Premier League season preview: Tottenham Hotspur

Can Pochettino make Spurs title contenders again this season? Credit: PA

By Chris Mendes

New signings: Victor Wanyama (Southampton), Vincent Janssen (AZ Alkmaar)

After challenging for the title until May last season, Mauricio Pochettino has wisely opted against any sweeping changes to a squad packed with talented and maturing players. Striker Vincent Janssen, 22, is one of only two additions following a phenomenal season leading AZ Alkmaar’s attack, where he bagged 27 league goals in 34 matches.

Janssen should be aware his exploits in Eredivisie don’t necessarily bode well for the Premier League, as Memphis Depay and Ricky van Wolfswinkel have discovered in recent years. Encouragingly for Janssen, though, his new manager's philosophy hinges on the development of promising young players, so he couldn't have chosen a better club.

Pochettino transformed Eric Dier from a central defender into a defensive midfielder with such ease and success that he quickly became one of England’s most important senior players. This season, the arrival of Victor Wanyama from Southampton provides Dier with some healthy competition in his new position. It’s whether the pair can forge a useful partnership against stiffer opposition, both in the Premier League and Champions League, that may go some way to determining whether Spurs become a trophy-winning team.

Young gun: Harry Winks

The remarkable rise of Eric Dier and Dele Alli last season should serve as a source of inspiration for Tottenham’s youth players, none more so than 20 year-old England youth international, Harry Winks. With only a handful of senior appearances under his belt, Winks featured in all three of Tottenham's pre-season friendlies against Juventus, Atletico and Inter.

It was during the last of these warm-up matches, when he replaced Ryan Mason at half-time, that Winks put forward the greatest case for leapfrogging Mason in Pochettino’s midfield pecking order. The 20 year-old’s positional play was faultless and he demonstrated the kind of strength and power that Mason has been accused of lacking in the past. If Spurs continue with their strategy of blooding through youngsters every year then Winks is currently at the front of the queue.

Winks has impressed during Tottenham's pre-season friendlies. Credit: PA

Social media star: Harry Kane

There’s plenty of Twitter entertainment flying around between Tottenham’s players but their leading goal-scorer stole the show in June with some breaking news from the Kane household. The England striker used two of his three pet labradors to share the exciting news about long-term girlfriend, Kate Gooder, becoming pregnant with their first child. Chapeau!

Prediction: 4th

The world class managerial and player reinforcements at Chelsea, Man City and Man United are expected to make all three of those teams much stronger, leaving Pochettino with a tough task to improve on third place. Arguably the greatest obstacle for Spurs is the psychological barrier that saw their title challenge collapse in disappointing fashion at the business end of last season. If the manager can find a way of tweaking his team's mentality so they are more resilient under pressure, there's nothing to stop them enjoying another successful campaign.