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IT’S been quite the start to Premier League action for Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou. Nine games into his Anglo-adventure and the likeable Australian has already secured top-spot in the table as well as smashing a seriously impressive record, courtesy of his haul of 23 points from his first nine games in the competition.

That electric start puts him ahead of Guus Hiddink and his fine start at Chelsea in early 2009 and Mike Walker’s quickfire start to the maiden Premier League season with Norwich in 1992-93.

PL – First 9 Games G W D L Pts
Ange Postecoglou 9 7 2 0 23
Guus Hiddink 9 7 1 1 22
Mike Walker 9 7 1 1 22
Carlo Ancelotti 9 7 0 2 21
John Gregory 9 7 0 2 21
Unai Emery 9 7 0 2 21
Frank Clark 9 6 3 0 21
Maurizio Sarri 9 6 3 0 21
Thomas Tuchel 9 6 3 0 21

 

Ahead of their Friday night metropolitan ding-dong with Crystal Palace, Postecoglou is also looking to equal Arthur Rowe’s record of remaining unbeaten in his first six away league games in charge of Tottenham (first 12 in 1949). The former Celtic man is a genuine record-breaker.

Firing the north Londoners to the Premier League summit this season has been Son Heung-min, who has already netted seven goals in the competition, a haul only Erling Haaland can better so far (9).

Son doesn’t seem to be missing his former partner-in-crime, Bundesliga big shot, Harry Kane, despite the fact they ended their time together with a whopping tally of 47 goal combinations in the Premier League, by far the most of any pair in the history of the competition.

Indeed, Son has already found himself a new cohort in former Leicester City playmaker, James Maddison. So far this season, the Spurs duo have created 11 goal-scoring chances for each other in total, a figure bettered only by Aston Villa’s Moussa Diaby and Ollie Watkins.

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Three of those chances created by Son and Maddison have ended in goals, with only Liverpool’s little and large crew, Mo Salah and Darwin Núñez doing better (4).

PL 23-24 – Player 1 Player 2 Team P1 to P2 Chances P2 to P1 Chances Total
Moussa Diaby Ollie Watkins Aston Villa 10 7 17
Son Heung-Min James Maddison Tottenham Hotspur 5 6 11
Mohamed Salah Darwin Núñez Liverpool 7 4 11
Eberechi Eze Odsonne Édouard Crystal Palace 5 5 10
Erling Haaland Julián Álvarez Manchester City 6 4 10

 

PL 23-24 – Player 1 Player 2 Team P1 to P2 Assists P2 to P1 Assists Total
Mohamed Salah Darwin Núñez Liverpool 1 3 4
Son Heung-Min James Maddison Tottenham Hotspur 1 2 3
Kaoru Mitoma Pervis Estupiñán Brighton and Hove Albion 1 2 3
Hwang Hee-Chan Pedro Neto Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 3 3

 

Both Son and Maddison were on the scoresheet in Tottenham’s 2-0 home win over Fulham on Monday, with Son’s strike his 50th at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on all competitions.

Since the glitzy venue opened its doors in April 2019, only Salah and Kane have netted more at a single ground among Premier League players.

PL Players All Comps Since 3 Apr 2019 Venue   Apps Goals
Mohamed Salah Anfield 102 65
Kane, Harry Tottenham Hotspur Stadium 91 62
Son Heung-Min Tottenham Hotspur Stadium 99 50
Rashford, Marcus Old Trafford 106 48
Haaland, Erling Etihad Stadium 32 40
Mahrez, Riyad Etihad Stadium 92 40

 

Son certainly is shining out of Postecoglou’s tactical posterior this season.

Overall, the former Bayer Leverkusen winger’s Premier League potency now ranks him second in Tottenham’s all-time scorers in the competition, with his 110-goal haul behind only, you guessed it, Harry Kane (213).

While since his debut in the English top-flight on September 13, 2015, the Korean’s haul of 110 goals has been bettered by only three players (you can guess who is top of that pile). Not bad going.

PL Since 13 Sep 2015 Apps Goals
Kane, Harry 268 189
Mohamed Salah 227 144
Vardy, Jamie 269 129
Son Heung-Min 277 110
Agüero, Sergio 150 105
Mané, Sadio 228 101

Tottenham’s early success with Ange-ball (don’t worry, I won’t be using that phrase again) has also shot them to the top of the Premier League table, with their 23-point haul their fourth-best-ever start to a league campaign. Indeed, those other three explosive starts eventually fired the side to glory, most recently in 1960-61, their last top-division title.

Season Division G W D L GF GA GD Pts (3/Win) Final Position
1960-61 1 9 9 0 0 26 9 17 27 1
1919-20 2 9 8 1 0 31 6 25 25 1
1949-50 2 9 8 0 1 21 7 14 24 1
2023-24 1 9 7 2 0 20 8 12 23 ?

 

Tottenham are the 17th side in Premier League history to accrue 23+ points after nine games of a season, with eight of the previous 16 going on to win the title. Newcastle’s sixth-place finish after a lightning start in 1994-95 is the only instance where a team ended up outside the top-three, a pretty good sign for Postecoglou and co.

Premier League Team G W D L GF GA GD Pts Final Position
2005-06 Chelsea 9 9 0 0 23 3 20 27 1
2017-18 Manchester City 9 8 1 0 32 4 28 25 1
2011-12 Manchester City 9 8 1 0 33 7 26 25 1
2004-05 Arsenal 9 8 1 0 29 8 21 25 2
2007-08 Arsenal 9 8 1 0 21 6 15 25 3
2019-20 Liverpool 9 8 1 0 21 7 14 25 1
1995-96 Newcastle United 9 8 0 1 20 6 14 24 2
2022-23 Arsenal 9 8 0 1 23 10 13 24 2
2022-23 Manchester City 9 7 2 0 33 9 24 23 1
2018-19 Manchester City 9 7 2 0 26 3 23 23 1
1994-95 Newcastle United 9 7 2 0 26 9 17 23 6
2002-03 Arsenal 9 7 2 0 24 9 15 23 2
2014-15 Chelsea 9 7 2 0 24 9 15 23 1
2018-19 Liverpool 9 7 2 0 16 3 13 23 2
2023-24 Tottenham Hotspur 9 7 2 0 20 8 12 23 ?
2003-04 Arsenal 9 7 2 0 18 7 11 23 1
2008-09 Liverpool 9 7 2 0 14 6 8 23 2

 

Indeed, as of this Friday evening after their visit to Selhurst Park, Tottenham will have spent 91 of their 8651 days in the Premier League in pole position, just 1% of their total time and way below that of their fellow ‘big six’ sides, not to mention the likes of Norwich and Leeds.

PL All-Time as of Fri Oct 27th Days in League Days on Top % Days on Top
Manchester United 8651 2362 27.3%
Chelsea 8651 1590 18.4%
Arsenal 8651 1236 14.3%
Manchester City 7284 1119 15.4%
Liverpool 8651 834 9.6%
Newcastle United 7831 367 4.7%
Blackburn Rovers 4887 238 4.9%
Leicester City 4770 188 3.9%
Aston Villa 7817 162 2.1%
Leeds United 4084 159 3.9%
Norwich City 2819 129 4.6%
Tottenham Hotspur 8651 91 1.1%
Bolton Wanderers 3538 38 1.1%
Everton 8651 38 0.4%
Sheffield Wednesday 2167 25 1.2%
Charlton Athletic 2169 17 0.8%

 

A win against Palace will also see them extend their early-season reign to 26 days at the top at least, which will beat their previous best table-topping campaign in 2021-22, when they finished seventh after 23 days on top.

Tottenham in Premier League
Season Days on Top Final Position
1999-00 1 10
2002-03 10 10
2005-06 3 5
2009-10 9 4
2014-15 6 5
2020-21 23 7
2021-22 13 4
2022-23 7 8
2023-24 19 ?

 

While Arsenal’s capitulation in the final furlong of the title race last season will no doubt have brought much joy to the Spurs faithful, there is a lesson to be learned – 248 days top of the Premier League, never mind 19, is no guarantee of success.

Premier League Season Final Position Days Top of Table
Arsenal 2022-2023 2 248
Newcastle United 1995-1996 2 212
Arsenal 2002-2003 2 189
Manchester United 1997-1998 2 187
Arsenal 2007-2008 3 156

 

According to the latest Opta Predictor, Tottenham is most likely to finish fourth, with their chances of winning the Premier League currently standing at a measly 1.7%.

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A long and winding road lays in front of Postecoglou, Son, Maddison and co., and there may well be many more downs than ups before next May. However, the new boss has certainly kickstarted the club’s mojo and the fans can, as their motto says, dare to dream. At least for bit.

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