Tottenham Hotspur play-maker Christian Eriksen is now showing what he is capable of, and he looks like getting better and better.
When Tottenham Hotspur signed Christian Eriksen from Ajax last summer, many in football believed Andre Villas-Boas had bagged a bargain.
The young Danish international had been generating considerable buzz for some time, with a number of clubs both in England and elsewhere tipped to make their move. But in the end, it was Spurs who spent a reported £11million on the player.
And while the Portuguese manager is now long gone, his replacement Tim Sherwood is benefiting from the 22-year-old having found his feet at White Hart Lane.
Eriksen’s performance in Spurs’ 3-1 win over Fulham on Saturday continued his fine form and suggested his new fans have not seen anything yet.
The goals may have come from Paulinho, Harry Kane and Younes Kaboul, but it was Eriksen who pulled the strings, setting up two goals to take his assist-tally to 12 for the campaign.
It is clear Eriksen is now playing at another level, but a look at the Opta stats shows just how far he has come in recent weeks.
The Dane has scored four goals and set up five in his last five league matches; with only the 4-0 defeat to Liverpool seeing him fail to score or create in the last 450 minutes of top-flight football.
That is impressive in anyone’s book. But you can also see that Eriksen is beginning to play key passes far more regularly, with 22 played in those four games.
| Match | Matchday | Goals | Goal Assist | Key Pass | Touches | Accurate Pass | Mins | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Eriksen | Spurs vs Southampton | 31 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 82 | 36 | 90 |
| Christian Eriksen | Spurs vs Crystal Palace | 21 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 62 | 36 | 76 |
| Christian Eriksen | Spurs vs Sunderland | 33 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 94 | 55 | 90 |
| Christian Eriksen | West Brom vs Spurs | 34 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 70 | 43 | 90 |
| Christian Eriksen | Spurs vs Fulham | 35 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 75 | 47 | 85 |
He is also beginning to dominate the play by collecting the ball more regularly, with only four matches prior to the four in question seeing him touch the ball more.
His accurate passes are also increasing, with only the games against Stoke City (58) and West Bromwich Albion (50) seeing more than his recent games against Fulham, Sunderland and the reverse-fixture against the Baggies.
In short, Eriksen is excelling in a Spurs shirt, and showing just what their fans can expect to see on a regular basis next season.
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