Son Heung-min to miss out, four Spurs stars in – Tottenham v Manchester City Combined XI
Tottenham travel to Manchester City on Sunday afternoon and will be looking to avoid a fourth-straight defeat in the Premier League.
After a fantastic start to the season, injuries have really taken their toll on the squad and that has seen Spurs slip down the table. But that doesn’t mean the squad can’t compete with the best when everyone is fully fit.
We did a comparison using the stats tools on WhoScored and FBRef to come up with the best statistical combined XI between the two sides, and there were some surprising results.
In goal Guglielmo Vicario has had a fantastic debut season in the Premier League so far, but statistically his numbers aren’t quite as good as Ederson’s. The Brazilian has more clean sheets in fewer games, and on top of that has gotten some really impressive passing numbers that make him the number one choice.
Interestingly though the defence statistically sees the north London club dominate. Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie outshine Kyle Walker and Josko Gvardiol at full-back, with more assists, goals, better passing stats and more of an offensive stat sheet.
In central defence it’s a mixture though, with Cristian Romero the stand out defender. He outshines Ruben Dias in every single defensive stat including tackles per game, interceptions per game, clearances, blocks and being dribbled past less and is the clear choice of the two.
Alongside him is Manuel Akanji however, who dominates statistically over Micky Van de Ven. Obviously City’s passing stats stand out over all the Spurs players such is their style of play, but Akanji has flown under the radar.
The Swiss defender averages more blocks, tackles and interceptions per game this season while also breaking the lines more with his passing, so he is in.
In midfield it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Rodri gets the nod over Yves Bissouma as the best holding midfielder in the world, and alongside him the Portuguese magician that is Bernardo Silva slots in.
Pape Sarr performs well defensively alongside Silva, with more interceptions, clearances and blocks per game, but offensively Silva outperforms him in every factor and that gets him the nod.
On the wings, it’s no surprise that Spurs are outperformed.
Dejan Kulusevski has half the goal contributions of Phil Foden (3-6) but does manage more key passes per game (2.1-1.8) and is a slightly better dribbler (1.8-1.7 completed per game). But Foden takes more shots per game (2.2-1.9) and also completes more passes per game successfully (86.4%-80.6%) which earns him the narrow nod.
On the left, it’s far more lopsided as Jeremy Doku dominates Richarlison in every attacking facet and leaves no room even for a debate.
The number ten position is a far closer battle though between James Maddison and Julian Alvarez.
The Argentine forward has more goals this season (4-3) but less assists (4-5) and manages more shots per game (2.8-2.5). But from there it’s Madders who takes over and gets another Tottenham name in the team.
Maddison has more key passes per game (2.8-2.3), is a better dribbler (1.5-0.7), is fouled far more often. He also averages more key passes per game (2.8-2.5), twice as many through balls (0.4-0.2) and all in less minutes.
Up front Son Heung-min made it very competitive. The Korean is in the 94th percentile for non-penalty goals this season with eight, but against Erling Haaland he was always fighting an uphill battle and the Norwegian takes the number nine spot.
In other Tottenham news, lightning should strike twice as they have upper-hand in transfer chase for midfield gem.