Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Everton
Fulham
Leeds United
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
News
Cristian Stellini heaps praise on Tottenham full-back Ben Davies
Cristian Stellini has heaped praise on Ben Davies, suggesting that the Tottenham Hotspur star has everything they want from the defender – in comments reported by .
Davies has been deployed in a different role in the last couple of games. For much of Antonio Conte’s tenure, he has been used as the left-sided centre-back in the back three.
However, he has been pushed out to the left wing-back role for the clashes with West Ham and Chelsea. The Welshman is not known for posing the same attacking threat as Ivan Perisic or Ryan Sessegnon. And it seemed that centre-back suited the 29-year-old.
Stellini praises Ben Davies
But Davies has been superb in the two 2-0 wins. He set up the opening goal against West Ham, latching onto a brilliant ball from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg before finding Emerson Royal.
There is now a debate to be had regarding who will be first-choice in that particular role for the time-being. Stellini initially praised both Davies and Perisic. But when asked about the former, the assistant boss was full of plaudits.
“He brings energy, he brings positivity,” he said, as reported by . “He brings everything important to play the type of match we played against Chelsea and West Ham. So positivity, energy and attacking space. All we need. If you ask Ben something, Ben is very focused on what we ask of him.”
Spurs defender’s challenge is to maintain this form
Tottenham do have a decent squad. They sit four points clear of Newcastle and may arguably be on pole position to finish in the top-four, particularly if the Magpies are deflated by their Carabao Cup final defeat.
The problem can be however, that Spurs have been so loyal to some of the same star names. The likes of Hugo Lloris, Eric Dier and Ben Davies were all stalwarts under Mauricio Pochettino.
That does not mean that Tottenham need to immediately move them on. However, they do need to have a plan in place, whether that be successors or other options within the ranks.
In Davies’ case, they have Clement Lenglet at centre-back for the time-being. And there is also Perisic and Sessegnon at wing-back.
So Tottenham can enjoy Davies’ form while the is playing well. But it is also important that their other options are ready to go if he goes off the boil.