Plenty has changed since Dominic Solanke last played a competitive game of football for Tottenham.
Solanke has struggled with injury issues at Tottenham this season, seeing him restricted to just 80 minutes of action.
The most recent of the England international’s appearances came in Tottenham’s 2-0 win over Manchester City on 23 August.
At that stage in the campaign, Tottenham were looking good under new boss Thomas Frank, while Liverpool were themselves flying high in a strong start to their title defence.
However, the Reds have gone massively off the boil since then. Indeed, Liverpool make the trip to Tottenham on Saturday sitting seventh in the table.
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A number of key players have dropped off, most notably the likes of Mohamed Salah and skipper Virgil van Dijk.
Dominic Solanke names Virgil van Dijk as toughest ever opponent
Van Dijk is one of the greatest defenders in Premier League history, of that there is no doubt.
Speaking this week, Solanke told Sport Bible that Van Dijk is the toughest opponent he has ever come up against.
While that may be the case, Van Dijk is no longer the force he was once. That is why Frank needs to ignore those comments and ensure the Dutchman is targeted this weekend.
As per FBref, Van Dijk’s defensive stat have plummeted between last season and this season.
He is averaging 0.63 tackles per 90 minutes this campaign compared to 1.03 last time out, while his tackles won have dropped from 0.54 to 0.31.
Van Dijk’s interceptions are also down (1.51 vs 0.88) and he is also making more errors this season (0.13 vs 0.11).
The biggest drop-off has been in tackles and interceptions combined, which stood at a whopping 2.54 last season but now reads 1.50.
Rather than being scared of Van Dijk, Tottenham’s attackers need to get right in his face and expose the Netherlands international like more and more opponents are.
How does Van Dijk compare to Cristian Romero?
Cristian Romero has been superb at times for Tottenham this season, and his defensive figures now put Van Dijk to shame.
For example, Romero outshines Van Dijk for tackles won (1.23 vs 0.31) and blocks (1.56 vs 1.06). In terms of interceptions and tackles combined, they are worlds apart – 4.10 and 1.50 respectively.
The bottom line is that Van Dijk is no longer a world-class talent and, had Arne Slot had other options to call upon, it may well be that the centre-back was watching from the stands like Salah.
Liverpool and Van Dijk are very much there for the taking this weekend in what could be a result that helps turn around Spurs’ campaign.