It’s frustrating to say the least but that’s the way Premier League football works. After the magnificent result against Manchester City last time out, much was expected from this game. Would Spurs be too strong for WBA? On paper perhaps, but football games aren’t played on paper.
Tottenham Hotspur have been under the radar of most football pundits as a contender for this season’s Premier League title. But today, against leaders Manchester City, Spurs proved that their challenge for the title will not be ignored.
Simply put, the Spurs squad passed the difficult test put before them in this tricky Champions League fixture in Moscow against CSKA. Without 5 first-teamers, Spurs did enough to take away 3 points from the Russian champions.
Unbeaten and up to second. All told, a very successful away day for Spurs. Manager Mauricio Pochettino tested his squad by resting key players Danny Rose, Eric Dier and Moussa Dembele ahead of the tricky midweek Champions League tie in Moscow against CSKA.
Last time out in the Premier League, Spurs ground out a narrow 1-0 victory (over Sunderland) with alarm bells ringing out loud over injuries to Harry Kane, Eric Dier and Moussa Dembele. Whilst Kane is definitely out with an ankle injury, manager Mauricio Pochettino will take a late decision on the fitness of Dier, Dembele and Danny Rose (suffering from a hamstring injury picked up on international duty).
Clearly, progress in the EFL Cup this season is not top priority for manager Mauricio Pochettino after he selected a completely different eleven from the one that beat Sunderland over the weekend in the Premier League.
After the elation of the last Premier League match – that 4-0 drubbing of Stoke – Spurs were cruelly brought back to earth with that 1-2 defeat to Monaco in the Champions League.
A frustrating night for Spurs as everything that could go wrong did. Much capital was made about the sell-out 85,000 crowd and of course, Spurs’ return to Champions League football but it was Monaco’s night as the French Ligue Un table toppers gave a superb away performance to earn themselves a precious 2-1 win.
Tonight is a special night for Spurs fans as Tottenham Hotspur returns to Champions League football, playing current French league leaders Monaco at Wembley.