Chris Sutton suggests Tottenham have two players who are more important than Heung-min Son now

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Chris Sutton has suggested that Tottenham Hotspur have two players who are even more important than Heung-min Son right now.

Spurs have received plenty of plaudits for their attacking display at Villa Park on Sunday.

Ange Postecoglou’s thrashed their top-four rivals 4-0, with Heung-min Son picking up the Man of the Match award after bagging one goal and providing two assists. 

Tottenham blew Aston Villa away in the second period, with goals from James Maddison, Brennan Johnson, Son and Timo Werner all coming after the break. 

But Postecoglou set his team up to play bravely at Villa Park and from minute one, they pressed Villa high up the pitch. 

This led to both Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero being left in a 2v2 situation against Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey.

The duo dealt with Villa’s attacking players exceptionally well, as did Radu Dragusin after replacing the injured Van de Ven in the 49th minute. 

And it’s for this reason that Chris Sutton believes Romero and Van de Ven are Tottenham’s most important players right now. 

Romero and Van de Ven are Tottenham’s most important players 

Speaking on The Monday Night Club, Sutton explained why he believes Tottenham’s centre-backs are more crucial to Postecoglou’s system than the likes of Son and Maddison.

“The way Postecoglou has always set his teams up, his most important players are the centre-halves and with Van de Ven and Romero it’s so reliant on them because they have to deal with every eventuality,” he said.

“I’m a huge fan of Romero, he can be rash at times. But Van de Ven, actually, he’s been one of the signings of the season. Great pace, he can handle the ball, the timing of his tackles are normally pretty on point and he’s a really good all-rounder, decent in the air.

“He’s going to be a massive loss. He has missed a fair few games and Tottenham have been able to cope ok but of course, they’ve had a lot of injuries to deal with.”

Sutton added: “When people talk about Postecoglou teams, everybody talks about it’s high-risk, high line and that’s why the most important players in his team, and everybody will talk about Son and Maddison, has to be the centre-halves!”

While Son and Maddison are undoubtedly Tottenham’s most important players up the other end of the pitch, you can see where Sutton is coming from here.

Spurs struggled without the duo back in November and early December and were unable to build from the back effectively.

Both Van de Ven and Romero excel while playing out from the back and defend the channels exceptionally well in the process.

This is vital to the way Postecoglou sets his sides up as his centre-backs are often left to deal with attacking players in 1v1 situations.