The MOST vital stage of Tottenham’s season?

A saving grace for United, that is more of a curse for Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City, is that they won’t be losing any pivotal players to the African Cup of Nations in January. As aforementioned, all of Spurs’ close rivals will do though; Chelsea lose Drogba and Kalou, Manchester City may lose their Toures and Arsenal will lose one of their brightest stars this season, Gervinho, as well as Morocco’s Chamakh. Tottenham don’t lose any of their African trio, with Adebayor retired and his country banned and Cameroon failing to qualify, leaving Assou-Ekotto and Bassong to play their football in the Premier League.

This is where Tottenham must capitalise; January is crucial, January is their’s to lose and January will be their making. Simply, Spurs must make the most of their peer’s shortcomings, misfortune and losses. Luck may have shone on them so far and therefore Redknapp will want to be in a comfortable position when it stops shining; January provides that. Along with United losing Vidic for the season, Liverpool have lost Lucas for the same duration, have no player of the same elk to plug the gap and will lose their top-scorer, Suarez for the majority of January. Newcastle have lost Steven Taylor for the remainder of the campaign and three other first-teamers are currently out with various injuries. That’s the teams immediately below and the teams immediately above, all being inhibited in some way and some more than others.

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Chelsea may well be the least affected in January; they look set to strengthen during January with AVB undergoing his first transition, despite stating, “this is not a period of transition,” and Drogba and Kalou haven’t exactly been the flagship for Chelsea’s football this season – the latter has perked up though. Luckily for Tottenham, Chelsea are three points behind Spurs having played one more game and face Manchester City on Monday night. Manchester City may also brush off Tottenham’s threat during January; Yaya Toure will be missed as a vital part of City’s engine room, but, as City have shown, for Aguero there is Balotelli, for Milner there is Johnson and for Yaya there will be many many choices that can aptly fill the void.

One team that may not be able to win with the hand they’ve been dealt with, is Manchester United; Vidic is out, their Champions League exit is costing a rumoured £20m and Sir Alex Ferguson has now had to apologise for two cup exits already this season. In January they play their rivals City in the F.A Cup and an exit from that would leave Manchester United with two hopes; the Europa League and catching City. Without Vidic, fans would be right to fear. Unfortunately for United fans, a signing in January isn’t looking hopeful; since selling Ronaldo to Madrid, their net spend is lower than that of the Championship’s Hull, Blackpool and Burnley.

Ultimately, this is where Tottenham must capitalise; January is crucial, January is their’s to lose and January will be their making.

Written by Jordan Florit for www.maycauseoffence.com/ For more articles visit my website or my Twitter @JordanFlorit

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