Alexis Sanchez- If there was ever any doubt over Alexis Sanchez’s commitment to the club and if he deserves the £300,000-a-week wage, it was all vanished after the Middlesbrough result. The Chilean was otherwise wasteful from that left flank in the first-half, with Barragan and Gibson constantly frustrating him rendering his crosses fruitless; but he got one chance right before half-time when Granit Xhaka was brought down outside the box and he took it impeccably.
It is exactly what great players do; they take the slimmest of chances offered to them. The ball was sent curling quite above the wall, whose jump could hardly reach it before it kept the goalie fixated to the spot as Brad Guzan watched it go past him helplessly. Wenger has earlier stated that he was not an advocate of the club breaking their wage structure to retain him as it would disrupt the dressing room ambience. He will surely be having second thoughts now.
Heung Min-Son- The South-Korean international has been a blessing for Tottenham this season and undoubtedly one of the most underrated players in the Premier League. It was him who more or less took the responsibility of keeping Spurs in the title race firing goals both at home and away. His prolific displays haven’t cared Tottenham’s dismal away record or let fans rue their misfortune over Harry Kane’s absence.
Son has been directly involved in 10 goals in the last six fixtures, scoring some significant goals against Burnley, Swansea City, Watford and last week against Bournemouth. The goal against the Cherries was his 12th of the season in the league, taking his goal tally for Spurs to 19 in all competitions. The age-old criticism of Tottenham not having enough depth on the bench has been finally proven wrong by Pochettino.
Marcus Rashford- Old Trafford was roaring from disapproval when they saw Marcus Rashford leading the attack for Manchester United against Chelsea instead of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, only to be pleasantly surprised. The 19-year-old was mesmerising up front as he pressed incessantly before a somewhat lucky ball fell kindly to Herrera, whose defence-ripping pass found Rashford.
The United academy product found himself in a similar position like the one in Stamford Bridge, which he had missed. He didn’t miss it this time as the non-regular Asimov Begovic saw it rolling away from him to the far corner. Although it was only his fifth goal of the season, Rashford looked cool as a cucumber.
