REPRIEVE FOR CARLO
Arsenal
West Ham
Hibs are in a good run at the minute, beating teams around them. I fancy them to take a point from this.
Arsenal
West Ham
The SPL table says these are two wellmatched teams. Hibs slayed the Dons 3-0 though back in December. They should be better at home.
TO LOSE one England star for off-field misconduct is unfortunate. To lose two would begin to look like carelessness for Tottenham Hotspur.
Bans for Dele Alli and Eric Dier may highlight how it has taken only nine months to go from the Champions League final with Mauricio Pochettino to a club mired in crisis under Jose Mourinho.
And how their luck and high-energy momentum from the last campaign has run out. The only upside to Dier’s diversion into the West Stand on Wednesday night was that the headline-grabbing incident overshadowed a fourth consecutive defeat in all competitions for Spurs. Losing at home in the FA Cup to the Premier League’s bottom club surely ended their last chance of silverware in this troubled season. Mourinho claimed after the defeat on penalties by Norwich that his long injury list will force him to prioritise between the Premier League and Champions League in his next two matches. Trying to change the culture at a club of traditional underachievers, the had decline started before Pochettino was sacked in November after winning only five of his first 17 games of the season. Mourinho was brought in to make the final step from challenging to winning. But instead it has all gone wrong again very quickly.
Serious injuries to talismen Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min have been massive blows.
Christian Eriksen was offloaded in January before his contract expired, while Dier could now join Alli – who is also facing an FA charge for his social media post, right, mocking coronavirus victims – in being banned for a lack of off-field discipline. Alli is planning to appeal the charge.
But there are also problems on the pitch. Mourinho sides are traditionally built on defensive solidity. In his first season at Chelsea in 2004-05, his Blues conceded only 15 Premier League goals.
But the Portuguese has seen his team keep only two clean sheets in 13 home games since he took over in November as he has tinkered with his defence.
Toby Alderweireld, who signed a new deal in January, was again left out against Norwich, with fellow centre-back JanVertonghen deployed at left-back.
“We had chances to kill the game but we didn’t,” said Vertonghen, who was captain against Norwich and scored the opener. “We don’t keep enough clean sheets. It’s not just now, it’s since the start of the season, even more than a year ago we started to concede too many goals.”
Mourinho, who has criticised the displays of record summer signing Tanguy Ndombele, hit out at Spurs fans this week over calls to play 18-year-old Republic of Ireland striker Troy Parrott.
But the Parrott issue is symbolic for supporters raised on Spurs’ glory days who want to see a proper centre-forward – and retain doubts about Mourinho’s reputation for negative football.
Mourinho showed his experience in handling tricky situations by both admonishing and supporting Dier. Now he must manage his squad with equal skill against Burnley on Saturday and Leipzig on Tuesday – and win over fans. “I am sad for the players and fans, but I am thinking about what is next and I am worried about playing in two days,” said Mourinho. “I have to think about a Saturday match and a Tuesday match and decide which is the priority and which is the one where I can give some of my boys under huge fatigue the best possible chance.”
Vertonghen added: “We have other things to play for, we still have the top four or five, and we still have everything to play for in the Champions League and we feel that we can turn it round.”
Spurs face RB Leipzig in Germany on Tuesday, having lost the home leg 1-0.
CARLO ANCELOTTI has escaped a touchline suspension, despite being found guilty of improper conduct by the FA.
The Everton boss accepted the misconduct charge after his red card at the end of the 1-1 draw with Manchester United on Sunday. Ancelotti, left, was involved in a bust-up with referee Chris Kavanagh, who asked him to leave the field of play three times.
The Italian can now return to the dugout for Sunday’s game at his former club Chelsea.
Ancelotti was given more good news with the revelation Dominic Calvert-Lewin is ready to commit to a new five-year contract.