Tottenham 2017-18 player preview: Christian Eriksen out for more goals

Arguably the club’s most influential player, Christian Eriksen is poised to enjoy another standout season and has the opportunity, by bagging more goals, to elevate his game even further.

Eriksen scored two goals in four pre-season matches, including another stunning long-range missile against PSG in the team’s 4-2 win. Few players in the world have the ability to collect the ball that deep in midfield and unleash from another time zone with such power, pace, movement and accuracy.

Eriksen scored his second of the pre-season at Wembley in Spurs’ 2-0 victory over Serie A champions Juventus. The goal, assisted intelligently by Dele Alli, showed Eriksen’s willingness to make darting, penetrating runs deep into the final third.

He was undeniably Tottenham’s best attacking presence in the warmup matches. Difficult to source a blemish in the Dane’s overall game, one – if forced at gunpoint – might point to his lack of goal production. Blessed with otherworldly wherewithal, Eriksen is easily one of the most intelligent footballers on the planet.

He can score from anywhere, an ability he showcased against PSG a few weeks ago. That strike resembled the crucial winner he scored away to Crystal Palace at the tail end of last season. While the trajectory differed vastly, the way in which he struck the ball – an embodiment of perfect technique – was a near replica of the PSG goal.

The dashing Dane, as if the strike wasn’t impressive enough, comes up in the clutch, when his team needs him the most. His late goal against Palace kept Spurs’ title hopes alive.

Eriksen tallied eight goals during the 2016-17 season, a decent return considering the Dane’s pass first mantra. The maestro set up 15 Tottenham goals, the second highest assist total in the league. Only Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne, with 18 assists, had more.

Look for Eriksen to increase his goal output this season. Eriksen would score more often by taking on a slightly more selfish role. There is, though, an inherent danger in that particular assertion.

Newton’s third law suggests that, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction,” meaning that Eriksen’s increased goal output will result in an invariable reduction in assists.

I’m not going to sit here and argue a theory that has been proven correct more times than Spurs’ number of home clean sheets last season. Instead I’ll draw upon another philosophical principle, one that reinforces Eriken’s aspirations to score more goals while maintaining an abundance of assists.

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Yin and Yang, the Chinese philosophical principle, describes “how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.”

That sounds more like it. Let’s go with that notion as Eriksen attempts to fill the net more without negatively affecting the statistical category for which he’s more renowned.