Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou might regret his team selection for a long time, as he started Emerson Royal in the New Year’s Eve match against Bournemouth.
The Cherries come to north London in fantastic form, unbeaten in their last seven Premier League games, and Postecoglou will know he and his players have a tough task ahead of them.
Therefore, the decision to start Emerson could backfire on the Australian, especially with Dominic Solanke in incredible form at the top of Andoni Iraola’s team.
Solanke has scored eight goals in his last seven league games and will be looking to add 12 more in the Premier League this season.
His abilities in the air could be a concern for Tottenham fans inside the ground, especially after Emeron’s performance in the 4-2 defeat at Brighton on Thursday, December 28.
According to Sofascore, the Brazilian international was poor against Brighton, winning zero percent of his duels in the air and being outplayed twice.
It is the aerial duels statistic that is particularly worrying and adds to the surprise that Postecoglou has put the right-sided defender in the middle of the pitch.
Eric Dier is among the reserves, and although he is not the 58-year-old’s favourite player, his involvement could be more useful in eliminating the Solanke threat due to his superior aerial skills compared to his Brazilian counterpart.
Nevertheless, Emerson has proven recently that he can turn up when called upon.
During the 2-1 home win against Everton on Saturday 23 December, the 24-year-old was outstanding.
He won 12 of his 14 duels on the ground, cleared the ball five times, was caught five times and intercepted eight times, and also won 100% of his duels in the air that day.
Spurs fans will therefore hope to see more of this Emerson against Bournemouth and not the one who was so disappointing against Brighton.