Tottenham: Ben Davies stars with 100% display v Newcastle United, Sky Sports pundit gushes over ‘magnificent’ moment
Ben Davies produced his best defensive display of the season to help Tottenham to a 4-1 win over Newcastle United on Sunday (10 December).
While attacking pair Son Heung-min and Richarlison received all the plaudits at full-time, Davies was also deserving of huge praise.
The Wales international won 100 per cent of his four aerials duels [Sofascore], with that a personal joint-high for the campaign.
Davies also registered one tackle, one interception and four clearances [WhoScored], making it statistically his strongest display in that regard.
That interception was one of the best you will see anywhere in the Premier League this season, too, as he denied Alexander Isaak a simple tap-in at 0-0.
Anthony Gordon charged down the left and played the ball across goal, but Davies somehow got a small touch to it before Isak could pounce.
As pundit Michael Dawson said on Sky Sports’ live coverage of the game [10 December, 17:34], it was an intervention that deserved huge praise.
“Watching it live, I was wondering how [Isaak’s] missed,” Dawson said. “But seeing the replay, it’s absolutely magnificent defending from Davies.
“Some defenders would have let Isaak put the ball in the back of the net, some would have scored an own goal.
“But that slight touch takes it away from Isaak. No wonder he fist bumps because that’s like scoring a goal.”
A further noticeable aspect of Davies’ game against Newcastle was how often he looked to get the ball up the pitch.
As per WhoScored, he recorded six accurate long balls – his highest tally this term, and six more than he registered against West Ham last week.
It may well be that Ange Postecoglou had a word with Davies to try to bypass Newcastle’s press as the Australian got his approach spot on.
Further highlighting Davies’ impressive showing, his 57 accurate passes were bettered only by Yves Bissouma (64) among both sets of players.
With Cristian Romero his erratic best alongside him, Davies showed that he remains a key man for Spurs with Micky van de Ven injured.
The 30-year-old has had to remain patient this season, but he is now very much one of Postecoglou’s go-to men in the heart of defence.
In other Tottenham news, Spurs’ 42-touch ace showed against Newcastle where Postecoglou had gone wrong in recent weeks.