Paul Merson has warned Tottenham that a ‘hard’ game is awaiting them ahead of their trip to Leicester on Thursday, as he told Sportskeeda.
The TV pundit has backed the Foxes to beat Spurs, as he shared that James Maddison has ‘set the bar’ for himself after his performance in his last game.
Maddison scored and assisted as Leicester thrashed Newcastle United 4-0 over the weekend.
The ball-carrying midfielder has had an indifferent campaign, but to the disadvantage of Spurs, he has started to find his goalscoring boots of late.
A number of seasons ago, Maddison did score a late winner against the north London club and he will be hoping to repeat that feat tomorrow night.
Merson praised him ahead of that game and because of Tottenham’s recent COVID issues, he feels that lack of game time will hurt them.
“I think Leicester City will win this one,” said Merson. “They did really well against Newcastle United the other day.
“James Maddison set the bar in that game and that’s what you would expect from a player like him.
“However, the problem with Maddison is that he gets to a certain level, everyone speaks about him and he just horribly dips off in a week or two. I don’t know what it is with the lad, only he knows.
“Tottenham, on the other hand, haven’t played in a while and have been hampered by COVID-19 cases, so this could be a hard game for them if it goes ahead.”
The recent COVID outbreak at Tottenham has caused havoc at the club, their staff and their fixture schedule.
Even now, Antonio Conte doesn’t have a fully fit squad to pick from, which means that fringe players might have to feature at the King Power.
Added with that, they were last in competitive action 11 days ago when they beat Norwich City 3-0 on home soil.
Not just will a lack of fitness and sharpness be an issue for Spurs, but who will actually be available for them?
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