Premier League 2019/20: Tottenham 2-1 Southampton - 5 Talking Points

#2 Ndombele is beginning to show why Spurs paid big money for him

Tanguy Ndombele scored Tottenham's opener and was outstanding in the first half

Mauricio Pochettino might’ve suggested back in August that Spurs’ record signing Tanguy Ndombele needs more time to acclimatise himself to the Premier League, but after his performance today it appears that the French midfielder is getting up to speed pretty quickly – and that can only be good news for Tottenham.

Not only did Ndombele open the scoring with a left-footed drive from just inside the box – even if the shot took a slight deflection off a Southampton defender to confuse goalkeeper Angus Gunn – but he was also arguably Tottenham’s best player in the game, particularly during the first half.

He showed an excellent range of passing and was highly accurate, with an 82% success rate, and also completed 4 successful tackles for a 100% record in that area as well. Admittedly, his influence faded in the second half – but Tottenham’s midfield were always going to struggle once Serge Aurier was dismissed and Moussa Sissoko was forced to fill in at right-back.

Pochettino bought Ndombele with the belief that he could be the successor for the departed Moussa Dembele, and on this performance he’s definitely capable of doing so. Given a few more games to really embed himself, he could prove to be something special.