Tottenham Hotspur are finally back in action again this weekend, welcoming North London rivals Arsenal in an absolutely huge clash.
It’s been nearly two weeks since Tottenham suffered an absolute nightmare away at Newcastle United.
Spurs were smashed 4-0 at St James’ Park and it felt like Tottenham could do nothing right on the day.
Tottenham had no fixture last weekend, so Ange Postecoglou will have had more than a fortnight to stew over that defeat.
This game is huge for both teams and not just because of the bitter rivalry between the clubs.
Arsenal need the points to continue their push for the Premier League title and Tottenham simply have to win in order to put pressure on Aston Villa.
Tottenham fans will hope that this two-week break has given Postecoglou the time to come up with some answers and with a gameplan to beat Arsenal.
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Jamie Carragher on Tottenham break
The break could go either way.
Maybe Postecoglou has welcomed the break, allowing him to really think about Tottenham’s setup and potentially tweak his approach to face Arsenal.
The flip side is that Tottenham could be rusty – and that is what Jamie Carragher fears this weekend.
Carragher has told Stick to Football that he thinks Arsenal will end up leaving with a 2-1 victory on Sunday afternoon.
Carragher’s big concern over Tottenham is the gap between fixtures, believing that the two-week break isn’t a good thing at all.
The ex-Liverpool defender is concerned about Tottenham not being match-ready – especially for such an intense derby.
“I think Arsenal win it,” said Carragher. “Tottenham haven’t played for a long time. Tottenham haven’t played for two weeks or 10 days or something? I don’t think that’s a good thing, that – I’ll go 2-1 Arsenal,” he added.
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Tottenham need to recapture post-Fulham spirit
Tottenham have been in a somewhat similar situation recently.
The 3-0 defeat at Fulham in March came just before Tottenham players headed off on the international break and spent nearly two weeks away from the club.
Tottenham returned from the international break with a victory, beating Luton 2-1 at home to get right back on track.
Yes, Tottenham players were able to stay sharp whilst playing with their countries, but hitting back with a victory was absolutely paramount after a damaging away defeat.
Here we are again with Spurs looking to recover from another away day shocker, only this time the stakes are even higher.
Let’s hope that Tottenham can replicate that ‘bouncebackability’ and come away with a huge three points on Sunday afternoon.
