Chadder View: Tottenham face two season-defining matches against Manchester United and Manchester City
Matthew Chadder is a lifelong Tottenham fan who grew up just down the road from his beloved club in North London. He’s now putting his passion for Spurs into words with a daily fan view for Tottenham News…
Tottenham have two tough tests coming up, against the red and blue side of Manchester, and they could both go a long way in defining Spurs’ season.
Before a ball had been kicked, I would have certainly taken a place in the UEFA Europa League, and I am sure plenty of other Spurs supporters would have too.
Last season was an absolute disaster and saw us finish outside of the European spots for the first time since I can remember, despite there having never been more European spots up for grabs.
Therefore, on the eve of our 2-2 draw with Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium (13 August), having just lost Harry Kane to Bayern Munich and with a manager at the helm who was unproven in the Premier League, it is safe to say I wasn’t feeling very optimistic.
However, that all changed during our 2-0 home win against Manchester United one week later (19 August). Suddenly, I felt a sense of optimism I hadn’t felt in years, not even since the early days of Antonio Conte.
Sings of progress had been put in place, and over the next few weeks, we began to play some of the most beautiful football I have ever seen us play. The 2-1 win against Liverpool (30 September), as controversial as it was, felt like a real statement considering how much time had passed since we last beat them.
Of course, injuries and suspensions galore left us with a mountain of problems to face throughout the winter months, but all in all, I believe Ange Postecoglou faced those problems head-on and came out the other side stronger.
We are just one point behind Arsenal and the top four, and all of a sudden our second match of the season against United on Sunday 14 January could prove to be just as telling as the first.
Victory would see us open up an 11-point gap over the Red Devils and start to assert our dominance within the Premier League’s top five. Not only that, but it would perhaps allow us to start looking up and dreaming rather than behind and fearing.
A draw would be an acceptable result, while a loss, although by no means a disaster, would throw the race for European football wide open up once more.
Nonetheless, as important as the match at Old Trafford might be, the following games against United’s noisy neighbours is far more important.
Tottenham are only competing in two competitions this season, and with one of our strongest squads in years (when they are all fit that is), there is no reason why we shouldn’t be going all out to win the FA Cup and end our 16-year trophy drought – and all the jokes that come with that.
A match against Manchester City is not an easy fourth-round proposition, but we do have home advantage, and City have not yet scored or claimed any points during their trips to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
They will be focused on other priorities such as the league and UEFA Champions League, and if they let their eyes off the ball, there is no reason why we can’t knock them out of the cup.
If we were to do that, we would suddenly become one of the favourites to win the entire competition.
Therefore, the next two matches will demonstrate to us as supporters what Postecoglou’s Tottenham are made of, and what is in store for the second half of the season.
Will it be a year where we make an unlikely push for a double? Or a year where we once again look to scrape a top-four finish.
By the end of January, we might have some kind of answer.
In other Tottenham news, Spurs are keen to sign a Napoli defender as a replacement for the outgoing Eric Dier.