Tottenham Hotspur will not only reclaim their spot at the top of the Premier League table with victory over Fulham this evening, but establish a two-point lead following Arsenal's draw against Chelsea on Saturday.
Since Ange Postecoglou's appointment in the summer, Tottenham have been reborn as a thriving outfit, with sights set on a return to the Champions League after finishing in the top four across just one of the past four seasons.
And with six victories from eight matches, Spurs are currently enjoying their best start to the league season since 1960/61, when Bill Nicholson's side clinched the club's second top-flight title.
What's the latest Tottenham team news?
Against Fulham, Tottenham will certainly need to have their wits about them but will be fuelled by both Heung-min Son and Cristian Romero's returns from minor injuries sustained on international duty.
Midfield engine Yves Bissouma, however, will sit this one out due to suspension, having picked up two yellow cards in the win over Luton Town two weeks ago.
Brennan Johnson, who signed from Nottingham Forest for £47.5m in the summer, could be involved after missing the past two games with a hamstring injury, but Rodrigo Bentancur, Manor Solomon, Ivan Perisic and Ryan Sessegnon are all still sidelined.
Postecoglou claimed this week that while Bissouma's absence will be a blow, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is a "ready-made replacement", with the Dane now slated to make his first start of the season.
Will Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg start vs Fulham?
Hojbjerg has been something of a stalwart for Spurs since signing from Southampton for just £15m in 2020, but has fallen by the wayside under Postecoglou's stewardship.
Indeed, the 69-cap international has completed 153 appearances for Tottenham, scoring ten goals and supplying 16 assists, since his move from the south coast three years ago.
The 28-year-old battler has also attracted the attention of European giants such as Atletico Madrid and Juventus of late, who are both interested in his services though will have to meet Tottenham's €30m (£26m) ballpark valuation.
It, therefore, remains to be seen whether or not he will still be at the club by the end of the January transfer window if that interest materialises into something serious.
Player
No. of Passes
Lewis Dunk
3,208
Rodri
2,977
Virgil van Dijk
2,581
Gabriel Magalhaes
2,396
Trent Alexander-Arnold
2,309
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg
2,256
While Bissouma, who has been described as a "monster" by journalist Aaron Stokes, is one of the foremost midfielders in the Premier League at present, Hojbjerg very much holds the qualities to serve as that 'ready-made replacement'.
A superlative distributor of the ball, the £100k-per-week ace concluded the 2022/23 league term with the most completed passes of any Tottenham player and the sixth-highest in the entire division, as shown by the table above.
Fulham are not clicking in front of goal at present and Hojbjerg's inclusion will suffocate and frustrate, preventing build-up play while, in tandem, picking out intelligent passes to push the frontline into danger areas.
As per FBref, he ranks among the top 15% of midfielders across Europe's top five leagues and European competitions over the past year for passes attempted, and the top 18% for pass completion and progressive passes per 90, earning praise for his "phenomenal" attributes by figures such as former boss Jose Mourinho.
Fulham's struggles in front of goal this season have been evident, with just eight strikes scored from as many matches – only the bottom three and Crystal Palace have scored fewer.
And with a metronomic presence in the centre such as Hojbjerg, Marco Silva's team's fluidity will be effectively stifled and allow the forward-thinking peers, such as the prodigious Alejo Veliz, to make their mark.
Should Alejo Veliz play vs Fulham?
Tottenham signed Veliz from Argentinian side Rosario Central for around £13m in August, with the club-record transfer of Harry Kane to Bayern Munich forthcoming.
Veliz, aged 20, posted 11 goals from 23 matches in the Liga Profesional last year, leading talent scout Jacek Kulig to remark at his "complete" skill set.
This season, the "fearsome" centre-forward, as he has been dubbed by former coach Adrian Dezotti, has only made two senior appearances for Spurs, though he is growing into his skin with each passing week.
Dezotti has also pronounced the talented striker to be a "strategist", and his intelligence and ingenuity could pay dividends against Fulham's defensive block.
As per FBref, the Argentinian prospect ranks among the top 14% of positional peers over the past year for goals scored, the top 1% for clearances, and the top 13% for aerial wins per 90.
An arresting blend of qualities, highlighting his robustness and tenacity, but the latter, his aerial metric, distinguishes the 6 foot 1 phenom as a talent with the making of a truly formidable forward, one who boasts the innate striking ability to marry with a 'complete' game that his capped by his heading skill.
Winning 4.95 per 90, Veliz offers a very different threat to his captain, Son, who wins just 0.18 per game. Of course, the South Korean star's talents lie elsewhere, but deploying him on the left and allowing Veliz to strut his stuff in the centre could be worthwhile against a resolute Fulham backline.
With Veliz having featured across both of Tottenham's past two Premier League matches – albeit briefly – the signs are there that Postecoglou is beginning to anticipate a more prominent role for his South American sensation.
Although, there is no rush to make him a pivotal member of the squad if he is not able to hit the ground running, due to his age and inexperience at this level.
Fulham rank 12th in the division for headed clearances this term with 73 – one behind the Lilywhites' 74, in fact – and while they are no pushovers aerially, Veliz can inflict damage as the focal frontman.
Fulham are a team reliant on their aggression in closing down opposition and cohesion as a collective unit, and the implementation of this game plan under Silva's leadership has paid off spectacularly over the past few campaigns.
But Postecoglou's squad holds enough firepower in the magazine to blow the Cottagers away tonight, and with Hojbjerg's composure in the middle and Veliz's dominance in the skies, Spurs will maintain their unlikely – yet very much intact – early title charge.
