Following a behind-closed-doors goal-fest in their opening engagement of the summer, Tottenham Hotspur head north to tackle Hearts in Wednesday's pre-season friendly at Tynecastle Park.
Ange Postecoglou gave numerous players a run-out against Cambridge United over the weekend, while their Scottish hosts fell to a 2-1 loss to Leyton Orient on Saturday.
Match preview
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While a small number of Spurs fans were only too happy to see their side hand the Premier League title initiative to Manchester City a few months back - giving the Citizens a helping hand in their efforts to deny Arsenal a long-awaited crown - Postecoglou's fiery post-match press conference had shades of Antonio Conte vs. Southampton in 2023.
Failure to put a dent in Man City's title aspirations - their fifth loss from their last seven Premier League fixtures - ultimately cost Tottenham the chance to play in the 2024-25 Champions League, but they will return to UEFA competition nonetheless as they battle for Europa League supremacy in the coming months.
Now that the dust has settled and Postecoglou has enjoyed a summer of Euro 2024 punditry duties, Tottenham - who showed serious signs of offensive progress in the first half of 2023-24 at least - are returning to Hotspur Way in dribs and drabs, as players fulfil their international commitments in Germany or the USA.
Wednesday's fixture might represent Spurs' first official friendly of the summer, but the Lilywhites have already put seven past League One Cambridge in a training match this summer, following up a 5-0 first-half crushing with a 2-2 second-half draw on July 13.
Plenty of Postecoglou's regular first-team stars saw the field that day, and the Lilywhites also have showdowns with Queens Park Rangers, Vissel Kobe and Team K League to look forward to as part of their pre-season programme, as well as a double-header with Bayern Munich.
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As is the case with their upcoming visitors, Hearts' bid to upset the Scottish Premiership apple cart and force their way into the Champions League also ended in failure, but their qualification for the Europa League was not met with as much ridicule.
With Celtic and Rangers still engaging in their perpetual two-horse fight for glory, Steven Naismith's men finished as the best of the rest with 68 points on the board, comfortably nabbing third place and a spot in the final qualifying round of Europe's secondary competition.
While Naismith has been at the helm since April 2023, this will be his first complete season as full-time head coach - his appointment to such a position was confirmed last September - but the hosts' pre-season preparations got off to a shaky start on Saturday.
Indeed, League One outfit Leyton Orient arrived at Tynecastle Park and left with a 2-1 triumph under their belts courtesy of strikes from Jordan Brown and Diallang Jaiyesimi, who rendered a ninth-minute opener from Liam Boyce inconsequential.
After coming up short in their inaugural battle with Leyton Orient, Hearts reunite with Tottenham 13 years on from their two-legged affair in the 2011-12 Europa League qualifiers, where Harry Redknapp's Spurs ran out 5-0 victors in Scotland before completing the job with a dull goalless draw at White Hart Lane.
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Team News
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Fresh from conquering South America with Argentina, Copa America winners Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso are among Tottenham's internationals absent from this fixture, a list that also includes Guglielmo Vicario, Micky van de Ven, Radu Dragusin, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Rodrigo Bentancur.
Goalkeeper Fraser Forster (ankle) and left-back duo Ben Davies (calf) and Destiny Udogie (thigh) are still on the mend from their season-ending injuries, but Timo Werner - back for another loan spell from RB Leipzig - was involved against Cambridge after his own springtime fitness woes.
The weekend's affair also saw versatile teenager Archie Gray and Swedish starlet Lucas Bergvall earn their first minutes under Postecoglou, who is also understood to have omitted Djed Spence and Sergio Reguilon, who are both expected to depart imminently.
Likewise, hosts Hearts have also had a few players donning their national team colours over the past few weeks, including Scotland duo Lawrence Shankland and Zander Clark, alongside Costa Rica pair Gerald Taylor and Kenneth Vargas.
Veteran goalkeeper Craig Gordon - still kicking at 41 years of age - was named to the Scotland preliminary squad for the Euros as well, but he was cut from the final selection and played 45 minutes of the recent loss to Leyton Orient.
Gordon was joined for the first half by defensive cornerstone Craig Halkett, who suffered a horrid time with knee injuries last season but came through 45 minutes unscathed on Saturday.
Hearts possible starting lineup:
Gordon; Oyegoke, Kent, Rowles, Neilson; Tagawa, Spittal, Tait, Dhanda; Boyce, Drammeh
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Austin; Porro, Phillips, Byfield, Donley; Bissouma, Skipp; Kulusevski, Maddison, Werner; Son
We say: Hearts 1-4 Tottenham Hotspur
After Postecoglou made an expected plethora of changes for their second 'match' against Cambridge, the Lilywhites were unsurprisingly not the same force that they initially were, and a similar approach should be adopted this time around as well.
However, should Tottenham put out a fearsome team from the first whistle, they ought to have far too much for Naismith's Hearts, who should at least bag a consolation effort.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
