Stoke's Wimmer expects Spurs to come out with all guns blazing
ByReuters
Published 07/12/2017 at 11:33 GMT
Dec 7 (Reuters) - Stoke City defender Kevin Wimmer has warned his team mates to be prepared to defend for 90 minutes when they visit his former club Tottenham Hotspur, who will be desperate for a win when they meet in the Premier League on Saturday.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
Spury, who have been in a mini-slump since losing at local rivals Arsenal last month, welcome Stoke to Wembley without a win in four league games and have dropped 18 points behind leaders Manchester City.
Austria international Wimmer, who moved to Stoke from Tottenham at the start of the campaign, believes the London side are struggling under the pressure of expectation but that could change very quickly.
"Tottenham in the last few years have been fighting for the title and so expectations in the club and from supporters have changed a little bit. For them it's a little bit of a tough time at the moment," the 25-year-old told the Stoke Sentinel.
"They are playing quite well but most of the teams they play are defending for 90 minutes. That makes it very hard … but it makes it dangerous for us because they'll be desperate to get back on track in the league.
"That's why we have to be on top of our game from the first minute, we have to be at 100 percent and defend with all our quality from the front."
Wimmer was never able to establish himself as a Spurs regular during the two seasons after being signed from Cologne in 2015.
But the centre back, who is expected to start for Stoke in the absence of the injured Bruno Martins Indi, said he knows first hand the threat Spurs attacking lineup can pose.
"It's going to be my first league game at Wembley as an away side. It will be a strange feeling," Wimmer added. "I know how good their strikers are from training with them every day.
"With players like Harry Kane or Son Heung-min or Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli they have so much quality and you know you can't give them a yard... It's going to be very difficult." (Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement