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Gareth Bale, Harry Kane and Son Heung-min are in top form, but will Dele Alli join them when Spurs travel to face rivals Arsenal?
Gareth Bale is back, Harry Kane and Son Heung-min He never left and Dele Alli has also returned to the first team draw.
It leaves a tantalizing question: Will José Mourinho be tempted to unleash the four forwards of Bale, Kane, Son and Alli in Sunday’s North London derby against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium?
He did just that for a capital clash with Fulham earlier this month, with the quartet in tandem for 67 minutes of a 1-0 win over Bale and There he gave way to Moussa Sissoko and Lucas Moura.
That represents more than half of the 114 minutes they have spent together on the pitch in total since Bale returned to Spurs on loan from Real Madrid.
The Welsh star’s struggle to stay in shape and an extended period of cold for Alli do much to explain those fleeting glances to the quartet, but, with local pride and Champions League qualification at stake, It might be time for Mourinho to roll the dice.
Born again Bale
There’s no question that the latest round of clamor for the Spurs’ fantasy front line is down to Bale’s emphatic return to form.
After his double in a 4-1 win over Crystal Palace last weekendBale scored six goals and three assists in his last six games in all competitions, giving him a goal share every 37.7 minutes.
In the 16 games prior to that he scored four goals and does not attend, that amounts to 200.8 minutes per goal participation.
Another of the qualities most associated with the Bale pick also appears to be in good shape, with the winger averaging 4.7 dribbles per 90 minutes this season. In each of the last three seasons at Madrid he averaged less than three per game.
His touches for 90 (60.4) are above 60 for the first time during the same period And, heading into a showdown with the team he has scored the most against in the Premier League (five in 10 against Arsenal), Bale certainly seems to be in the mood.
Kane & Son to become Premier League’s deadliest duo
England captain Kane is in contention for the third Premier League Golden Boot of his career, one behind the division’s top scorer, Mohamed Salah, at 16.
Son is the fourth top scorer with 13 and the respective assists of each man of 13 and nine underscore how vital they are to the Spurs as a striking force.
The Kane-Son combination has thrown 34 goals in total, the second most in Premier League history.
Only this season they have been combined directly for 14 goals, even as every man scored in Tottenham’s 2-0 win over Arsenal in December.
Mourinho was confident that Kane would overcome a knee discomfort suffered during the closing stages of Thursday’s 2-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb, a match in which the forward scored both goals.
Under the Portuguese tactic, Tottenham’s winning percentage with Kane in the team is 53.5 in 43 games and drops to 30 percent from 10 when not available.
Kane and Son are the sure thing of the Spurs, a status once enjoyed by the rejuvenated Bale. Not long ago, the idea of them facing Arsenal without Alli would have been implausible, but there is one man who works tirelessly to make more attacking lineups a possibility for the innately cautious Mourinho.
Working emile a minute
For both the raucous 6-1 win at Manchester United earlier in the season and the 2-0 clinic at home against Manchester City that sent Spurs to the top of the table in November, the four defenders of the Spurs were protected by a solid screen in midfield.
During the last match, Sissoko and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg were relentlessly pursued, with Tanguy N’Dombele enjoying a little more leave.
Recently, Mourinho has loosened the shackles a bit, with the creative N’Dombele dropping deeper on his 4-2-3-1 to allow for a genuine four-pronged attack.
Hojbjerg’s excellent form and always productive performances have made this possible and the prospect of a Kane-Son-Bale-Alli setup.
The Danish international has made more interceptions (54), recoveries (329) and tackles (89) than any Spurs player in all competitions this season.
He is the only Premier League player to have made more than 300 comebacks and is second only to Manchester United defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka (104) in terms of tackles for those operating in England’s top division.
Hojbjerg’s high number of recoveries is a huge contributing factor to his start. 355 sequences of open play in the Premier League for Spurs this season – the third best player in the league.
But the 25-year-old is not just a destroyer. Only Rodri (20) of Manchester City has fired more frequently at the end of a period of possession that began than Hojbjerg’s 15., of which he has marked two.
His involvement in 16 build-up sequences leading to goals is another area where Hojbjerg is the best in the division.
Making Moura without the ball
This combination of effort and performance can also be found higher up the Spurs field. However, while Hojbjerg’s excellent returns seem to clear a path in the team for There to complete the dream of the four forwards, Lucas’s status as number 10 Mourinho thinks that going to make the hard yards is a bigger problem for the England international.
Bale’s first goal against Palace came after Lucas launched into a challenge to catch Luka Milivojevic, setting on Kane to cross towards the goal.
Since joining the Spurs in January 2018, only Kane (78) e Son (77) they have regained possession in the last third of the opponent more often than Lucas (71).
However, Alli is next on the list, recovering the ball in the depths of rival territory 65 times. Further, has made 116 appearances to the Brazilian’s 147, with Lucas topping him 99 to 92 in terms of starts.
During the same period, Lucas outscores Alli 85-65 in terms of interceptions and 171-139 in tackles, while Alli’s use of deeper midfield positions could partly explain his 482-410 lead when it comes to recoveries. .
In a nutshell, Alli’s numbers without the ball suggest he has the industry to prosper and make Tottenham fabulous four a reality. But Mourinho has absolute faith in Lucas as a player who can give him just what he wants, which means the former Paris Saint-Germain player is likely to get the nod this weekend.
Still, three out of four are not bad. And it’s the form of those three that gives the Spurs every reason to believe that a first league double can be achieved over their old rivals from 1992-93.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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