Tottenham Hotspur’s Top XI on Current Form

Number VII – Davison Sanchez

Davinson Sanchez is a beast. On his game, Sanchez is a monster in the air- winning most of his aerial duels, particularly in the middle of the field to stop potential attacks. Further, Sanchez is often ‘marking’ the other team’s best player as they push up against our high line.

It is true Sanchez missed the last game and only played some of the Wolves game. Still, we all need to remember he played some of that Wolves game. It was Davinson Sanchez who Pochettino brought in to steady the ship after the second penalty. Most importantly for Spurs, Sanchez is clearly improving, sometimes even week to week. He has even begun to add in the occasional long-ball to his passing repertoire, which is good news for Spurs and bad news for other teams down the road.

Number VI – Toby Alderweireld

It was tough to determine who to put in front of who here, Toby Alderweireld or Davison Sanchez. Both have been rock-solid over the last month and beyond as Spurs continue to deal with Jan Vertonghen’s long-term injury absence. Contract problem or not, Toby always comes to play and play hard.

While I find it concerning that apparently Toby is the only other left-sided center-half in the squad, the angle from that left side for his long ball is great for the right and the left. While there have been a few little wobbles in his game, in the last couple matches they are few and far between. This is particularly impressive considering the number of touches Alderweireld gets. He currently leads the team by a wide margin on passes in the League this season.

Number V – Moussa Sissoko

‘We have Moussa Sissoko, we have Moussa Sissoko, we have Moussa Sissoko.’ Yes, admit it, we all heard the crowd sing it. Maybe Sissoko doesn’t roll off the tongue like Dembele does, but Sissoko has certainly helped cover for the Belgian’s injury absence. I didn’t enter the season thinking Moussa would be one of the Top XI Spurs this season, but about 1/3 of the way in, here he is helping Tottenham keep up an incredible start.

Over the last month I’ve seen Sissoko sit deep as one of the double pivot, seen him push up in the mid-field- not to the 9 role, but certainly as one of our attackers- and have seen him playing out on the wing. The man is versatile, which is exactly why he was signed on deadline day a couple years back. While the end product hasn’t been there, he has been all over 2/3 of the pitch of late, playing defense and pushing the attack from midfield. His emergence is a good sign for Spurs as they continue to deal with the injuries.

Number IV – Erik Lamela

Speaking of injuries, it has been good to see Erik Lamela avoid them of late and put together a good string of games. Had I started this column of a ranking on form say 3 weeks ago, Lamela might have been number 1, but his end product hasn’t been at the level of consistency we all know he can achieve.

There were several games- particularly earlier this year- where Lamela’s tenacity has impacted the game in a positive way for Spurs. He is truly becoming an impact player. If he can find consistency we may be talking about this as his breakout campaign at the end of the year. I sure hope so and so does Argentina, Spurs third call-up to Argentina this international break!