Not a thread folks, but news coming in that, following a brief (yet tense) period of uncertainty over the staging of the latest round of Premiership fixtures, the Premier League has announced this evening that Spurs’ match against Leicester City at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this coming Saturday (kick-off 5.30 pm BST) is ON.
Indeed, the League has announced that only a further two matches were postponed this weekend due to concerns over a shortage of police staff, with most officers expected to be deployed to police Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral next week.
These fixture casualties are Chelsea vs Liverpool and Manchester United vs Leeds, with Brighton vs Crystal Palace already rearranged due to transport problems about the latest round of planned train strikes.
The statement from the Premier League read:
“Premier League fixtures will resume this weekend after a pause to the season as a mark of respect following the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Seven of the 10 Premier League fixtures this weekend will be played, with three matches postponed due to events surrounding The Queen’s funeral.
In addition, kick-off times will change for two Premier League matches.
Matches postponed on Sunday 18 September are Chelsea’s matches against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge and Manchester United’s home match v Leeds United.
Brighton & Hove Albion’s fixture against Crystal Palace, that was due to be played at 15:00 BST on Saturday 17 September, will also remain postponed.“
The new kick-off times for this round of fixtures, as per this report, will now see Brentford vs Arsenal kick off at 12 pm BST, and Everton vs West Ham kick off at 2.15 pm BST.
I am personally delighted that we get to fulfill our fixture with Leicester – having another fixture postponed on top of the trip to Manchester City last weekend would have put us into the dreaded position of facing a backlog of fixtures shortly after the New Year. Indeed, due to the World Cup’s interruption of domestic matters, there will have been a limited timeframe to fulfill this fixture had it been postponed, as is already the case with the City fixture.
Moreover, and I say this with all due respect to Leicester City, I wholeheartedly believe that there would not have been a better time to play the Foxes. They’re a side fully lacking in desire, confidence, and motivation, and it increasingly appears to be a matter of when, not if, Brendan Rodgers departs the club, following an auspicious start to the season that has seen them prop up the table.
That said, there are no easy fixtures in the league, and anything can happen in football. Although I hate to bring these fixtures up, I want to illustrate my point in highlighting how we’ve lost to sides in similar situations before: think Newcastle home and away in 2015/16, a side that had long given up on their manager Steve McClaren in the first fixture, then was already relegated in the second.
That said, playing this weekend puts us before a Leicester team that is genuinely under profound scrutiny and prevents us from worrying about fitting it in an already hectic schedule even if we don’t get a result.
For now, however, our attention turns to a trip to Lisbon, where Spurs will take on Sporting CP at the Estadio Jose Alvalade tomorrow at 5.45 PM BST. You can read the match preview and join in the pre-match discussion here, and read more on our Portuguese opponents here should you fancy.
Thanks for the thread omar.
Another win on its way!
Maybe even a manager sacking lol!
Cheers Pompey, let’s hope so…I concur with BS to an extent, it will go one or two ways: either it’s the perfect time to play them, or the very worst, I’m inclined to go with the former purely because the players have no interest whatsoever in playing for the manager. That alone trumps any other factor in my book, and the one thing they have in their favour is the extra time to prepare, but if the players aren’t willing to do anything with that extra time then that advantage becomes immaterial. I could very well be wrong, however, for all I know the players could have suddenly decided to play for him over the past two weeks!
It would be harsh on Rodgers but in today’s PL, nobody is immune I suppose. The obvious question would then be: who could come in and do better? Sean Dyche? Scott Parker? Are they really upgrades?
Manager talk aside, it feels like a dangerous time to play them. They’ve had a lot of time to prepare for us and they’re probably due a good result sooner rather than later. This will be a test, and if we win this, it’ll again be proof of Conte instilling awinning mentality in the squad.
Very good point too there regarding Rogers – it looks like the relationship has run its course, but I don’t see how they could upgrade on him at the moment. Neither of these chaps are upgrades at all, Dyche would undoubtedly get them organised at the back, which is one of their bigger problems at the moment, but I don’t think he’d get them going long-term and certainly not an overall upgrade on Rogers.
After last night’s dreadful performance against Sporting (oh to have a Marcus Edwards to brighten the doom and gloom) it’s time to give Bissouma, Spence and Harvey White a go.
If Conte picks the same team yet again, it is time for him to go.
I can’t stand much more of watching paint dry.
Yes BS it would be harsh, sacking Rodgers, but as you say who is immune?
Peops to replace him, got no bloody idea on that one.
You may also be right about a dangerous time to play them, but then again if the players aren’t playing for Rodgers it will be no problem for us.
I don’t think we need proof of what Conte is putting across to the Squad, as in a Winning mentality, being honest I think we can see that in each game they play. COYS