Three wins in three has Tottenham Hotspur suddenly looking like a legitimate contender in the Premier League — at least when it comes to getting back into the European places. That bar might not seem like a glorious achievement, but after the last couple years, it sure would be nice to be just outside the top four instead of just outside the relegation zone…
While Coventry and Palace are not exactly the country’s elite, neither are Ipswich, Sunderland, and Fulham, who are all coming up soon, giving Spurs a great chance to keep on winning . This Saturday also provides that opportunity, as Leeds United has gathered just three points from its past five matches after starting the season with eight points in the first four matchweeks.
Roberto De Zerbi is surely feeling a bit more vindicated right now as his club is seemingly clicking into gear, and a fourth straight victory would continue this stark turnaround. This is not a must-win match by any means, but Spurs would love to keep the momentum going, especially with the international break upcoming. It is shocking how much the vibes can change in a month.
Date: Saturday, November 7
Time: 7:30 am ET, 12:30 pm UK
Location: Elland Road, Leeds
TV: USA Network (US), TNT Sports 1 (UK)
Spurs won at Elland Road last season with Mathys Tel and Mohammed Kudus scoring in a 2-1 win, back when hopes were still actually somewhat high. The demeanor was drastically different when the sides met again in North London; it was Tel who scored again, but also conceded a penalty, resulting in a draw that kept Tottenham just two points ahead of West Ham with two matches to go.
Optimistically still settling
There are a lot of things to celebrate over the past four matches: the bright start and resilient finish against United, excellent strikes against Coventry, a memorable win at Chelsea, and the smothering of Palace. As great as those bright spots are, this club has still not really shown an ability to consistently put everything together over an entire match, let alone multiple fixtures.
Though this can be frustrating — and certainly was when Spurs were dropping points — the glass-half-full view would acknowledge the positive trend this club is steadily continuing on. As odd as it is to say, Tottenham is a team in form, and is seeing its efforts turn to into points despite ample room for improvement still present, especially in the final third.
Leeds will be another test in this area, surrendering just five goals in the past five contests and owning one of the best defensive records in the league. On the flip side, Leeds has scored only twice during this span, which should give the visitors plenty of confidence being aggressive and opportunistic in the final third. Tottenham has arguably been more unlucky than lucky, which means regression to the mean could yield good things.
Pessimistically far from clinical
Of course, that regression is not exactly a sure thing. Those outside-the-box strikes in the Coventry match look more like one-offs than repeatable options, despite multiple attempts since then. While it is great to have players with willingness to take on opponents like Mohammad Kudus, Savio, Mathys Tel, and Omar Marmoush, dribbling seems like more of their skill than shooting.
Needing heroic finishes would be less of a problem if Spurs could prove they can consistently generate high-quality looks against defensive blocks, but that is not yet the case. While Leeds is not opposed to possession, and will be less dug in than a 10-man Palace was, given the recent trajectory of these sides, Daniel Farke might opt for a fairly conservative approach. Seeing how the visitors have struggled to convert their shots, why not?
At this point, it feels like the way Tottenham fails to take all three points is if it fails to capitalize when it has the ball, which should be often, even in the final third. Few teams in the Premier League have a worse shot on target percentage, goals per shot rate, and goals per shot on target rate. Leeds are obviously among the best at goal prevention, which could see dominant passages of play keep coming up empty.
Realistically pretty happy!
Heading into this one, Spurs are an even 3-3-3 on the young season, which sounds about right. Those Brentford and Newcastle losses feel like ages ago, and the back-to-back 0-0 affairs are also feeling like blips. This is not to suggest that every match from here on out will result in there points, but I do think the temperature should be well reduced versus where it was regarding the transfer window and/or De Zerbi frustrations.
Fixtures leading into the break are always a tough situation for this club for whatever reason, and away to Leeds is the type of match that can bring up a lot of annoyances, but I actually see this as a good litmus test for where things currently stand. A draw, or even a loss here, would sour things slightly, but would not be the end of the world, while a win would bring about the sort of excitement that has been gone for quite some time.
