Better than Kane: 95-touch dynamo proved THFC "are more complete" with him in the team - opinion

Tottenham Hotspur continued their recent trend of win-lose-win-lose on Wednesday night, with Antonio Conte’s side bouncing back from a 3-2 defeat at Manchester United on Saturday with a 2-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex.

And, aside from the positive of closing the gap to fourth-placed Arsenal in the race for a Champions League finish, the Italian manager will also be delighted with the displays of a number of his starting XI on the night – with Harry Kane, Eric Dier and Rodrigo Bentancur all turning in dominant performances on the south coast.

However, it will undoubtedly be the latter of this trio who the 52-year-old will have been most pleased with, as the central midfielder proved once and for all that Fabio Paratici was right to splash the cash on his signing in the January transfer window.

Indeed, the £74k-per-week Uruguay international was truly dominant in the middle of the park over his 90 minutes on the pitch, making three interceptions, three clearances and one tackle, as well as blocking two Brighton shots and winning three duels.

The £22.5m-rated dynamo also impressed going forwards, enjoying 95 touches of the ball – the most of any player on the night – completing 74 of his 80 attempted passes – once again the most of any player – found his intended target with two long balls and provided the assist for Kane’s goal with a surging run followed by an excellent pass.

These returns saw the 24-year-old earn a highly impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.6, ranking him as the joint second-best player to feature in the match.

As such, it is clear to see why Conte stated after the game that Tottenham “are more complete” with Bentancur in the side, as the midfielder well and truly ran the show on