Finishing the year on another high

Both Spurs and their ace goal scorer Harry Kane finished the calendar year as they did last season - with two fine wins capped by fine individual hat-tricks. In those 4 games (Leicester and Hull in May, and Burnley and Southampton this month), Harry scored a third of his 39 league goals this year, and almost a quarter of his total goals for the year (56).

We started December in seventh place, and a 1-1 draw at Watford meant we had only managed two points from 4 league games. Worse was to come with a 4-1 defeat away to Manchester City, but the disappointment of that result has to be tempered with the knowledge that Guardiola's City are running away with the Premier League title already, sitting a full 14 points above of their nearest rivals Chelsea, and 22 points above Spurs. Thanks to the re-arrangement of the home match against West Ham, our year was over early, whereas our rivals played one more game over the New Year's weekend.

We have improved our league form and position as we go into 2018 with two wins either side of that Man City defeat, taking us up to sixth place. Arsenal went one point above us with just a draw at West Brom on New Year's Eve, but we should regain that position with wins over Swansea and West Ham next week, although nothing is ever certain in football and Spurs!

We cemented our superb Champions League Group H form with a 3-0 win over APOEL, in which Fernando Llorente scored his first Spurs goal in only his fourth start for the club, and the only game in which he has played 90 minutes since he arrived in August. It was a good finish too, from Aurier's cross. Georges-Kevin Nkoudou scored his first goal too.

Later in the month Serge Aurier also scored a first club goal with an intended cross against Brighton. That was a game in which we saw Erik Lamela make his only start so far since his return late in November, and his first team rehabilitation continues. Erik has been looking in pretty good shape too! Only Toby Alderweireld and Victor Wanyama remain absent, and Wanyama could be available very soon. Perhaps we shall see both Erik and Victor start in our FA Cup game next week against AFC Wimbledon.

We beat Stoke 5-1, with Harry scoring twice. Spurs became the first team in top flight history to beat the same opponent by four or more goals in four consecutive games, after our three previous meetings had ended 4-0. It should also not be forgotten that Son Heung-min has been in great form, scoring in that Stoke game, and hitting five goals in December. In fact with Dele returning to his best form by the end of the month our "front four" is looking lethal again.

We had to manage without Davinson Sanchez for three games, including the Man City match, after he was sent off at Watford. Sanchez and his fellow centre-backs Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld are Harry Kane's closest challengers for our ongoing Player of the Season vote. Vertonghen in particular is worthy of a mention, consistently showing great form, skill and composure throughout the year. In fact, over the course of the calendar year, Jan runs Harry Kane very close for player of the calendar year, and deserves more praise than he receives.

In the previous two seasons we have been title challangers almost to the end of the race. We know that is not going to happen this time around, but hopefully, Spurs will have a tilt at the FA Cup. We know we face Juventus in the Champions League Round of 16 in February and March, and I am hopeful of making progress in that competition. There is no doubt that we are very much in the race for another top four place.

Spurs have finished the year on a relative high after a nasty dip in league form, and there are plenty of grounds for optimism about 2018. Happy New year everyone!

· Review the 2017-18 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 17 years!