Jan Paul van Hecke has no excuse not to be a Rolls Royce for Tottenham vs. Crystal Palace
Tottenham Hotspur have now won two games in a row, taking down Coventry 3-1 and Chelsea 2-0 in back to back Matchdays. And facing 17th placed rivals Crystal Palace this weekend, nothing less than a third straight vicory will be acceptable to Roberto De Zerbi, whose vision of football is starting to come together.
One of the big successes thus far has been the new signing Jan Paul van Hecke. Although Luka Vuskovic, whom Spurs lost to Brighton in order to bring in Van Hecke at De Zerbi's behest, has been rightfully gaining plaudits with a great start to his Premier League career, Van Hecke has been even better when looking at the numbers.
Van Hecke has been one of the best center backs in the Premier League this season, and although both Tottenham and Dutch national team fans have remarked about feeling a bit nervy about his marking and consistency defensively, he was beyond brilliant against the dangerous Chelsea front line. They did not get a sniff against him, and, as ever, his passing helped Tottenham boss the game.
Jan Paul van Hecke is too good for Crystal Palace
Tottenham Hotspur fans are getting closer and closer to usin that "elite" word when it comes to describing Van Hecke these days, and he has a real chance to stake his claim to that name by having a few more big time performances.
Crystal Palace will likely line up with Jorgen Strand Larsen, Daichi Kamada, and Yeremy Pino as their three headed trio, and while that's not as dangerous as Chelsea's front trio, it's still a decent group of players who can hurt you defensively on their days. Kamada has real end product, while Yeremy is an underrated creator and Strand Larsen has a big frame that can be dangerous in the box.
Jan Paul van Hecke should be dominating them, though. This is a game that has Van Hecke written all over it. None of these guys are fast, so Van Hecke should be able to help mark all of them out of the game. And though he is tall, there were questions about his aerial ability, which, so far, Van Hecke has answered in the positive for the Lilywhites. By shutting down Strand Larsen in the air, too, he can pretty definitively answer those questions, too.
On the ball, Van Hecke will be important to helping Tottenham totally control the game and get the better of the battle against Adam Wharton on the other side. In truth, none of the Palace attackers should give him troubles when pressing him on the ball, and this is the kind of game that Van Hecke can dominate offensively and defensively. It's all in his hands.
