Spurs expecting “another extremely tight game” against Burnley, warns Frank | OneFootball

Tottenham Hotspur host Burnley on Saturday as Thomas Frank’s side look to return to winning ways in the Premier League after a dismal run of form.

Defeat to West Ham last weekend piled further pressure onto the 52-year-old, although midweek victory against Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League could offer a glimmer of hope for the former Brentford boss.

Burnley “look like a threat”, says Frank

Burnley currently sit in the relegation zone, though Frank insisted that Scott Parker’s side “still have some clear pattens in how they want to build.

“We’ve just been looking at them in details today. They’re still very solid, working very hard for each other, very difficult to break down, know who they are. In general, they look like a threat, especially when they play at home.

“We’ve seen in a lot of their games, they’re very competitive – at Anfield [last weekend], they had a 1-1 draw. So, it’s going to be another extremely tight game.”

Frank urged his players to “focus on what we can do to try to hit a top performance and really, really, really do what we can to win the game. We have to manage their threats in terms of both set pieces, counters, but be on top of it and, of course, create the opportunities – we need to score goals.”

“The competitiveness of the Premier League is insane”

Tottenham sit in the bottom half of the Premier League table ahead of Saturday’s trip to Turf Moor, although they have been in fine form in the UEFA Champions League and look set to confirm their automatic progression to the round-of-16 when they face Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday.

It paints a similar story to last season for the N17 club, who slumped to an underwhelming 17th-place finish in the Premier League while going on to lift UEFA Europa League silverware under the stewardship of Ange Postecoglou.

Asked if he’d thought about why Spurs are struggling domestically but picking up positive results in Europe, Frank suggested that “the competitiveness in the Premier League is insane.

“The reality is that when you go to very, very difficult places like Burnley, against a very good team and coach in Scott Parker, and they know what they do, we know it’s going to be very difficult, but that’s what we need to build on and keep going on.

“There’s a lot of Premier League teams that would be, if they play in the Champions League, they would do very well, no doubt about that. Champions League is difficult, especially when you play away from home, it’s very, very difficult.”

Burnley v Tottenham kicks off at 15:00 GMT on Saturday 24 January. The match will not be televised live in the United Kingdom.