Thrills expected as Tottenham host Liverpool this weekend

Last week, I opened our Premier League column with two struggling coaches, Erik Ten Hag and Mauricio Pochettino.

This week it is all about two high flyers who have revitalised their teams and rebuilt them.

Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham take on Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this weekend in what promises to be an enthralling match. Both are in the top four and separated by only two points.

Looking at the visitors first, Liverpool have rebuilt their famous forward line of three years ago with Mo Salah back on form and with Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz combining speed and muscle.

Klopp has also turned Liverpool into a counter-attacking force possessing blistering speed.

Tottenham intend to use their 4-2-3 system with Udogie, Van de Ven, Romero and Porro practising all week in training sessions to break down Liverpool’s wall of speed which the front three will undoubtedly unleash.

Klopp wants the Reds to be the team everyone hates to play against. He intends to give the Tottenham back four a nightmare afternoon and that has been the main focus of his training this week.

Jurgen Klopp calls this team his Liverpool mark 2.0 replacing his title-winning Salah/Mane combination years. The Liverpool midfield has enabled the forward line to successfully attack defences because of quality passing coming from Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister.

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s move towards the centre of the pitch has worked perfectly and the return of Thiago means the Liverpool team are improving every week (and here I let Jurgen Klopp tell you himself), “We are getting better and better – we are still getting used to the different style but when we are playing well we can be really dangerous and when not, we are really solid. That is how you become consistent.”

Ange Postecoglou has transformed the old boring defensive “Spursy” approach and he too has built a lethal forward line since the departure of Harry Kane.

Heung-Min Son was given the challenge of replacing Kane with goals and the Tottenham captain has responded successfully.

With Son playing the striker’s role alongside Brennan Johnson, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski behind, this forward line plays with total belief that they are the best in the Premier League.

It is all part of Postecoglou’s plan to build a team which is mentally as strong as it is physically.

Regrettably, Johnson suffered a hamstring injury during the Arsenal game and is doubtful for the Liverpool game but a late test on Saturday will determine his availability.

Maddison has settled into the Tottenham team very quickly and is pulling all the strings in the centre.

The Tottenham coach believes that Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr can hold the defensive line and Tottenham’s forwards intend to test Virgil Van Dijk in particular as he struggles to reproduce his renowned reliability.

Arteta wants Toney's muscle

Arsenal are doing well this season but Mikel Arteta believes he has to sign a top striker in the January window.

Brentford’s Ivan Toney is the player he wants and this week, I have been told that Arsenal representatives have spoken to Brentford’s management again. 

Arteta wants a proven goalscorer who has a muscular presence. It is likely Toney would have joined the Gunners during the summer if he had not been serving a long ban for breaking FA betting regulations.

Arsenal already have Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Jesus upfront but like Tottenham and Liverpool, Arteta wants a three-player strike force and Toney fits the bill.

The Brentford striker has made his position clear and he wants to join a bigger club with only eighteen months left on his contract.

Surprisingly Brentford have agreed that Toney can go but they want around £60million to release him from his contract.

Toney has now returned to squad training but cannot play competitive Premier League football until January.

A problem Chelsea do not need 

Facing a crisis that has seen Chelsea plunge to 14th in the table after a billion-pound spend by new owner Todd Boehly and his company Clearlake Capital, coach Mauricio Pochettino is in the hot seat and coming under increasing pressure to produce results.

What he does not need are injuries and suspensions through unnecessary yellow cards. He was furious this week with Nicolas Jackson because the striker has been involved in several confrontations with referees.

“Calm down and concentrate and do not keep getting involved in arguments with officials,” Pochettino told his striker.

He did not listen and picked up another yellow last weekend. None of Jackson’s bookings have been for foul play. Pochettino said that Jackson could put the team in a really difficult situation after picking up the fifth yellow card for trying to stop Aston Villa from taking a free kick – a stupid action by any standards which infuriated Pochettino.

With injuries to forwards Christopher Nkunku and Amando Broja, Pochettino now has problems putting together his strongest forward line and Jackson will miss the away game at Fulham on Monday.

**Pochettino explained that Conor Gallagher was handed the captain’s armband and not Enzo Fernandes because the Spaniard is still learning English and he could not communicate easily with most of the players on the pitch. Ben Chilwell, Reece James’ vice-captain, will be handed the armband if he is restored to the starting line-up.

Hudson-Odoi set to star for Forest 

Nottingham Forest coach Steve Cooper believes the club’s best piece of business during the summer was signing Chelsea’s Callum Hudson-Odoi for the knockdown price of £3million.

His magnificent curling ball into Burnley’s net showed that he has lost none of the superb touches he displayed at Stamford Bridge.

Callum was out of favour with Chelsea coach Mauricio Pochettino but many at the club think that losing a player who is a quality winger and still only 22 years old is a mistake.

Forest coach Steve Cooper said: “I know he has quality. I know he can have moments of brilliance and you need that at times in the Premier League. I’m very glad we got one of those players. He’s trained well but he hasn’t played much football at Chelsea. I backed him to do well and he proved me right against Burnley.”

Players tell Sancho to step down

Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, and Harry Maguire have joined together in order to persuade Jadon Sancho to swallow his pride and apologize for speaking out against his coach Erik Ten Hag.

Other players have also spoken to Jadon and they too have told him to climb down from his position after being criticised by the coach for not putting everything into his training.

Jadon had also been arriving late for training on occasion. He has now been banned from eating with the first-team squad and has suffered further humiliation by having to eat meals with the academy squad.

Ten Hag says he does not want a negative player to cause problems within the first team.

Calvert-Lewin praises Beto 

Although they appear to be competitors, Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin says he is relishing the chance of playing alongside Beto and believes the pair can “bully” defences.

Calvert-Lewin said in a frank discussion that he has been impressed with Beto.

He said, “His physical presence is something I have enjoyed in our training. We’ve had a few conversations about being on the pitch at the same time and how that can work. It’s been a while since I had someone as physical as myself in attack and to share the workload. A lot of time I have had to be the battering ram.”

After suffering several injury problems Calvert-Lewin said, “I’m in a good place now. I am feeling physically fit and strong and looking forward to playing more minutes and more games.”

Tsimikas commits to Liverpool 

Liverpool’s Kostas Tsimikas has prolonged his five-year contract signed in 2020. The 27-year-old Greek defender said, “I feel very glad to be here and to extend my contract. I feel that with all the sacrifices I made and the work I put in, everything pays off. Tsimikas has made 63 appearances for the Reds and provided 12 assists since joining for £11.7million.

Walker and Foden working together

Manchester City’s Phil Foden said this week how much his playing relationship with Kyle Walker means to him. The pair combined and scored City’s opening goal against Nottingham Forest.

He said this week at the training ground, “I’ve been building a great relationship with Kyle and we work really well together. We train together and spend a lot of time analysing our play and opponents so we can work more effectively.”

Foden has been catapulted into Pep’s key plans for this season with the departure of club captain Ilkay Gundogan and the injury to Kevin De Bruyne.

Guardiola has let Foden play out wide on the right in front of Walker but then drift into the centre in a No10 role where Walker has been feeding him passes.

Kalvin Phillips must seize his chance 

Kalvin Phillips was the star performer at Leeds and when he was transferred to Manchester City he dreamed of playing at the heart of midfield and running the show.

Alas, it has not turned out so well. In his first year, he has made only four starts and the form of Rodri has restricted Kalvin to the bench for most of the season.

He could have left in the summer but decided to carry on fighting for a first-team place and much to his credit he has impressed coach Guardiola.

Rodri is now banned for three games and this week Guardiola put an arm around Kalvin and told him to make the best of this opportunity and started him in the Carabao Cup in midweek.

Kalvin did well and as I write this column Guardiola is considering starting him this weekend. Kalvin said this week, “When I came for pre-season I told the boss I wanted to stay and give it another shot. I had a talk with the club in the summer and they told me that if I wanted to go out on loan they would support me. I refused and said it was not in my thinking. I want to concentrate on playing for Manchester City and I am not going to have just one season at City just because I am not playing and just saying ‘Oh well, I have been here for a year and enjoyed it but it’s not for me.’ I wanted to break into the first team although that is very difficult with so many great players here at this club. I want to make a name for myself at City. That’s the reason I came here and I am not happy just sitting on the bench doing nothing.”

How Ten-Hag helped Wan-Bissaka to turn his career around

Meeting Aaron Wan-Bissaka it is surprising what a down-to-earth level-headed young man he is and he knows exactly where he is going with this career. Aaron has been working on the attacking side of his game. Carefully coached and encouraged by Erik Ten Hag he turned his career around after being told he could leave only a year ago but he showed his fighting qualities as he gradually re-entered the main squad at Old Trafford.

When asked what Ten Hag had taught him he responded, “On the pitch just where to be at certain times, be more aggressive going forward, and how I can help the team. We have been working on attacking and it is what the manager wants. It also helps the team, whether I’ve got the ball or not, just to make space for them and create opportunities.” Unfortunately, Aaron sustained an injury against Brighton that will keep him out of the side for several weeks but once fit again he will press to start every game.