Tottenham Hotspur have their detractors but Sunday afternoon's victory over Aston Villa was a confident assertation of top-four credentials, narrowing the gap to the fourth-placed Villans to just two points – and still with a game in hand.
Ange Postecoglou hailed his side's "outstanding" performance, with the progress made since last season's troubles clear and the excitement building; there is a sense that with the Australian at the helm, there is so much yet to come.
This new, convoluted situation surrounding Champions League qualification could yet see the Premier League's fifth-place offer a route into Europe's elite club competition – via the nation coefficient rankings – but Tottenham will want to eradicate any doubt by leapfrogging Unai Emery's team.
Many facets are shifting the gears at Tottenham, but the brilliant signings have been the cement of the resurgence, with Micky van de Ven and James Maddison the outfield standouts.
The latter was on the scoresheet at Villa Park, and what a signing he has been…
James Maddison's season in numbers
Maddison was somewhat ineffective throughout the first half at Aston Villa but he proved himself (yet again) with an intelligent move into the box to latch onto Pape Matar Sarr's inch-perfect cross after exquisite movement down the right.
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Ange Postecoglou is shaping this rising star into one of the Premier League’s finest talents.
ByAngus Sinclair
Signed from Leicester City for just £40m in July following the Foxes relegation from the Premier League, Maddison got to work straight off the bat and picked up the Premier League's Player of the Month award for August as Spurs roared into life under Postecoglou's leadership.
Chiefly a playmaker, Maddison exhibited his dynamic threat with his box-surging run and is indeed looking to be the real deal, creeping back to his full fluency after spending several months on the sidelines after suffering an ankle injury against Chelsea in November.
As per Sofascore, the England international has now chalked up four goals and seven assists across just 17 top-flight fixtures, completing 87% of his passes, averaging 2.5 key passes, 1.5 tackles, 1.4 dribbles and 5.7 successful duels per game, with such performances leading pundit Jermaine Jenas to remark that he is "on the verge" of being widely considered a world-class midfielder.
Moreover, as per FBref, the £170k-per-week ace ranks among the top 5% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for assists, the top 1% for shot-creating actions, the top 11% for passes attempted, the top 4% for progressive passes and the top 22% for tackles per 90.
Alongside athletic defender Van de Ven, Maddison gets the most effusive chatter around last summer's influential acquisitions at Tottenham, but might it be that the unsung hero, the real star of the show, is that man between the sticks Guglielmo Vicario?
Replacing a legendary goalkeeper like Hugo Lloris was a tall order for Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy but he has replaced the declining veteran with the perfect new option.
Why Spurs signed Guglielmo Vicario
Vicario has been an underrated goalkeeper for a few seasons but Spurs picked up on his ability and completed a swoop from Italian side Empoli to secure his services for an initial £17m fee last June.
Lloris had suffered at the epicentre of Tottenham's struggles last season, with the Lilywhites shipping 63 Premier League goals – a greater number than all but the relegated outfits and Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest.
1.
Emiliano Martinez
Aston Villa
2.
Alisson
Liverpool
3.
Robert Sanchez
Chelsea
4.
Ederson
Manchester City
5.
Bernd Leno
Fulham
Van de Ven, of course, has been immense but the 27-year-old Vicario perhaps doesn't get the praise he deserves, making a move to London that has seen him play a key part in the Postecoglou project.
Guglielmo Vicario's Spurs career so far
Since arriving ahead of pre-season, the 6 foot 4 Italian has played every minute of Tottenham's Premier League campaign and was utterly imperious across the opening months, with The Athletic's Tim Spiers even remarking that he had been "playing like the spirit of Lev Yashin" after one octopus-resemblant display.
Admittedly, he's lost that same sense of infallibleness since Tottenham's bleak period before Christmas, but it was hardly his fault and he performed admirably as his outfield peers malfunctioned.
Moreover, he's indisputably an upgrade on Lloris and the stats illustrate that point, with his performance across almost every single pertinent metric in the Premier League, when comparing the Spurs' shot-stoppers' efforts between this season and last.
25
27
67.5%
71.1%
1.59
1.44
0.20
0.07
77.1%
83%
0.53
0.89
0.37
0.67
1.22
1.52
As the table delineates, Vicario has taken the baton and done so with conviction, offering improvements that have allowed Postecoglou's backline to find its feet after a dreadful previous term, with correspondent Charlie Eccleshare marvelling at some of his “titanic” showings.
Of course, this works both ways and one would think that had Lloris had such tools at his disposal, he might not have produced such bleak performances.
It's been a fruitful endeavour for all parties, with Tottenham securing the bedrock of their squad with an exciting and developing keeper of relative youth, who, in turn, has joined an exciting project with the promise of continental competition down the line.
Oh, and he's seen his wages rise from about £18k-per-week in Italy to £75k-per-week at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, marking a staggering 317% increase.
Postecoglou's squad continues to edge toward success and while there will be further over the coming months and years, Vicario's deployment at the foot should be a constant.