Our 2023/24 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) team previews continue with Tottenham Hotspur.
In these guides, we’ll be looking at the best players for the upcoming season, taking a stab at predicted line-ups for Gameweek 1, reviewing pre-season and more.
You can read our stats-based review of Spurs’ disappointing 2022/23 campaign here.
Data in this article comes from our Premium Members Area, which you can access with a discounted pre-season subscription.
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TOTTENHAM: REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL
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For all of Spurs’ problems last season, goals weren’t one of them. No team was involved in more than their combined 133, scoring the fifth-most (70) at the right end. The Lilywhites weren’t involved in one goalless encounter, while six matches ended with at least six goals – for better or worse.
The appointment of attack-minded Ange Postecoglou as the new head coach should see things continue in that manner.
Arriving from Celtic with a multitude of honours, Postecoglou has scrapped the wing-back system of Antonio Conte and instilled a 4-3-3 formation.
His hardcore philosophy is never compromised, judging by this response when asked about possibly trying a more conservative approach.
“If you are a strict vegetarian, you don’t drop into Macca’s [McDonald’s] just because you are hungry, mate, you know? This is what I believe in” – Ange Postecoglou
An underwhelming eighth-placed finish at least allows Spurs to regenerate without midweek European football to prepare for.
TOTTENHAM: REASONS TO BE FEARFUL
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Life without Harry Kane (£12.5m).
Entering the final year of his contract, teams have been chasing the Spurs talisman all summer. Bayern Munich seem confident of completing a big-money deal but the saga threatens to drag into the latter half of August.
The positive vibe mightn’t be so great when the realisation sinks in that Kane – scorer of 210 Premier League goals over the last nine campaigns – has finally left and there’s a huge hole up front.
From an FPL perspective, he’s just had his best-ever season: 30 goals and a total of 263 points, merely nine below Erling Haaland (£14.0m). Kane was the only player with more attempts (130) than Haaland and he created more chances (57) than all other forwards.
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Another reason for nerves is their defence, though underlying stats tell a different story. Whereas Spurs let in the sixth-most goals with 63, their expected goals conceded (xGC) actually ranked sixth-best and big chances conceded were up in fifth.
SUMMER TRANSFER ACTIVITY
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The captures of goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario (£5.0m) and incoming centre-back Micky van de Ven could put a stop to this leakiness. Of all the goalkeepers to start at least 20 matches, just four made fewer saves than Hugo Lloris (£5.0m). Likewise, no team made more errors leading to a goal than Tottenham’s 10.
Meanwhile, the loan deals of Dejan Kulusevski (£7.0m) and Pedro Porro (£5.0m) were made permanent, whilst loaned-out individuals such as Giovani Lo Celso (£5.0m) and Destiny Udogie (£4.5m) have returned to the club.
Their headline signing so far is creative midfielder James Maddison (£7.5m). He should be approaching his peak years, so the £40m purchase from Leicester City seems astute.
Joining these is freebie Manor Solomon (£5.5m). Spurs took advantage of Shakhtar Donetsk’s situation, as a FIFA rule allows non-Ukrainian players to suspend their contracts until June 2024 due to war, yet his Shakhtar deal expires beforehand in December.
PRE-SEASON REPORT
Jul 18 | Tottenham Hotspur 2-3 West Ham United (Optus Stadium, Perth) | Lo Celso (Sanchez assist), Udogie (Perisic assist) |
Jul 23 | Tottenham Hotspur P-P Leicester City (Rajamangala National Stadium, Bangkok) |
Jul 26 | Tottenham Hotspur 5-1 Lion City Sailors (Singapore National Stadium, Singapore) | Kane pen (Sarr assist), Richarlison (Lo Celso assist), Richarlison, Lo Celso (Solomon assist), Richarlison (Royal assist) |
Aug 6 | Tottenham Hotspur v Shakhtar Donetsk (Tottenham Hotspur Stadium) |
Aug 8 | Barcelona v Tottenham Hotspur (Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys) |
As of now, Tottenham have only played two friendlies. An entertaining 3-2 loss to West Ham United in Perth, before a waterlogged pitch postponed Bangkok’s meeting with Leicester. Three days later, Richarlison‘s (£7.0m) hat-trick helped them overcome the Lion City Sailors in Singapore.
Our Pre-Season Minutes Tracker shows that both matches featured entirely different line-ups in each half, meaning nobody has exceeded 90 minutes. Their upcoming games versus Shakhtar and Barcelona should hopefully deliver more clues into Postecoglou’s plans.
For example, is 20-year-old Udogie the favoured left-back? At Udinese, he bagged three goals and four assists in last season’s 33 Serie A appearances. He’s already scored in the friendly with West Ham.
A whopping 68 team shots occurred over this pair of matches, with over 75% possession averaged. It shows that Postecoglou’s message to make many short passes and use a high press to win the ball back has been received. He also instructs full-backs to invert towards central areas rather than overlap.
OPENING FIXTURES
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The combination of a new boss and few pre-season minutes will make Spurs a ‘wait and see’ side for many. Between Gameweeks 1 and 8, it’s a fixture run that ranks seventh according to our Season Ticker.
Then, from Gameweek 3, no team has a more appealing streak of opponents until Gameweek 13.
Not that Brentford (a) is a particularly bad way to start proceedings – the side that conceded the second-most shots on target (197) and fourth-most goal attempts (559) of 2022/23. Any developments before then on Kane and thus Richarlison would be much appreciated.
PREDICTED GAMEWEEK 1 LINE-UP
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