The Tottenham midfield is sparkling right now. The Tottenham midfielders may not be making the headlines as much as their Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal counterparts, but their form so far has been absolutely brilliant.
The 3-0 win over a struggling West Ham United took Tottenham to third place in the Premier League table with nine points from four matches. Arsenal are ahead of Spurs only on goal difference, which means that Thomas Frank has made a great start as Tottenham manager this season.
Tottenham Hotspur Midfield Is Making the Difference
Tottenham, who finished 17th last season but won the Europa League last season, have scored seven goals in four Premier League matches so far. Five of those goals have been scored by midfielders only. Brennan Johnson has scored a couple of goals, too.
In their very impressive 2-0 victory over Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, the Tottenham midfielders bossed their City counterparts. Pape Matar Sarr, Joao Palhinha and Rodrygo Bentancur pressed high when the opportunity came and also did not allow the Manchester City midfielder make regular forward runs.
The most important thing about the midfielders at Tottenham is that almost all of them are capable of defending the ball.
Matar Sarr has played in a double-pivot in the past for Tottenham, Bentancur is a specialist holding midfielder, and Joao Palhinha is proving to be one of the most promising arrivals this season in the Premier League. A young Lucas Bergvall, who is another defensive midfielder, has also started to impress and also scored his first goal of the season against West Ham.
As a result, Spurs almost never have the problem of getting light at the back. It is compounded by the fact that they have one of the best centre-back pairings in Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven. The Spurs have conceded only a solitary goal in Premier League football so far.
If one compares their midfield with that of the Big Three in English football at the moment, only the Arsenal one seems to be doing as fine as them. Martin Zubimendi, Mikel Merino and Declan Rice have given Arsenal much solidity.
Neither midfield from Liverpool nor Manchester City have shone much so far and cannot be put ahead of Tottenham’s in terms of current performance.
Tijjani Reijnders and Phil Foden have found the net for Manchester City, but their midfielders still do not look threatening enough. The Cityzens are repeatedly being bailed out by Erling Haaland.
For Liverpool, neither Alexis Mac Allister, Florian Wirtz, nor Ryan Gravenberch has contributed a goal so far. Wirtz, in fact, has done nothing so far to justify his huge price tag.
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Tottenham Doing Well Despite Missing Two Key Players Through Injury
Both James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski are out of action for the time being. Maddison is one of the best No. 10s in England, and Kulusevski is one of the best right-wingers.
Those two are among the most influential players in the Tottenham squad, and the fact that the club is doing well despite their absence is a testimony to their squad depth. Once Maddison and Kulusevski are back, Frank’s team will be undoubtedly stronger.
Frank has decided to follow a much different path to what Ange Postecoglou did last season. He has reinforced his midfield with the signing of Palhinha and has never thought of going gung-ho with his attacks that might leave their defence exposed.
If he continues this way, Tottenham will not be very far off the title race this season.
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Credit: IMAGO / Every Second Media
Recording Date: 13.09.2025