A Christmas Rose!

December saw us back to (almost) our very best with 6 games played and five of them won. Man Utd away was our only defeat, and United have been resurgent this month with no defeats (their game at home to Middlesbrough is being played tomorrow) in the league since Mourinho lost 4-0 at his old club Chelsea in October.

Spurs have scored 17 goals in those games with Kane, Eriksen and Alli all scoring four. Mauricio Pochettino has been able to play Lloris, Walker, Vertonghen, Rose, Wanyama, Eriksen, Alli and Kane in all of those games. Mousa Sissoko has finally emerged as a player to admire with only two starts, but three impactive substitute appearances and a man of the match vote in our survey for the 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford. When Sissoko went off at Southampton after 74 minutes, the away fans gave him the "Dembele" song. Such is the victory he has won after one or two very disappointing appearances earlier in the season. Apparently, Sissoko has been having difficult with the intensity of Pochettino's traianing routines, but it looks as if he has settled in now.

Left back Danny Rose, who like his counterpart Kyle Walker is just as much a part of Spurs' attacking strategy as he is crucial to the defence, has had a fine season, and was our player of the month for December. Danny was man of the match in our 2-1 win against Burnley, against whom he scored a cracking goal to cap his typical performance up and down the field. Spurs' "Christmas" Rose has shown consistency all season, and I can tell you he has (very marginally) taken the lead from Toby Alderweireld in the accumulating player of the season vote. To coin a phrase, a Rose is not just for Christmas, but for all the year, and long may that situation remain in the case of our Danny, whose Spurs career started back in July 2007 as a member of the Spurs youth team. For the uninitiated, Danny started his Spurs career as a winger with more than an eye for goal, and of course his first team debut was historically marked with a sensational goal against Arsenal in 2010!

We've had to manage another month without seeing enough of Toby Alderweireld, who missed the trip to Southampton with a virus, but hopefully he will be back on New Year's Day, and more importantly for Chelsea. Erik Lamela has now been absent since October, and when he does return it will be like having a new signing again! Erik will no doubt have to earn his place back, as the squad has shown its ability to win without him this month.

One statistic that might surprise you is that only two players have been involved in our last 13 games. One is Victor Wanyama with 12 starts and a susbtitute appearance in the EFL Cup defeat at Anfield back in October. The other is 20 year old Harry Winks, clearly admired by Mauricio Pochettino. Harry has only made 4 starts in his 13 games, but he offers stability and accurate passing skills in the midfield. Tom Carroll's last Spurs appearance was that EFL Cup game, and we could be saying goodbye to him in January, I suspect.

Most of the Premier League are playing another game this month, before we play on New Year's Day, but we are settled in fifth place in a top six who are all in good form, fighting for Chelsea's place or at least top four. Spurs are well placed with crunch games coming up next month against both Chelsea and Manchester City. Let's hope we are better placed at the end of January!

Happy New Year to all readers!

· Review the 2016-17 Premier League season here

Don't forget to check out the players' current figures re. appearances, cards, goals scored and accumulated ratings to date at the bottom of this page.

...if you want to read reports of the matches played during this season, then links are on the Spurs Odyssey Fixtures/Reports page here. By working your way back through the previous month's figures, you can review the performances over the last 16 years!