Good morning and welcome to another edition of Trending Up / Trending Down, where we at hoddle headquarters takes a look at what around Tottenham is trending up and what’s trending down.
This is the first edition of Trending Up / Trending Down since the international break. Spurs lost at home to Villa, drew against Monaco away in the Champions League and put together a tidy 3-0 win against Everton Sunday.
Trending Up:
Guglielmo Vicario: Vicario has put together some incredible saves in recent weeks, especially with his Man of the Match performance against Monaco earlier last week in which he saved (by my count) eight shots. He followed that up with another astute performance against Everton on Sunday.
Kevin Danso: He’s been taking full advantage of his opportunity with Cristian Romero out injured. According to Squawka, Danso made 18 clearances against Everton and won 6 out of 6 duels without conceding a foul.
Long throws and set pieces: Speaking of Danso, because of him we’re seeing the reemergence of the long throw. It’s fun to see. What’s more fun to see? Set pieces, and scoring off them.
Micky van de Ven: Which leads me to Micky van de Ven. I almost didn’t include him in the Trending Up category this week because I already rate him so highly, but his brace against Everton on Sunday cements his place here. Is he the most exciting player in the Spurs squad to watch right now?
Trending Down:
Cristian Romero: Apologies to Romero for doing this, but his injury leaves me no choice but to place him here. Hoping he’s back in the lineup soon.
Xavi Simons: It hasn’t been the smoothest start to the season for Xavi Simons, but it also hasn’t really been for Randall Kolo Muani either. But we know Simons has a lot of quality, so I’m hoping the patience pays off here.
Home form: Spurs have won just one home game in the Premier League this season. That was the season-opener aginst Burnley back in August. Since then Spurs have lost to Bournemouth and Villa, while drawing against Wolves.
Home form (but Everton’s): Tottenham’s 3-0 win at Everton means they became the first side to beat the Toffees since moving into the Hill Dickinson Stadium. Huzzah - one for the history books.
Fitzie’s track of the day: I Feel Like Loving You Today, by Donald Byrd
And now for your links:
The Standard: “Three things we learned from Tottenham win as Thomas Frank unveils two new weapons”
Jay Harris ($$): “Everton 0 Tottenham 3: How did Van de Ven end Moyes’ unbeaten home and set-piece record?”
Football London: “Every word Thomas Frank said on Everton win, Van de Ven and whether Tottenham are title contenders”