Premier League 2019-20: Tottenham Hotspur's ideal forward line for the upcoming campaign
After a successful 2018-19 season, Mauricio Pochettino will want to ensure that his squad is up and running before Tottenham's Premier League journey starts on August 10 against newly-promoted Aston Villa.
The English duo of Harry Kane and Dele Alli will look forward to featuring consistently for the Lilywhites after an injury-plagued outing last season. Son Heung-Min flourished in Kane's absence, and his excellent performance in the Champions League against Manchester City over two legs enhanced his status as one of Europe's top forwards.
Lucas Moura joined the party later on and his heroic second-half hat trick against Ajax ensured Tottenham's maiden appearance in the UCL final.
While there were quite a few individual flashes of brilliance last season, Pochettino will hope for a collective effort from his forwards in the upcoming campaign. The Argentine is set to use a tried and tested 4-2-3-1 formation.
On that note, let's look at the ideal forward line Pochettino could deploy next season for Tottenham Hotspur.
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RM: Son Heung-min
The South Korean hotshot enhanced his reputation as one of the best forwards in Europe after a prolific 2018-19 outing for Tottenham, where he scored 20 goals and assisted a further 10. This is not the first time that Son has managed high attacking returns, but the magnitude of his performances against the top sides set last season's achievements apart.
Son's best game for Tottenham came against Manchester City, where his relentless pressing and direct running at the defence wreaked havoc in Sky Blue's back-four. Over the two legs against Pep Guardiola's XI, the 27-year-old had three goals to show for his industrious outing.
Despite Son favouring the left flank, he is equally comfortable on the right. Also, the Korean's propensity of making darting runs behind the defence will ensure that he is not found hugging the touchline for too long.
LM: Dele Alli
Dele Alli has been a vital cog in Pochettino's Tottenham wheel since his arrival from MK Dons. The lanky midfielder made an instant impact at Spurs with his intelligent movement off the ball and ability to use the ball possession judiciously.
The youngster is not an orthodox attacking midfielder who picks out defence-splitting passes. Instead, he likes to operate as a centre-forward, supporting the main striker without compromising on his defensive duties.
Alli, with his marauding runs into the opposition box, invariably creates scoring opportunities for himself or Harry Kane. During Alli's absence due to injury, Tottenham struggled to break down teams defending in a low block.
In order to maximize the defensive output of his attacking midfielders, Pochettino has often used players like Alli and Christian Eriksen as wide players. This also allows them to release pacy players on the counter with their vision.
The signs so far suggest that the Argentine is eager to continue with his philosophy.
ST: Harry Kane
Harry Kane featured in the second half of Tottenham's friendly against Juventus on Sunday. The English superstar looked at his sharpest as he scored an outrageous goal from the half-way mark.
It looks like the number nine has finally got rid of his ankle problems which kept him out of action for two months last season.
Kane managed just 24 goals last season compared to his 41 in the 2017-18 campaign. There were multiple issues which contributed to the England skipper's decreased output, persistent injuries being the biggest of those.
In order to compensate for the lack of vision in midfield, Kane played deeper than his fancied poacher's role, and used his vision and range to spray diagonal balls in the wide areas. Pochettino has addressed this issue with the recruitment of Tanguy Ndombele, which will ensure that Kane occupies the position from where he can hurt the opposition the most.