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Full article here: https://theathletic.com/5005866/2023/10/28/spurs-premier-league-top-four/
No team has started as well as Spurs and not finished in the Premier League top four
The tipping point is edging into view.
As Spurs, however briefly, went five points clear at the top of the table, something which has not happened since 1960-61 when nothing in particular of note took place, their minimum ambition for the season surely solidified into something different to what will have been imagined 11 weeks ago when the campaign kicked off.
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Not being at your best but still winning away from home? Having one shot on target but still winning 2-1? Well, you know what they say — that is the sign of… a top-four team.
OK, it is still too early for the ‘T word’. But T as in top four? Definitely. Heck, no team has earned this many wins (eight) from their opening 10 matches of a 20-team Premier League season and finished lower than fourth. And in all likelihood, fifth gets you in the Champions League this season....
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There are hypotheticals at play here, and the fact there is only a quarter of the season gone acts as a warning in itself when forecasting the future, not least because the generosity of the fixture computer has seen Spurs face seven of the current bottom half of the table in their opening 10 matches.
If they are still top after their next four games — improving Chelsea at home, resurgent Wolverhampton Wanderers away, the very good Aston Villa at home and then the worldly good Manchester City away — then let’s talk.
But there is also the fact that there are obvious improvements which can still come from this team.
They are not playing at their very limit — two of their front three are not scoring goals, with Dejan Kulusevski’s form, albeit better than the back end of last season, still some way below his gliding, imaginative, artistic best. And Richarlison remains the odd man out in this team; shy on confidence, shy on quality and, although working hard enough and contributing to the unit, just not doing what can rightly be expected of him given his enormous talent.
When you ponder what Brennan Johnson might add — and he offered another tantalising glimpse here with an assist for Son’s goal to follow up on equally bright moments against Sheffield United and Arsenal. And, of course, the class and guile in midfield of Rodrigo Bentancur, who returned to action here after eight months on the sidelines. Pape Matar Sarr has made a fine start to the season but Bentancur at his best would have the ability to help take Spurs up a notch. Plus, there could be January additions to improve a squad which looks stronger by the week.
For the second game in a row, a star performer from the opening weeks was absent. This time it was Destiny Udogie, and again Spurs coped with that potentially destabilising absence, mostly through Emerson Royal whose half-time introduction for Ben Davies at left-back solidified that area of the pitch. To bring him, Johnson, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Bryan Gil and Bentancur off the bench here is, well, proper squad depth.
Questions keep being asked of Spurs and the answers keep coming.
This had all the makings of a night when they could come unstuck. Palace were impenetrable in the first half; Will Hughes stuck to Yves Bissouma like chewing gum to a shoe, shutting down Spurs attacks before they were even an idea. In fact, Spurs’ entire midfield was nullified and they resorted to either harmlessly knocking it around at the back (Cristian Romero completed the most passes, 141, of any Spurs player in any Premier League match since records began two decades ago) or they were direct, often to Son, which did not work.
How did they overcome their problems? Well, persistence (Sarr kept running all night and it was his dart to the byline that creaked open the door for Spurs to put pressure on for the opening goal) and good fortune ...
“Dreams last as long as they do,” Postecoglou added. “Until somebody wakes you up.”
Reality has not yet bitten this Spurs team, unless this is reality…
