Brennan Johnson has one player he can exploit on Nottingham Forest return with Tottenham after 100% Newcastle United showing
Brennan Johnson will have a great opportunity to show Nottingham Forest what they are missing when Tottenham visit the City Ground on Friday 15 December.
Ange Postecoglou’s side ended a miserable run of five games without a win in emphatic style on Sunday 10 December as they beat Newcastle United 4-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
There were plenty of brilliant performances on display from the Spurs players with Johnson having arguably his best game in a Tottenham shirt to date.
As per Sofascore, the winger completed 100 per cent of the dribbles he attempted while also registering three key passes. In addition, he created one big chance, provided one accurate cross into the box and was desperately unlucky not to grab a goal for himself, hitting the woodwork on two occasions.
He worked hard defensively, winning five of his nine ground duels and his one aerial duel, and he will be keen to build on this bright display in his next game.
It just so happens that the next game comes against his boyhood club, Nottingham Forest. Johnson sealed a £47.5million switch from the Reds to Tottenham on transfer deadline day this past summer (Sky Sports News, 2 September) having come through Forest’s academy and breaking into the first-team setup.
This will be his first return to the club since he left, and he will certainly be keen to put in a good performance in front of his former fans, which will give him a sense of extra motivation. Another thing which should also offer him some extra motivation is the defensive shortcomings of Forest left-back Harry Toffolo.
While Toffolo did score in his previous outing, a 1-1 draw away at Wolves on Saturday 9 December, he was shaky, to say the least defensively.
The 28-year-old did not win a single one of his four ground duels and gave possession away 15 times, while not making any tackles, interceptions or blocks.
As per fbref, the Englishman ranks in the bottom seven per cent of his positional peers in the Premier League this season for the number of tackles he has won (0.60 per 90) and struggles in one-on-one situations, ranking in just the 46th percentile for the number of dribblers he has tackled (1.09 per 90).
With Johnson playing on the right, he will likely come up against Toffolo should the full-back start the match, and the Wales international will be able to use his pace and ability on the ball to cause his former teammate some real problems and help his side make it two wins out of two on his former home ground.
In other Tottenham news, Postecoglou got everything right during the club’s 4-1 win against Newcastle United.