The Premier League is back. After six long weeks of waiting, the action kicks off again on Boxing Day with a derby visit from Tottenham Hotspur to the Gtech Community Stadium.
Spurs fill the final Champions League spot heading to TW8 while victory would move Thomas Frank’s Bees up to seventh in the Premier League table and make it a very happy Christmas.
THE OPPOSITION
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur spent well in the summer. Spurs chair Daniel Levy has often been reluctant to loosen the club’s purse strings, but that mindset seems to have been altered somewhat.
Over £170 million was shelled out to bring in Richarlison from Everton, Yves Bissouma from Brighton, Djed Spence from Middlesbrough, Cristian Romero from Atalanta and Destiny Udogie from Udinese. Fraser Forster and Ivan Perisic joined on free transfers, Clement Lenglet joined on loan from Barcelona and Dejan Kulusevski has another season to run on his 18-month loan from Juventus.
Conte pulled no punches when he said the team he inherited was “poor”, but after starting this season with a 4-1 win over Southampton, that certainly did not seem to be the case any longer.
That victory saw Spurs rocket to the top of the table, but though they lost just one of their opening 11 – which came, typically, against rivals and runaway leaders Arsenal – the form of those around them kept them down in third.
The month before the World Cup break put that at risk, though. In their five most recent games, they lost to Manchester United, Newcastle and Liverpool, while late winners from Rodrigo Bentancur saw them just about see off Bournemouth and Leeds in games that will have been thrilling for the neutral, yet nerve-jangling for fans.
Of course, statistics can be manipulated, but you would imagine tightening up at the back will be a particular focus in the new year. Spurs only conceded 40 league goals in 38 games last season, but this term, they have shipped 21 in 15 already – the highest figure of the current top eight – versus an expected goals against figure of 18.07. They have only kept six clean sheets in 23 games in all competitions, too.
Then again, they are also the third-highest scorers in the division with 31, behind only Arsenal (33) and Manchester City (40).
Naturally, Harry Kane has played a key role on that front. He had netted 12 league goals before the break, second only to Erling Haaland, and is now just 65 goals away from equalling Alan Shearer’s Premier League record of 260.
What remains to be seen is how Kane will bounce back from his heart-breaking penalty miss for England against France in the World Cup quarter-final just a few weeks ago.
Having been knocked out of the Carabao Cup in November, the Premier League is the sole focus for the time being, with an FA Cup third-round clash with Portsmouth not until 7 January and a two-month wait until the two-legged Champions League last-16 affair against AC Milan.
They have prepared for their return with friendlies against Motherwell and OGC Nice, but now comes the first competitive test for six weeks.
THE GAMEPLAN
With Sky Sports journalist Declan Olley
Declan Olley of Sky Sports assesses Spurs player to watch in Hot off the Press: “Dejan Kulusevski returned to the starting line-up against Leeds for the first time since September and made a massive difference as he superbly assisted Rodrigo Bentancur’s late winner.
"The 22-year-old is vitally important to this Spurs side - his directness and creativity was sorely missed in his two-month absence due to a hamstring injury. Tottenham fans will be hoping he stays fit for the rest of the season.”
TEAM NEWS
Thomas Frank's pre-match press conference
Christian Norgaard is fit to start while Pontus Jansson is also back in contention. The game comes just too soon for Aaron Hickey, Thomas Strakosha (both ankle) and Kristoffer Ajer (hamstring) who are all closing in on a return.
Antonio Conte has plenty to juggle with a host of Spurs players going deep in the World Cup. Richarlison (hamstring) and Rodrigo Bentancur (suspension) are both out, along with Lucas Moura (tendon).
Hugo Lloris and Cristian Romero, who both played every minute in last Sunday’s final, won’t make Monday’s game, although Lloris could be named on the bench.
Ivan Perisic has trained with the squad following Croatia’s third-place finish. Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son are both expected to feature at the Gtech following their exploits in Qatar, with Ben Davies and Djed Spence also back following illness.
THE BOSS
Antonio Conte
Antonio Conte brought Champions League football back to N17 in his first season in charge and now the Spurs hierarchy are hoping he can also bring an end to their 14-year wait for a major piece of silverware.
The majority of Conte's playing career was spent at Juventus where he made 418 appearances in 13 years. While at the heart of the Juve midfield, he won five league titles, four Italian Super Cups, the Champions League, UEFA Cup, Italian Cup, Intertoto Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, and the Intercontinental Cup. He also earned 20 caps for Italy, scoring twice, and helping his nation to the 1994 World Cup Final and the 2000 European Championships final.
After retirement in 2004, he was assistant manager at Siena before becoming head coach at Arezzo. Despite relegation during his first season in charge, Serie B side Bari appointed him as head coach in December 2007. He led them away from relegation during his first six months in charge and the following season they were crowned Serie B Champions. He left that summer, joining Atalanta and Siena before eventually landing the Juve job in May 2011.
He led Juve to the title in all three of his seasons in charge, picking up two Italian Super Cups as well, before becoming Italian national team coach. As coach of the Azzurri, he won 14 of his 25 games in charge, reaching the quarter-finals of the 2016 European Championships, joining Chelsea immediately following the tournament. Conte won the Premier League during his first season in England and added an FA Cup the following year, with a ninth Serie A title coming with Inter Milan in May 2021.
OPPOSITION VIEW
Antonio Conte told the media on Friday: “Playing against Brentford last season was really difficult because we are talking about a team who are really strong physically and really good at set-pieces. We have to pay great attention because it is a strange situation.
“It is a strange situation and honestly to play so quickly after the World Cup, I am not really happy. I think all the managers think like me but at the same time to play at the Christmas period, I know is an exciting moment for the fans and the country. For us, less because we have to live with this type of situation. This season is much more difficult than previous seasons”
LAST MEETING
Brentford 0 Tottenham Hotspur 0 (Premier League, 23 April 2022)
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: David Coote
Assistants: Nick Hopton and Timothy Wood
Fourth official: Gavin Ward
VAR: Stuart Attwell
Assistant VAR: Harry Lennard
Nottinghamshire FA referee David Coote will be the man in charge on Boxing Day.
Coote, the son of former Nottinghamshire CCC batsman David Edward Coote, started refereeing as a 16-year-old, working his way up from the Notts Alliance League to the Conference North, before his promotion to the Football League list in 2010.
In May 2014, he was the referee for the League One play-off final at Wembley between Leyton Orient and Rotherham United and took charge of his first Premier League game in April 2018.
We have lost just five of the 19 games which he has officiated, with seven wins and seven draws. The most memorable of those was our 2-1 win over Fulham in November 2014, the 1-1 draw at Millwall in September 2020 which saw Ivan Toney score his first goal, and last season’s 2-2 draw at Leeds United.
Tottenham Hotspur 22/23
149 fouls – 11th in Premier League
26 yellow cards – ninth in Premier League
1 red card – fourth-most in Premier League