Japhet Tanganga has been named Tottenham’s Player of the Month for August by fans in football.london’s latest survey.
Spurs enjoyed a fantastic start to the new Premier League season as they headed into August’s international break as the only team with a 100% record intact following three consecutive 1-0 wins over Manchester City, Wolves and Watford respectively.
Tanganga - who was the best player on the pitch in Spurs’ season opening win over current champions City – played at right-back for those three games and helped Spurs to keep clean sheets in each.
Although he is traditionally a centre-back, his performances in the wider position earned him high praise from Spurs fans.
30% of voters in the survey think that he was Tottenham’s stand-out player for the month, narrowly edging Son Heung-min (28.3%) after his goals against City and Watford.
Their next best challenger was Davinson Sanchez who held 13.9% of the vote. The Colombian has subsequently missed the start of September as he was forced to quarantine in Croatia upon returning to the UK because he played in a red-list country - fellow South Americans Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso had to do the same.
But with Tanganga having such great luck in the right-back position, some fans will be hoping that he continues to play there in the future, perhaps ahead of new £26million signing, Emerson Royal.
The ex-Barcelona defender had a nightmare start to his Spurs career as Tottenham lost 3-0 at Selhurst Park last weekend, and with a fully fit squad, he may find it difficult to keep his place in the starting line-up in front of Tanganga.
However, as good as the Englishman’s August was, Tanganga also hasn’t started September brightly.
Starting in his more natural centre-back position against the Eagles, he was sent-off for a second bookable offence, and consequently he will miss Sunday afternoon’s important London derby with Chelsea.
Still, he deserves credit for his work in August, and Spurs will benefit from his return.
