Key events
26 min Every time Spurs play out from the back, you can feel the crowd holding their breath. They manage it this time, but only because Bissouma bails them out with a sprint.
24 min We break off from this game to bring you news from the other 2pm kick-off in the Prem. Cole Palmer has missed a penalty! Mats Hermansen of Leicester becomes the first PL keeper to save a Palmer pen. He can now look forward to pub-quiz immortality.
21 min Another good cross from Porro, in a tight corner this time. Solanke gets his head to it without finding the power he needs.
18 min Up the other end, Bournemouth win a free kick on the curve of the D. As the ball bobs around afterwards, Evanilson sticks out a leg and produces a lovely flick from 15 yards out. If Vicario could have just let it through his hands, we’d have a goal to remember.
17 min Spurs’ best move so far, and it’s Romero who sparks it with a fine perpendicular pass. Porro, roaming free on the right, gets a cross in, but Bournemouth clear.
14 min Brendan Johnson comes close to getting away down the right, but Dean Huijsen deals with him very calmly. AT 19, he’s such an old head on young shoulders.
13 min Spurs get into trouble – guess what – passing out from the back, although this time Bournemouth can’t find an avenue to shoot. The main offender has been Cristian Romero, who may have some rust to scrape off.
9 min A good stat from the commentators: Bournemouth have had those three shots on target while only completing nine passes. They can just hoof the ball out for goal kicks and wait for Spurs to implode. It’s been like Fraser Forster at his finest.
7 min As if that wasn’t enough of a mad start, we’ve also had a yellow card (Tavernier, for a trip in midfield) and a Spurs corner, from which they too had an attempt on target. Can the game please settle down?
4 min Chance! And another one! Again, Spurs get in trouble playing out from the back. Kluivert pounces and shoots, drawing another save from Vicario, and then there’s another save as someone I can’t make out follows up with a decent header. That’s three shots on target already.
2 min That brings a corner, and then another, but Bournemouth can’t make them tell and Spurs live to fight another day.
1 min Chance! Spurs fall apart at the back and usher Evanilson through. His shot is turned round the post by Vicario.
As the teams go into their huddles, the crowd launch into When The Spurs Go Marching In. From the noise, and the sight of the stadium in the sunshine, you might mistake Spurs for a well-run club.
Another veteran writes. “Currently sitting in ED after dislocating my shoulder (not fun for 51 playing vets football),” says Mark Goodchild. “So can these updates be witty and fun please, take my mind off people coming in with rashes and sore fingers.” Ouch!
“Your exchange about xG,” says Richard Hirst, “highlights the pointlessness of the whole thing. Unless the algorithm/pointy heads feed in the difference between Ian Rush and Ronny Rosenthal or between Gordon Banks and Gary Sprake, then there can be no legitimate expectations. Bah, humbug (and yes, I am 71, and therefore by definition a boring old fart).”
You’ll find no ageism here, Richard. I’m old enough to have seen all the players you mention.
The mailbag is positively bulging. “While you’re soaking up the sun (?) at the CheeseStadion,” says Jeremy Boyce, “there is serious stuff going on down on the coast, where Pompey are currently dishing out favours to Burnley and Sheff U by besting promotion-chasing Not-So-Nasty-As-They-Used-to-Be Leeds with very little time to go… Squeaky bum time is go!” Thanks for the tip. But – at the risk of shattering the illusion – I’m not at the Tottenham Stadium, nor am I soaking up the sun. Like many a true sports lover, I spend a lot of time indoors.
In other news, Rohit Sharma is trying to win the Champions Trophy all by himself.
And another! “Spare a thought,” says Kieran McKintosh, “for Spurs’ main man on YouTube, Expressions Oozing.
“He’s going to this game in person to see who he says is his true manager for the club – Andoni Iraola.
“Interesting thought, though. If Bournemouth do manage to retain him, it’ll be quite the achievement. Where do you think he’d go?”
Good question… In a sensible world, Spurs would be vying for him with Man United. But I’m not sure we can rely on the owners of either to do the sensible thing.
One brings two. “Love your analysis,” says Joe Pearson. Something tells me there’s a but coming. “But as a math nerd (retired actuary) let me politely suggest that’s not how xG works. If you look at an xG map, say at Opta, they measure each attempt individually. Five attempts with a 0.2 xG does not suggest the team should have scored a goal. So equating a 3.5 xG to 3 or 4 goals just isn’t correct. Sorry for being a pedant, but I’m a Guardian reader, so what do you expect?”
Ha. What I expect is that “expected goals” will mean the number of goals that could reasonably have been expected.
An email! “Bissouma, Bentancur and Sarr are starting in midfield,” says Yash Gupta. “So Ange is saving Bergvall, Maddison and Son for the game against AZ Alkmaar. If Ange loses today, some might say hire a different guy for that game and those folks may have a point.”
Harsh but fair. It does look as if Ange is trying to win this game with his subs, whereas Iraola is looking to win it before they come on.
Teams in full
Spurs (probable 4-3-3) Vicario; Porro, Romero, Danso, Spence; Sarr, Bissouma, Bentancur; Johnson, Solanke, Odobert.
Subs: Kinsky, Udogie, Van de Ven, Gray, Bergvall, Maddison, Tel, Son, Scarlett.
Bournemouth (probable 4-2-3-1) Arrizabalaga; Cook, Hill, Huijsen, Kerkez; Christie, Adams; Semenyo, Kluivert, Tavernier; Evanilson.
Subs: Dennis, Soler, Akinmboni, Scott, Brooks, Ouattara, Sinisterra, Silcott-Duberry, Jebbison.
Referee John Brooks.
Teams in brief: Bournemouth
Andoni Iraola makes only minor changes to the team that lost at Brighton. Evanilson, who returned to the starting line-up in the cup last weekend, replaces Ouattara, while Marcus Tavernier comes in for David Brooks.
Teams in brief: Spurs
Several changes for Spurs after their fruitless trip to the Netherlands. Dominic Solanke is fit to start, so Tel drops to the bench, where he’s joined by Son and Maddison. The best news for the long-suffering Spurs fan is that Cristian Romero is back from three months in the treatment room.
Preamble
Afternoon everyone and welcome to a game that should be good to watch. Yes, it’s mid-table, but with Liverpool proving that you do sometimes walk alone and the three promoted clubs heading straight back down again, the middle is where the intrigue is.
You never know what you’re going to get from Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs – slick football or slapstick. Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth seem far more settled and sorted, but after a fine season they have begun to falter. Their results over the past six league games are just as Spursy as Spurs’: won three, lost three.
On even more recent form, Spurs have the edge. Their three wins have all come in the four games since the beginning of February, whereas Bournemouth have three defeats in their last four. During this time, strange as it may sound, Spurs have had the joint-best defence in the Premier League: they’ve conceded only two goals in four games, the same as their old friends Arsenal. But then they did manage to lose at AZ Alkmaar on Thursday. And their home form in the league has been dismal for months, with just one win in nine, while Bournemouth tend to be stronger on the road.
When the two teams met in December, Bournemouth won 1-0, thanks to a header by Dean Huijsen. But the scoreline flattered Spurs. On expected goals, according to fbref, it should have been 3-1 or 4-1 (3.5-0.9).
Bournemouth’s blip has taken them down to ninth in the table, but the battle for the Europa League places – now, deliciously, involving Man City – is so tight that a victory today would lift them to sixth. Spurs are 13th and will stay there even if they win, as they’re five points adrift of Brentford.
This is the Dominic Solanke derby, although the man himself may not appear. He came on as a sub in Alkmaar, only to go off again after a knock that drew a vivid description from Ange: “Obviously it’s a knee going into the backside, so it’s sore.” The irony is that Solanke is one of the few Spurs players who haven’t spent the season looking as if they need a kick up the arse.