Tottenham registered a statement win in midweek when they beat Manchester City in the League Cup for a place in the quarter-finals.
Pressure has been placed on Ange Postecoglou to finally deliver that long-awaited trophy to Spurs, with the domestic competitions offering perhaps the best chance of doing that.
Drawing Man City made that challenge even tougher though, with Pep Guardiola going undefeated at the start of the campaign.
As is the way with Tottenham though, they managed to pull something out of the bag against the champions, winning 2-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in front of an excited crowd.
Timo Werner and Pape Matar Sarr both grabbed goals, but it was the involvement of Dejan Kulusevski that caught the eye.
It led to some comparisons with Kevin de Bruyne – who was out for City through injury – which was put to the manager.
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Pep Guardiola reacts to Dejan Kulusevski performance
Speaking after the match, Guardiola was asked about the performance of Kulusevski, who had clearly impressed.
“Really good, he’s a really, really good player,” the Man City boss told the press. When asked what he liked about him, he added: “Everything.”
Guardiola wasn’t too keen to divulge more until it was put to him that there may be a comparison with his own star in De Bruyne.
The Spanish coach was slightly more defensive, not slamming Kulusevski, but rather talking up the ability of his own Belgian maestro.
He added: “No [Kulusevski doesn’t remind him of De Bruyne]. No one is like Kevin, in his prime, the amount of things that Kevin produces in a game nobody can do it.”
While it’s fair to say that De Bruyne has been at the very top and won almost everything possible, there’s no limiting where Kulusevski might reach.
At just 24 years old and growing accustomed to the switch into midfield, there is a case to be made that the Sweden international could reach those heights.
How does Dejan Kulusevski compare to Kevin de Bruyne?
De Bruyne has been at the very top and brought out spontaneous moments that very few could even dream of.
His work rate matches that too, picking up plenty of the ball across the middle third as well as the flanks to help create openings, which can be seen in his heatmap.
Kulusevski, in comparison, is slightly more weighted to the right flank as he offers the chance to take players on the inside with his left or outside with his right.
Now De Bruyne made the switch to Man City at the age Kulusevski currently is, so in terms of tracking their progress, the output may be a good bar to follow.
In the 2015/16 season, the Belgian scored seven goals and assisted nine in 27 matches, progressing well on his way to being a top player.
Kulusevski has two goals and one assist in nine games, which is a fair bit fewer at this stage, though the position is slightly new.
It suggests there may be shades of De Bruyne in some of how he plays, but there’s a long way to reach the level that he has hit.
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