Below-pressure Tottenham head coach Thomas Frank faces a primary reunion along with his former membership Brentford, with Spurs in determined want of a win, notably at residence.
BBC Sport examines a number of the key themes forward of Saturday’s assembly on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (15:00 GMT).
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Spurs struggling at residence
When the Premier League fixture listing got here out in the summertime many Brentford followers can have instantly circled the dates of their two video games with Tottenham as they regarded ahead to a reunion with former supervisor Thomas Frank.
The Dane’s extremely profitable nine-year stint with the Bees – seven as head coach – noticed them rise from the Championship to develop into a longtime Premier League aspect.
Nonetheless, his tenure at Tottenham has acquired off to a poor begin and rumours about his future have been swirling as they registered a 3rd defeat in seven days after a dismal exhibiting in opposition to Fulham at residence final Saturday.
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in midweek steadied the ship considerably, however their efficiency in a 2-2 draw once more arguably posed extra questions than it did solutions.
They now return to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, a spot that has seen extra spells of booing than it has objectives of late.
During the last 13 months their solely top-flight victories in entrance of their very own followers have come in opposition to Manchester United, Southampton and Burnley.
And solely the Burnley win was below Frank. Fourteen of the 19 factors (73.7%) they’ve accrued below his stewardship up to now have are available away matches.
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He desperately wants a victory to get the followers again onside, because the prospect of a sixth successive league match with out a win isn’t one Spurs followers will tolerate quietly. Defeat would even be their fifth in a row at residence in a league London derby, one thing they’ve by no means achieved earlier than of their 143-year historical past.
[BBC]
Brentford struggling on the highway
Final Saturday, Fulham travelled from west to north London with the joint worst away file within the prime flight this season, however have been 2-0 up in simply six minutes and left with three factors. This week, Brentford – who’ve misplaced a joint top-flight excessive of six away video games this marketing campaign – will look to do the identical.
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Many individuals raised an eyebrow when set-piece coach Keith Andrews was appointed as Frank’s alternative, but it surely has been very a lot business-as-usual below the spectacular Irishman.
The rookie boss had the boldness on Wednesday night time to relaxation common starters Nathan Collins, Mikkel Damsgaard, Jordan Henderson and Igor Thiago for his or her journey to leaders Arsenal.
They could have misplaced 2-0 however Andrews felt his much-changed aspect “unnerved” the Gunners with a efficiency that he described as “implausible”.
That defeat continued their run of alternating between a house win and an away loss of their final six league matches.
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However with their huge names again within the aspect they are going to be assured of inflicting extra residence distress on Tottenham and enhancing on their file of only one win in eight Premier League matches in opposition to Spurs.
[BBC]