Emerson Royal isn’t a popular figure among Tottenham Hotspur supporters right now.
That’s because the Spurs right-back picked up a silly red card in the North London derby defeat away to Arsenal last week, earning himself a suspension in the process.
Antonio Conte’s side were still in the game at the time of Emerson’s dismissal for a lunge on Gabriel Martinelli, only trailing by a goal.
But Granit Xhaka scored five minutes later to put the result firmly beyond 10-man Tottenham.
The Brazilian might not be Mr Popular among the fanbase, but Conte is seemingly a fan of the former Barcelona right-back.
According to journalist Dean Jones, Emerson regularly goes above and beyond at Hotspur Way to ‘convince’ the Italian manager that he’s the right man for that specific role.
Jones has told Give Me Sport: “From everything I hear, Emerson Royal puts in a lot of extra work behind the scenes to convince Conte that he can be the player he’s looking for in that role.”
Paul Merson was the latest pundit to slam Emerson, claiming on Thursday via Sportskeeda that he simply isn’t good enough for Tottenham.
However, Conte will be the one to decide whether he’s up to scratch or not and, honestly, he had been enjoying a pretty good campaign across all competitions prior to his dismissal at the Emirates.
Even when he’s back from suspension, Spurs supporters can probably expect to see him in the starting lineup for Premier League outings.
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