Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen do not compare favourably to their top-six counterparts in one category.
Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen are two of the first names on the Tottenham Hotspur teamsheet.
The Spurs pair have a combined total of 46 goals and 47 assists since the start of the 2016-17 season, which compares favourably with the other best attacking midfield combinations in the Premier League.
During the same period, Manchester City duo Kevin de Bruyne and Leroy Sane have managed 31 goals and 50 assists, while Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho and Sadio Mane boast of 43 goals and 29 assists.
However, where Alli and Eriksen fall well short of their top-six counterparts is in the dribbling ranks. This Twitter graphic shows that they rank lowest out of 34 top-six players when it comes to successful dribbles per 90 minutes.
Although little over one third of his runs come off, Alli at leasts attempts an average of 3.1 dribbles per match, but Eriksen is guilty of not carrying the ball often enough, even though he is successful nearly 70% of the time.
While completed dribbles is nowhere near as meaningful a statistic as goals or assists, it is something that Tottenham should take a closer look at as their attacking play can lack the unpredictability of a great dribbler.
Could Wilfried Zaha of Crystal Palace provide the unpredictability Tottenham’s attack is lacking?
Their recent dip in form, albeit ended emphatically with Saturday’s 5-1 thrashing of Stoke City, and several humdrum league performances at Wembley could have been avoided had Mauricio Pochettino had such an asset.
This is either something that Alli and Eriksen need to add to their game, or something that Spurs need to address in the transfer market so that their attack can carry greater fear and threat in the second half of the season.
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