GLEN JOHNSON: BETDAQ Brand Ambassador Glen Johnson look at the North London derby and which side can bounce back from last week, have Pochettino and Spurs stalled?, the ‘top six’ league within the league plus his regular BETDAQ acca recommendation.
North London derby
I’m finding it quite hard to pick a winner of the north London derby. Both sides come into it after disappointing performances last week and it will be interesting to see how they react. Arsenal showed in that Liverpool defeat how flimsy their defence still is and if they give Spurs a similar number of opportunities, you’d have to fancy the likes of Harry Kane to score plenty of goals.
It’s so hard to predict what’s going to happen in a derby, but I just think Spurs go in as favourites based on the past few seasons. There’s been a definite power shift in north London and it wasn’t that long ago that this wasn’t seen as a big game for Arsenal. They used to brush Spurs aside easily, but since Pochettino has come in, things have really changed. He’s improved the side hugely and they are a much more powerful outfit now.
I always really looked forward to playing in a derby. I was lucky enough to play in a number of Merseyside ones during my career and they’re the games you look out for when the fixture list is announced. It’s such a big game because everyone in the city is talking about it. There will be families sitting on the sofa supporting different teams and it’s things like that which make these games so important for the fans as well as the players. It seems like everyone gets involved in the build-up which makes them fantastic to be part of and why they are that little bit more interesting than normal matches.
Pochettino at a crossroads
Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino
It’s a difficult time for Tottenham as they’re at that stalling period. They’ve progressed so much under Pochettino, but considering they finished 16 points behind Liverpool and 17 behind Man City last season, they are still way off the pace in the grand scale of things.
He’s done an amazing job, however I’m not sure he can take them much further unless the owner pumps millions into the squad. They’ve got a very good squad, but they need a couple of superstars to threaten the league’s top-two and I’m not sure the club can or will do that. They can beat anyone on their day, but the reason they aren’t competing for major honours on a regular basis is that they aren’t consistent enough and that has to be down to their current squad.
Pochettino has been linked with Real Madrid before and if they did come calling again, I think he’d really consider it this time. It’s such a big carrot for any manager and you’d have to think the way he sets up a team as well as how he conducts himself off the pitch means the world’s top clubs will be keen on him.
Still a long way to go to break into top six
There’s been plenty of chat around whether this is the year that a new side breaks into the top six. At this stage, I just can’t see it happening. The top six are still a fair way ahead of the others and it would take a pretty big effort for that to change.
Of those chasing that sixth spot, I’ve thought for a while that West Ham or Leicester are the two sides most likely to break in. They’ve got the two most complete squads, but I’m still not sure they’ll have enough to make it given the quality that the top six have.
Weekly acca
Check out the selections for my weekly accumulator, where I fancy Tottenham to get one over on their north London rivals.
⚽ Chelsea (to beat Sheffield United)
⚽ Manchester City (to beat Brighton)
⚽ Newcastle (to beat Watford)
⚽ West Ham (to beat Norwich)
⚽ Tottenham (to beat Arsenal)
Did you know that as well as checking the realtime prices on BETDAQ below – you can also log into your account and place your bets directly into BETDAQ from BETDAQ TIPS.
