Thomas Frank will discover the depth of the challenge facing him in his first season as Tottenham manager when his side take on Paris Saint-Germain in the Uefa Super Cup in Italy and it may be a scary proposition.
Spurs may kick-off their new Premier League campaign at home to promoted Burnley on Saturday seeking a big win to banish the memories of a painful lesson against the Champions League winners from the French capital, who are smarting from last month’s chastening defeat to Chelsea in the Club World Cup final.
It was always going to be a mountainous task for Tottenham after PSG devastated the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal before shredding Inter Milan in a 5-1 romp in the final of Europe’s biggest club competition.
Their victims in the Club World Cup then included Real Madrid and more specifically Bayern Munich, who have just hammered Spurs in pre-season, and although Frank’s fellas have a 1-0 victory over Arsenal in Hong Kong and a 1-1 draw with Newcastle in the bank it seems they are still short of quality if they are to fight for glory on four fronts this term.
Winning the Europa League in Bilbao gained automatic entry to the Champions League and the prestigious Super Cup showpiece at the home of Serie A club Udinese will give a huge indication as to how Tottenham will fare in that competition this year. The current prospects are that they will struggle to get anywhere near a repeat of the 2019 final against Liverpool in Madrid.
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They lack real depth with Heung-min Son ending his tremendous ten-year association with the North London club and moving to Los Angeles while key playmakers James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski are both out injured for long stretches.
Mohammed Kudus was a smart signing from West Ham as was Joao Palhinha from Bayern but the failure to complete the purchase of Morgan Gibbs-White from Nottingham Forest with no further major additions being made is worrying for Spurs’ long-term outlook.
Jack Grealish’s midfield fluidity and creativity would have been a huge boost, but he is off to Everton and hopes of buying Crystal Palace attacker Eberechi Eze or Savinho from Manchester City appear unlikely.
It’s looks like the familiar story of the board failing to seize the opportunity to propel the club into the upper stratosphere of European football is unfolding once again and PSG could ruthlessly expose Tottenham’s limitations.
The Ligue 1 kings are 6/5 with BoyleSports to lead HT/FT, 16/1 with the same firm, bet365, Betfred and others to win 4-1 while over 4.5 goals is 14/5 with Unibet and BetMGM. Desire Doue is 39/20 with the latter two companies to score at any time and 13/2 with Sky Bet to break the deadlock.
Carabao Cup odds
Barnsley, Huddersfield and Birmingham combine for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup treble.
Tennis odds: Cincinnati Open
Wimbledon champion Jannik Sinner can continue preparations to retain his US Open crown at Flushing Meadows by successfully defending his Cincinnati Open title at 9/10 with Unibet and BetMGM.
