Tottenham Hotspur returned to winning ways on Tuesday night when they secured an impressive 4-0 win over Copenhagen in the Champions League, after their defeat to Chelsea at the weekend.
Thomas Frank’s side put in, arguably, their best performance of the 2025/26 campaign as they created a whopping eight ‘big chances’ to find the back of the net.
That is the most ‘big chances’ the Lilywhites have created in a single game under the former Brentford head coach, per Sofascore, and they did so despite going down to ten men when Brennan Johnson was sent off.
Spurs are yet to find consistency in their creative play in the Premier League, though, as they rank 12th for ‘big chances’ created (17) and 15th for xG (10.1), per Sofascore and FBref.
Frank needs to find a way for his team to create chances in the way that they did against Copenhagen on a regular basis in the Premier League to improve those rankings.
The North London outfit rarely used to have a problem with creating chances when they had Danish playmaker Christian Eriksen in their side.
Why Spurs need their next Christian Eriksen
The Lilywhites need their next version of the Denmark international, who is currently at Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, because he provided a consistent creative presence in the middle of the park.
Signed from Ajax in 2013, Eriksen hit double figures for assists in four of his seven Premier League campaigns with Spurs, per Transfermarkt, which speaks to his consistency in the final third.
The right-footed playmaker produced 69 goals and 88 assists in 305 matches for the club in total before his departure in the summer of 2020. He offered a goalscoring threat to go along with his impressive creativity.
The former Manchester United central midfielder is, undoubtedly, one of the most creative players to have worn a Spurs shirt in the Premier League era.
Only Heung-min Son (71) has assisted more Premier League goals for Tottenham than Eriksen (63), but he played 107 more matches to assist eight more goals, per Transfermarkt.
Heung-min Son
71
Christian Eriksen
63
Aaron Lennon
49
Harry Kane
46
Dele Alli
34
Robbie Keane
31
Gareth Bale
27
Erik Lamela
23
Dimitar Berbatov
22
Jermaine Defoe
22
Eriksen’s eye for a pass and ability to execute all kinds of passes made him a constant threat with the ball at his feet and a joy to play with for any forward with intelligent movement, because they knew that he would be able to find them.
The Danish maestro had the quality to create high-quality chances on a regular basis, as evidenced by his impressive assist haul for the club, and that is what Spurs need in the Premier League in the present day.
Frank, though, does have a player within his Tottenham squad who has the potential to be Eriksen 2.0 for the Lilywhites this season, and beyond.
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Dutch attacking midfielder Xavi Simons put in an impressive performance against Copenhagen in the Champions League on Tuesday night, and showed that he does have the quality to be the club’s next Eriksen if he can add consistency to his performances.
Why Xavi Simons can be Tottenham's new Christian Eriksen
The Netherlands international created three ‘big chances’ in the first half of the 4-0 win, the most by any Spurs player in a Champions League match for the best part of a decade.
Per Sofascore, the former RB Leipzig star ended the night with four key passes, three ‘big chances’ created, and one assist in 61 minutes of action, before he was withdrawn after Brennan Johnson’s red card.
The Dutchman registered his assist by playing a brilliant through ball for Johnson to race onto and slot into an empty net after dribbling past the goalkeeper.
After the win over Copenhagen, Spurs writer and content creator Mitch Fretton claimed that Xavi is “going to be an elite player for Tottenham”, and it is hard to disagree with that assessment, despite his rocky start in the Premier League.
The £52m signing from RB Leipzig has yet to set the world alight since his move from Germany, as he has produced no goals and one assist in the top-flight so far.
xG
0.28
Bottom 20%
Goals
0.00
Bottom 3%
Shots on target
1
Bottom 13%
xA
0.60
Top 46%
Assists
1
Top 46%
Chances created
6
Top 49%
As you can see in the table above, Xavi has yet to provide consistent quality in the final third in the Premier League, but his performance against Copenhagen was a glimpse at what he can produce at his best.
The 22-year-old star assisted 11 goals in 48 matches for PSV and racked up 24 assists in 78 appearances for RB Leipzig, per Transfermarkt, which shows that he has provided consistent quality as a creator for his previous clubs.
Xavi also scored 22 goals each for PSV and RB Leipzig in that time, before his move to Spurs, and can offer a threat as a scorer as well as being a creator when he is on form.
Frank will now be hoping that his brilliant creative display against Copenhagen will allow him to kick on and make an impact in the final third on a consistent basis.
As good as Simons: 8/10 star had his "best performance in a Spurs shirt"
Spurs put in their best display under Thomas Frank yet against Copenhagen in the Champions League.
ByDan Emery
If the Dutch playmaker can replicate the level of consistency he showed at PSV and Leipzig, Spurs could unlock their next version of Eriksen in the middle of the park.