Wembley may witness Spurs going backwards

Spurs are on their way to Wembley and it won't just be Ossie's knees that are trembling at the prospect of heading to the national stadium for a campaign away from White Hart Lane.

Tottenham have won two of their ten matches at the new Wembley and will need to rapidly make it feel like home if they are to build on last season's painful title near-miss.

A temporary European switch to Wembley was dreadful last term as they lost in the Champions League to Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen and suffered Europa League elimination at the hands of Gent before an FA Cup semi-final defeat to Chelsea.

It was the opposite of the vibrant Premier League performances witnessed at White Hart Lane where Spurs tore into their opponents, winning 17 and drawing two of their 19 matches with 47 goals scored and just nine conceded.

Those numbers helped Spurs to finish second and claim a club-record 86 Premier League points as they jumped above neighbours Arsenal for the first time since 1995. Mauricio Pochettino's expertly-coached team also won 12 of their last 13 matches but were unable to reel in Chelsea as the champions triumphed by seven points.

Sky Sports presenter Rachel Riley called Spurs bottlers following the only failure in that hot streak when unlucky would have been more fitting. No Premier League team had previously finished with a goal difference of plus 60 and failed to win the title and only twice had a side finished on 86 points in a 38-game season and missed out.

Some supporters are edgy regarding a lack of signings, yet the outstanding Pochettino is a firm believer in developing talent and this is a young squad where no first-team regular is over 30.

The spine is strong with Hugo Lloris, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Victor Wanyama, Mousa Dembele, Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and double Golden Boot winner Harry Kane top performers.

However, Kyle Walker left for Manchester City with the parting shot that Spurs lacked "the edge" to win trophies and his departure leaves Tottenham weaker even before the Wembley factor is considered.

It's likely that Spurs will stand still unless Pochettino works his magic and in the Premier League standing still usually means going backwards overall.

Key stat
Tottenham won only once in nine away matches against top-half opponents last season.