Midfielder has made a big impact at Tottenham but knows upsetting Arsenal is vital to ignite team’s stop-start season
T
he Premier League’s ball-recovery king wants to zoom out a little, even if the theme does not deviate too far from his stock in trade. This is the thing with João Palhinha, whether in matches or in life. The Tottenham midfielder fights back.
The statistics from his time at Fulham between 2022 and 2024 are telling. The 30-year-old made the most tackles in the league in each season, winning more than anyone else in the first and coming second on the list in season two – one behind Sheffield United’s Vinícius Souza.
It was a big part of the reason why Bayern Munich signed Palhinha for £42.3m in July 2024, having narrowly failed in a deadline-day move for him 12 months previously. If things did not work out at Bayern last season, an injury in November ruling him out for two and a half months, he has picked up where he left off on loan at Spurs. Before the weekend’s games, Palhinha was again the No 1 ranked player for tackles made and won.
