester 3-1 Everton
Premier League - Everton 2-1 Bournemouth
FA Cup - Everton 1-2 Manchester United

The Last 5 - Tottenham

ICC - Tottenham 6-1 Inter Milan
ICC - Tottenham 0-1 Atletico Madrid
ICC - Juventus 2-1 Tottenham
Premier League - Newcastle 5-1 Tottenham
Premier League - Tottenham 1-2 Southampton


The e-Spurs Podcast says.....

Jason's View @e_spursthailand

I hope you’ve all managed to download and listen to our season opening pod, and since recording, so much has changed at Everton as it tends to at many clubs at this stage of the season.

John Stones has moved on, Ashley Williams has joined, Bolassie is about to, and who knows what else will happen before the match day registration deadline. The Stones deal does now seem to have been straight cash, rather than including Wilfried Bony, but as I write this, maybe he too will have joined by the weekend.

We ourselves have plenty going on as well with the resignations of Mitchell & Mackenzie, both senior figures in our player recruitment department, and both known allies of Poch. The fact these resignations don’t seem a surprise hopefully means plans are well underway to replace them, and Poch himself is comfortable with the departures. Nkoudou is yet to sign, N’Jie hasn’t departed, but hopefully the dispute now with Marseille can be eventually settled. Why does it always seem to be us that end up in these long drawn out saga’s, albeit this time as the innocent party by all accounts.

Bentaleb & Chadli remain at the club, there appears to be no strong link with Nabil, but rumours of a Swansea bid for Chadli. I presume this itself depends on the Nkoudou deal going through. As always, it will be good to get to the end of the month so we know exactly who has who in each of the club squads. Predictions on league placings until that time are very difficult.

The new season kick off with what looks on paper a tough opening day fixture, any away day is tough on the opening day, and despite their lowly position last year, most of us would agree they underachieved, and indeed have a squad that really should see them in the 10-6th positions. Whilst it looks tough, the actual fixture is our most successful away premier league fixture, P24, W8, D11, L5. However, only 1 of the 8 wins has been by more than a one goal margin, so it’s usually a tight game as well.

Our only real decision to make is who replaces Mousa Dembele in these opening 4 games, and almost certainly, we will see Wanyama come into midfield. The Dier, Wanyama base in midfield looks incredibly strong, but we’ll also miss Mousa’s ability to receive the ball under pressure, and drive on through midfield.

The other selection worry is who will partner Toby. Jan’s Euro injury has ruled him out of any pre-season games, and Kevin Wimmer having signed a new contract at the end of last season has also been missing from all our pre-season games. Cameron Carter-Vickers has played throughout and has impressed against experienced strikers such as Torres & Icardi. It may well be that he will make his debut and the physical challenge that Lukaku offers will be a new experience for him. Let’s hope he copes, and also Lukaku has one of his days that the game just seems to drift past him.

Janssen, I’m sure will start, particularly away, from the bench, but I’m sure we’ll see him at some stage, particularly if we have to chase the game.

We have a settled team, a very good team, hungry to at the very least repeat last season, and I’m sure to push for even more. Many experienced disappointing Euro’s, which should increase the hunger to prove once again they are quality players, and of course Pochettino himself has spent the summer wanting to “smash the players in the face” following that awful last day at Newcastle.

It’s important to pick up results quickly, we don’t want to wait until match day 5 to pick up that first win, and be the first of the big clubs to be the club under pressure in the media. I don’t think we will have to wait that long, and am actually confident enough to predict a 2-0 opening day win!

Enjoy the game, COYS!.


The Stat Attack

- Kane is on the current longest run of consecutive appearances in the Premier League without missing a game for his team (68).

- No Premier League team has lost more games on the opening weekend than Spurs (9) – level with West Ham.

- Tottenham ended the 2015-16 campaign with two successive losses – they’ve not lost three Premier League games in a row since November 2012.

Teams News - Everton

New Everton manager Ronald Koeman will be without Ashley Williams, despite having signed for the club this week.

Romelu Lukaku may miss out after having treatment on a heel injury this week and Seamus Coleman is also a doubt.

Teams News - Tottenham

Spurs go into this one with pretty much a full strength squad available. Jan Vertonghen trained this week and should feature at some point and re-join Toby Alderweireld at the heart of the defence.

Mousa Dembele serves the first of a four game ban picked up against Chelsea last season. Victor Wanyama will make his debut.

Our prediction: Everton 0-1 Tottenham

Let us know your thoughts on tonight's game including prediction and scorers below!



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