Tottenham Hotspur are gearing up to face Leicester City on Monday night and may unleash Dominic Solanke on the Foxes.
A trip to face a newly-promoted is always a tricky opener to a new season.
Tottenham Hotspur are in that very boat as the Premier League gets underway this weekend.
Spurs travel to take on Leicester City, who won the Championship at the first time of asking last season.
The Foxes have suffered some blows though; boss Enzo Maresca moved on to Chelsea and midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall followed.
Spurs will now look to start the season in style and will have a new hitman leading Ange Postecoglou’s attack.
Ange Postecoglou on Dominic Solanke
Tottenham simply had to sign a new striker this summer.
Harry Kane left the club for Bayern Munich last summer and Spurs chose not to sign another centre forward.
Instead, Spurs brought in the likes of Timo Werner and Brennan Johnson and played them out wide.
The time has now come for Spurs to pounce though and Dominic Solanke has arrived from Bournemouth.
The former Chelsea and Liverpool striker hit 19 Premier League goals last season and will now lead the line for Tottenham.
Solanke only joined Tottenham last weekend but he will now be in contention to start against Leicester City with Paul Merson hailing him as a ‘great signing’.
Boss Ange Postecoglou has now delivered his verdict on Solanke after seeing him in training.
Speaking to Football London, Postecoglou noted that Solanke has performed just as expected in his first week of Spurs training.
The Australian feels that Solanke has settled in well and has already showed that he is a ‘top pro’, but admits there will still be a period of adjustment for him in North London.
“Thankfully it is what we expected, he is a top pro, a good guy, he has sort of settled into the dressing room really well,” said Postecoglou.
“Footballing wise you can see he has the attributes that kind of fit into what we want to do really well. There is still an adjustment period there as we play a little bit differently and train differently and we have seen that with every new signing that comes in. So far he has fit in really well with the group and training. We still have a couple of sessions to go but so far, so good,” he added.
Solanke should thrive at Tottenham
There were question marks around Solanke during his time at Liverpool and even early on at Bournemouth.
Most of those doubts have now subsided though with Solanke turning in outstanding displays for the Cherries last season.
19 goals for Bournemouth is impressive stuff; Andoni Iraola’s men are a very decent side but Tottenham would expect to create even more chances for Solanke.
The likes of Son Heung-min, Timo Werner, Dejan Kulusevski and Brennan Johnson can certainly come up with creativity in the final third.
Solanke is now being relied upon to supply the finishing touch in front of goal – something Richarlison hasn’t always managed to do on a consistent basis.
A start against Leicester would not be a surprise and don’t be shocked if Solanke opens his Tottenham goalscoring account on his debut.
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