Tom Huddlestone is set to spend a large amount of the season on the sidelines as Scott Parker, Moussa Dembele and Sandro all continue their rehabilitation processes on following a range of different injuries.

The Englishman has been used by Andre Villas-Boas as a holding midfielder in the past three games in place for the injured Dembele, who is set to return for the game against Arsenal on the 17th of November. However, there may still be concern for Tottenham fans as Huddlestone is likely to play against the Premier League Champions Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.

In 253 minutes played for Spurs this season, Huddlestone has won every single tackle, albeit there have been only six of them. On the other hand, Dembele has made over 19 tackles in 399 minutes of play, successfully winning 16 of those tackles.

Not only this, but Huddlestone is much slower than Dembele, or even Sandro. The 25-year-old has won only 47% of his 7 ground duels, in contrast to Dembele winning 68% of his 39 attempted ground duals. This alone shows the defensive prowess of Mousa Demebele in comparison to Tom Huddlestone.

But what about a so-called ‘weaker’ defensive-midfielder such as Sandro?

Even though the Brazilian has played over 768 minutes, over three times the number of Huddlestone, Sandro has made over 80 ground duel tackles this season, over 5 times Huddestone’s figure of 15. Not only that, but Sandro has a ground dual win percentage of 61%, in contrast to Huddlestone’s below-par 47%.

So even though Huddlestone may not be strong defensively, surely his attacking qualities show his worth?

Well unfortunately for Huddlestone, his creativity is as mediocre as his tackling statistics. Even though he has a 100% success rate for his accurate dribbles, this is down to the fact he has only attempted one. This contrasts with Sandro’s 12 total dribbles attempted, with a 58% success rate, and Dembele’s 16 attempts with a 69% success rate.

Not only this, but Sandro has created over 11 chances for Tottenham this season, which compliments Dembele’s eight chances created in only four and a half games of football. Huddlestone, however, has only created four chances despite playing only 140 minutes fewer than the former Fulham player.

Despite his below-par statistics for his creativity and tackling, surely his passing must show a glimmer of hope for the injury-prone midfielder. Unfortunately for him, however, his passing statistics show his lacklustre attacking play as he constantly moves the ball around in the own half and does not help Tottenham press up the pitch.

Below is a table demonstrating the average pass success rate and also where Sandro, Dembele and Huddlestone pass the ball to.

[table id=90 /]

As a result, it is clear that Huddlestone is the weakest of the three midfielders, but with Scott Parker yet to return and begin his Premier League campaign, only time will tell to see if Huddlestone falls down the Tottenham pecking order and loses his first-team opportunity and game-time in a Spurs shirt.