Team News, Stats & Expected Line-up - Burnley vs Spurs 05/04/15

Spurs can jump back into 5th position in the Premier League with a win at relegation threatened Burnley on Easter Sunday.

Liverpool’s loss to Arsenal on Saturday means Pochettino’s men can leapfrog them along with Southampton and go 2 points clear in 5th, and 5 points behind Manchester City in the last Champions League spot.

Our last visit to the Clarets’ home was a flat affair as the FA Cup 3rd Round tie ended 1-1 in a dire showing at Turf Moor, although our two clashes with Sean Dyche’s side at White Hart Lane have ended considerably better.

Our 2-1 Premier League in December win came courtesy of goals from Harry Kane and a Premier League first from Erik Lamela, while Danny Rose, Vlad Chiriches, Paulinho and Etienne Capoue rescued a 2-0 deficit in the FA Cup replay in January.

Team News

All 5 of our English Lions returned unscathed after their gleaming international performances against Lithuania and Italy.

Main man Harry Kane struck just 79 seconds after coming off the bench at Wembley, before Andros Townsend’s stunning 3rd goal for his country rescued a point in Turin. Ryan Mason, Danny Rose and Kyle Walker have all returned uninjured, too.

Hugo Lloris remains side-lined with a knee injury which saw him stretchered off the field in the opening stages of our clash with Leicester two weeks ago, meaning Michel Vorm will deputise again, while Roberto Soldado is still likely unavailable.

“Hugo Lloris is still recovering after his problem against Leicester – he is out,” confirmed Mauricio.

“After that, Roberto Soldado is a doubt but we have two days ahead to decide if it’s possible for him to make the squad.”

Opposition View

The Clarets will be desperate to grab just their second win in their last 10 games, but will be buoyed by the fact that their last home outing resulted in a 1-0 victory over League holders Man City.

That was just their 5th point out of a possible 27 but another similar performance would be enough to draw Sunderland into the bottom 3 depending on their Tyne-Wear Derby result.

Only QPR have conceded more goals than the leaky Lancashire outfit, while Aston Villa (20) and Sunderland (23) have scored less than their 26 goals in 30 games.

What They Said

Manager Mauricio Pochettino “We played them in the FA Cup and it was a tough tie. They are a very good team, a strong team and they were well organised on the pitch when we played them before. We have respect for Burnley but we need to get the three points and we need to try to win the game.”

Midfielder Christian Eriksen “Hopefully we’ll have a good day, though. We beat Leicester in our last match so we’ll go into the game with confidence, but we know we can play better than how we did against Leicester so hopefully we’ll pull off another positive result and pick up another win.”

Line-up

Vorm, Walker, Chiriches, Dier, Rose; Bentaleb, Mason; Chadli, Eriksen, Paulinho; Kane (c)

 

With Costa injured, Kane is odds on to be the top scorer in the premier league now and I expect him to bag a brace today.
I believe the top four is now beyond us so finishing the season as strong as possible is needed.

 

Kane is captain today and I think he deserves the honour. He leads by example and will bollock anyone not pulling their weight!

Come on you Spurs!!

 

With Lloris not playing I am surprised not to see Kane playing the dual role of goalkeeper and centre forward.
It will be interesting to see which Spurs team turns up today - the side that thinks it can still get 4th place or the side that thinks the season is already over.