Looking Ahead
Spurs Expected to Finish Below Man Utd and Chelsea in 2024/25 – According to the Bookmakers
Given that the end to the season was something of a damp squib, it would be easy to forget just how good Tottenham were at the start of the campaign.
After ten weeks of the Premier League season, Spurs were top of the table and unbeaten – over the course of the last ten weeks, they went W4 D1 L5 as their hopes of a top-four finish disappeared rather abruptly.
So what to expect in 2024/25? According to the bookmakers, at least, another battle just to get even close to the Champions League places.
Fantastic Fourth
Even before the drama of EURO 2024 has got underway – and before the action of the summer transfer window has begun to unfold, the bookies have priced up their Premier League markets for next season.
Manchester City are the favourites to win the title once more, although their margin of superiority has been cut once more given Arsenal’s continued success.
But it’s the top-four finish market that is perhaps more pertinent for Spurs fans. General odds of 2/1 are indicative of the chances of Ange Postecoglou’s men, although the fact that there are six teams ahead of them in the listing – including the manic Manchester United and chaotic Chelsea – is all the more telling.
The market suggests that United and Chelsea are expected to kick on under their respective new head coaches, whereas Tottenham are predicted to stagnate, to some extent, under Big Ange.
The frustration of wagering on season-long betting markets is that the action isn’t settled until the following May, although the good news is that many online bookmakers now offer the most popular casino games too. That’s one way to help wile away the time, with no deposit free spins offers helping players to try their luck at the slots without any risk to your bankroll.
And then, May comes round, there may be cause for celebration if Spurs have booked their place in the Champions League for 2025/26 via a top-four finish.
Through the Middle
One of the interesting developments of Postecoglou’s reign so far has been the use of Son Heung-min as a central striker, as opposed to coming in off the left-hand side.
It’s a strategy that worked, to some extent, with the Korean notching 14 goals and assisting five others from 24 Premier League appearances as a striker.
But you do wonder if the balance of the team is upset with Son through the middle, particularly in terms of creating chances – he is a fantastic ball-carrier from the left flank when isolated against the opposition’s full back.
It’s somewhat harsh to say Tottenham are desperate for a new striker – Richarlison bagged 13 goals in 19 appearances when starting through the middle, but shuffling Son back out to the left flank, with a more dynamic presence in the centre than the Brazilian, might just help Spurs to unearth that extra 5% that pushes them into the Champions League reckoning.
Make no mistake, it’s Tottenham’s fragility defensively that will stop them kicking on under Postecoglou. But if he can solve that issue – and add further goals with a new central striker – maybe that hope of a top-four finish next term isn’t that forlorn after all.
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