Tottenham Hotspur sent out a major warning to Arsenal in the top-four race on Sunday afternoon following the 5-1 demolition of Newcastle United. Heading into the international break in top form after victories over Brighton & Hove Albion and West Ham, Spurs could quite easily have faltered following an unwanted two weeks without a league game.
Instead, they carried on from where they left off against the Hammers last time out and put the Magpies to the sword. Not at their best to begin with as Fabian Schar opened the scoring with a low free-kick, Ben Davies' header before half-time swung the game in Spurs' favour and they scored for fun after the break.
Tottenham's five-goal haul did see them overturn Arsenal's +2 goal difference as they themselves went two goals ahead of their rivals following the impressive win. The Gunners do have two games in hand over Spurs and will move back into fourth providing they avoid defeat against Crystal Palace on Monday evening, but they will no doubt be a little concerned now with Spurs finding their stride at exactly the right time in the season.
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A number of players came out of the game with praise following excellent showings, most notably Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Cristian Romero, as well as Tottenham's wing-backs following their goals. However, Conte was keen to point out one player when speaking in his post-match press conference who has perhaps gone under the radar recently.
The player in question was Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who again looked right at home alongside Rodrigo Bentancur in midfield to see the Lilywhites come out on top. Having praised Kane in the final question of his press conference, Conte ended proceedings by waxing lyrical about his midfield general.
"Also Pierre, no one asked me about him, but I think in every game he is doing a fantastic job, with the ball, without the ball, strong physically," he stated. "Every player is improving their level and for this reason Tottenham is going up and up."
Conte had also namechecked Hojbjerg a few minutes earlier when asked about the players coming into the team and giving him something to think about. He said: "Also Winksy, today he came in and Winksy deserve to play, but you know Bentancur and Pierre Hojbjerg are playing in a massive way."
An ever-present under Jose Mourinho in his first season at Tottenham following his switch from Southampton as he played every single minute in all 38 Premier League games, Hojbjerg's proud record came to an end in December when he was substituted late on in the win over Crystal Palace. Unable to find his best form at the start of 2022 with Tottenham really struggling for consistency in all competitions, he was substituted early against former club Southampton after a poor showing before remaining on the bench for the whole game four days later against Wolves.
Maybe something the player needed at the time to just take a breather and help him rediscover his best form, Hojbjerg has been very impressive since coming back into the side and deserves the praise coming his way from the boss at present. Making his presence felt in midfield by doing the dirty work in the middle to get Tottenham on the ball, the 26-year-old has built up a very good partnership with Bentancur since and both are contributing in a "massive way".
Oliver Skipp's return to training this week comes as a huge boost at such a pivotal time in the season and Conte has some decision on his hands whether to immediately restore the England U21 international to his team or not. Hojbjerg fully deserves his place in the team at present and the fact Conte mentioned him when answering a question about Kane tells you all you need to know about how the head coach really feels about his midfield leader.
