Tottenham were the story of the weekend in the Premier League, blowing out Aston Villa 4-1 on Sunday in a matchup between two sides competing for the same goal, a top-four place in the league.
After missing out on the Conference League and Champions League to Villa in the last two seasons, Spurs’ three-goal margin victory over Unai Emery’s side felt that much sweeter.
Son Heung-min nabbed another assist to his name, James Maddison scored off the bench to quiet a few doubters, and striker Dominic Solanke shined brightly again with a brace.
But there is one underrated player on Tottenham who deserves a little love from the mainstream for his industrious efforts in a vital midfield performance to send Spurs to victory.
Pape Sarr is a crucial player for Tottenham as maybe the only midfielder who can provide high-level defensive work rate and covering, while keeping things ticking as a passer so that the others, like Dejan Kulusevski and Maddison, can be more active in the attack.
The 22-year-old led Tottenham with 64 attempted passes, completing 92.2 percent of them as he dominated a more hyped Aston Villa midfield that includes Amadou Onana and Youri Tielemans.
Sarr showed them levels defensively with two interceptions, a blocked shot, and three clearances. He was assured in reading the game and didn’t even have to make a tackle.
It was a real workhorse performance from the U23 standout, and he looked like a grizzled Premier League veteran. These are the kinds of performances Tottenham need from their midfielders in order to beat other big clubs and make it over the line into the Champions League zone again.
So let’s kindly tip our cap to Sarr, who was arguably the Man of the Match for Tottenham in this massive victory. He was all over the pitch recovering the ball without sacrificing positions out of possession.
