Tottenham Hotspur: 11 Predictions for Spurs' Premier League Season

While the rest of the Premier League have got their season up and running, Tottenham are still waiting to come out of the blocks.

The rioting in London put paid to their opening day fixture with Everton, and now Spurs will get their campaign underway at Old Trafford.

Given this state of affairs, we are still able to fully speculate as to how their season will pan out without any actual football to necessarily base them on.* 

So here are 11 things that could well transpire for Spurs over the course of the coming season.

*The one caveat over all of the following is that they are based on Luka Modric remaining at the club. If he leaves this summer, then forget about it.

1: Brad Friedel Will Usurp Heurelho Gomes

He may be 40 years old, but the big American goalkeeper would surely not have been tempted to up sticks and move from Birmingham to London this summer had he not been given some assurances of playing regular football.

Even if the No. 1 spot at White Hart Lane had not been explicitly promised to him by Spurs, Friedel need only look at Gomes's rap sheet to know he stands more than a fair chance of a starting spot at his new club.

Gomes has gone from zero to hero and back again during his three years at Tottenham. An error-prone mess during the ill-fated reign of Juande Ramos, the Brazilian grew in confidence under Harry Redknapp and justified his manager's patience with him on numerous occasions.

But last season, his old calamitous ways resurfaced, most notably letting eminently stoppable strikes from Frank Lampard and Cristiano Ronaldo through his hands and his confusion which gifted Nani a goal against them at Old Trafford.

Friedel has played all 38 Premier League matches in each of the past seven seasons at Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers.

Redknapp has been at pains to give him, Gomes and Carlo Cudicini all a fair hearing in pre-season, but it would be a big surprise to see anyone other than Friedel in goal at Old Trafford when Spurs finally get their season underway. 

2: Rafael Van Der Vaart Will Struggle With "Second-Season Syndrome"

There is little questioning the fantastic value for money Spurs got when they signed van der Vaart last August.

They picked up a Netherlands international, who featured in last season's World Cup final, with plenty of experience in the Eredivisie, Bundesliga, La Liga and the Champions League for just £8 million. Van der Vaart's return of 13 league goals repaid that paltry fee and then some.

But Tottenham have reasons to be concerned about the Dutchman's fitness going into his sophomore campaign at The Lane. The 28-year-old completed just half of his 28 league appearances last season, often being substituted early either because of picking up injuries or in order to safeguard against them.

Added to that, he would by no means be the first player to struggle in replicating a successful debut year in a new league. Most teams will have had two matches in which to formulate a way of limited the danger he poses from those late runs into the box.

So often last year, those runs were to meet a nod-down from Peter Crouch, whose own place in the team seemed at times purely down to the productive partnership he struck up with the former Real Madrid man so quickly.

Crouch, however, has been strongly linked with a move with the ambitious Stoke City the front-runners for his signature. To remove Crouch from ahead of him—and, potentially Luka Modric from behind him—and van der Vaart will find his second year in English football a lot tougher.

3: Spurs Won't Go All Out for the Carling Cup and Europa League

There was a time when Redknapp would send out his best possible team in every match. As one of the small handful of English managers to win a major trophy of any description in the past two decades—the 2008 FA Cup with Portsmouth—he knows the value of cup competitions.

That commitment was underlined in early 2009 when, faced with a trip to Wembley to defend the Carling Cup had won the previous year just three days hence, Redknapp fielded a side peppered with second-string and youth players in the second leg of a UEFA Cup quarterfinal against Shakthar Donetsk.

The Ukrainian side went on the win the tournament, becoming the last winners of the trophy since its rebranding into the Europa League, and Spurs lost the following Sunday on penalties to Manchester United.

Last season, Tottenham were a Champions League club. As such, they felt they had bigger fish to fry, and their Carling Cup third-round tie came either side of their first two group matches in Europe's premier club competition.

Despite that match being at home to local rivals Arsenal, Redknapp still fielded a side with less pedigree than the team Arsene Wenger sent out, even though his French counterpart habitually selects weakened XI's in the early rounds of domestic cups. Arsenal won 4-1 in extra time.

Now, having had a taste of the what the Champions League has to offer, the onus is on Redknapp to regain the club's top four status, regardless of how many other teams are expected to be battling for those places.

Given the comparative lack of glamour held by both domestic and European secondary competitions, and the inconvenient fixture build-up runs in either would cause come the business end of the season, Redknapp may well continue with his half-hearted approach toward them.   

4: Kyle Walker to See More Action

When the two Kyles—Messrs Naughton and Walker—both joined Tottenham in a double-purchase from Sheffield United in 2009, all the talk was about the former being the superior right-back.

Naughton was after all a year older and had made 40 league appearances for the Blades before moving to London. Walker, by contrast, had played a combined total of just 18 professional games for his hometown club and Northampton Town during a loan spell with the Cobblers, and he was sent back to Brammall Lane on loan immediately.

Now, however, it is Walker who is firmly in the first-team picture at Spurs, following highly successful loan spells at Queens Park Rangers and Aston Villa last season. The 21-year-old did so well at Villa Park, in fact, that he received not one but two call-ups to the senior England squad toward the end of the season.

Although he did not earn his first cap, Walker went to Denmark for the Under-21 European Championships and managed to impress so much in England's disappointing campaign that he was picked in the team of the tournament.

Alan Hutton has seemingly fallen out of favour at Tottenham, while Croatian utility man may be many things, but being able to move at anything higher than third gear is not one of them.

As such, Walker has an excellent chance to become a Premier League regular this year. Of course, Naughton may yet do the same, as he is currently on loan at newly promoted Norwich City.

5: Harry Redknapp's Uncertain Future Will Be a Distraction

With Fabio Capello leaving his post as England manager after next summer's European Championship, whatever happens in Poland and Ukraine, speculation will soon begin to mount as to who the Italian's replacement will be.

Redknapp has made no secret of his desire to take the role, and the clamour for an Englishman to be the FA's next appointment for the job is sure to be strong after yet another highly successful foreign manager at club level fails to match the lofty expectations placed upon the national side.

Of course, whether or not Redknapp will be a candidate depends entirely on the outcome of his upcoming court case regarding his tax affairs, brought by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. Should he come through that unscathed, an exonerated Redknapp can begin selling himself to the FA in earnest.

If he does not, then looking for a new job will be the least of his troubles.

Either way, uncertainty over the manager's future is rarely conducive to good results, so it will be interesting to see how Tottenham fare in the field as those various off-pitch affairs are played out.

6: They Will Go Crazy on Transfer Deadline Day

One of the most certain items in this list of predictions is that Tottenham will get busy as the clock ticks down toward to closing of the summer transfer window.

Redknapp may strongly refute the "wheeler dealer" tag slapped on him by many—he even once launched into a sweary rant when an interviewer dared utter the phrase to his face—but his previous form makes the description difficult to deny.

If indeed there is any doubt, just look at the club's behaviour at the end of the last January transfer window. Having already made a luxury signing in the form of midfielder Steven Pienaar from Everton, Spurs went into overdrive in deadline day.

Hasty enquiries were made as to the availability of Sergio Aguero, Diego Forlan, Giuseppe Rossi, Fernando Llorente, Alvaro Negredo and seemingly every other striker in Spain, but all drew blanks.

Then, with just hours to go before the deadline passed, it was announced that they had agreed a fee of £14 million for much-coveted playmaker Charlie Adam (pictured), and the deal only fell through because two Blackpool directors were not available to sign off the necessary documents at such short notice.

No matter what the rhetoric coming out of the club this month may suggest, the fax machine at White Hart Lane is certain to see a fair amount of action on Aug. 31.

7: Ledley King Will Again Miss Most of the Season

In his 11 years as a professional, King has made exactly 300 appearances for Tottenham, his only club. Had he not been ravaged by injury problems throughout much of his career, that figure would be at least double that.

When fit, King is one of the best defenders around, but his inability to play train properly or play twice in a week has severely stunted his career. He spends most of his time in the swimming pool rather than playing five a side with his teammates at the Spurs Lodge training ground. 

The 2009-10 season saw him feature 20 times in the Premier League, a Herculean effort considering the cartilage in his left knee has completely eroded. and his efforts greatly helped the club qualify for the Champions League.

He even played his way into England's World Cup squad, only to pick up an injury within minutes of the team's first match against USA. Since then, he has played just nine times for Spurs.

Fortunately for Tottenham, the signing of William Gallas has greatly enhanced their defence, and the Frenchman has formed a good partnership with Michael Dawson. That means the pressure to field King is a lot less than it otherwise would have been.

Tottenham's chances of avoiding defeat spike dramatically when King is in the team, but those occasions are becoming fewer as time goes on. The club has already let another injury-prone centre-back leave, letting Jonathan Woodgate move to Stoke on a free transfer.

There is only so long they can continue paying their former captain for essentially being a club ambassador.

8: Roman Pavlyuchenko Will Continue to Frustrate

The big Russian striker has been such an enigma ever since he joined Tottenham three years ago.

After a handful of promising but not riveting performances, it looked as though he had finally marked his arrival with his late winner against Liverpool, scored after new boss Redknapp brought him off the bench and told him simply to "run about."

Since then, however, the former Spartak Moscow forward has consistently failed to show little more than flashes of the striker who so devastated England for his country in the Euro 2008 qualifiers.

A haul of 20 goals in 73 league appearances falls well short of what was expected when he arrived for a £12.5 million fee after that tournament. 

A major source of fan's frustration at the 29-year-old is that he has a knack of scoring some of the most difficult chances presented to him but is unable to make the most of simple opportunities.

His work rate, too, bears the mark of a player who is happy with his lot and often betrays little ambition to strive his utmost for his team whenever he is called upon. 

It would be easy to write him off, were it not for him sometimes adding completely out of that type. Sometimes, out of nowhere, he will suddenly be throwing his weight around, chasing every loose ball and firing in a vital goal.

The thundering near-post strike he scored against Young Boys in Tottenham's Champions League qualifier, which sparked their victorious comeback, will not be easily forgotten. 

But there is little sign that next season will be any different. Spurs might even have been able to accommodate such an inconsistent striker with more ease, were it not for the fact that he was the only one to make double figures in the league last season.

9: They Will Claim a Few Big Scalps

Few things say how much Tottenham's fortunes have changed over the past few years then their results against the biggest sides. 

Last season was the first in five in which they did not claim a victory in one competition or another over Chelsea, although they were able to defeat both Milan clubs in the same campaign. 

Beating Arsenal is no longer a once-in-a-decade occurrence, and they beat the Gunners on their own patch last term for the first time since Gary Lineker scored the winner at Highbury. 

The last three meetings with Liverpool in North London have all ended 2-1 to the home side, and a 2-0 victory at Anfield in May earned them the dubious honour of a Europa League place ahead of the Reds.

Only Manchester United have been able to maintain a hoodoo over Spurs in recent times, having not lost to the Londoners in any competition, anywhere for a decade. 

It may simply help another side's title chances rather than enhance their own, but at least Tottenham can occasionally punch their weight against some of the best sides around. 

10: They Will Be a Big Scalp

Conversely, as much as they are more than capable of bothering the biggest teams, Spurs are more than capable of messing up against so-called lesser opposition.

Last season, defeats to Wigan, Blackpool and bitter local rivals West Ham contributed to Tottenham taking just 11 points from a possible 30 against the teams that ended up in the bottom five places in the table.

The year before that, the six points Wolves took from the Londoners over two games went a long way to securing their Premier League safety on their first year back in the top flight, and the joy at beating Manchester City to secure fourth place in their penultimate match was dampened somewhat by them losing at relegated Burnley on the final day.

With all three promoted teams—QPR, Norwich and Swansea City—geared towards playing attacking football, their respective managers will be telling their players to get in and unsettle Spurs early in the hope of catching them on the back foot.

If the key to predicting future behaviour is indeed past behaviour, then they will have a chance. 

11: They Will Finish Sixth

For all the reasons stated previously—both positive and negative—it seems unlikely that Tottenham will be able to repeat their feat of 2009-10 and finish fourth.

They managed to check Manchester City's progress by reaching the Champions League ahead of them, but that was not enough to stop Sheikh Mansour's juggernaut picking up momentum. 

Liverpool, too, have invested heavily, and the recovery made once Kenny Dalglish took over from Roy Hodgson midway through last season was little short of remarkable. With no European football at Anfield this season, the Reds are free to concentrate fully on their own goal: get back up the right end of the table. 

Declaring the terminal demise of Arsenal Football Club is in danger of becoming a national pastime, but to discount the Gunners as a Champions League side is at best hasty. Even if they do fall out of the top four this season, Tottenham have hardly been more effective in improving their own squad than their neighbours.

These days, Spurs should be regarded as a serious club, but in the crowded upper echelons of the table, they are in danger of being elbowed to the back.