The only undefeated side in the Premier League this season are Tottenham Hotspur, and despite the north Londoners’ impressive start to the new campaign, nobody is giving them any chance of winning their first league title since 1961.
If you look at the latest Premier League odds with the bookies, Spurs are down in fifth in the betting at 10/1; after some impressive displays this season that does look a value price, but according to the UK’s leading odds-compilers, they are completely friendless with the betting public. “If Tottenham win the Premier League title it would be a fantastic result for us and we would get a lot of the Leicester losses back from last year” said a football odds-compiler for a leading bookmaker, but why are Tottenham a team that nobody wants to place their cash on?
Last year Mauricio Pochettino’s side were in the title shake-up throughout the entire season until a total melt-down at Chelsea saw them throw a 2-0 lead away and give the title to Leicester.
Following the battle at Stamford Bridge they were shot mentally; they lost their last two Premier League games at home to Southampton and away at relegated Newcastle to see them finish third in the table, with arch-rivals Arsenal sneaking up on the rails to pinch runners-up spot from them as well.
When the squad needed some relaxation time after an emotionally draining season, Tottenham were one of the most represented Premier League clubs at last summer’s European Championships. Pochettino said that his players returned from their summer’s exploits totally “exhausted”, and for them to be undefeated after nine games is even more of a credit to the fitness regime installed by the gaffer.
There isn’t a player that has ever worked with Pochettino that doesn’t hold him in the highest of regards, and his sides are always the fittest in the top flight. With the extra matches from this season’s Champions League run, he will be hoping that his team don’t run out of gas again at the end of the campaign.
Already this season, Tottenham have produced the best performance to beat Manchester City 2-0 at White Hart Lane, a match where they totally dominated the current Premier League favourites from start to finish; if they can replicate performances like that week in and week out they will go close again.
Last season’s Premier League top goalscorer Harry Kane was one of those players that returned from the summer’s Euros totally exhausted after hardly missing a game for club or country in the last two years.
The England international has been out injured for six weeks of the new season, which is also a much needed rest to recharge his batteries, and the hopes are that he will return in great shape and with his side unbeaten without him.
Kane is due to return to the starting XI in the next couple of weeks, and when he does, it will be like a new signing for Spurs to be thrown into some crucial matches both domestically and in Europe.
The conclusion on Tottenham is they’ve got arguably the best manager in the Premier League in charge, and on their day they are more than capable of beating anyone. However, the extra pressure of the Champions League will finally take its toll on the side, and they will run out of gas again just like they did last year.
The 10/1 price on Spurs winning the title certainly looks attractive but most fans would probably be happy just to finish in the Champions League spaces once again, so an investment in the 5/6 that they finish in the top four again this season looks a safer bet.
