Moussa Sissoko is showing Tottenham his real quality now, says Ben Davies

Powerhouse | Sissoko improving game by game at Spurs
AP Photo/Frank Augstein
Dan Kilpatrick @Dan_KP26 November 2018

Moussa Sissoko was unfairly made a scapegoat at Tottenham, according to team-mate Ben Davies, who says the France midfielder showed what he can really do in Saturday’s 3-1 thrashing of Chelsea.

Sissoko has largely been a fringe player since joining Spurs from Newcastle for a then club record £30million and he has often been the subject of exasperation in two-and-a-half years in London.

But he has finally found his feet in Tottenham’s last five Premier League games and he was magnificent in the victory over Chelsea , helping the hosts dominate the Blues at Wembley and end Maurizio Sarri’s unbeaten start in English football.

Davies says the Spurs squad never doubted Sissoko’s quality but admits the criticism had an effect on the 29-year-old.

“I thought he was excellent against Chelsea,” said the left-back. “He’s really showing the quality he’s got, but we never had any doubts about what he can bring to this team.

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“He got a bit of flak, sometimes unfairly, and he became a scapegoat when we didn’t perform at our best. But I thought on Saturday, and during this entire season, he’s been excellent, so we’re delighted for him. If you can come back from that, you can do anything.”

Key to Tottenham’s dominance was their suffocation of Chelsea’s midfield of N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic and Jorginho. Dele Alli, who opened the scoring with a fine glancing header to make it six goals in as many appearance against Chelsea, was particularly effective at stifling Jorginho, who was easily beaten for Spurs’s second and third goals from Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son, respectively.

Davies added: “[Jorginho]’s really made Chelsea tick this year, but when you’re against someone like Dele, who is always hounding you, you can see the space it created for Sonny and Harry as soon as we won it back.

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“The manager set the team out on Friday and told us how he wanted us to play. A lot of credit has to go to him for the way he set us up — it really nullified their threat. We had a game plan and it worked perfectly. The boys up top could have scored five or six and on another day the chances we had could easily have gone in.

“It gives you a lot of confidence beating a good side like Chelsea — and especially as that was their first defeat this year.”

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