Tottenham top of the league but should Dream Team managers actually ditch Spurs stars?

DREAM TEAM managers would usually have the green light to back the Premier League leaders to their hearts’ content.

By very definition, the players who represent the team at the top of the table should be among the very best options at any given time.

But is that true right now?

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Tottenham are currently top of the Premier League tree on goals scored, marginally ahead of their North London rivals Arsenal.

Guglielmo Vicario (£2.9m), Cristian Romero (£3.5m), James Maddison (£4.3m) and Son Heung-min (£4.8m) are all among the top performers in their respective positions this season but it could be argued that Dream Team gaffers should move away from Ange Postecoglou’s troops for the next month or so.

This suggestion has nothing to do with the undeniably impressive form of Spurs’ top stars – it’s purely based on the schedule.

Postecoglou’s men are unbeaten in the league this term but they fell at the first hurdle in the Carabao Cup and last season’s limp finish resulted in the club missing out on European qualification.

This means that Spurs have just four fixtures to fulfil between now and the next international break in mid-November.

Contrast that with Arsenal, Liverpool, West Ham, Newcastle and Manchester United, who all have seven games in the same time frame.

Maddison and Son could quite easily outscore all their rivals in the Premier League arena but matching players with three additional fixtures at their disposal over the next month is a massive ask.

This conundrum rears its head as soon as Gameweek 9 when the Champions League, Europa League, Europa Conference League group stages continue.

Spurs actually have a favourable league fixture in the form of Fulham at home but, as an example, Jurgen Klopp’s side face Everton AND Toulouse – the Red Devils’ double header against Sheffield United and Copenhagen looks appealing too.

But Dream Team bosses don’t see it this way as, at the time of writing, Maddison is the most transferred-in player ahead of the restart.

In fact, the 26-year-old is now the second-most selected asset in the game with an ownership of 41.9%.

Gaffers could also use their weekly transfers to enjoy the best of both worlds.

One could theoretically replace Maddison and Son for more active assets in Gameweek 9 before bringing the Spurs pair back in for Gameweek 10.

Gameweek 11 features another full contingent of European fixtures so the Spurs duo could be shipped out again before being brought back in ahead of Gameweek 12.

This is a feasible strategy but it would require four whole weeks’ worth of transfers, potentially leaving gaffers unable to react to other developments in the next month.

Playing hokey-cokey in this manner is fraught with danger.

Whatever the case, Dream Team managers need to think carefully about how to handle Tottenham players while the schedule is against them.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk