2015-16 Premier League Season Preview: Tottenham

​​Welcome to theScore's 2015-16 preview of Tottenham Hotspur, including transfer dealings, lineup projections, and everything else you need to know about the club's upcoming campaign.

Tottenham

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North London's other club, Tottenham Hotspur, is looking to follow an unusually quiet summer transfer period with another attempt at Champions League soccer on the back of last year's breakout talent, Harry Kane.

Will Spurs be able to profit enough from a year of growth for Kane, Christian Eriksen, Nacer Chadli, and the rest of a core that spent much of last season learning to play together to finish in the top four?

Spoiler alert: no.

2014-15 Season

Trophies Won: none

It's hard to fathom exactly where Tottenham would have finished were it not for Kane's outstanding stretch of play, though it's difficult to imagine it would have been anywhere near fifth place. The club missed out on a coveted Champions League berth by six points.

Tottenham's cup runs were decent as well, as they were knocked out of the FA Cup's fourth round by Leicester City and lost in the League Cup final to Chelsea.

Key Arrivals

• Toby Alderweireld (from Atletico Madrid)
• Kieran Trippier (from Burnley)
• Kevin Wimmer (from FC Koln)

Two seasons ago, chairman Daniel Levy used the money from the Gareth Bale transfer to buy the "Magnificent Seven" of Roberto Soldado, Vlad Chiriches, Eriksen, Erik Lamela, Chadli, Paulinho, and Etienne Capoue. This summer's purchases have been more subtle.

Alderweireld is the biggest name of the three arrivals, and also the most likely to immediately find a place in the starting XI, as he can play both centre-back and full-back. The Ajax youth product joins a Belgian core of Chadli, Moussa Dembele, and Jan Vertonghen at White Hart Lane.

Trippier, 24, is also a defensive stopgap, and Kyle Walker and Danny Rose -Tottenham's two first-choice full-backs last season - do not appear to be in manager Mauricio Pochettino's future plans.

Wimmer joins Spurs as a third defensive purchase. The 22-year-old Austrian will provide cover for Jan Vertonghen and Federico Fazio after the departure of Younes Kaboul. That will allow Pochettino to try Eric Dier in a defensive midfield role, as he did in the friendly against the MLS All-Stars B-team.

Key Departures

• Benjamin Stambouli (PSG)
• Etienne Capoue (Watford)
• Vlad Chiriches (Napoli)
• Younes Kaboul (Sunderland)
• Paulinho (Guangzhou)

Three members of the Magnificent Seven have already left this summer and Soldado doesn't appear to be too far behind, as Levy seems intent on forgetting the disastrous results of the sale of Bale to Real Madrid.

The departure of the defender Stambouli to French champions PSG provided the impetus for the transfers of Alderweireld, Trippier, and Wimmer, as Spurs were looking to strengthen their backline.

Projected Starting Lineup (4-4-1-1)

Hugo Lloris; Danny Rose, Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld, Kieran Trippier; Nacer Chadli, Nabil Bentaleb, Ryan Mason, Erik Lamela; Christian Eriksen; Harry Kane.

For every comprehensive 5-3 victory over the champions Chelsea, there are the 3-0 losses to Stoke City, the home losses to an insipid Newcastle side, or the failure to score at White Hart Lane against the likes of West Brom and Crystal Palace.

Tottenham's 2014-15 campaign was defined by inconsistency, and without consistent form and a regular starting XI, it's been difficult to posit what exactly Pochettino is trying to do from a tactical perspective. At times, Chadli looked world class on the wing, and Eriksen looked like one of the best passing midfielders in the Premier League. Then there were matches in which the two were nearly invisible, and Kane struggled to get any service.

This team will suffer if they depend on Kane the same way they were overly dependent on Bale two seasons ago.

American soccer fans should keep their eyes peeled for the hopeful emergence of DeAndre Yedlin. Tottenham purchased him from Seattle Sounders in 2014 and he has the skill set to be a two-way star.

Player To Watch: Harry Kane

Bit of a no-brainer here. In the same way David De Gea was Manchester United's most valuable player last season because of all the points he saved, Kane was Tottenham's saviour.

Kane scored 21 Premier League goals for a Spurs side that only scored 58 times in the league, accounting for 36 percent of their goals.

The success of Kane's link-up play with Eriksen will make or break Tottenham's season.

Keep One Eye On: Christian Eriksen

Three Questions

1. Is Kane the next Gary Lineker or the next Andy Carroll?

2. Do Spurs have any chance of finishing in the top four?

3. Since you answered "No" to the previous question, where do they finish?

Trivial Matters

• Manager: Mauricio Pochettino
• Nickname: Spurs
• Stadium: White Hart Lane (Capacity: 36,284)