Paul Merson expects Tottenham to suffer a second successive Premier League defeat at the hands of Bournemouth on Saturday.
Spurs were beaten 1-0 by West Ham last Saturday, and the Sky pundit believes that their Champions League semi-final second leg against Ajax, due to be played on Wednesday, will be hanging over there heads.
Speaking to Sky Sports News, he said: “Tottenham need to get something, because if Chelsea or Arsenal pick up points that’ll make life difficult, but they’re still in the Champions League – they’re still in it, and I think the players will be a bit like they were against West Ham.
“They’ll be thinking about that game on the Wednesday.
“Bournemouth have a go. I watched them against Fulham and Fulham deserved it, they went to Southampton and were never in the game, but then got one of the goals of the season.
“They are hot and cold but they’ll cause problems and I think Spurs will rest players.”
Merson predicts a 2-1 win.
OPINION
You can certainly understand where Merson is coming from. Tottenham looked completely distracted last time out against West Ham, and you could argue that the stakes will be even higher now, knowing that they have to go and get a result in Amsterdam to have any hope of progressing to a Champions League final. The most likely consequence of that will be Pochettino resting men, but his squad is already spread so thinly that he may be forced into playing some that he’d prefer not to. If that is the case, will those players be out there giving it their all against Bournemouth? Probably not, and that is a bit of a worry. Spurs are nearly there, but they aren’t quite home and hosed yet when it comes to securing a Champions League spot next season. They still need points, and this game would ordinarily seem like a gimme. Whether that is actually the case remains to be seen.