With Spurs boasting a squad full of talent, what must Swansea do to be in with a chance of all three points?
Against West Ham last weekend, the Swans succumbed to two, nay three predictable goals courtesy of Andy Carroll. Two unmarked headers - one from a corner - and a Sakho goal from a Carroll flick on left us wondering what could have been after once again opening the scoring, and our record of not having been behind at half-time also remains intact. Only Chelsea can also say they haven't been trailing in the Premier League at half-time, and while we obviously went on to lose at West Ham there were plenty of positives to take from the game.
Namely, the goals came from lapses in concentration, and these things are addressable. That said, I thought Rangel had a poor game at the Boleyn Ground, and with Jazz Richards having yet again had a solid game - this time at left-back in for the suspended Neil Taylor - I'd definitely be an advocate of Richards switching to right-back with Taylor reinstated at left-back for Spurs. They have pace out wide in Chadli, Lamela, Lennon et al, and Rangel's acceleration (sadly) seems to be disappearing completely. He's a canny player, and he'll still be able to do a job for a good while yet, but up against a pacey attack I'd favour a solid option with a bit more pace - if Jazz is that option than brilliant.
Tottenham love to press high. Well, Pochettino loves to press high, and he's slowly convincing the Spurs' squad of it's benefits. Adebayor's protests a few weeks ago that "the players didn't understand what he wanted from them" sounded, to me, like the protests of someone who didn't really want to spend ninety minutes working hard, but with Kane, Eriksen, Mason & others looking like they'll revel in Pochettino's system it won't be long before results become more stable.
To counter this, we need to attack them. Hard. They kept a clean sheet in their last league game at home to Palace, but went down 1-0 at Besiktas and looked vulnerable at the back. There was heavy rotation, but unease at the back has been one of the problems for Spurs, and whereas the Swans are yet to go in behind at the break, Spurs have been trailing on six occasions. Only WBA have been behind at half time more often (7), and if Tottenham have made a habit of going behind early on, this is something we need to aim for.
Luckily, we're pretty handy at scoring first. We've scored first in eleven of our fifteen matches this season, and considering we've drawn nil-nil twice that shows how impressive that record is. The problem is, if you can't hold on to the lead it's not worth anything. In general I think the hoo-ha about how many points we've conceded from winning positions is rubbish (six of the points having been "dropped" at Man City & Chelsea, and another three at in-form West Ham), and I think it's a brilliant trait to have developed. We now need to learn to manage the game for ninety minutes, and in fairness that's also something we've done well more often than not this season.
As for how to manage Spurs, as mentioned they've got a habit of trailing at half-time, but when you look at goals scored they've scored an equal amount in the first and second halves. That, to me, would indicate they aren't getting back into games as much as they could be, and if this all goes to form and we score early we could be looking good. With Sigurdsson pressing high and disrupting their midfield and defence, and Bony in lethal form, I'm confident that at the very least we can cause problems for Spurs. I'd go as far as to say we will create chances - whether we take them is another question.
At the back, Harry Kane is the man who worries me. We have a tendency to concede to strikers who harry our defence (no pun intended), and Kane is flying at the moment. I'm a big fan of him and I think he's a quality player, and we need to marshal him carefully lest he grab something from nothing. Spurs haven't scored in three games though, so if we can wrestle control of the match early on and/or grab an early goal, there's every possibility nerves will set in for Spurs, who will no doubt be the victim of fans' frustrations if they do indeed go behind.
To do that, we need to defend solidly, keep our shape and look to retain possession, frustrating Spurs. For me, Ki, Leon & Sigurdsson allow us to do that best, and I think that's the midfield we'll put out tomorrow. Gylfi will undoubtedly be keen to show his former employers what they're missing, and I do think he's got the potential to be key. If we can feed him regularly goals will take care of themselves. Stopping Lamela, Eriksen, Kane and others will be the big issue though.
As mentioned, I think we should go with Jazz at right-back and Tayls at left-back. Bartley should once again partner Ash, and with Ki & Leon prowling in front of him we should have enough about us to retain possession without becoming hurried and panicked. Obviously, a multiple-goal cushion aids that but even if it's 0-0 with five minutes to go we should be confident in our passing game, and able to easily move the ball around to relieve pressure. We have the players to achieve that, it's just a case of - as Monk has said repeatedly - managing the game correctly.
Do that, and we can beat Spurs. All the statistics and form books point to the Swans scoring first with Spurs coming back into it later on. Given we've only been able to take one point off Spurs in six attempts so far in the Premier League era it's understandable if there was a bit of nerves on our part, but we have the players to score against any team now, and our six clean sheets says we can back it up with a solid defence too.
We've come a long way since Scott Sinclair equalised late on to give us our solitary point against Spurs back in 2011. Back then a win would have been considered a massive upset, but with the Swans now unbeaten in five at home it'd be a brave man who bets against a Swansea City win tomorrow.
Well, an early goal at the very least...