08 August 2010

Normally, talk is a buzz in the EPL about its four giant teams: Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. In the build up to this season,x however, much attention has been focused on two upstarts: the north-London-based Tottenham Spurs and Manchester City. In the case of the latter, Man City has gone on the most aggressive transfer signing campaign of any of the major European squads. Tottenham will begin the season by competing in Europe via the prestigious Champions League, its first entry in years into what many consider to be the most prestigious club tournament in the world.

Tottenham

Tottenham begins its season basking in the limelight of its glorious run last year, which was arguably the most dramatic of all of the club’s history. The Spurs succeeded in winning the fourth and final spot for the Champions League by doing nothing less than ousting 3 of the EPL’s 4 giants (Chelsea and Arsenal down the stretch), as well as beating 5th place finisher, Manchester City. Tottenham will go to the Champions League for the first time in decades.
  The north-London-based squad has thus far been largely silent on the transfer front, as a bid for winger Joe Cole failed and the only significant addition was the ball-retaining Brazilian defensive midfielder, Sandro Ranieri. Instead of significant additions, the most important transfer may be asubtraction.
  Robbie Keane, Tottenham’s old star turned bench warmer, has come back from a very successful stint in Celtic only to be strongly linked to Fulham. However, some of the links were based on the false assumption that Ajax coach Martin Jol would be hired by Fulham and subsequently strongly bid for the Irish veteran striker. Jol confirmed that he would be staying at the helm of the Dutch-based Ajax squad.
  In spite of a lackluster transfer season thus far, Tottenham coach Harry Redknapp confidently proclaimed that his squad was capable of outright winning the EPL title. “I feel we could contend for the title. We have got the players here,” said the winner of the coach of the year award from last year’s season. Redknapp also assured the press that his search for high-profile signings was not over.