Tottenham Hotspur defender Cristian Romero and Pedro Porro were left seriously impressed with one of their teammates on Sunday.
Ange Postecoglou‘s side were able to take all three points from their game against Nottingham Forest with another solid second half display.
After seeing Aston Villa drop points on Saturday, Tottenham knew that a win would take them up into the top four.
Timo Werner‘s cross was directed into the Forest goal by Murillo, but Chris Wood brought Nuno Espirito Santo’s side level before the break.
But it was second half Tottenham that saved the day once again as the half time changes of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Rodrigo Bentancur transformed the game.
Heung-min Son failed to get on the scoresheet for the second game in a row, but he did see one effort saved onto the post.
After three quickfire games, Spurs don’t play again until the weekend and remain with a game in hand over Villa in their top four battle.
It may have been yet another fairly underwhelming first half display but there was one man who really impressed his teammates at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Romero and Porro both impressed with 22-year-old’s performance
It was once again a fairly average first half showing from Spurs with the Lilywhites being pinned back after taking the lead.
Guglielmo Vicario made a couple of smart saves to deny Nuno’s side taking a lead into the break.
In typical Tottenham fashion, Postecoglou’s men came out of the blocks quickly in the second half and were quickly able to calm the nerves in the stadium.
But it was not the typical goal scorers who got their names on the scoresheet.
Micky van de Ven restored Tottenham’s lead with a sensational strike from the edge of the box and then, shortly after, Pedro Porro‘s half volley doubled the lead.
It was only the Dutchman’s second goal as a Spurs player and his first to come in front of the fans in north London.
Having struggled through injury for periods of the season, Van de Ven has remained one of the standout players in this Tottenham side.
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp even said Van de Ven has the potential to be as good as Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk.
And in the wake of the game, two of his teammates took to his Instagram post to hail his performance against Forest.
Romero said, ‘Golazoooooooo’. Whilst Porro added, ‘What a goal Mickyyyyyyy’ accompanied by the clapping and heart eyes emoji.
Van de Ven’s stats vs Forest
The £50k-per-week defender really is looking like one of the signings of the season for Spurs as he continues to look like a player who has years of experience under his belt already.
Here is a summary of Van de Ven’s display against Nuno’s side.
- 90 minutes played
- 1 goal
- 2 clearances
- 1 interception
- 5 tackles
- 5/5 ground duels won
- 94% pass accuracy
- 85 touches
Statistics via SofaScore.
Van de Ven has proven to be an incredible addition to the side for Spurs, but you can only imagine what Radu Dragusin is thinking after seeing the levels of the two defenders ahead of him…
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