Mohammed Kudus still hasn't proven he's the starter over Savio
Tottenham Hotspur right winger Mohammed Kudus soaked up Man of the Match honors in Spurs 2-0 win over Crystal Palace to make it three straight victories, and while he did play very well again, most Spurs fans thought that the real Man of the Match contenders were Jan Paul van Hecke, Sandro Tonali, and Mateus Fernandes in bossing the pitch as a whole.
Kudus completed five dribbles and won nearly a handful of fouls, too, againt the Eagles defense, and after a gutsy two way performance in the win over Chelse and an assist the week prior against Coventry, he has been back to his best form from the 2025/26 season.
But he still hasn't scored a goal to definitively tell Roberto De Zerbi that the starting right wing position as the inverted left footed winger is his to own over Savio. Kudus has played together with Savio and Omar Marmoush, but with Mathys Tel securing the left wing spot as the inverted right footer with great performances of his own, including a brilliant goal to seal a win at the Bridge, Savio is likely stuck competing for the right sided job with Kudus when he comes back from this injury.
Savio and Mohammed Kudus are still in competition
Before the injury, while Savio was not scoring goals, he was the best attacking player on Tottenham Hotspur by some distance, and only Lamine Yamal had more combined key passes and dribbles completed per 90 minutes that the new Brazilian international from Manchester City.
Savio's natural ability even exceeds Mohammed Kudus's, and after Kudus flubbed another easy chance after an amazing solo run from Luca Williams-Barnett off the bench against Crystal Palace, the Ghanaian international spurned his very best chance to have the one thing over Savio that would make him De Zerbi's No. 1 choice on the right wing.
Because Tottenham are still desperately searching for goals. They got two against Palace on 34 shots thanks to headed goals from defenders Archie Gray and Jan Paul van Hecke, but Dominic Solanke offered nothing at the 9 and Omar Marmoush was better at creating chances and taking defenders on than scoring himself.
There are secondary scorers in this squad, but there is no primary scorer. And even the secondary scoring options like Marmoush, Kudus, Savio, Mathys Tel, and James Maddison haven't been present enough in front of goal. Kudus had a chance to, including a golden one, to get that goal against Palace and seal a spot over Savio, but he botched it and thus it remains a very open competition between two great creative wingers.
