Tottenham have been the butt of jokes these past few years because of their relatively bare trophy cabinet, compared to their peers. They have come so close to winning a couple of them, but luck hasn’t been on their side.
And the one piece of silverware that has eluded them for a long time is the Premier League trophy, since their last win in the English top-flight dates back to 1961, when it was not even yet named the Premier League.
With Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa, and Manchester United in their way, the pre-season Premier League 2024 odds do not envision the Spurs competing for the domestic trophy this upcoming season.
However, what they can do is to be in position to pounce on the opportunity just in case one of the top contenders slip up.
Learn more about the Spurs’ 2024-25 outlook by reading our SBOTOP preview below.
How the 2023-24 season went
When the Spurs appointed Ange Postecoglou to be their new head coach, many were skeptical with his coaching credentials because this was his first foray in Europe’s top five leagues.
But many didn’t know that before he moved to North London, Big Ange is a serial winner, as he was coming off a productive stint at Celtic, winning back-to-back Scottish Premierships and League Cups and won one Scottish Cup.
Postecoglou showed just that in his first 10 Premier League matches last season. Tottenham were cooking at the time, scoring goals left and right en route to recording eight wins and two draws to momentarily claim the top spot in the standings.
However, the law of averages has caught up to them as the season went on. Since losing 4-1 to Chelsea in early November, the Spurs never won a game until mid-December against Nottingham Forest. They also exited early in the EFL and FA Cups.
While going up from eighth to fifth is a marked improvement for Tottenham, they still missed out on their main objective of returning to the Champions League, especially after their lacklustre stretch of Premier League 2024 results towards the end of the campaign.
Health is wealth for Tottenham
Tottenham’s hot start eventually fizzled out as the injuries started to pile up, exposing their lack of depth.
The first major casualty for Spurs was James Maddison, who was on a roll during their unbeaten run. Maddison had to sit out for at least three months after rupturing his ankle ligaments in their loss to Chelsea in November.
And when he returned at the end of January, Maddison failed to recapture his early season form, although he still managed to finish the 2023-24 campaign with four goals and nine assists in all competitions.
Many argue that if he stayed healthy throughout the year, the Spurs would’ve been in better shape and Maddison could’ve been called up to the English national team during the Euros this summer.
Rodrigo Bentancur was another Tottenham midfielder that was bit by the injury bug, so as centre-back Micky van de Ven.
The Uruguayan international missed the first nine matches of the 2023-24 season while recovering from a torn ACL, and when he returned to the starting lineup on November, Bentancur sustained an ankle injury that sidelined him for another six matches.
Micky van de Ven, on the other hand, suffered a major hamstring injury in that fateful November night against Chelsea, although he returned to Postecoglou’s rotation in January after missing nine matches.
However, like Maddison and Bentancur, van de Ven didn’t look the same throughout the rest of the campaign.
If Tottenham are going to succeed this upcoming season, it’ll be likely on the back of a healthier 2024-25 campaign for all of their key players.
Spurs have been fairly busy in the transfer market
One way to address their depth issues is to shore up their ranks via the transfer market, and that’s what Tottenham did this summer.
The Spurs extended Timo Werner’s loan deal from RB Leipzig to one more season, and they signed youngsters Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall.
But the biggest move they’ve done so far is acquiring Dominic Solanke via a whopping £65 million transfer fee.
Solanke was one of the league’s top scorers last season, as he tallied 19 goals and three assists for Bournemouth to help maintain their top-flight status.
With Solanke, Richarlison, Dejan Kulusevski, Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner, and team captain Heung-Min Son in tow, Tottenham have one of the deepest attacking corps in the Premier League, giving Ange Postecoglou a lot to work with and the fans a lot of optimism.
●●●
CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE FOOTBALL STORIES & ODDS
Stay updated with everything sports and betting.
Follow us on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
