Tottenham Hotspur conclude their pre-season preparations in North London with another friendly encounter against Bayern Munich on Saturday afternoon.
The Bundesliga giants condemned Spurs to their first defeat of the summer last weekend, running out 2-1 winners in Seoul.
Match preview
Tottenham were in buoyant mood heading into last weekend's clash with Bayern after winning each of their previous five friendly fixtures against Cambridge United, Hearts, Queens Park Rangers, Vissel Kobe and a K-League XI, scoring 21 goals in the process.
However, Ange Postecoglou's men came up short against their German counterparts, falling behind in the fourth minute after a mix-up between Guglielmo Vicario and Djed Spence was punished by young striker Gabriel Vidovic, before Leon Goretzka added a second for Bayern just before the hour mark.
Spurs pulled one back with 25 minutes remaining when Pedro Porro fired a superb long-range strike past Sven Ulreich, but the equalising goal ultimately eluded a jaded Lilywhites outfit, whose summer tour of Asia ended in defeat.
Postecoglou felt that his players "paid the price" after a challenging 10-day training camp in hot and humid conditions in Asia, but the Spurs boss has insisted that his team will reap "enormous" benefits from their pre-season experience further down the line.
Spurs will be keen to return to winning ways and put in a positive performance against Bayern at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, before preparing for their opening Premier League match of the 2024-25 season away against Leicester City on August 19.
Bayern may have beaten Tottenham by a slender scoreline in Seoul, but their dominant performance demonstrated a vast gulf in quality between the two teams which is sure to have impressed new head coach Vincent Kompany.
The 38-year-old Belgian boss was particularly pleased with his side's tempo and the high press implemented which helped them create a total of 22 chances during the 90 minutes - twice as many as Spurs.
Bayern improved greatly on their performance seven days earlier when they rescued a 1-1 draw with German fourth-tier side Duren, having previously recorded a thumping 14-1 victory over FC Rottach-Egern in their opening friendly of the summer.
Saturday's contest will represent Bayern's penultimate pre-season match before they conclude their summer programme in Unterhaching against Austrian minnows WSG Tirol next Tuesday.
The Bavarian giants will then prepare for their first competitive game of the new season against newly-promoted second-tier outfit Ulm in the first round of the DFB-Pokal on August 16, nine days before travelling to Wolfsburg for their opening Bundesliga fixture of 2024-25.
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- L
- W
- D
- W
Team News
Tottenham are still having to cope without striker Richarlison and left-back Destiny Udogie as they continue to recover from respective calf and thigh injuries, while young centre-back Ashley Phillips is doubtful with an unspecified issue.
However, the Lilywhites have welcomed back Cristian Romero, Micky Van de Ven, Rodrigo Bentancur and Giovani Lo Celso to training this week and the quartet could be in contention to feature in some capacity on Saturday.
Should either Romero or Van de Ven be handed an immediate start at centre-back, Ben Davies would presumably move over to his favoured left-back position, while Spence battles with Porro for the right-back berth.
As for Bayern, both Harry Kane and Eric Dier will be returning to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the first time since leaving Spurs last season and it has been confirmed by the North Londoners that the English duo will be presented with commemorative gifts by Spurs ambassador Ledley King before kickoff.
Kane returned to training earlier this week along with Alphonso Davies and both players are in line to start, with the former set to replace Vidovic up front as the latter competes with Raphael Guerreiro for a start at left-back.
It remains to be seen whether star attacker Jamal Musiala will be involved on Saturday; the 21-year-old is still building up his fitness following his extended break after representing Germany at Euro 2024 and did not feature against Spurs last week.
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Vicario; Porro, Romero, Dragusin, Davies; Bissouma, Sarr; Kulusevski, Maddison, Johnson; Son
Bayern Munich possible starting lineup:
Neuer; Boey, Kim, Dier, Davies; Kimmich, Palhinha; Gnabry, Muller, Tel; Kane
We say: Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 Bayern Munich
Tottenham looked jaded and vulnerable at the back against an energetic Bayern side last week, but they have had a week to rest, regroup and welcome back a few key players as they now attempt to end their pre-season on a high in front of their own fans.
Goals are to be expected once again in this contest, and while the prospect of Kane haunting his former club cannot be ruled out, we think that Spurs may find a way to claim a share of the spoils this time around in an entertaining score draw.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
body check tags ::
Previews by email
