Tottenham Hotspur lock horns with Ipswich Town in the Premier League as two sides go in search of a needed win - albeit for very different reasons.
Date: 10/10/2024
Kick-off time: 14:00
Location: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, North London
Tottenham are currently 7th in the Premier League with 16 points from ten games. Spurs' season thus far has been somewhat of a rollercoaster, with Ange Postecoglou's side showing simultaneous strengths and shortcomings, with consistency eluding them more than they would like.
On their day, Spurs can be frightening, but when things don't click they can shoot themselves in the foot in quite a horrific manner, and they have some notable defensive frailties that they cannot seem to shake off.
Postecoglou's side are quite vulnerable at set pieces, and they play a very high line, which proves effective a lot of the time, but when it doesn't, it can be very exposing, particularly when defender Micky van de Ven is unavailable, which seems to be somewhat often given the physically demanding nature of this game model on his hamstrings.
Still, Spurs have shown commendable resilience and mental strength to rebound from numerous setbacks, as it looked as though Posecoglou could lose his job only a few weeks back, but a strong run of form has reinstilled confidence in his reign.
Summer signing Dominic Solanke is really starting to lay down a marker in this team, with the England international having started his Spurs career slowly, but is now consistently scoring goals and delivering very strong performances, with his all-round centre forward play some of the best in the league.
Spurs are currently only two points shy of Chelsea in 4th place so they'll feel very comfortable with their position in the table, and a win here could even see them jump into the Champions League spots if other results go their way.
Ipswich, on the other hand, are having a tough, tough campaign. Promoted from the Championship at the end of last season, Ipswich always had a tough job on their hands given they were League One team only two seasons ago, but there will be an immense degree of frustration on their part that they don't have more points than they do.
The Tractor Boys are 18th in the league with five points, still winless, but have been their own worst enemy at times. Ipswich have conceded stoppage-time goals in a couple of games they should have taken something from this season and while many performances have been poor, they've shown flashes of real quality.
Kieran McKenna and co were given a large investment sum in the summer and many players were recruited into the squad. While that does serve as a boost, it's quite difficult to integrate so many new faces into the fold, with the average starting lineup in the league this season featuring seven new players.
England U21 international Liam Delap, signed from Manchester City, has been the best piece of business, with the striker notching five goals in nine games, more than any other Ipswich player.
Sammie Szmodics has also shown flashes of quality, while the standout performer of last season's crop is probably Leif Davis, whose performances have been very strong, despite some doubts that he was good enough to make the step up.
Ipswich are desperately in need of a win but it's going to take a monumental performance for them to even snatch a point from this game, so it feels likely that their wait is going to continue for another week at least.