Tottenham vs Cardiff – Mach Preview

Fabrizio Andrea Bertani / Shutterstock.com

After all the talk of Tottenham being in a crisis it is fair to say that the mood has somewhat lightened in North London.

Back to back win Premier League wins and progression in the Carabao Cup has been the perfect tonic for Mauricio Pochettino’s men and they will look to continue their impressive domestic form this weekend.

Saturday sees them back at Wembley after two league games on the road, fixtures that have seen them get the better of both Brighton and Huddersfield and next up for Spurs is the visit of a struggling Cardiff side.

Neil Warnock’s Cardiff outfit are still looking for their first win of the Premier League season after failing at their first seven attempts. From a possible 21 points on offer, they have only managed to earn two.

Points that have come from draws against fellow strugglers Newcastle and Huddersfield, they will look to make it eighth time lucky this weekend but at the same time they are going to have their work cut out if that is to be the case.

The side that earned promotion from the EFL Championship last season suffered defeat to Burnley last time out as the pressure begins to mount on manager Neil Warnock in regard to how long he can stay on in the Cardiff hotseat.

It’s clearly apparent that Warnock is a dab hand in getting teams out of England’s second tier, but when it comes to keeping them in the promised land of the Premier League that is when he struggles.

And this season is certainly no different as the scenario presents a tricky situation for the Cardiff hierarchy. They know that should this winless streak continue much further then they will have to make the tough call as to whether to change managerial personnel or not.

It seems as if in Football people have particularly short memories, club owners especially and while one should not forget the work that Warnock did in getting Cardiff promoted at the same time there is no room for sentiment either.

And Tottenham certainly won’t be showing any sentiment as they look to earn another three points and make further inroads on the trio of teams that are ahead of them in the table, especially as Liverpool and Manchester City square off against each other the following day.

This means that at least one of the league leaders will drop points and Tottenham will be hoping that they can take full advantage of that with a maximum return on Saturday. That said it may not be as clean cut of a result as you might think.

That is because the North London outfit have an ever growing injury list and it is here where their lack of expenditure in the Summer could come back to bite them. Much has been made of their failure to purchase anyone in the off season, an issue that has not really come to light as yet.

Should they fail to beat Cardiff then many will use this is a stick in which to beat the club with, however even with a number of key names missing you do get the feeling that they will be able to get the better of their Welsh opponents and earn a relatively routine home win.