On the latest episode of the Last Word on Spurs podcast, Ricky Sacks, Chris Cowlin, Lee McQueen and Jamie Brown have been reflecting on the Lilywhites’ 3-1 win against Ludogorets in the Europa League on Thursday evening.
One topic of discussion on the recent episode, which was titled: ‘Another Kane Landmark‘, was the fact that despite travelling to Bulgaria on Thursday evening, Spurs’ next fixture sees them take on West Brom at the Hawthorns in the early kick-off on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the two other Premier League teams who played in the Europa League on Thursday evening, Leicester and Arsenal, both play later on Sunday, despite both of their games having been at home on Thursday, so they spent a lot less time travelling, and will therefore arguably have more recovery time for their fixtures on Sunday than Spurs have been afforded.
McQueen was far from happy about this issue during the podcast, saying:
“I was absolutely livid when I found out that we’ve had to travel to Bulgaria away [on Thursday] and then we’re the early midday kick-off on Sunday. [I’m] not being funny, you’ve got Arsenal and Leicester both playing at home [on Thursday] and then they kick-off later on the Sunday. TV, you need to sort it out because that is outrageous.
“We could have had a later kick-off on Sunday to give us some more recovery time. The FA or the Premier League, they need to help their teams in Europe a little bit better than that. Sorry, I was just a bit disgusted about that. Two away games and we get the early kick-off, something [isn’t] right there.”
TIF Thoughts on McQueen’s anger with Spurs’ scheduling…
McQueen raises a fair point that Spurs may have been harshly treated with this schedule, as perhaps they should have been given a later kick-off than Arsenal and Leicester, especially when you consider that both of those sides play at home on Sunday again.
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However, Mourinho has plenty of squad depth available to him now so he will perhaps have to make the most of that ahead of Sunday’s game at the Hawthorns, where they will no doubt be hoping to pick up three points against a Baggies side currently without a win in the top-flight.