Tottenham Hotspur face a trip to Villa Park on their return to Premier League action after the winter break, and Jose Mourinho could be boosted by the return of left-back Ben Davies. The Welsh defender has been absent from the first-team since sustaining an ankle injury in the Portuguese manager’s opening match against West Ham.
Since then, Mourinho has experimented with Jan Vertonghen, Ryan Sessegnon and Japhet Tanganga on the left side of the defence, but with Danny Rose making a January exit, Davies is the only true left back remaining in the squad, and it appears Mourinho can’t wait to utilise him.
“If you want to know what I wanted to do, look to my first game against West Ham,” said Mourinho. “That’s the way I thought I was going to develop the team. Defend with a back four, attack with a back three,” the three-time Premier League winner continued to add. But should he be thrust straight back into the starting eleven, Davies will need to improve on his performances at the start of the season, although in his defence, injury has caused the 26-year-old to miss the majority of Spurs’ upturn in form.
Tanganga has impressed since being introduced to Tottenham’s defensive contingent, and no player has averaged more than his 3.7 tackles per match. Meanwhile, Davies has contributed 0.8 tackles per game, along with 0.8 interceptions.
With the 20-year-old Englishman also topping Spurs’ interceptions by averaging two a game, Davies has some work to do to restore Mourinho’s faith after his manager’s kind words. Tanganga has also recorded a phenomenal 6.3 clearances in each of his top-flight appearances, while the Welshman’s average of 1.5 is the lowest of any Tottenham defender.
The caveat to Tanganga’s exceptional performances is that he has made just three Premier League appearances, so the sample size is small. Though there is distinct room for Davies to improve if he is to justify displacing the 20-year-old unless Mourinho moves Tanganga into the centre alongside Toby Alderweireld.
Spurs’ Portuguese boss made it clear before the Englishman’s emergence that Davies was the player he envisioned starting at left-back and should he revert to the same defensive line-up which started against West Ham then Davies’ performances must improve to return Mourinho’s faith.
