Alan Duffy | Opta | Spurs’ Dream Topping

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.

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.

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).

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

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.

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.

Tottenham are the 17^th 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.

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.

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.

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.

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%.

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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