Chris Sutton predicts scoreline of Tottenham showdown v Bournemouth
Chris Sutton has predicted Tottenham to beat Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday.
Spurs head to the south coast off the back of an impressive 2-0 home win against Manchester United last weekend and in the knowledge that they could at least temporarily move to the top of the Premier League table with another victory.
Ex-Blackburn striker Sutton is pleased with Ange Postecoglou’s work at Spurs so far but he does admit that James Maddison’s injury is a slight concern for him.
“I love the change that Ange Postecoglou has made already but I do think Tottenham will be much better in a couple of months than they are now. I wrote them off in the first couple of games because of that. The issue for Tottenham is if James Maddison will be fit,” Sutton said on the BBC Sport website on Thursday (25 August).
Bournemouth, on the other hand, have had a mixed start to the season after drawing with West Ham on the opening day and then losing away at Liverpool last week.
They have been handed a tough start to the 2023/24 Premier League season and Sutton expects the Cherries to suffer another defeat this weekend, predicting Tottenham to win 2-1 at the Vitality.
“Bournemouth have a new manager as well in Andoni Iraola and I saw them at Liverpool last week. They started well and got themselves ahead and then faded. I have a sneaking feeling for Tottenham in this one, but normally when I write Bournemouth off they get a result!”
Maddison worry
It will be a huge blow for Spurs to be without Maddison against Bournemouth.
The 25-year-old grabbed two assists on his competitive debut for the North Londoners in their 2-2 draw at Brentford on 13 August.
Last week, he played a key role in the win over Man United at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with WhoScored stats showing that the ex-Leicester playmaker completed 82 per cent of his passes, completed two key passes and had two shots at goal with one hitting the target while also completing two tackles.
As you can see in the image below, the bulk of Maddison’s passes were in the Man United half with three of them being played inside the penalty area.
Maddison, however, is a doubt to play at the Vitality Stadium on 26 August.
The Athletic’s Tottenham correspondent Charlie Eccleshare reported on Thursday (24 August) that Maddison wasn’t pictured in Spurs’ training that day.
It is understood that he underwent a scan on Monday (21 August) after suffering a foot injury in the win over Man United.
Maddison left Tottenham Hotspur Stadium wearing a protective boot and using crutches to walk.
Postecoglou’s pre-match press conference is due on Friday and it remains to be seen what the Aussie will say about Maddison and whether or not he’ll be involved at Bournemouth.
Spurs will be a worse side without him, there’s no doubt about that.
However, even with Maddison missing, Postecoglou’s men should have enough about them to see off the threat that Bournemouth could pose.
In other Tottenham news, Ansu Fati could be a signing for the future at Spurs.