Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool will be hoping to put pressure on Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table this season.
Try as they might, Tottenham Hotspur have been unable to sign a striker capable of easing the goal-scoring burden on Harry Kane.
Vincent Janssen arrived from AZ Alkmaar in 2016 for £18 million but proved to be an expensive flop, scoring just one Premier League goal from open play. Experienced target man Fernando Llorente, meanwhile, netted only once in Spurs colours following his move from Swansea a year ago.
As a result, the pressure on Kane remains as heavy as ever. If only Mauricio Pochettino could call on a player like Daniel Sturridge, who came off the bench on Saturday to earn Liverpool a point away at Chelsea with a last-gasp, long-range stunner.
Speaking on Monday Night Football on Sky Sports (1 October, 7:00pm), former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher believes the striking options in reserve gives the Reds a big edge over Tottenham in this Premier League season.
“The very difficult thing for managers now is to get back-up for really world-class players. Tottenham have got a huge problem, any striker they buy is sitting on the bench,” Carragher said.
“Any attacking player Liverpool buy is sitting on the bench because Liverpool’s front three is so good. So how do you get someone with enough quality that you need on the pitch, but is happy to sit on the bench?
“You can’t go out and spend £40-50million on a player because he’s not going to be in your team so I think what Liverpool have at the moment in [Daniel] Sturridge and [Xherdan] Shaqiri is the perfect example of players who are quality and are good enough, but are happy with their positions at the club and don’t cause the manager a problem.”
With Sturridge showing those world-class tendencies again with his fitness issues a thing of the past for now, and Shaqiri snapped up from Stoke, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp finally has the option to rest and rotate his much-vaunted front three this season.
Spurs, however, seem to be as reliant on Kane as ever.
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