Christian Eriksen has been one of the main sources of creativity in the Tottenham team since his arrival in 2013. Many doubt that if the fragile playmaker would be able to survive in a physical league as the English Premier League, but the craft and the guile of the 24-year-old has helped Tottenham make incredible progress in the last three years so much so that they are now playing in the Champions League. Eriksen, though, has had a muted start to the campaign after failing to contribute much to the club’s offensive play in the opening three games.
Good players do not stay out of form for the long and Eriksen came back with a bang by having two assists in the 4-0 win over Stoke City last weekend. The game could not have been a more welcome relief to Mauricio Pochettino after having seen his team struggle to score goals at the start of the campaign.
His presence will be extremely important against Sunderland during the weekend. Sunderland will be the visitors to White Hart Lane and they are almost certain to have the sole idea of returning with a point at the very least. The club are just one place above the bottom of the table and without a victory under the regime of the former Everton and Manchester United boss David Moyes. They lost 3-0 against his old club Everton only a few days ago. As a club desperate to get something in terms of points, they are likely to go all-out defence on Sunday.
Spurs are likely to face a sea of red and white shirts preventing them from advancing forward. These kind of games are always tough and irrespective of the opposition’s weaknesses. Since the defenders are likely to sit back very deep, it will make Spurs’ life miserable at times and that will also frustrate the players at some extent. The onus is very much on the playmaker and Spurs can only hope for a victory if the likes of Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen can accurately find the targets with their passes.
It is safe to say that Eriksen, last campaign, was the most creative player in the side and this is what he will have to pursue against the defensive Sunderland side. Eriksen was making 2.9 shots and 3.3 key passes per game last season, but this figure has dropped down to 2.5 shots and 2.5 key passes per game. At this rate, he may struggle to match his achievements of 13 assists and six goals from last campaign.
Still, Eriksen is a major hope for Spurs to get past Sunderland on Sunday.
