Opinion: Player Ratings – Spurs 4-1 Southampton – Impressive Sessegnon

Tottenham Hotspur are off to the perfect start in the Premier League, scoring four goals and earning three points against Southampton on opening day.

Let’s take a look at how the individual players got on:

Hugo Lloris – 7.5 – Hugo didn’t have too many saves to make but he did make one nice stop at 4-1, while his distribution was good. No chance with Ward-Prowse’s opener really.

Emerson Royal – 9 – Emerson has started the new season where he left off last time. I still worry that even at his peak he isn’t an ideal RWB option, but he made two goals today and worked extremely hard. Credit to him.

Cristian Romero – 8.5 – What you see is what you get. Romero was terrifying today for the Saints players with his pressure high up the pitch and aggressive challenges in his own half. When he has his timing down, he is simply unplayable.

Eric Dier – 9 – Not only was he solid at the back but he looked a real leader off the ball today, barking orders and keeping that backline together. He deserved that first goal in three years and it was nice to hear his name being sung.

Ben Davies – 8 – Considering that was his first game back from injury, Davies was reliable as ever. Southampton really struggled to create much down Tottenham’s left. He was also very progressive with his passing in the left channel.

Ryan Sessegnon – 9 – That was almost a perfect wing-back performance from Sess. Crosses into the box, pressing from the front, perfectly timed runs, and a well-taken goal (would have been two if not for the offside flag). Really excited about him this season.

Rodrigo Bentancur – 9 – Contender for man of the match. Everything he does has a clear purpose, to drive Spurs up the pitch and create space for the attackers. He is always moving to make himself available, as well as getting stuck into the challenges.

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg – 8 – A little quiet in the first half and not great in transition but he came to life in the second 45, threading some brilliant balls through to the attackers. Even when he’s struggling on the ball, he always offers so much off it.

Dejan Kulusevski – 9 – Tottenham’s most potent attacker today as the Swede got so much joy coming off the right. Took his goal really well and made numerous chances, including his assist for Sessegnon. Class performance.

Heung-min Son – 7 – On the ball, Sonny was full of running and got into some great areas, but he wasn’t able to shake off that pre-season rust in front of goal as he wasted a few key scoring chances. Worked his socks off though.

Harry Kane – 7.5 – It wasn’t a classic Kane performance with goals and assists galore, but he did a lot of good centre-forward play with his back to goal and brought others into the game when he dropped deep. A good and unselfish performance.

Substitutes:

Ivan Perisic – 7 – Came on to earn his first minutes with 25 to go and looked solid on the left, attacking his defender 1v1 and getting a few crosses in.

Lucas Moura – N/A

Yves Bissouma – N/A

Matt Doherty – N/A

Clement Lenglet – N/A

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