Tottenham Hotspur vs AS Roma
Jose Mourinho’s past and present collide as he leads his Roma side into a club friendly against old team Tottenham Hotspur in Haifa, Israel.
The Giallorossi will look to get their pre-season campaign back on track after going winless in their last two friendlies against Sporting Club de Portugal and Nice, and Jose Mourinho could very well have new signing Paulo Dybala at his disposal.
But the club friendly 2022 betting odds will fancy Spurs, who are unbeaten in pre-season and have the in-form duo of Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son leading the way.
So read on as SBOTOP previews this Tottenham-Roma friendly matchup.
Talking Points
Spurs’ star strikers firing amid Zaniolo speculation
Tottenham’s first pre-season under coach Antonio Conte is going quite well. Spurs are undefeated in three friendly matches; they defeated a K-League XI 6-3, drew 1-1 with Sevilla, then beat Rangers 2-1 last time out.
Spurs’ dynamic duo of Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min have been in fantastic form and have contributed most of their club friendly 2022 highlights. Kane has scored five goals in three games, the last three of which have been assisted by Son. And aside from his three assists, the South Korean also bagged a brace in his home country against the K-League XI.
Both Kane and Son once again had excellent seasons in 2021-22. Son scored 23 goals as he shared the Premier League Golden Boot with Mohamed Salah. Not to be outdone, Kane added 17 goals with nine assists as he played in all but one match.
On paper, Spurs already possess quite a formidable front line with Kane, Son, Dejan Kulusevski, and summer signing Richarlison. However, Spurs are still being linked with a move for Roma’s talented young playmaker Nicolo Zaniolo, whom they could get a first-hand look at in this friendly.
Amid the Zaniolo rumours, Conte has a strong and mostly settled first XI. He fielded what is likely his first-choice starting lineup against Rangers, and aside from replacing Kulusevski with Richarlison, he is expected to field a similar starting XI against Roma as the season opener nears.
Roma new boy Dybala looks set for pre-season debut
After back-to-back 2-0 wins to kick off their pre-season campaign, Roma have gone winless in their last two games. They suffered a 3-2 defeat to Sporting Lisbon at the Algarve and were held to a 1-1 draw by Nice last time out.
Zaniolo has been perhaps the team’s standout performer in pre-season thus far. The 23-year-old, who scored the winning goal in Roma’s 1-0 win in the Europa Conference League final against Feyenoord, has scored twice and started all four games thus far.
Although, Jose Mourinho set Zaniolo out to lead the line against Nice as usual starting centre-forward Tammy Abraham only came on after half-time. But the English striker looks set to make it back to the starting XI against Spurs, with Zaniolo likely to return to his preferred position in attacking midfield.
Zaniolo could very well find himself playing alongside Roma’s new star signing, Paulo Dybala, who was treated to a tremendous welcome by the Giallorossi fans during his unveiling. The Argentine played his first match for Roma in a 1-0 defeat to Serie B side Ascoli, which was not an official pre-season friendly, and looks on course to make his official Roma debut against Spurs.
The 28-year-old Dybala, who was also linked with a move to Spurs this summer, scored 10 goals and had 5 assists in 29 Serie A games for Juventus last season.
History
Tottenham and Roma have yet to face each other in any major European competition, but they have met twice in club friendlies in recent years. They first faced off in the 2017 International Champions Cup, which turned out to be quite an exciting affair.
Roma were 2-0 up with three minutes left and looked on course for a comfortable victory. But Spurs scored two late goals to tie the match up at 2-2. However, Roma got the dramatic victory as Marco Tumminello scored the stoppage-time winner.
But Spurs got their revenge over Roma in next season’s ICC as they smashed the Giallorossi 4-1 thanks to braces from Fernando Llorente and Lucas Moura.
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