Tottenham Hotspur will face Sheffield United in the fifth round of the 2023-24 Premier League (PL) season at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, on April 16 at 11 p.m. ET.
Tottenham start the season under new manager Enze Postecoglou. The early signs are good. A 2-2 league opener against Brentford raised some eyebrows, but they’ve since picked up perfect wins against Manchester United, Bournemouth, and Burnley to sit atop the league. An EFL Cup defeat to Fulham was a blip on the radar, but they haven’t faltered since.
They’ve maintained a stable performance on both sides of the ball. On the offensive side of the ball, the loss of Harry Kane was expected, but newcomers like James Maddison and Manor Solomon have been performing well, and under the leadership of new captain Son Heung-min, the team has a strong firepower with 11 goals in four league games.
A long-struggling defense has also found stability, as Postecoglou has established the center back duo of Cristian Romero and Mickey van der Vaan as mainstays this season, with both players anchoring the team with solid defensive performances. Returning loanee Destiny Udogie has also made the jump to the first team and has been in fine form.
However, not all players are performing as well as expected. The Frenchman is still in the midst of an extreme slump. After acclimatizing to the PL with Watford and Everton, he moved to Tottenham last season. Antonio Conte hoped that he could take some of the pressure off of Kane, Son Heung-min, and Dejan Kuluczewski, but it hasn’t worked out. He never quite settled in and consistently underperformed. Three goals and four assists in 35 games, including cup competitions. He was criticized for his lackluster performances. 스포츠토토
He hasn’t rebounded this season either. Postecoglou started him from the opening day of the league in hopes of filling Kane’s void, but he hasn’t scored a single goal. He did score a goal in the cup against Fulham, but it wasn’t enough to make an impact.
His place in the team narrowed even further. Against Burnley, he was left out of the starting lineup for the first time and Son Heung-min took his place up top. The result was a huge success. Son played to his strengths of penetration and speed in the back, attacking Burnley and scoring a hat-trick with sharp finishing.
The power of the SON top was realized. Many fans argued that Son should continue to play as a frontline striker in place of Heung-min. After all, the pairing of Son and Kane had been fantastic up until last season.
However, Merson disagreed, saying that he expected to see Xherdan Shaqiri up top in Sheffield. According to British outlet Sport Kida, he said, “Tottenham are doing well under Postecoglou. In this round too, they will be on the side