We always have tricky matches against Saudi Sportswashing Machine. They are always unpredictable. This time they will come in high spirit after beating Chelsea last week. But atleast we have a good record against them at home in recent years. So, there is no reason whatsoever why we cannot win this match. But to do that we have to find a goal or two from somewhere. It is disappointing that we are still struggling to score goals. It is embarassing to note that only the bottom 3 teams have scored less goals than us in the league. We really need to score more goals if we want to stay in the title race. Hope we will start doing that from this match.
Surely, Lamela needs to start this match. After spending 30m on him, it is disappointing we still have not started him in any league matches. I think he has proven his worth to us in his last 2 Cup matches. With us struggling for goals in the league, now we need to give him a chance in the league. Still not sure what to make of Soldado. He has got 4 league goals but 3 of them are from penalties. We still don't know if he will become a consistent goal scorer as he seldom get goal-scoring chances. Wish we can create more chances for Soldado. It is a pity we don't play Soldado and Defoe together. After becoming our record goal scorer in Europe, Defoe must be on high confidence. But disappointingly Defoe still has not scored a league goals this season. Hope he will come on and score in this match.
I think this match will be won or lost in midfield. Saudi Sportswashing Machine have a decent midfield who can trouble any team when they are on form. It will be disappointing if Sandro is not fit as his presence in midfield will be more usefull than Dembele. Paulinho has been very poor lately. Hope he can create or score a goal in this match. I think one of Townsend, Lennon or Sigurdsson should be dropped to give way to Lamela. For all their dribbling skills and pace, I think Townsend and Lennon's end products are very poor to trouble the opponents. Don't think Townsend has done enough to start every league match. Atleast Sigurdsson comes up with a goal occasionally. Both Holtby and Eriksen have been very poor lately. But can see Holtby starting this match as he works hard more and makes less mistakes than Eriksen.
We have done well to keep many clean sheets this season. But as the West Ham debacle proved, we cannot afford to get complacent against anyone. Saudi Sportswashing Machine are capable of punishing us if we are not carefull in defence. Hope Lloris is fit to start this match after his head injury. If Rose is not fit, would prefer Vertonghen to start in this place, instead of the error-prone Naughton. Don't think Kaboul is still match fit yet, so I think Dawson and Chiriches will start in centre defence. Saudi Sportswashing Machine have a decent attack but will be disappointed if we don't keep a clean sheet in this match.
We should be beating teams like Saudi Sportswashing Machine at home if we want to stay in the title race. With Chelsea dropping points, we have a good chance to go into 3rd place if we win. Want to see us put up a good performane and get a good win. Hope we will go into the international break with a win.