World Cup heroes could hinder Tottenham’s start yet again
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Spurs have been slow out of the blocks
Nobody is really talking about Tottenham Hotspur this summer.
While the rest of the Premier League’s big-six have hogged the headlines for varying reasons, Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs have flown under the radar.
But they haven’t made a single signing this summer, while the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal have invested heavily in the off-season. This could be a difficult campaign for Spurs.
World Cup won’t help Poch
Pochettino had a heap of key players at the World Cup. Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Keiran Trippier and Eric Dier were with England, while Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen were with Belgium.
Both those nations played the full seven matches and aren’t in pre-season with the main squad yet.
That puts Spurs significantly on the back foot with the new campaign rapidly approaching.
And that’s a concern for the North London outfit, given they’ve shown a trend in recent years for starting seasons slowly.
Spurs’ stuttering starts
In 2014-15 they won only three of their opening nine matches. It was the same a year later. In 2015-16 they improved, but still only won five of their first 11 games.
Last season again showed a slight improvement, Spurs won six of their first nine games.
But across the last four seasons, Spurs have averaged only 17.75 points from the first 30 points available.
That equates to 67.45 points over a full campaign, which is nowhere near a title challenge and often isn’t enough for a top-four finish.
And with competition between the top-six set to be tighter than ever, any dropped points early on are likely to prove hugely costly at the end of the season.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
