Spurs under 18’s versus Norwich City: (match preview)

Our under 18’s are in league action for the first time since the departure of their head coach Matt Wells, on Saturday afternoon. Title challengers Spurs will travel up to Norfolk to face a struggling Norwich City side, at their Colney Training Centre. This will be viewed as a must win game for Spurs who must keep up the pace with league leaders Arsenal, who have played two league games more than them. The young Lilywhites have been missing a whole host of key players to injury of late, but they still managed to win their last league game against West Ham, 5-3. Due to the fact that we don’t have any under 23 games over the coming week John McDermott’s side should have the likes of J’Neil Bennett, Dilan Markanday and Harvey White available for Saturday’s match. This will come as a massive boost for Spurs, who will be facing a Norwich City side who have conceded a staggering 54 goals in the league this season. The reverse fixture back at Hotspur Way in October, was a completely one sided affair. In fact it was one of the most one sided under 18 games that I have ever seen. We completely dominated the ‘ Canaries ‘ on that day and they were a shambles at the back. Furthermore, they offered very little in terms of any offensive threat, and our back four that day had one of the easiest games of their lives. Paul Williams’ under 18 side have struggled with their form since the season started last August, picking up only ten points from their 17 league matches this season. The struggling ‘ Canaries ‘ did manage to win their last league game, a 5-0 home win over Aston Villa, and this will give Williams’ side confidence going into Saturday’s match. Although Norwich’s under 18’s aren’t as good as they have been in recent seasons, there still have a number of players who McDermott’s side will need to be wary of. Attacking midfielder Anis Mehmeti, left winger Josh Giurgi and Norwich centre forward Kole Lambert are some of the ‘ Canaries ‘ most potent attacking players. This is a very important game for Spurs and it is one which they will be expected to win. If we start the game well on Saturday then I have no doubts that we will go onto win the match comfortably.

Notts County centre forward Kion Etete (17) featured on trial for our under 18’s in that 5-3 league win over West Ham the other week, impressing by netting two goals and assisting one. Etete was back on the bench for Notts County’s first team in midweek therefore it is unlikely that we will see him turning out for our under 18’s again in the near future. I will be making the trip up to Norwich first thing on Saturday morning to report on our league match against the ‘ Canaries ‘. I would like to wish the team all the very best of luck for the match.

My predicted lineup: (4-2-3-1) Kurylowicz, Statham, Okedina, Walcott, Cirkin, White, A.Shashoua (c), Pochettino, Markanday, Clarke, Bennett.

Subs from: Oluwayemi, Lyons-Foster, John, Pedder, Whittaker.

Injured/unavailable: Jeremie Mukendi, Maximus Tainio.

Doubtful: Jamie Bowden, Phoenix Patterson, Enoch Asante, Troy Parrott, Elliot Thorpe, Rodel Richards, Joshua Oluwayemi, Paris Maghoma, Luis Binks.

Previous meeting: Spurs 7-0.

My score prediction: Spurs 6-1.

My one to watch: Former Spurs schoolboy Anis Mehmeti is now in his second year of scholarship with the ‘ Canaries ‘ after leaving Spurs in 2017. The skilful attacking midfielder caught my eye during the reverse fixture back in October. Mehmeti has scored three league goals for Paul Williams’ side so far this season.