6-game starts of note
That well quoted statistic this week-end of "Spurs best 6-game start for 51 years" refers to the 1965-66 season. Norman Giller refers to the season in his weekly blog for Spurs Odyssey, explaining that Spurs'season "went wonky" after Jimmy Greaves suffered a bout of hepatitis.
Spurs' 14 point tally from 6 games that year stemmed from wins over Leicester, Blackpool, Fulham and Leeds. Those wins (3 at home, 1 away) were supplemented by draws at Leicester and at home to Arsenal. Spurs won only two of their last 13 games and had to be satisfied with an 8th place finish after such a fine start when we were 2nd after 6 games, as we are today.
We've managed two 13 point tallies after 6 games in the Premier League era. the first of these was in 2002-03 with Glenn Hoddle at the helm. Glenn had won the August manager of the month award following an opening day draw at Goodison park, and three consecutive wins over Aston Villa, Charlton and his old team Southampton. We lost an away game against Fulham (played at Loftus Road), but beat West Ham 3-2 at home and sat in second place, having topped the Premier League at the end of August.
Things sadly went awry for Hoddle, who would be sacked a year later.
The other time we managed 13 points after 6 games was in 2013-14 with Andre Villas-Boas in charge. We beat Palace (away) and Swansea at home with Soldado's penalty kicks, lost at The Emirates 1-0, but beat both Cardiff (away) and Norwich at home. A draw against Chelsea with a great Sigurdsson goal was enough to secure second place, but we all know what happened to Spurs and to their manager by the time the Christmas decorations were up that year.
Spurs under Mauricio Pochettino have already done better than any of his Premier League predecessors with their title challenge and a third place finish last season. Spurs will face a tough task holding onto their place this week-end when we host Pep Guardiola's 100% winning side Manchester City. It's a game to relish!
Son Heung-min was your man of the match by a massive margin, hitting 8.3 for his two goals and a fine display. Son is our top score, and his 4 goals make him joint second in the early goal-scorers' table, one behind top-placed Aguero, Costa and West Ham's Antonio. West Ham would give a lot for as many points as Antonio's goals!
· See the spursometer in full.
Premier League results 24-26.09.16
Man Utd 4-1 Leicester
B'mouth 1-0 Everton
Liverpool 5-1 Hull
M'brough 1-2 Spurs
Stoke 1-1 West Brom
S'derland 2-3 C. Palace
Swansea 1-3 Man City
Arsenal 3-0 Chelsea
West Ham 0-3 S'hampton
Burnley 2-0 Watford
Premier League Table
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Man City 6 6 0 0 18-5 13 18
2. Spurs 6 4 2 0 10-3 7 14
3. Arsenal 6 4 1 1 15-7 8 13
4. Liverpool 6 4 1 1 16-9 7 13
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5. Everton 6 4 1 1 10-4 6 13
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6. Man Utd 6 4 0 2 12-7 5 12
7. C. Palace 6 3 1 2 10-7 3 10
8. Chelsea 6 3 1 2 10-9 1 10
9. S'hampton 6 2 2 2 7-6 1 8
10. West Brom 6 2 2 2 7-6 1 8
11. Watford 6 2 1 3 10-11 -1 7
12. Leicester 6 2 1 3 8-11 -3 7
13. Burnley 6 2 1 3 5-8 -3 7
14. Hull 6 2 1 3 7-12 -5 7
15. B'mouth 6 2 1 3 4-9 -5 7
16. M'brough 6 1 2 3 6-9 -3 5
17. Swansea 6 1 1 4 5-10 -5 4
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18. West Ham 6 1 0 5 7-16 -9 3
19. Stoke 6 0 2 4 4-15 -11 2
20. S'derland 6 0 1 5 5-12 -7 1
