Tempered optimism

October is over for Spurs, although 14 Premier League teams do have a game on Saturday 31st October. Only if Crystal Palace beat Man Utd on Saturday will we lose sixth place. We play Aston Villa on Monday Night Football, when once again we may face a a side with a new manager. Tim Sherwood was sacked last week, but at the time of writing, the Birmingham club, who sit at the bottom of the table, have yet to appoint a full-time replacement. Maybe by 29th November, when we face Chelsea, there will be another case of "new manager syndrome"!

We played five games in October, and won only one in our last match at Bournemouth when goalkeeper Artur Boruc assisted us in three of our five goals. Any optimism following that result and our continuing sixth place in the Premier League has to be tempered by what is to come next month, when we have three London Derby matches. A win on Monday night is as essential to us, as it would be to ailing Villa.

We drew three games, firstly in Monaco when Erik Lamela's first half goal was cancelled out by an 81st minute equaliser. Then, thanks to two excellent Eriksen free kicks we drew 2-2 at The Liberty Stadium, Swansea. Two weeks later we had to deal with the furore surrounding Liverpool's appointment of Jurgen Klopp. It was Spurs who had the better chances, but the game finished goalless, giving us our fourth Premier League clean sheet of the season.

Defeat in Brussels to Anderlecht has thrown Group J of the Europa League wide open, and victory in the return match is important for Spurs, if we want to progress in that competition.

We've rotated little this month, partly because of ongoing injuries to the likes of Ryan Mason, Nabil Bentaleb and Heung-min Son. Bentaleb hasn't appeared since August, but is approaching fitness, as is Son, who we learnt was apparently watched for a long time by Arsenal scouts. Arsene Wenger was hesitant, and Spurs pounced. Perhaps Son will be impactive in the forthcoming North London Derby match on November 8th against an injury-stricken Arsenal side!

Ryan Mason made a brief appearance at Bournemouth, and will surely be back in the swing next month. We have been very reliant on the ever present (in October) Alderweireld and Vertonghen, who certainly are a very solid centre-back pairing. Kieran Trippier was exposed against substitute Acheampong against Anderlecht, and we've seen nothing at all this month of Kevin Wimmer. Christian Eriksen's return to form has been most welcome, as was Harry Kane's hat-trick at Bournemouth.

Hugo Lloris was voted your player of the month, for the third of only three months so far this season. Christian Eriksen was considered our best outfield player this month, but Eric Dier is currently the best of the outfield bunch so far this season, with Dele Alli, and Toby Alderweireld close behind. The dream goes on for 19 year old Dele Alli, who made his full England debut this month. The return of Ryan Mason may see Alli released for more creative duties next month.

The only table that really matters is the one at the end of the season, but at this stage we are three points and two places better off than we were after 10 games last year. The Spurs Odyssey like for like table confirms that status, comparing our results against the same teams last season.

· Review the 2015-16 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 15 years!