Micky van de Ven was the leading beneficiary of Andreas Georgson's magic on Sunday afternoon, scoring twice as Tottenham returned to winning ways on Merseyside.
There was nothing poetic or particularly inspiring about Tottenham's display outside of their set-piece dominance, but you're going to be left behind in this primitive iteration of the Premier League if you're not placing a significant emphasis upon dead-ball situations.
Spurs have now scored five set-piece goals through nine league outings, trailing only league leaders Arsenal (nine) and Chelsea (eight). Their proficiency in this regard was teased during our cruel UEFA Super Cup defeat to Paris Saint-Germain back in August, when Van de Ven and Cristian Romero scored from set plays to help Thomas Frank's men bridge the gap between themselves and the most potent team on the continent.
Van de Ven has since taken his goal tally for the season up to five. On Sunday, though, he ascended to the lofty heights of striking twice in a single game, something us Spurs supporters haven't seen from a defender in a league outing for a very long time.
Van de Ven becomes Spurs first defender to score Premier League brace since 2013
The 2012/13 season is otherwise known as the ’Gareth Bale year’, when the Welsh star put André Villas-Boas' flawed Lilywhites outfit on his back and had us in a position to secure a top-four finish. It was his last in north London, departing for Real Madrid the following summer.
Spurs were third when they visited Anfield in March 2013, having enjoyed an 11-game unbeaten run in the Premier League. Bale, who inspired a 2-1 victory in the North London Derby the week before, was given freedom to roam wherever he desired alongside Jermain Defoe up top, but a Liverpool backline, one containing Jamie Carragher, did a good enough job of ensuring the superstar Welshman didn't take over the contest on Merseyside.
Instead, Bale delegated his goalscoring responsibilities to an unlikely source, teeing Jan Vertonghen up for the equalising goal before the Belgian defender completed his brace with a wonderfully taken improvised finish in front of the travelling support, who naïvely thought Spurs were heading towards a crucial victory at Anfield.
In the end, Liverpool came back to win 3-2 off the back of two calamitous Lilywhite errors, but we don't need to dwell on a very Spursy defeat from 12 years ago. This is about Vertonghen's brace, albeit the second most memorable he recorded during his eight-year stay.
I've also been reminded of a Davinson Sánchez double from 2021, when we lost 5-4 to Everton in the FA Cup, so there have been a couple of unlikely braces from Spurs defenders between Vertonghen's Anfield antics and Van de Ven's set-piece dominance on Sunday, but none have come in the Premier League.
I suspect we may not have to wait another 12 years for one of Georgson's set-piece pawns to cosplay as a prolific poacher for a day.