Darren Bent has cast doubts over Tottenham’s ability to challenge for the Premier League title this season while speaking on the All to Play For podcast.
Tom Davis, Joe Cole and Bent were speaking about Spurs’ brilliant start to the season, and the ex-Spurs striker says three things will hamper the London club’s title chances.
Bent says questions over Harry Kane’s fitness, defensive frailties and a lack of creativity in the midfield will affect Tottenham’s ability to challenge.
“I still can’t see them doing it,” Bent said.
“They’ve been in this situation before, and they let Leicester come and win the title.
“I just think Harry Kane as well, he’s one of the best in the world, but can he stay fit?
“Defensively they’re still a bit suspect, and I think they lack creativity, do you know what I mean, all the other players they’ve got, they still miss Eriksen in the middle of the park.”
As much as we hate to say it, Bent might be right.
We argued this week that Kane’s fitness could be Spurs’ downfall, while their defence really is quite suspect.
Yes, Tottenham have conceded just nine league goals so far this term, the joint-best record in the division, but Premier League title challengers really shouldn’t be conceding three at home to West Ham.
The lack of creativity in the midfield is a complicated argument.
Spurs don’t have an Eriksen-esque midfielder in their ranks at the moment, but that hasn’t mattered due to the amount of work Kane has been doing when dropping deep, but if he’s not on his game, or he gets injured, Mourinho could find his side struggling to carve out chances.
Time will tell whether or not Bent is right, but Spurs still have a fair bit to prove before we can say they’re favourites for the title.
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