On Sunday, December 3, Ben Davies proved himself as Micky van de Ven’s backup during Tottenham’s 3–3 draw with Manchester City.
Few anticipated that Ange Postecoglou’s team would gain any insight from their recent trip up north to take on Manchester City, the defending Premier League champions.
Postecoglou will be hoping his team can have a less stressful evening against London rivals West Ham on Thursday, December 7. Despite the fact that this was a favourable outcome for the north London team, Dejan Kulusevski’s last-minute equaliser ensured the points were shared and rounded off an intense six-goal thriller.
After a disappointing 1-1 home draw with Crystal Palace, David Moyes’ team is coming in, and Spurs fans will be quietly optimistic that they can use this game as an opportunity to get back to winning ways.
Following his three-match suspension for receiving a red card against Chelsea last month, Cristian Romero will be available for selection once more. As a result, the center-back combination of Davies and Emerson Royal, who started at the Etihad Stadium and against Aston Villa earlier in the season, is probably going to break up.
But since van de Ven is still sidelined due to injury, one of Emerson or Davies will continue to start alongside Romero. Postecoglou appears to be planning to give the Welshman that responsibility, according to the Evening Standard (December 7).
Although Davies isn’t always a fan favourite at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, it makes sense for him to fill in on the left side of a back two as the only other left-footed defender in the squad. Furthermore, he proved against City that he deserves more chances to play for the team with an assured performance.
In contrast to Emerson’s 92% completion percentage against the champions, the 30-year-old completed an amazing 96% of his passes, according to Sofascore. The Brazilian did make one mistake, though, which resulted in a shot.
Postecoglou needs defenders who can receive the ball under pressure and are at ease with it; in the match against Pep Guardiola’s team, Davies demonstrated that he is far more qualified to perform these tasks than Emerson.
Not only was his skill with the ball better that afternoon, but so was his defence. Davies was not dribbled past once, while Emerson was dribbled past three times. The former Swansea player also won all 100 of his aerial and ground duels.
On Sunday, November 26, in the 2-1 loss to Aston Villa, Davies was largely reliable once more, completing 94% of his passes and accumulating three tackles, three clearances, and two interceptions.
Romero will play again on Thursday night against West Ham, and Postecoglou may find the Argentine’s skill and Davies’ calmness to be a good back-court combination.
In other Tottenham news, the club’s Under-18 team won the FA Youth Cup, demonstrating that they have learned from past mistakes.
