The fallout of our League Cup loss to Chelsea has been a lot better than previously feared. Many headed into Wednesday night’s game full of pessimism and prepared for defeat, but fair play to the team for picking up a valuable three points.
With every other team above us also winning in midweek, that win keeps us in the hunt for a top four finish. Now we may not be aiming for such an objective (and entered the season without this as a set goal), but with statistically the second easiest run in for the end of the season, we may just surprise a few.
We head to Queens Park Rangers in what is the only piece of Premier League football this weekend, allowing us to fulfil our game in hand. By taking advantage of this, we will leapfrog Southampton into 6th, and move within three points of a UEFA Champions League spot.
However, this game is of great importance to our hosts too. A win for QPR will lift them out of the relegation zone, and ex-Spurs coach Chris Ramsey knows his side are capable of beating the drop. A member of our non-playing staff for ten years, he was the brains of the bunch during Tim Sherwood’s reign in charge here. Under Ramsey, the R’s look far more organised, and ended their away-day curse last month.
Whilst the size of the two clubs is quite considerable, we have only claimed victory at Loftus Road once in the Premier League era. During QPR’s most recent stint in the top flight, we didn’t manage to score in West London, and this is something we’ll be hoping to rectify.
In the reverse fixture back in August, we blitzed the Super Hoops by 4, with Nacer Chadli bagging a memorable double. Times have changed since then, though. Of the 22 that started that day, I expect only 9 or 10 to play from the off this time around. Both squads have undergone rotation to discover their strongest eleven, and whilst QPR’s abandoning of the 3-5-2 will appear more obvious, our changes have been subtle but needed.
In regards to team news, we have a clean bill of health once more, a testament to the physio team and conditioning training this season. For QPR, Joey Barton, Nedum Onouha, Mauricio Isla and Darnell Furlong are expected to miss out. One man who will be taking part is former Spur Sandro. The Brazilian swapped north for west on deadline day, but has struggled with injury since. A fan favourite during his time at White Hart Lane, his injury in this fixture back in 2013 turned out to be a detrimental one, seemingly ruining the last shreds of the true ‘Beast’.
Following Wednesday’s win, I expect Mauricio Pochettino to name the same eleven this weekend. The loveable Argentine seems to be a fan of the momentum gained by these hectic fixture schedules, and we did well to see off the threat of Swansea. Securing out first back-to-back wins since the North London derby would keep us in the chase for a top four finish.
Predicted XI: Lloris; Walker, Dier, Vertonghen, Rose; Bentaleb, Mason; Townsend, Eriksen, Chadli; Kane
Sean Walsh
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