Can Spurs improve again?

Did Tottenham miss their big chance or was last season’s title tilt a sign of things to come? Adam Bate examines the statistics to highlight the challenges facing Mauricio Pochettino and the reasons for optimism ahead of the 2016/17 Premier League season…

After the excitement of last season, a glance at the Premier League title odds doesn’t make particularly inspiring reading for Tottenham supporters. Despite their title bid, they are down as sixth favourites to go two places better in 2016/17. The likes of Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte have arrived and hopes have been boosted.

Spurs are not only behind both Manchester clubs and Chelsea in the betting but also Arsenal and Liverpool. As Leicester’s triumph last term demonstrated only too well, bookmakers and pundits don’t always get these things right. But even so, it’s an illustration that the scale of the task facing Mauricio Pochettino and his Tottenham team is not likely to get any easier.

With others expected to improve, the onus is on Spurs to do the same. That could be a problem. The sight of Harry Kane and Dele Alli being unable to reproduce their club form at Euro 2016 had some pointing to potential problems of fatigue. Spurs are even travelling further than any other Premier League side this summer.

That should temper any expectations that these young players can continue on a sharp upward curve. The demands of Pochettino’s high-tempo style can be exhausting – emotionally and physically – and there have been some signs that, while brilliant and effective, this can take its toll. Spurs won none of their final four games, most alarmingly losing 5-1 at already-relegated Newcastle.

Pochettino has still not endured the sort of dramatic collapses that his mentor and coaching inspiration Marcelo Bielsa faced at both Athletic Bilbao and Marseille, but such …

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