As the halfway stage of the Premier League season approaches, Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino should be relatively content with his side’s efforts to qualify for Champions League football once again this season.
Indeed, the north London outfit currently lay in fifth place, just one behind their bitter local rivals Arsenal in fourth.
But as we move into the business end of the campaign, Pochettino must identify the areas that continue to hamper the progression of his Spurs side to ensure they don’t drift away from the top four battle.
Fortunately, however, the January window is just around the corner and provided Daniel Levy gives him the right funds to spend, Pochettino should be able to amend some of those issues via the transfer market.
With that in mind, we take a look at three glaring issues Pochettino must look to resolve when the transfer window opens on New Year’s Day.
Inject pace in the wings
An enormous, glaring issue Spurs consistently suffer from is the lack of pace in attack.
Pochettino’s side have struggled to stretch teams this season and find space behind the lines of sides that set up defensively with the aim of keeping Spurs’ chances limited.
Signing a speedy, penetrative winger would allow Pochettino to add another dimension to the White Hart Lane outfit.
Kane is the only scoring striker
With summer signing Vincent Janssen struggling to deliver, Harry Kane remains the only in-form striker at the club and an injury to the England international would hugely damage Spurs’ chances of Champions League qualification.
Janssen hasn’t scored a Premier League goal from open play this season and although the Dutchman is still a young, developing player, Spurs need to find another goal threat for the remainder of the campaign.
A short-term solution would be ideal, but decent front-men rarely come cheap – especially midway through the season.
Better depth in key areas
Following injuries to both Harry Kane and Toby Alderweireld in September and October respectively, Spurs lost momentum in their title challenge and ultimately went on an eleven-game winless run.
The run saw them knocked out of the Champions League and their title challenge fade. So if the North Londoners are to maintain their push for the top four, Pochettino needs to improve the squad’s all-round depth in January.
