Newcastle defeat highlights importance of Christian Eriksen to Tottenham Hotspur

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Tottenham Hotspur have not enjoyed the best of starts to the 2019/20 campaign and are already trailing Liverpool and Manchester City in the race for the title.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side came from behind to beat Aston Villa, drew with Manchester City despite being played off the park and were beaten on Sunday to Newcastle.

Joelinton scored the only goal of the game on Sunday and although Tottenham were denied two penalties, it proved a miserable day for the club.

Christian Eriksen was linked with a move away from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium during the summer. The £75,000-a-week (Spotrac) star is out of contract next summer and could walk away on a free.

Given the furore around clubs being interested, Pochettino has opted to use the Dane sparingly so far this season.

The 27-year-old has played just 144 minutes of football this term and there are serious doubts over his future at the football club.

If the Newcastle loss proved anything to Pochettino it’s that the Tottenham team is much better with Eriksen in the side.

Against Manchester City, he played the full 90 minutes and ensured his team looked lively in the final third. Without his injection of creativity against Newcastle, things looked slow and laboured.

With Tottenham already five points off Liverpool they could really do with going on a little run to kick-start their campaign.

Pochettino is clearly doing what he feels is best for the football club but it’s fair to say his team look more likely to score goals when he is in the team pulling the strings.

If a buyer doesn’t come forward Tottenham will be stuck with Eriksen until January at least.

Having him on the books and choosing to be stubborn by leaving him out of the side isn’t in Pochettino’s best interests.

After reaching the Champions League final last season there is real optimism among supporters that the club can challenge for honours on a regular basis now.

The best outcome for everyone is for Pochettino to swallow his pride and start playing Eriksen.