Premier League SOS: 3 players Tottenham need to sign in January

After just a few months of his Tottenham Hotspur tenure, the pressure is beginning to mount on Mauricio Pochettino.

Poor results on the pitch, where Spurs have won just four of their first 11 Premier League matches, have been made worse by the sour atmosphere at White Hart Lane.

Despite the overloaded squad he was handed, the Argentine can claim to be bereft of the players he needs for his system to work, so this January will be a crucial period for the Lilywhites in the transfer market.

Here are the three positions Spurs, who are now 9/1 to finish in the top four, need to address most in the winter window.

Striker

While Harry Kane has been pulling up trees in the Europa League and Capital One Cup, none of Spurs’ forwards have been scoring regularly in the Premier League.

Roberto Soldado has bagged just one league goal in the whole of 2014, while Emmanuel Adebayor has looked sluggish and disinterested this term, scoring just twice.

A new forward is a must, and one man that might be on the market is CSKA Moscow’s Seydou Doumbia, who scored twice as the Russian side beat Manchester City in the Champions League recently.

Doumbia has finished as top scorer in the Russian Premier League twice during his time at CSKA, notching 83 goals in 124 appearances for them in total.

Wide forward

As well as a centre-forward, Spurs need to bolster their wide options, as only Nacer Chadli has been providing the goals Pochettino needs from the flanks in his system.

The Argentine has reportedly been monitoring the progress of his former Southampton charge Jay Rodriguez as he returns from injury, and the 25-year-old might be just the ticket for the Lilywhites.

Rodriguez scored 15 goals in 33 league appearances for the Saints last term, and his workrate is perfect for Pochettino’s pressing style.

Centre-back 

Spurs have five senior centre-backs on the books, but the grim state of the quintet involved means they might need to buy another in Janaury.

Jan Vertonghen looks almost certain to leave next summer and Younes Kaboul is having a horror show of a year despite being named captain.

Elsewhere, Federico Fazio has been sent off twice in his short spell in north London and Vlad Chiriches is a poor man’s David Luiz, a horrific moniker if there ever was one.

The fifth – Eric Dier – has been mostly used at right back. Finding a new centre-back in January won’t be easy, but rumours persist about another former Pochettino player – Espanyol’s Hector Moreno.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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