Focus on Leeds - Paul Robinson

A legend at both clubs, we've tapped into the knowledge of former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson ahead of our Premier League clash against Leeds at Elland Road on Saturday (12.30pm).

A fans' favourite in four years here at Spurs, Paul joined us from Leeds in the summer of 2004, and his performances propelled him to England's number one status within months of his switch. Now 41, Paul made 175 appearances in all competitions for us between 2004-08, helped us to League Cup success in 2008 and earned 37 of his 41 England caps during his time here, including five at the 2006 World Cup. He went on to play for Blackburn and Burnley before a serious back injury forced his retirement in 2017. He's since enjoyed work as a pundit for Sky Sports, beIN Sports, Premier Sports and Astro SuperSport in Malaysia.

Form

Robbo: "They’ve had a fantastic season and with that comes expectation, and last week against Brighton was their poorest performance of the season, but don’t forget that came off the back of a win at City (with 10 men) and draws against Liverpool and United. Brighton just felt like the calm after that storm, three great results followed by a bit of a comedown. I don’t buy into the ‘burn-out’ theories at the end of the season, I’m still seeing a fit team and players covering the ground."

Style

Robbo: "They've adapted since the City game, when Diego Llorente came back into the side, they’ve been more defensively sound – they conceded one goal at City, 1-1 draw against Liverpool, didn’t concede against United, then the two goals at Brighton, that was uncharacteristic. They go forward, they create chances and I’d say before about six weeks ago, they were more carefree and gave away more chances. That’s the reason they’ve conceded over 50 goals (52) and the goalkeeper Illan Meslier has made the second most saves (134) in the Premier League. They’ve obviously worked on their defence for that run against the bigger teams and I put that improvement down to the return of Llorente, a player who has had an in-and-out season, signed (from Real Sociedad) at the start of the season, got injured, came back against Chelsea away in December, got injured again, but he’s now put a run of games together. Liam Cooper was sent off at City, Llorente played alongside Pascal Struijk and he’s played that well now, it’s Llorente plus another."

Key player

Robbo: "Kalvin Phillips. He’s vital to everything they do, and you can see that in the win percentage stats for when he’s played and hasn’t played (48% compared to 22%). The way Bielsa plays is with a back four and Kalvin Phillips in the holding midfield role. It’s not just what Kalvin does defensively, it’s what he does going forward, he breaks up play and triggers attacks. He has that vision to play the longer pass forward and turn around defences. They hugely miss him when he’s not there."