Will Spurs ever win the English Premier League?

They have earned the tag of being a “cursed” team in the premier league for the wrong (or right reasons). They have done almost everything right but somehow they continue to miss out on the coveted premier league title or less still some silverware. This begs the question: what will it really take for Tottenham Hotspurs to win the league?

Tottenham Hotspur's English midfielder Dele Alli (R) celebrates with Tottenham Hotspur's English defender Kieran Trippier after scoring the opening goal of the UEFA Champions League Group H football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Real Madrid at Wembley Stadium in London, on November 1, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Ben STANSALL

(Oct. 31, 2017 - Source: AFP)

Most Balanced Team in the EPL?

Many would argue that they certainly are. From the last line of defence all the way to the front, Spurs seem to be covered with great quality players. In the goalkeeping department, the team is led by their world cup winning captain in Hugo Lloris thus providing little or no concern in this department. Defensively, the team is ridiculously strong, possessing fast and ball crossing wing backs such as Kieran Trippier and Danny Rose has made Tottenham more threatening going forward. Moreover, the central defensive pairing of Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld has been pivotal for the team’s disciplined play. That’s not the end, the team also boasts quality in players like Davinson Sanchez and Ivory Coast’s Serge Aurier who can also perform defensive duties to their very best and up to the accepted standard. Looking at the team’s midfield, there is also plenty of talent and experience in players such as Mousa Dembele, Eric Dier, Moussa Sissoko as well as Erik Lamela. These internationals possess high level quality that can breakdown any team in the premier league on any day. Not only the midfield, but the team’s attacking threat is the pick of the crop. One would think having a striker of Harry Kane’s quality coupled with the trickery of Dele Alli and Son as well as Danish ace, Christian Eriksen’s creativity would make this team unstoppable. We’ve seen these players break down a majority of the teams in the premier league with their brilliant displays yet still that hasn’t been enough to bring glory to the other half of North London.

“They have been near yet so far. With all of that, can we say the team is “cursed” and will never in the league anytime soon? Or would one be right to say that its now only a matter of time, probably a couple of seasons before the team breaks its duck and finally claim the premier league golden prize? Personally I think it’s just a matter of time.”

— Siphosethu Thwala, FirstTouch Africa

A seemingly good coach

Not only is Spurs an overall balanced and very strong team, but in Mauricio Pochettino they have a young coach who has shown a great deal of hunger to succeed but has fallen short now and again. Some attribute this problem to lack of experience, while some strongly believe it's just bad luck. But looking at the Argentine’s coaching record, he has not won any cup with the teams he has coached, dating from his time at Espanyol and present. This then raises the argument that maybe Tottenham need a coach with a proven record of winning titles and cups and tit is only then that the team would possibly win the premier league title.

Is it in their hands to win it?

Lucas Moura of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates after scoring his second goal and his team's third goal during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on August 27, 2018 in Manchester, United Kingdom.

(Aug. 26, 2018 - Source: Clive Mason/Getty Images Europe)

Looking beyond surface value, one could be tempted to think that perhaps it's not really what the team is (or not) doing but rather, external forces could be the cause to Spurs’ failure to win the league. In recent times, we’ve seen Tottenham forcing their way into the top four after languishing in the top eight bracket for a long time. This has been evidence of the fact that the team has been improving and growing in leaps and bounds. The fact that the team has been on an upward horizon is not up for debate. They have moved from being a top four side to landing third place as well as pushing Chelsea all the way to the end before becoming runner ups in the 2016/2017 EPL season. Such showing has made Tottenham become pat of the conversation of teams that can win the league at the start of every season, but still no one really fancies them to go all the way. A key reason for this is the team’s competitors such as Manchester City who have a squad to die for while also having a financial backing second to none. Such an advantage make it difficult for teams like Spurs who operate on a very tight budget to acquire more players that can help the team challenge for the title.

Time and time again we have witnessed Spurs’ quality on the football pitch. They have shown countless times that they can be a force to be reckoned with as they have been able to defeat a lot of the so-called big teams convincingly in some of their games. But even so, that has not delivered league glory for the team. They have continuously been able to keep a majority of their key players almost every season, showing an element of continuity and trust in the progress being made. They have been near yet so far. With all of that, can we say the team is “cursed” and will never in the league anytime soon? Or would one be right to say that its now only a matter of time, probably a couple of seasons before the team breaks its duck and finally claim the premier league golden prize? Personally I think it's just a matter of time, they have the right attributes to win it. But will they? What do you think?

Manchester United through to the final after beating Tottenham 2-1

Manchester United have done it again and are on the right path to prove that they are becoming a competitive team in England. The club have been struggling since Alex Ferguson left but Jose Mourinho has achieved instant success after taking over from Louis Van Gaal. The Portuguese manager won what he calls a treble in his first season i.e. FA Community Shield, Carabao Cup and the UEFA Europa League which gave them qualification to the UEFA Champions League. This season, he tried to catch up with the cash rich City side who invested a lot but could not push for a title challenge as everyone anticipated. The club also crashed out of the Carabao Cup this season before being knocked out of the UEFA Champions League by Sevilla in the quarterfinals. Mourinho’s man now only had their eyes on the FA Cup for a last chance to salvage some silverware to the club. They had enough to defeat their opponents today to make it to the final of the tournament but it was not easy.

Dele Alli opened the scoring for Tottenham on the 11th minute from a Christian Eriksen cross and it looked like it was going to be a defeat for the Red Devils but they had other thoughts. The winter signing scored the equalizer for United to make it 1-1 on 24 minutes after Paul Pogba outmuscled Dembele on the left before delivering a perfect cross for the Chilean forward to score. Jese Lingard wasted an opportunity to give United the lead three minutes later when he blazed over the goal from a cross by Lukaku only 3 minutes after Sanchez had scored. Dier also had an opportunity when he shot from distance and saw his effort hit the post. Lukaku then combined with Sanchez in a counter attack that saw the Spanish midfielder, Ander Herrera scoring the winning goal. This is such a disappointment for the Tottenham team who have been improving year on year. They really need to start winning trophies soon if they are to keep their top talent because they have come short on so many occasions. Kudos Mourinho and his team. On to the next one now.

The Premier League (PFA) Team of the Year is out

The Premier League started off in a good style with many teams looking like they were ready to mount a title challenge. In the end, it was only one horse left in the race with Manchester City out to fight against the records because the other teams had failed dismally. It comes as no surprise that the Manchester club dominated the PFA Team of the Year which was announced by PFA on their twitter account. The most obvious inclusions in that team were those of David De Gea, Kyle Walker, Otamendi, David Silva, Eriksen, Kevin De Bruyne, Mo Salah, and Kane. That’s about 8 positions that were uncontested due to their outstanding performances this season. Everyone else, is questionable. The other players that made it to the 11 include Marcos Alonso, Vertonghen and Aguero who was placed on the left flank instead of the centre-forward position where he plays. There seems to some form of bias because a player like Aguero, although he scored 22 goals in the league, he does not deserve to be in that team because his direct competitor in Kane has already scored 26.

That left-wing position should have been left to his colleague in Raheem Sterling who has had an outstanding season with Manchester City having scored 16 league goals and provided 8 assists. Furthermore, Marcos Alonso has been playing for a struggling club in Chelsea who are failing to make it to next season’s UEFA Champions League. The most consistent player in their Chelsea team was Kante by far, but still, that player could not make it into the PFA team of the year. Instead, credit must be given to Ben Davies who has been called upon to deliver for Tottenham in the absence of Danny Rose who has been injured for the greater parts of the season. That decision to leave out Davies is very questionable.

Finally, we end with the inclusion of Vertonghen in the heart of the defence alongside Otamendi. What we have realised is that the team is dominated by the teams in the top 5 of the league but yet there are other teams who performed beyond expectations and still had players who were outstanding. The player in question should be replaced by Burnley’s Tarkowski who has had a remarkable season this year representing Burnley who are 2 points behind Arsenal and sitting on the 7th spot. Do you think anyone else should have been included in the team? We want to know. Drop those comments below.

Alli leads Tottenham to a 3-1 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge

Tottenham Hotspur’s star striker was facing a race against fitness to play in this London derby between his club and Chelsea. He was disappointed not to make it which meant that a lot of pressure was piled on Englishman Dele Alli and Eriksen to produce some fine performances and deal with Chelsea in the top 4 race. The duo did not disappoint but were made to wait after a great start from Chelsea. Alvaro Morata scored the first for Chelsea from a Victor Moses cross as he headed down past a helpless Lloris who had committed to try and keep out the cross. The Spanish striker celebrated with passion but Chelsea were not done. They kept attacking and probably forgot about their compact defending as Tottenham created a lot of space for Eriksen to riffle a shot from 30 yards out which was saved by Caballero. The same opportunity was presented again for Eriksen and he made no mistake this time as he fired a long range effort past the Italian Caballero who was replacing Courtois in goal. Alli then scored the second goal after running off the defenders and finished off a 50-yard pass from Dier. Alli coupled that up with another goal 4 minutes later which made it 3-1 for Tottenham. They eventually ran away with the win to end their poor run against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. This was Tottenham’s first win at Chelsea in 28 years. This result piles more misery on Chelsea and has all but confirmed their fate of Europa League football for next season. Chelsea were hoping to reduce the point deficit between them and Tottenham but are now left 8 points behind with 7 games to play. If they are not careful, they can easily be overtaken by Arsenal who have faced an upturn in form recently and are just 5 points behind them.