Apps: 21
Goals: 1
Highlight: Scoring the winner against Liverpool.
Lowlight: Subbed at half-time at the Emirates after an anonymous performance.
Average We Are Tottenham Match Rating: 6.05/10

Quite a few Spurs players have taken a while to get into their stride this season and Aaron Lennon has taken longer than most. Up until he got injured against West Ham halfway through last season, he was arguably the best right-sided midfielder in the country, and we’ve seen sporadic flashes of that brilliance away to Stoke and Inter earlier in the season, and a more steady progression back to form in recent matches. We musn’t underestimate the World Cup hangover that still looms over several England players heads like a big black cloud. Lennon – like David James, Glen Johnson, Ashley Cole, Gareth Barry and most notably Wayne Rooney – went into that tournament soon after coming back from serious injury and clearly wasn’t fit. Ashley Cole aside, all of those players have struggled to rediscover their top form since South Africa.

However, ‘Azza’ already has five assists this season despite another injury lay-off and has tormented a few defenders recently, including the Bremen left-back who probably won’t be coming back to London on his holidays anytime soon. Perfect timing from Lennon then, as the return of Jermain Defoe has signalled a return to a 4-4-2 formation with Rafael van der Vaart occasionally being deployed from the right to allow for a second striker. That midfield is going to get pretty crowded if the likes of Bale, Modric, Huddlestone and Jenas are all fit and vying for places, so Lennon will have to maintain his form if he wants a nailed-on place in our starting XI. But overall it would appear that he is taking forward steps with each game and it may not be long before he is producing the kind of wing-wizardry that we were becoming accustomed to prior to his untimely injury sustained nearly a year ago.

Grade: B-

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