In an exclusive interview with SkySports, 25 year old Tottenham play-maker Christian Eriksen has claimed that the team are ready for the new challenge at the national stadium ahead of a long season ahead at Wembley which starts tomorrow against Chelsea.
With White Hart Lane now a memory and the construction of the new stadium well underway, Spurs will make their Premier League debut in the national stadium tomorrow after months of anticipation, apprehension and abject reporting.
Many have suggested that Tottenham’s successive title challenges will end this season, already attributing failure to the ‘Wembley factor’ that haunted Spurs in Europe last season.
Spurs have only won 1 match in their last 9 outings at Wembley stadium, however although the statistics aren’t kind, Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen is adamant that the team are optimistic ahead of a full season in the 90,000 capacity arena.
Speaking to SkySports about the temporary relocation, the White Hart Dane labeled the move a ‘new chapter’ at Spurs, while defiantly stating that the team are eager to start winning on the national pitch. He said:
“The whole team is very excited we are going to play there. It’s a new chapter for us.”
“For the first few games we are going to have to get used to where we are going and the drive in will be different but when the game starts it will mostly be the same; the same opponents and the same home fans, just a few more of them than at White Hart Lane.”
“We’re looking forward to it with a very good feeling. We have played there last year in Europe and we played a pre-season game there too.”
“From the outside people are looking at the statistics and comparing Wembley to White Hart Lane. But we are very confident we can do much better than those statistics show.”
Eriksen also opened up about Tottenham’s title challenge last season, in which Spurs chased down Chelsea from a position of over 10 points behind, to eventually close down the gap, before defeat to West Ham all but ended their title aspirations.
Yet the Danish international was still feeling positive and insisted that the team could go one better this year and be crowned champions for the first time since 1961.
“We were just a bit unlucky,” He added. “Or maybe Chelsea were just that bit better at winning games than we were and that made the difference.”
“We finished very strongly with some big wins. We wanted to take that with us over the summer and it was going to be difficult with everybody going away on holidays.”
“But it’s finally here again and we are all excited because it’s been a long pre-season.”
“We have every opportunity to make it even better than last season. We have the same team and everybody knows what they are doing.”
“We are playing more maturely than in the first few seasons when Mauricio came in.”
“It’s changed, we 100 per cent know what our team-mates are going to do, how we are going to play, when to press and that sort of thing. It makes a difference when you don’t have to think about those things.”
Eriksen also had a few kind words for recent debutant Kyle Walker-Peters who’s impressive display at St James’ Park last week earned him the man of the match award on his first competitive senior outing for the club.
“He’s a very calm guy but he’s trained with the first team for a few years now,” Eriksen said of the youngster.
“I think you saw that he is a confident guy on the pitch, he knows what he is doing. It was a big game for him to come in to and make his Premier League debut.”
“We can trust him and that’s the main thing, he’s done really well in pre-season and in training. He’s a talented player who is technically very good.”
Have something to tell us about this article?
