Tottenham Hotspur will start their 2019/20 Premier League with a match at home to Aston Villa and an away encounter against defending Champions Manchester City.
Whilst we would love to get off to a great start and pick up the maximum six points from the two games, it will always be a tough ask as they are going to be two of the harder opponents to face at the beginning of a new campaign.
Firstly, Aston Villa are going to want to show everyone that they deserve to be back in the Premier League and will want to spoil our first opening game of a season at our new home and will more than likely be up for the occasion – so we cannot necessarily take that game for granted.
Obviously, it goes without saying, but an away trip to Pep Guardiola’s side is also a daunting tie as he will be demanding the best from his team and looking to make a lead at the top of the table that they are capable of defending from the start of the campaign.
There is no reason as to why we cannot get the maximum points though, as we have proved we have a squad capable of achieving success and if we are able to get our transfer targets through the door, we should only be in a better position to compete with City.
However, what is a given is that we will be without one of our best players for those two encounters.
Son Heung-min will be serving a suspension he picked up towards the end of the season when he was sent off against Bournemouth (BBC). That ban will be carried over to the upcoming campaign meaning he will be unavailable for those two encounters.
He has since apologised for his actions and has admitted it will be tough because he wants to play in every single game. He told the club’s official website: “Obviously I’m suspended. That’s tough for me because I want to play every game and I’m sorry for the team because I’ll miss two games.”
The South Korean was instrumental for us last season, netting 20 goals and providing his team-mates with ten assists in his 48 appearances across all competitions (Transfermarkt) as we laboured to a top-four finish – no-one else was as lethal and clinical as he was in the final third of the pitch (obviously Harry Kane scored bundles but he did not contribute the assists as well).
Mauricio Pochettino will be desperate to ensure that we get off to the best possible start this season as we finally look to get our hands on silverware, however, with Son’s absence, we could have already suffered a big blow before the campaign has even started.