Harry Kane hit the headlines at the weekend, the Tottenham Hotspur striker scoring his 100th and 101st goals for the club in a comfortable 3-0 victory over Everton. Spurs’ success at Goodison Park also featured an excellent debut performance from new centre-back Davinson Sanchez and a surprisingly effective showing from Moussa Sissoko in a midfield role, but it was – not for the first time – Christian Eriksen who caught the eye most for Mauricio Pochettino’s men.
The Denmark international was at his string-pulling best on Saturday afternoon, knitting the play together and linking midfield and attack with typical poise and grace. Some of Eriksen's touches were breathtakingly good and he also managed to get his name on the scoresheet for the first time this season, firing a loose ball home on the rebound after Jordan Pickford had denied Ben Davies.
Tottenham have scored seven goals so far this season; the 24-year-old, with a strike and two assists to his name, has been directly involved in almost half of them. It is merely a continuation of his productivity in the final third in recent campaigns: Eriksen netted eight times and provided 15 assists in the top flight last term, as well as scoring six goals and setting up 13 more in 2015/16.
Given his consistently excellent figures, it is puzzling that Eriksen still does not seem to receive the credit he deserves. As well as being a supremely gifted creator who is capable of fashioning all sorts of opportunities for his team-mates, the former Ajax man is a key contributor without the ball. Pochettino's high-tempo style of play requires hard running and heavy pressing in advanced areas, duties that other playmakers - think Mesut Ozil - are often criticised for failing to carry out. In many ways, Eriksen has the ability of a luxury player without being a luxury.
Tottenham's improvement in the last few years has, above all else, been a collective effort; moreover, if you were going to pick out the individual most responsible for their recent rise, it would be difficult to look past Pochettino.
Having said that, there is certainly an argument to be had that Eriksen is Spurs' most important player. When Tottenham are struggling to break teams down, it is often he who prises open the opposition defence with a well-timed pass or a pinpoint delivery from out wide. Whether the north Londoners would have enough invention in the side without him is doubtful, which is precisely why Eriksen will be such an integral part of Tottenham's title tilt this term.
