Tottenham Hotspur lead the Premier League after matchday one.
It might be very early days however the north Londoners are definitely having fun with a renaissance underneath the ruthless stewardship of Antonio Conte, who final clinched the Premier League title with Chelsea again in 2017.
That’s who Spurs shall be going through on the weekend and arguably, for the primary time in a very long time, they’re the favourites to return out on high.
After two seasons exterior of the highest 4, the Lilywhites lastly earned their place again within the Champions League, because of the Italian head coach turning issues round following his arrival again in November final 12 months.
They pipped arch-rivals Arsenal to a fourth-place end.
A number of that success has come right down to their assault, with Harry Kane again among the many objectives and winter signing Dejan Kulusevski proving to be a game-changer in assault, offering extra assists than anybody else within the English top-flight since February.
“Kulusevski, I believe, watch him. I believe he’s De Bruyne-esque if you happen to like, and he’s 22 years previous,” claimed Graeme Souness to talkSPORT (through the Night Commonplace).
However it’s one other one among Spurs’ stars who scored within the 4-1 mauling of Southampton on the opening day that has been one thing of an unsung hero underneath Conte.
Eric Dier.
At one level, the Englishman’s future on the membership appeared in grave hazard. That was largely right down to him not discovering a cushty place in a daily function, having typically been deployed as a defensive midfielder in his early days by Mauricio Pochettino.
One of the best instance of his full and utter transformation is seen by Tottenham’s defensive numbers.
In the course of the 2020/21 marketing campaign, Dier made 28 league appearances, by which he was a part of the profitable facet 12 instances however solely stored eight clear sheets. In the meantime, final season, the 6 foot 2 colossus was a part of 16 clear sheets throughout 35 appearances, profitable 21 matches.
13 of these had been underneath Conte.
Price Eric Dier’s time at Spurs out of 10…
0-3: Poor
4-6: Common
7-10: Excellent
“He’s working very exhausting and on this second he’s the most effective defenders within the league,” Conte claimed again in March. “He has additionally massive area to enhance his efficiency and his high quality and to change into a stronger and stronger participant.”
Dier price Spurs simply £4m from Spoting Lisbon again in 2014 and now, over eight years on, he’s valued at £25.2m by Transfermarkt, which is a rise of 530%, that means Spurs, and chairman Daniel Levy, have definitely struck gold together with his switch.
The £92k-per-week titan’s constant type has been nothing wanting distinctive and he’s lastly dwelling as much as Harry Kane’s tag of being “the beast,” as claimed again in 2016.
AND in different information, Spurs “exploring” swoop for £50m “horrifying expertise”, might be Conte’s subsequent Fabregas…