After 11 PL games -:

2016-17: 5W 6D 0L | 12 points dropped | 6 goals conceded

2017-18: 7W 2D 2L | 10 points dropped | 7 goals conceded

The number of home/away games played, are the same.

While the defensive record looks almost similar, there is one main difference, The shift to a back 3 with the addition of Davinson Sanchez.

The Colombian Drug Lord

The sub-title just is my tribute to the Narcos Series.

Below is a viz. that i found in a statsbomb article written by Euan Dewar.

While Spurs were one of the best teams at not allowing pass completion in their own box, last season, the addition of Davinson Sanchez and a permanent shift to a back 3 has helped them solidify it even more. Overall, it’s become even more tougher to get the ball into dangerous areas against us, than it was previously.

Till the 24th minute of the Glorious Night at Wembley, Davinson was deployed in the sweeper role, in the middle of the 3. Thereafter, he was shifted to RCB, with Dier taking his position.

As of now he has the 5th best passing accuracy in the league with a 93% success rate. His main work while in possession has been to pass it short either to his centre back partners, or look for the holding midfielders. Seldom has he been asked to play it long thus far.

His shift to RCB against Palace wasn’t as impressive though, 5 out of the 7 long balls that he tried, were unsuccessful. Though long balls have never been his strength, it’s up to him to adapt to a new role.

One of his strengths that we are still to see at Spurs is his goal scoring, he scored 6 goals for Ajax last season & further created 11 chances. With Toby out & Eriksen kept away from corner duty, he might well have more chances coming his way!

We picked up just 2 wins out of 9, when Toby was injured at almost a similar time, last season. We look in a better position to fill his void this time around, with Poch having complete trust in Sanchez(unlike Wimmer).

Left vs Right

Last season, no one would’ve thought that Davies & Trippier would start against Real Madrid at Wembley & then be favorites to do the same, come the NLD. The back-up full backs from the last season have taken full advantage of their opportunities, this season. Specially, Ben “The Chief Creator” Davies, having missed 3 PL games, he is still the best defender in terms of chance creation, with a league high 16 Key Passes.

With Jan “The Consistent” Vertonghen dropping 8/10 every single game, the left side of our Famous Five has undoubtedly been more industrial both in terms of attack & defense.

Schooling Marcelo & Isco in one go & putting in first time crosses, Tripper has been in a great form off late. Without taking anything away from his performances at Wembley against Madrid & then against Germany, last night, i would like to point out the fact that his 4 PL assists are slightly deceptive.

Apart from the fact that Harry Kane can finish from anywhere, such a significant difference between his actual Assists and Expected Assists clearly tells that he hasn’t been consistent enough in the PL thus far & is only just starting to pick-up form.

I personally feel Aurier shall start in the NLD, but in-form Tripper might be Poch’s first pick as well.

Thanks for reading. Please do share your thoughts in the comments section or on Twitter.

Stats used in the write up have been taken from Who Scored & Stratabet.

This article was written with the aid of StrataData, which is property of Stratagem Technologies. StrataData powers the StrataBet Sports Trading Platform, in addition to StrataBet Premium Recommendations.