[NoSkillz]

Sat. November 2, 2024

Barclays Premier League
Dover (6-1-2, 19 points, 6th) vs. Tottenham (3-2-4, 11 points, 12th)
Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, UK

Betting Odds: Dover: 1-2 (Favourites) Draw: 13-5 Tottenham: 9-2
Past Meetings: 7W 4D 2L

We are surprisingly MONSTER FAVOURITES at home against Spurs, who admittedly are struggling to start the season, languishing in mid-table. Coming off a wonderful 3rd place finish in last year’s Premier League, perhaps Champions League play has been on their mind. They are a fourth seed yet lead their group, which also has powerhouse Barcelona in it. Needless to say, this is a very strong team just going through some early season troubles and we’ll need to be sharp today despite the strong odds in our favour. Their leading scorer last year was former Dover striker Gerardo Escobar but he was sold to Atletico Madrid in July. Spurs spent a ridiculous £131 million reinforcing their squad for European play, with the largest outlay on Stuttgart striker Peter Jansen in a £35 million deal. The 28 year old Dutch international has rewarded them with 8 goals in 13 matches to lead the team thus far. Spurs also spent £28.5 million on Man City DR Gustavo Mercado and £28 million more on 22 year old midfielder Komlan Gbati from Hoffenheim. Boy…lots of money! Spurs are completely healthy and I can’t really fathom why we’re favoured so greatly here.

Both of us have Champions League games coming up this week so I need to be mindful of that. That said, we’re going with all of our top options in a flat 4-4-2. Zoltan Bardi is still working on his fitness and will be on the bench again today but will likely start in our upcoming Champions League match.

Dover: 4-4-2 Control
GK - M. Perez
D - Renato Gaucho, C. Contreras, R. Hamon, S. Loucif
M - A. Bamba, N. Cairney, Jose, G. Bolis
S - A. Broomes, Chiquinho
Bench - Rafinha, M. Mutesa, E. Harvey, B. Raab, M. Pedersen, L. Kunchev, Z. Bardi

Spurs are starting a full compliment of starters, including all of their big signings. Jansen is up front with Jean Junior and Angel Detry is in goal. Lets score some goals today!

1’ - Right off the opening kick, Chiquinho sends a ball through to Andy Broomes and there is no one marking him. He’s in on goal and the ball is delivered just inside the far post for the stunning goal only 13 SECONDS INTO THE GAME!! Holy crap!!! DOVER GOAL 1-0

7’ - This is nuts. We’re completely dominating early and a Jose corner is booted in on the volley by Claudio Contreras! WOW! DOVER GOAL 2-0

19’ - We earn another corner and Jose’s cross is to the near post this time and Rayane Hamon. His header deflects off a Spurs defender, then off Detry before finding the golden boot of Andy Broomes and he taps it home for his second of the game. DOVER GOAL 3-0

29’ - We have a free kick from 25 yards out and it’s Jose again, curling a rocket that deflects off Spurs defender Dillon Alexander and it’s past Detry and IN. This is getting out of hand! DOVER GOAL 4-0

HALFTIME - One of the great halves we’ve played in quite some time. We held 52% of the ball and hold a 19-7 (9-1 on target) shot edge. Simply superb! Keep it going - I will likely start resting some key players early in the second half as we want to ensure they are rested for our Palermo game in a few days.

56’ - Jose gets a standing ovation as he’s taken off in favour of Emmerson Harvey.

62’ - We make another substitution, taking out Chiquinho and bringing in Zoltan Bardi.

73’ - Play is much more even this half but I’m okay with that up four goals! We make our last substitution, taking out Gianluca Bolis and bringing in Lyubomir Kunchev.

77’ - We’ve taken out three of our better players and Spurs are taking it to us. Jansen goes on an innocent rush but Hamon and Contreras get crossed up a bit to open up some space. For some reason, goalkeeper Manuel Perez is way out near the top of the area and Jansen hits a 30 yard lob and it’s an easy goal. Sheesh. TOTTENHAM GOAL 4-1

Not the greatest second half but it was a comprehensive win.

Dover 4 - 1 Tottenham
Goals - Andy Broomes 2 (9.2), Claudio Contreras (7.8), Jose (9.0)
Assists - Rayane Hamon (8.8), Jose, Neil Cairney (7.1), Chiquinho (7.4)
Man of the Match - Andy Broomes
Other Dover Notables - Salim Loucif (7.6), Renato Gaucho (7.2), Gianluca Bolis (7.1), Arsene Bamba (7.1)
Attendance - 23,000 (Sell-Out)

We hold 52% of possession and a 32-15 (11-4 on target) shot advantage. All of our starters except for keeper Perez were over 7.0 ratings but Bamba wasn’t very impressive, nor was Renato Gaucho. Cairney played a lot better today, which was great to see.

-- Tottenham fire manager Robert Kelly immediately after the match. Sorry about that pal!

-- In other action, City destroy Burnley 6-0, Newcastle draw against Huddersfield and Chelsea, Arsenal and Man United all win.


BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - STANDINGS
(ALL TEAMS HAVE PLAYED 10 GAMES UNLESS NOTED)

1. Manchester United - 25 points
2. Arsenal - 24 points
3. Chelsea - 23 points
4. Dover - 22 points
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5. Newcastle - 21 points
6. Middlesbrough - 21 points
7. Manchester City - 20 points
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8. Sheffield Wednesday - 18 points
9. Reading - 18 points
10. Huddersfield - 13 points
11. Liverpool - 12 points
12. Sunderland - 12 points
13. Tottenham - 11 points
14. Aston Villa - 9 points
15. Wolves - 8 points
16. Everton - 7 points
17. Sheffield United - 7 points
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18. Derby - 3 points
19. Burnley - 3 points
20. Blackpool - 2 points



Premier League Team of the Week

-- Rayane Hamon, Jose and Andy Broomes all lock up places on the Premier League team of the week.



Dover Injury Update

-- Graham Allan is close to returning to full fitness after breaking his arm. Reserves midfielder Warren Ward hurt himself recently and is a couple weeks away from returning but he won’t ever be a factor for our senior team. Paul Moses and Manuel Lugo are still close to two months away from returning.



Next Up

-- We head to Italy to face Palermo in a return matchup in Group C Champions League play.