After the Window: Spurs

Spurs late summer looked a lot like the one experienced across North London at Arsenal. What the acquisitions lacked in romance and long term strategic benefit they more than made up for in being effective near-term band-aids. Spurs needed something new at forward and a deep-lying player to both win the ball and start the attack. It certainly would have been nice to find a reliable partner for Michael Dawson but presumably the combination of Ledley King and William Gallas will be able to get the job done for 80% of the matches over the course of the upcoming season.

Midweek Review - Day One

Day One in the books, and I'm as happy as Sylvie in the photo above. 46 points from Begovic, Van Der Vaart and Gyan. Day Two looks to me much more interesting, with the Manchester derby very much at the forefront - including the Nani's possible early return from injury.

But first a brief look back at yesterday.

Manchester City seek emergency loan of Marton Fulop

UPDATE: from the BBC:

Manchester City will be given special dispensation to sign a goalkeeper on an emergency loan deal until the end of the season, BBC Sport understands.

Shay Given will miss City's last three games after dislocating a shoulder in the 0-0 draw with Arsenal on Saturday.

Stuart Taylor is also out and Joe Hart is on loan at Birmingham, which leaves only the inexperienced Gunnar Nielsen.

Spokesmen for Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool said they had "no comment" on the Premier League ruling.

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from The Guardian:

Manchester City want to sign Marton Fulop from Sunderland to take over from the injured Shay Given on an emergency loan deal until the end of the season.
Fulop, the Hungary goalkeeper, has fallen out of favour at the Stadium of Light and heads a list of targets drawn up by City to fill the void left by Given dislocating a shoulder in Saturday's 0‑0 draw at Arsenal...
City need permission from the Premier League to allow them to bring in another goalkeeper outside of the transfer window. The club have made an official request, backing up their claim with medical statements, and will find out tomorrow if they have been successful. However, it is understood that the Premier League is likely to be sympathetic as they fit the criteria for an emergency deal.

Fulop is 1.6 in the Y! game and could be a great bargain, with two home matches this week.  However, I'm likely to stick with the even cheaper Begovic (for a buck) home to Everton and at Fulham.  Pending Europa Cup results, of course.

In other Sunderland-related news:

Sunderland are appealing to the Football Association over the red card shown to Alan Hutton following his altercation with Jozy Altidore in the win at Hull City.
A spokesperson has confirmed they "are appealing the severity of the sanction" following Hutton's dismissal in Saturday's 1-0 win. The defender was embroiled in an altercation with the Hull City striker at the end of the first half that resulted in the referee Lee Probert dismissing both players.
Followinga challenge between the duo, Hutton sparked the incident by throwing the ball at Altidore, who responded by headbutting the Scot, causing facial injuries. Hutton is now due to miss the final two games of this season, at home to Manchester United and at Wolves, as well as the first of next term.

Bassong to Spurs seems to be on

Teamates now

Football365 | All The News | Football News | BASSONG EXPLAINS NEWCASTLE EXIT

Looks like it's happening for Spurs and Bassong. Here are a few quick thoughts.

1) Nice move for Spurs as they need a young, healthy, high quality centre back with upside.

2) You have to wonder why Arsenal wasn't interested at this price - throwing an additional £16M for Bassong and Chamakh seems like a reasonable use of their K2 & Toure money. Maybe the rumored deal for Migueal Veloso is really on and that is going to suck up the cash.

3) For fantasy purposes my assumption is that Spurs start the season with Bale on the left, Corluka and Bassong in the middle, and Hutton on the right with Corluka moving to the left to supplant Bale if/when one of Spurs oft-injured CBs returns to health. Could make Bale an interesting play until he is sent back to the bench. Not sure he'll ever live up to his first fantasy season but at 6.12 it's worth thinking about.

Premier League Round-Up

Liverpool duo head home

Liverpool's injured duo Martin Skrtel and Nabil El Zhar will fly home from the Far East on Thursday to have potentially serious injuries assessed in the UK.

Both players were injured in Wednesday's 1-1 friendly draw with Thailand in Bangkok... Central defender Skrtel has a hamstring problem while midfielder El Zhar damaged a knee ligament.

Skrtel's is potentially the most serious injury and it is feared he could miss the start of the season.

Neither Agger (9.17) or Carragher (9.20) are cheap, but if they're your nailed on starters they might be worth a look. Especially Agger who loves a shot from distance!

Elsewhere...

Injury blow for Kapo

Wigan midfielder Olivier Kapo is likely to miss the start of the Barclays Premier League campaign after damaging knee ligaments on the club's pre-season tour of Austria.

Wenger expects Eduardo to figure

Arsene Wenger has eased concerns over Eduardo's fitness by confirming the Arsenal striker is in line to make his pre-season bow in Monday's match at Szombathelyi Haladas.

Bouma boost for Villa

Villa, though, are optimistic the 31-year-old could feature in their first game of the Premier League, at home to Wigan on 15th August, after he was included in a 26-man squad for pre-season fixtures in Spain.

Tottenham captain King held on assault charge
Spurs sign Blades duo
Walker going back to Blades
Spurs face early season injury crisis

Tottenham Hotspur are facing a central defensive crisis for the start of the Premier League season after confirming a trio of injuries on Thursday.

Injury-plagued Jonathan Woodgate has a groin problem and has flown to the United States for treatment, captain Ledley King has not kicked a ball in pre-season and Michael Dawson has damaged his Achilles.

Assuming King will play (He never practices with the team anyway, so why should we expect him to play in pre-season? And these legal matters never seem to impact a player's availability.) the logical move is Corluka coming inside and Hutton or new boy Naughton at right back. If it is the latter, and rumours are that Hutton is going to Everton, he could be a nice early season pick-up in defence.