Team News and Expected Line-up vs Leicester City - 26/12/2014

Tottenham are still looking to put in a complete performance in the Premier League (outside of the early QPR game) and they head to the East Midlands looking to do just that. Leicester City sit dead last in the premier league table, and Spurs will enter the King Power Stadium with all three points on their mind.

Recent Form

The Foxes are on a major skid. They are losers of their last five Premier League matches, and have gone winless since September 21 when they stunned Manchester United. Since that magical game, Leicester have been outscored by their opponents by a score of 21-6. The newly promoted side have only grabbed 10 points from 17 games and look like a legitimate threat to be relegated. In their only non-league clash, the Foxes were knocked out of the Capital One Cup by League Two outfit Shrewsbury Town.

Spurs on the other hand, have not lost in the Premier League since being trounced by Chelsea on December 3. They have seen their recent form surge win a dramatic win over Swansea, a C.O.C thrashing of Newcastle United, and a nice win last time out against Burnley. With two difficult fixtures upcoming for Tottenham, this game against LCFC is a must-win.

What They Said

Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino says that you can’t judge Leicester by their record: “It is a very good team, they have very good players. They are no easy games in the Premier League, and I expect a tough game.”

Centre defender Jan Vertonghen on the team’s form: “We feel very confident so if everyone continues like this then we can win at Leicester. Burnley played well on Saturday but we defended well and didn’t give them too many chances. They scored an amazing goal in the first half but for the rest of the game we didn’t give them too much in terms of clear opportunities. We need to continue winning at Leicester – we have to keep the run going.”

Striker Roberto Soldado on the upcoming festive schedule: “We’re close to United in the table and a win at Leicester will be good for our confidence.

For the moment, we are only thinking about trying to win our game on Boxing Day and then we’ll look at United and Chelsea.”

French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris knows the importance of the games in the holiday period: “It will be very important to get the three points away before we play two big games at home. We know we are capable of getting a good result at Leicester. Now we need to enjoy the Christmas period with all our families and get some more positive energy before we go there.”

Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson won’t be watching this game from the touchline as he is suspended. Here is his reaction: ”I decided to go along to the personal hearing, which intrigued me to see how it went, so we'll get on with it now. I’ve been overwhelmed by the level of support from within the game. From managers, players, ex-colleagues and members of the media, it has been overwhelming. I would like to thank everyone who has given me that moral support.”

Tottenham supporters know a thing or two about their coach bouncing between the stands and the touchline. You be the judge as to if Pearson is telling the truth when he says, “I was going upstairs again anyway so it fits in quite well. It is what it is, I can't do anything about it now. It is time to put the subject to bed, the ruling has been made on me and as always I will take it for what it is and move on."

Head to Head

Spurs haven’t faced Leicester in nearly eight years. The last time these two squared off, LCFC walked away 3-2 winners in an FA Cup tie in early 2006.

Overall, in 90 matches played, Spurs have gotten a result 66% of the time, walking out of the stadium victorious on 42 occasions. In their travels to Leicester, Spurs have a 22-6-17 mark.

LCFC Players to Watch

Inter Milan legend Esteban Cambiasso has traded the famous black and blue stripes of Inter for the blue of Leicester City. The Argentine midfielder has bagged two goals so far this campaign, good enough for second best among the Foxes.

Fellow Argentine Leonard Ulloa has six goals and leads the team. Leicester City as a whole, have only scored 15 goals across all competitions this season.

Game Plan

Like Burnley before, Leicester cannot match the skill and talent of Spurs. If Spurs come out and dictate the play the way they did in the majority of the first half against Burnley, Tottenham should come away winners. The patented Pochettino pressure was there from the start and the likes of Lamela, Kane, and Eriksen were flying all over the pitch. Spurs saw most of the possession and looked very comfortable going forward, testing what Burnley would give them, and ultimately, they bagged a few goals.

Of course, there have been times when Tottenham have come out uninterested and lackadaisical. Sometimes, it looked like it took an opposition goal to awaken them. Hopefully, those days are behind us as Poch seems to be finding his ideal starting XI and the players are buying in.

Team News

Midfielder Ryan Mason turned his ankle in the first half against Burnley but is a possibility for this one. With so many important games coming, expect him to rest up.

Possible Line Up

Lloris; Walker, Fazio, Vertonghen, Davies; Bentaleb, Dembélé, Eriksen, Chadli, Lamela; Kane.

 

I have a good feeling about this game. Leicester keeper Schmeichel is still out with an injury, and from what I have seen, his replacement Ben Hamer hasn't been performing too well. Hoping for a 0-2 or 0-3 win.

A bit of reading for anyone interested - featured article on whoscored.com :
http://www.whoscored.com/Articles/p...an-Eriksen-Fulfilling-his-Potential-for-Spurs

 

With the Man Utd game only 2 days later expect key players such as Kane being rested for the Leicester game.

 

The "second" team will be suited up for Foxes featuring likes of Adebayor and Paulinho. Vlad will play right fullback and Lennon will start to help him out.
There will be no dominant performance ( for some reason called "complete" in this article) as Poch will have to keep his aces out of his stock of cards for MU game

 

Be interesting to see the starting line up, which could be anyones guess ! Wouldn't be surprised to see an unexpected spurs team here but hope we play our best eleven as i dont want to miss out on the three points with Man U and Chelski up next. We do have a big talented squad and its there for just this sort of fixture. The Foxes will fight like mad but unless they get really lucky, or we have an off day, we should win. Coys

 

The danger is if players direct their focus on the ManU game - going into that game with a loss or draw with LCFC would not bode well for team confidence.

 

Every game is important and should be treated as such. Fact is were more likely to take points from Leicester than we are Utd and Chavs so we should be all out for the 3 points today then if worse case scenario we lose to both the latter 2 we will have at least got the maximum for today.
I would be inclined to put offensive teams out against Leicester and Utd to exploit their weakness then put a strong defensive side out against Chavs.
A good result today will carry good momentum into the next 2 tests so I expect Poch to put out the best team available.

 

It is ridiculous to think we are good enough or in a strong enough position to rest players against any team in this league right now. I'm not expecting anything more than 4 points from the next three games and that's bearing in mind we will get leathered off Chelsea. Get the 3 points off the foxes to start with and
then focus on man utd which we are capable of winning. Chelsea then becomes a free hit. By all means if we get a couple in front today pull one or two off yeah I can understand that but leave people out no way. Big chance for dembele to save his career today with mason sidelined. Just wonder if we could 442 these today with lloris walker fazio Davies lennon dembele bentaleb chadli Kane sodado

 

Big Fran all this talk about not resting players then you put out a team with only ten men?

 

4 1 2 1 2

lloris

Walker
Vertonghen
Fazio
Davies

Bentaleb

Lennon
Chadli

Eriksen

Soldado
Kane

 

Great spot on the ball as always no Nat's ha ha JV at centre half then I reckon!!

 

Massive statement leaving dembele out completely. Half fit mason even on bench ahead of him. Played his
last game for spurs. Gutted!