Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend


Who will Pochettino turn to up front? Will Lindelöf banish bad memories of Brighton? And should Sarri start Giroud?

If Mauricio Pochettino could have picked one Premier League team to start playing against without his top scorer and his most in-form attacker, then he would surely have plumped for Fulham. Claudio Ranieri’s defensively chaotic side are the perfect opponents in a far-from-ideal scenario for Tottenham, who must learn to cope without Harry Kane and Son Heung-min. It will still be interesting to see how Mauricio Pochettino tries to overcome those losses. Perhaps he will ask Dele Alli or Lucas Moura to play as a shifty striker or maybe he’ll deploy Fernando Llorente, a more conventional centre-forward who netted a hat-trick in the recent annihilation of Tranmere Rovers? Or the manager might even push his faith in youth to an unprecedented extreme by giving a start to the highly promising 16-year-old Irish striker Troy Parrott, who has yet to appear for the senior team? Whatever the manager opts for, Spurs can be confident of victory given that Fulham have been so hapless this season that they even managed to concede two goals last week despite restricting Burnley to no shots on target. PD

Related: Andy Robertson signs ‘no-brainer’ new five-year Liverpool contract

Related: El Loco, Huddersfield and trouble at Arsenal – Football Weekly Extra

Related: Huddersfield’s sporting director follows David Wagner out of club

Continue reading...