Europe awash in top-of-table tests
Tottenham, trailing by four points, hosts Manchester City, while Bayern faces Cologne
The top two teams in the Premier League meet Sunday, as Tottenham Hotspur hosts leader Manchester City (SNP, 6 a.m.).
The Spurs trail the Manchester giants by four points, and have a swarm of teams biting at their heels. A Tottenham loss on Sunday could see the London club drop to seventh!
City has looked very impressive under new boss Pep Guardiola, but the team has benefited from playing a lot of weaker sides. The Spurs, meanwhile, have shown they can beat any team on any given day, but have a history of coming up short when it matters most.
A key player for Tottenham is South Korean attacker Son Heung-min. He has scored five goals in as many games this season.
Son set a record-high transfer fee for an Asian player when he joined Spurs last season from Bayer Leverkusen, but he mostly saw action as a substitute. Over the summer, he asked to be moved to a different club to get more playing time, but manager Mauricio Pochettino convinced Son to stay.
It has worked out well. With Harry Kane sidelined with a serious ankle injury, Son has become Tottenham’s go-to guy for goals.
Being Modeste
German leader Bayern Munich will put its perfect 5-0-0 Bundesliga record on the line Saturday when it hosts third-place Cologne.
Bayern is coming off a disappointing 1-0 Champions League loss away to Atletico Madrid. The team also struggled to score away at Hamburg last weekend, needing a late goal to grab a 1-0 win. Now they are back home at the Allianz Arena, and I wouldn’t bet against them.
The key player for Cologne is French striker Anthony Modeste. He joined them from Hoffenheim in 2015 and scored just 45 seconds into his debut, finishing the match with a hat trick. He was Cologne’s top scorer last season and is getting the job done again in this campaign with four goals in five games. Thanks to Modeste’s finish, Cologne is undefeated — but that may not last against Bayern.
Table toppers
There are some big games in Russia Sunday, as third-place Zenit hosts leaders Spartak Moscow, while defending champion CSKA Moscow, in second, visits Rostov, the side they narrowly edged to win the title.
Spartak fans are hoping this will finally be the year their team gets back on top. Spartak dominated the Russian game in the ’90s, but this new millennium has not been kind. They won six straight titles until 2001. Since then, their only silverware was a 2003 cup win. That’s a long dry spell for a club with such tremendous history.
The team is coached by Massimo Carrera, who was assistant coach for many years to Antonio Conte with Juventus and the Italian national side.
Spartak’s key player and top scorer is 24-year-old Dutch international attacker Quincy Promes. He’s skilful, versatile and very good on the ball. I expect we’ll see him make a move to one of the big European leagues before long.
Another up-and-comer for Spartak is Georgia international midfielder Jano Ananidze. He has four goals in five games in what looks to be a breakout season. Ananidze made his firstteam debut for the club in 2009 at just 16, and is still only 23.
And the winner is ...
Every month League Two side Hartlepool United asks fans to vote in the club’s Goal of the Month competition, but this latest edition is a bit one-sided.
The team only scored five goals in September, and all five were scored by the same player! So Hartlepool is asking fans to pick between Nathan Thomas, Nathan Thomas, Nathan Thomas, Nathan Thomas or Nathan Thomas.
The 22-year-old winger joined the team in January, and has never been known as a goal scorer — but that seems to be changing. A former Newcastle youth player, his resumé includes stints with Sunderland and Motherwell.
Hartlepool is a port town in the northeast of England. I remember playing there back in my days at Reading. It was not one of my favourite places to visit.