English Premier League Preview – Tottenham Hotspur

We at 32 Flags are previewing every team in the English Premier League, two teams a day until the beginning of the season. Get ready as we preview your favorite team or maybe we can help you pick a team to root for if you are undecided so far. Today, we’re covering Tottenham Hotspur.

Tottenham Hotspur

Founded – 1882

Last Year Position – 6th place

Transfers In (As of 8/14) – Ben Davies (Swansea City, £8m plus swap), Michel Vorm (Swansea City, £4.5m), Eric Dier (Sporting Lisbon, £4m)

Transfers Out (As of 8/14) – Jake Livermore (Hull City, £8m), Iago Falque (Genoa, £4m), Heurelho Gomes (Watford), Lawrence Vigouroux, Kevin Stewart (Both Liverpool), Darren McQueen (Ipswich Town), Gylfi Sigurdsson (Swansea City, swap), Grant Hall (Birmingham City, Loan), Alex Pritchard (Brentford, Loan), Kenny McEvoy (Peterborough United, Loan), Shaquile Coulthirst (Southend United, Loan), Jordan Archer (Northampton Town, Loan)

Projected Finish (Voted among 32 Flags staff) – 6th place

Rivalries –  Arsenal and Chelsea

Famous Supporters – Steve Nash, Jerry Springer, Adele, Simon Mayo, Pierce Brosnan, Bryan Adams, Phil Collins and countless more

Spurs earned the most points it ever has in the EPL, but it just goes to show you how competitive the top of the league is—because its record 69 points earned them a sixth place finish. After reaching the Champions League in the 2010/11 season, the club has not been back. That’s the goal in 2014/15, but it will take a lot for this club to obtain that goal.

It’s sixth in wages among the EPL clubs and the gulf between them and the top is pretty wide. However, this team did manage to pull through one of the most tumultuous seasons in recent history to earn European football once again.

New manager Maurico Pochettino has instilled some confidence in his squad and its preseason has been less crazy than last, especially on the transfer market. The question is, will Pochettino’s double and sometimes triple training sessions pay off for a team with top 4 aspirations? 

One ace in the hole seems to be the return of a healthy Eric Lamela in a creative midfield role. He really never got going after a series of injuries and bad form coming in to the 2013/14 season under former manager Andre Villas-Boas. This preseason he’s been involved in most of the best attacking play Spurs have had, and if that form continues in the EPL…well, Spurs would finally be getting a good return on the club’s record signing.

The main squad doesn’t have a lot of changes, but the hope is the signing of a few new defensive pieces will help ease the main problem Spurs had last season. Its defense was perhaps the worst we’ve seen from the side in many a decade and bringing in Ben Davies from Swansea, along with Eric Dier should help shore things up there.

Will those additions be enough to turn things around and can Pochettino get more out of virtually the same squad from a season ago? If the answers to those questions are yes, then the ambitions of Champions League soccer could be in sight. If not, it may be another season of failed expectations set by Daniel Levy and Co.

About Andrew Coppens

Andy is a contributor to The Comeback as well as Publisher of Big Ten site talking10. He also is a member of the FWAA and has been covering college sports since 2011. Andy is an avid soccer fan and runs the Celtic FC site The Celtic Bhoys. If he's not writing about sports, you can find him enjoying them in front of the TV with a good beer!

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