Role

Despite Benjamin Mendy, Marcos Alonso and Sadio Mane all having a fantastic opening month of the new Premier League season, Lucas Moura was crowned the league’s player of the month for August. It is the 22nd time a Tottenham player has won the award, but Moura is perhaps surprisingly only the fourth ever Brazilian to receive the honour, after Juninho (March 1997), Edu (February 2004) and David Luiz (March 2011).

Moura played nearly every minute of Spurs’ three matches in August, scoring three goals as he benefitted from the international absence of Son Heung-min. He started the opening match of the season, away at Newcastle, on the right of midfield – but head coach Mauricio Pochettino has since moved him into the central lane, where he operates as a secondary striker alongside Harry Kane. From here, Moura remains central, either dropping short to create space for runners from midfield, or penetrating in behind using his explosive speed over short distances.