Antonin Kinsky banishes Tottenham nightmare to hand Roberto De Zerbi fresh new headache
Antonin Kinsky has continued his Tottenham Hotspur redemption in recent weeks as he looks to fully recover from his Atletico Madrid horror show.
Former Tottenham boss Igor Tudor decided to start Kinsky in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie with Atletico Madrid at Metropolitano Stadium, but it backfired spectacularly.
Kinsky slipped twice to gift two early goals to Atletico, and when they went 3-0 down, the back-up stopper, who was preferred over first-choice Guglielmo Vicario, was hooked after just 17 minutes.
Vicario is recovering from hernia surgery and is likely to be fit for Tottenham’s final few matches.
Kinsky, on the other hand, has since started in Spurs’ defeat to Sunderland, their draw with Brighton, and their 1-0 win over Wolves on Saturday.
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And after producing a vital stop late on to preserve their lead, Tottenham have a selection dilemma with Kinsky and the soon-to-return Vicario.
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Antonin Kinsky vs Guglielmo Vicario
For the past few seasons, Vicario has been Tottenham’s undisputed number one. However, this season, that is up for debate amid a poor campaign for the 29-year-old.
While Vicario has started 10 times as many Premier League matches this season, his goals prevented tally is cause for concern.
Although he has kept seven clean sheets, most of those came in the first half of the campaign. While it is a very small sample size, Kinsky edges Vicario on long ball success (35.1 per cent vs 31.2 per cent), clearances (2.3 vs 1.2) and total duels won.
Moreover, according to Sofascore, Kinsky made two saves, one high claim, four recoveries, one clearance, had a 77 per cent passing accuracy, and lost the ball seven times against Wolves.
And as this clip shows, he made a vital save at the death to keep out Joao Gomes’ free-kick to preserve Tottenham’s clean sheet at Molineux.
He told BBC Sport, “It was a good moment for me and us. A good save in a good time and three points for us, this is what we came here for, and we take it home.”
That has got many Tottenham fans questioning if he should be their new number one.
Wolves win exactly what Tottenham needed
At the 16th attempt, Tottenham finally grabbed a crucial Premier League win, ending a barren stretch since 28 December.
Unfortunately for Tottenham, relegation rivals West Ham grabbed a stoppage-time winner to beat Everton, a result that kept Spurs two points behind in 18th with four games to go.
Next up, Tottenham travel to Champions League-chasing Aston Villa, who suffered a narrow 1-0 loss to Fulham on Saturday.
That should be a much tougher test, but Kinsky is staying positive, also rejecting the notion that there had been a lot of tension amongst his teammates before this win.
He added, “I wouldn’t say tension. Of course, it’s a difficult moment in which we don’t want to be. We want the pressure, but we want it from chasing some trophy. This is where we don’t want to be, for sure, but I would say if there is too much tension, the quality goes too low.”
Will he start at Villa Park? That’s a dilemma for Roberto De Zerbi.
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