Tottenham Unbeaten when Dele scores in EPL: Part 5 How Dele Scores and Who is providing it?

Part Five: Just as Dele seems to score throughout the game he also has a knack for scoring in lots of different ways with service from lots of different teammates.

Previously, I’ve covered the Tottenham record in-depth when Dele scores, the significance of those goals, and how Dele’s goals often lead to a lot more Spurs goals. Finally, part 4 covered, when in the game Dele scores and whether those goals or home or away. Here in part 5 of this series, I look at how Dele converts his goals and who is the provider for them.

How Dele Scores

With 38 Premier League goals, to his name, one would expect that Dele has scored in a few different ways, and he has. One of the most intriguing aspects of the 38 goals Dele has scored in Tottenham’s 33 games during the unbeaten streak is that only 1 of Dele’s goals was a penalty, with the other 37 goals coming in open play.

Six of Deles goals have been headers, 8 have been left footed shots, and 24 have been right footed shots. While Dele’s right foot is responsible for the majority, 60%, with 40% of his goals coming from his head or his left foot, Dele can score in any manner.

While his six headers won’t mistake Dele for Peter Crouch in the box, it does make him dangerous. His late runs into the box and his ability to finish with his head or with the volley make him particularly effective playing behind Harry Kane.

Speaking of Harry Kane, I looked at his 109 Premier League goals as a point of comparison here. According to the Premier League, Kane has scored 109 goals, 16 with his head, 65 with his right foot, and 27 with his left foot. I know that adds to 108, I guess they couldn’t put Christian Eriksen’s foot into the stats, but that is a different story.

If you look at the ways Kane has scored by percentage, Dele compares well to one of the best strikers in the world. 15% of Kane’s goals have been headers, compared to 16% for Dele. 60% of Kane’s goals have been with his right foot, 63% of Dele’s have been with his right foot. Finally, 25% of Kane’s goals have been with his ‘weaker’ left foot and 21% of Dele’s have as well. What this shows us, is that Dele’s skillset as a finisher is quite like his teammate Kane.

The biggest differences between the two come down as much as anything, opportunities, with Kane taking more than 600 shots in League, while Dele has taken approximately 240. Kane is more accurate at 45% to Alli’s 39%, but Kane also gets more tap-ins and crosses to finish than Alli, who is typically bringing down long-balls while running from deep. The other big difference is that 13% of all Kane’s Premier League goals have come in the form of a penalty, with 14 converted penalties, compared to 1 for Dele, representing 2% of his goals in League.

All this is not to say anything negative about Kane, he is one of the best pure strikers in the world, rather, this is to help demonstrate that Dele’s ability to finish and score in a number of ways compares well against a great striker.

Who is the provider on Dele’s Goals?

With 26 assists in his 108 premier league games we know that Dele has an eye for a pass and creates opportunities for others. However, as noted, with only 1 penalty to his name, most of the time someone is supplying the ball for Dele’s goals, the question is who.

Unsurprisingly, according to Transfer Markt it is Christian Eriksen has been the primary supplier for Dele’s 38 goals, with 9 assists. Those 9 are more than twice as many as any other teammate in a Spurs shit. Further, those nine assists have been part of 8 victories and 1 tie, making the Eriksen to Dele combination quite deadly.

Heung Son-Min’s four assist have all come in wins and Kyle Walker garnered three wins and one draw from his four assists to Dele. Serge Aurier and Harry Kane both have two assists across 4 wins to Dele, while Toby Alderweireld’s two assists have led to two of the six draws during the unbeaten streak when Dele scores.

Five other players have contributed assists to Dele goals and 10 were un-assisted. I found it interesting that Dele has received more assists from Nacer Chadli than the current crown king of the cross, Kieran Trippier, 1-0.

Dele clearly scores in many different ways, with the ball coming from many different Spurs. This seems to make sense given Dele’s proclivity to score throughout the match, home or away, when the Spurs seem to need a goal. In Part 6, the final installment of this series, I will draw some conclusions from the analysis in the series.