Fit-again Lamela could rescue Tottenham’s season
Erik Lamela could be the man to save Tottenham’s dwindling Premier League title campaign.
Spurs have struggled for a different attacking option to change games in their favour recently and Lamela’s return from a 13-month absence will feel like a new signing.
In his 15-minute comeback at Leicester, the Argentine wasted no time showcasing the talent that help thrust Spurs into the top four under Mauricio Pochettino for the first time in 2015-16.
With his second touch, Lamela set up Harry Kane’s to pull a goal back late on and then continued to drag his team forward on the counter-attack with pace, skill and incisive passing.
Pochettino admitted afterwards that they have needed the 25-year-old – and he is right.
Tottenham wanted to sign a new versatile forward in the summer of 2016, despite Lamela having done so well, with Wilfried Zaha the preferred candidate but Moussa Sissoko the eventual signing.
If Lamela had not suffered so badly with injury last season, needing a double hip operation in the end, then Tottenham might have pushed Chelsea even closer.
What Spurs have lacked over the last few seasons is more ball carriers than just Mousa Dembele. They have wanted attacking players who can beat defenders, both on the breakaway and in possession in the final third.
Lamela can do that. And he can pass. And he finish.
And he also works as hard as anyone else in the Tottenham side. When Pochettino arrived at Spurs he had doubts about whether a number of the existing squad had the stomach for the hard work he demands.
Of that group, Lamela and Christian Eriksen stepped up to the mark and both became better players for it.
Eriksen has become the assist king of the Premier League but Lamela also picked up nine assists himself and five Premier League goals in 2015-16. Before he was injured last year, he notched three assists and a goal in just nine starts.
Tottenham have continued to scout potential new attacking players since but, with Pochettino now deploying two number 10s and having Lamela, Eriksen, Dele Alli and Heung-Min Son to choose from, do they need one?
If Lamela continues in the vein he showed at Leicester, then surely not this season at least.
