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Tottenham Hotspur and Leeds United face each other on Sunday in the Premier League. Both teams will feel themselves to be far away from the position they should be in the table. Naturally they will want to set it right starting with this game.
Languishing at 9th in the table, Tottenham have won only two of their last five games. But under new manager Antonio Conte, they looked solid in the last game against Everton when they were held to a goalless draw.
Leeds United, on the other hand, held Leicester City to a 1-1 draw, making it three matches in a row without a loss to their name. Despite that, they still look far from the side that made heads turn with their exciting style of play last season.
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With that said, here are four important matchups that will determine the result:
#1 Son Heung-Min (Tottenham) vs Liam Cooper (Leeds United)
With Harry Kane yet to come a cropper this season, it is Son Heung-Min who has carried the Tottenham attack in every match. With four goals in the league so far, he is their top-scorer and their biggest attacking threat.
With 2.4 shots and 1.8 key passes per game, he is the attacker most involved both in scoring and making of the goals. If Harry Kane can get his national side's form into the Premier League, his delivery could lead to the dividends they deserve.
But in Liam Cooper he will have to deal with a player who has not missed even a minute in the league. With 2.3 tackles and 1.9 interceptions per game to his name, he has been Leeds United's best defender this season.
Moreover, he has been dribbled past only 0.5 times per game in the league so far, which is Son's biggest strength. If Cooper can keep Son quiet on the flank, it will be vital in keeping Tottenham as a whole quiet on the night.
#2 Raphinha (Leeds United) vs Sergio Reguilon (Tottenham)
One of the first things Antonio Conte did on his arrival at Tottenham was go back to his preferred three at the back of defense. He started playing with two wing backs, prompting Reguilon to play a different role in the team.
That is all for the better, because the Spaniard leads the team in interceptions (2 per game) and puts in 1.7 tackles per game. He will need all of that when he takes on Raphinha, because the Leeds man is in red hot form.
Raphinha is the team's leading goal scorer with five goals to his name, and takes 3.4 shots every game. Moreover, his 2.2 key passes and 2.8 dribbles per game is the team's highest. In short, Raphinha has been a nightmare to play against as a defender.
But with Conte's system, the Spurs defenders will be in much better shape to deal with him in the wings. This is due to an overload of the centre-backs to prevent him from cutting in. Even then, it will be a tough match for Reguilon and the whole of the Spurs defense really.
#3 Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (Tottenham) vs Kalvin Phillips (Leeds United)
The midfield is vital to Leeds United's playstyle as well as to Tottenham's and that makes this battle all the more important to the teams.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has played every minute of every game for Tottenham this season and is a vital cog in their machine. With three tackles and 1.4 interceptions per game, he is in charge of stealing the ball in the middle and letting Tottenham switch to attack.
Kalvin Phillips is not far behind, with 2.4 tackles and one interception in every game in the Leeds midfield. He also has a very physical style of play, as evident from his 2.5 fouls committed in every game.
If Tottenham are to control the game, this is one where they want Hojbjerg to shine, which he usually does. But how he will size up against someone who is an enforcer like Phillips remains to be seen.
#4 Marcelo Bielsa (Leeds United) vs Antonio Conte (Tottenham)
In many ways, the fight between Leeds United and Tottenham is a fight between the two managers. Both of them could not hold more opposing philosophies of football if they tried.
On the one hand, there is Antonio Conte who could be the poster child of pragmatic football. He doesn't play defensive football but is practical. He believed in drilled hunkering down on players and then attacking when the time comes.
Meanwhile, there is Bielsa and his stubborn endorsement of the beautiful way of playing football, ever fluid and ever attacking. A football that prioritizes the entertainment it offers the fans who have given away their hand earned money and deserve to watch something worth it.
But at the core of it, they are the same - managers who expect the players who play for them to give it everything they have. No separation of labor. Everyone does everything in their socialist utopia of football.
And when they face each other for the first time ever on Sunday, it is a clash of two views of football. They are structurally different but have the same - entertaining, enterprising and efficient football.
