Almost 4x as many touches as Son, 8 duels won: Alasdair Gold blown away by 9/10 Spurs ace

Tottenham Hotspur were clinical on Saturday, making Aston Villa pay for missing their chances, beating Steven Gerrard’s side 4-0 at Villa Park.

Spurs’ front three were in formidable form, all goals and assists came through the trio of Harry Kane, Dejan Kulusevski and Heung-Min Son. The South Korean scored a hattrick and Kulusevski scored and assisted one with Harry Kane securing the other two assists for Antonio Conte’s side.

While the front three will be grabbing the majority of the headlines for their exploits (and rightly so), the majority of the players deserve credit for their performance.

Alasdair Gold did just that in his player ratings. He highlighted Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in his report, giving the Dane 9/10, justifying it with: “Lead Spurs in the centre of the pitch with his battling and soaking up the tackles that rained in on him. Big performance from the Dane.”

The defensive midfielder was certainly impressive for Conte’s side, playing a key role in the middle of the pitch. He had 95 touches, winning eight duels from 12 contested. He made two clearances and two interceptions as well as three tackles, proving to be a real thorn in the side of Aston Villa. In comparison, Son only had 25 touches.

It was a huge day and result for Spurs who now have the momentum over their North London rivals Arsenal. Conte has guided his team to fourth place in the table as things stand, holding a three point cushion over the Gunners. However, Arsenal do have a game in hand, so with the sides still to meet, the race for the top four is heating up nicely.

In other news, Gary Lineker’s Antonio Conte claim

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