Tottenham Hotspur returned to winning ways in the Premier League on New Year’s Eve, beating Bournemouth 3-1 at home.
Spurs came into the game after the bitter disappointment of their last defeat, 4-2 to Brighton & Hove Albion, and needed an immediate response.
Ange Postecoglou did just that as Pape Matar Sarr, Heung-min Son and Richarlison scored to secure all three points on Sunday.
While Son was excellent on the left wing, the real hero of the afternoon for Tottenham was central midfielder Giovani Lo Celso as he drew attention to himself with an outstanding performance.
Heung-Min Son’s numerical performance against Bournemouth:
He is the 12th Premier League goalscorer this season.
His stand-out moment came in the 71st minute when the South Korean international ran down the left side of the pitch and found the back of the net with a remarkable finish.
He also created one “big chance” and made two key passes, but was not rewarded for his creative efforts with an assist.
However, the experienced forward did not put in a perfect performance as the 31-year-old sensation failed in all three of his dribbling attempts and lost six of his eight duels.
Lo Celso’s performance against Bournemouth in numbers:
Lo Celso was the driving force in the middle of the park, excelling both on and off the ball.
The Argentine played a key role in both of the hosts’ first goals, first passing to Sarr who scored a great opening goal.
He assisted the second goal with an outrageous scramble behind the Cherries’ defence, sending Son down the left channel and allowing the South Korean ace to fire the ball over.
Lo Celso completed 92% (34/37) of his pass attempts and 100% (3/3) of his dribbles and made two key passes – both of which were rewarded with an assist. This shows that he was creative and forward without being wasteful with the ball.
The 27-year-old midfielder was also almost perfect in defence, where he showed a fighting performance. He won 10 out of 13 duels on the floor, making three defensive saves, one stoppage and one clearance, while no opposing player dribbled past him.
These statistics show that Lo Celso was effective in all his actions throughout the match, in and out of possession, and was therefore superior to Son, whose wasteful dribbling and the ease with which Bournemouth beat him in duels left something to be desired.
This allowed him to make an impact at both ends of the pitch, as he was able to break up the opposition’s attacks, while also playing an important role for Spurs on the ball.
The impressive custodian, who was given an 8/10 match rating by Alasdair Gold of football.london – he mentioned his two assists – was the real hero of Postecoglou as he contributed eloquently in attack and remained strong in defence.