Can Tottenham’s front three match Liverpool icons? Kane-Son-Kulusevski highlight Chelsea’s major problem

Traditionally, English football has been home to deadly front twos.

Think of Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton in Blackburn Rovers’ title-winning side in 1994/95, how Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole inspired Manchester United to their historic triumph in 1998/99, or the waves that caused Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry – the champions and the Apprentice – were started making at Arsenal around the same time.

Then, in the first decade of the 21st century, variants of Barcelona’s 4-3-3 became the dominant creed, be it Pep Guardiola’s Luke Skywalker homage to Johan Cruyff’s Obi-Wan Kenobi or Jose Mourinho’s Death Star version of it all.

However, the old big man/little man combination went out of style. England’s top flight had generally proved resilient to such prevailing winds, but players like Mourinho, Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp flying their flags in the Premier League meant teams, to quote Mike Bassett, were not ‘four- Four-F**” would play. ****-two.”

But there was no reason to lament the demise of legendary duos as three became the magic number in world football. This was the era of MSN at Barcelona and BBC at Real Madrid.

They may have lacked a crisp three-letter abbreviation, but Liverpool’s deadly trio of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino provided the Premier League’s answer – a combination specially tailored to Klopp’s pressing demands, delivering buckets of goals and assists.

Mane has of course left the stage for new pastures at Bayern Munich. Darwin Nunez gives every indication that he is creating other, but no less onerous, problems for the defense of the opposition. But in terms of a front three all-purpose demolition machine, the Premier League has a new number one.

If they beat Chelsea this weekend, Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulesevski will cement their burgeoning reputation as the combination that can take Tottenham to new heights.

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🎙 “All my goals come from this area, from this area or three or four meters behind”

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— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) August 9, 2022

The Salah, Mane, Firmino era in Liverpool

Between 2015 and 2017, Firmino, Mane and Salah joined Liverpool in back-to-back summer transfer windows. Each player is now ranked in the Anfield club’s top 20 goalscorers of all time, with Salah taking the lead with 158, Mane eliminated with 120 and Firmino having two short of his century.

They were at their peak in the 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons when Liverpool first lost by a point to Manchester City in the title race before winning their first league title in 30 years the following season.

There were golden moments before and after. They fired on all cylinders in the run-up to the 2018 Champions League final. Liverpool’s title defense collapsed in 2020/21 amid a defensive injury crisis and while the star trio were essential to salvaging a top-four result, the growing publicity of Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz’s arrival in January meant it was more of a deal a forward collective acted during the 2021/22 quadruple chase.

So, for the peak Salah-Mane-Firmino, let’s examine the period 2018-2020. In the two league seasons, the Reds scored 169 goals, with Opta giving up 123 assists. Salah, Mane and Firmino accounted for 102 of those goals – a staggering 60.35% – and 32% of assists (40), an impressive number but one that also alludes to the importance of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson when it comes about the delivery of the ammunition.

Liverpool 2018/19 and 2019/20	Goals	assists
Salah, Mane, Firmino combined	102	40
Overall team in the Premier League	169	123

Mane proved to be the most disciplined finisher with his 40 goals from tries with an xG value of 24.79 and a shot conversion rate of 24.39%. His 145.95 minutes per goal also surpassed Salah’s 149.76, despite the Egyptian superstar being the top scorer (41) and assist provider (18).

Always the foil for his more prolific team-mates, Firmino contributed 21 goals and 14 assists over the same period, which spanned 76 Premier League games. Salah, Mane and Firmino started 70, 66 and 65 of them respectively.

Are Kane, Son and Kulusevski the best front three in the Premier League?

Aside from Spurs playing different variations on a front three under Mauricio Pochettino, Mourinho and Nuno Espirito Santo, Kane and Son felt like a throwback as they were essentially a two-man band. They made the goals and assists, other people made other things of questionable value.

Kulusevski’s arrival in late January on an initial 18-month loan from Juventus has proved a game changer. It’s an Antonio Conte himself who initially moaned about an unsatisfactory transfer window, while Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur did indeed move Spurs up significantly.

In his first start, Kulusevski scored the first to set in motion a 3-2 rollercoaster win at Manchester City, with Kane scoring the other two after half-time and delivering an all-around masterclass.

Son ended last season sharing the Premier League golden boot with Salah and Kulusevski opened his account in the opening weekend’s 4-1 win over Southampton, where he and Son each provided an assist.

Tottenham since January 31, 2022	Goals	assists
Son, Kane and Kulusevski together	33	21
Overall team in the Premier League	42	35

Since Kulusevski arrived from Turin, Tottenham’s front three have scored a total of 33 goals and provided 21 assists in 19 Premier League games each (Kane and Son started all the games in question, with Kulusevski starting 15 times) .

During that time, Spurs scored 42 goals, with Opta giving up assists on 35 of those goals. That means the top three account for a staggering 78.6% of goals and 60% of assists.

Kane’s tendency to shoot a lot is one of the reasons he has the lowest shot conversion of the three (16.22%). The England skipper’s 12 goals were scored at a rate of one every 142.5 minutes and from attempts with an xG value of 11.38.

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Son has scored 15 goals in his last 19 games, with five assists to Kane’s seven. His xG of 9.48 was blown out of the water as he averaged a goal every 108.07 minutes thanks to a shot conversion rate of 32.6%.

Kulusevski’s six goals make him look like the Firmino of the play, but there seems to be scope for that number to increase. The 22-year-old has surpassed his 3.73 xG and is ticking at a shot conversion rate of 21.43%. Even with his nine assists, he is ahead of his illustrious teammates.

Can Chelsea’s front three match Tottenham’s?

Numbers and other similar questions aside, there’s also an eye test that works in the Spurs trio’s favor. Son, Kane and Kulusevski look devastating and can hurt teams from multiple angles on the forefoot and counterattack.

Liverpool strikers could soon feel just as strong following the integration of Nunez, while Manchester City fans have likely already retweeted this piece with a slew of Erling Haaland gifs. But Guardiola’s attack is another beast, with wingers having duties related to defense and team form high on their requirement list, while Haaland’s association with Kevin De Bruyne in attacking midfield is the most obvious route to goal.

Arsenal are banking on an exciting combination of Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli but it remains to be seen if they can generate the weight of goals in Mikel Arteta’s system to start the conversation. Manchester United featured two midfielders in the Brighton defeat and were then linked with wobbler Marko Arnautovic, 33, to lead the attack. As such, it’s hard to know where to start with this hot mess.

Chelsea aren’t nearly as messed up as United, but if they host Spurs at the weekend, Thomas Tuchel could look with a degree of envy at the clarity Conte has in attack – something that didn’t feel likely when the Blues Tottenham defeated three times in 18 days before landing by Kulusevski.

“It’s cursed, it’s cursed, people tell me it’s cursed,” said Tuchel of Chelsea’s number 9 shirt, which has been uncovered again after Romelu Lukaku hastily pulled back to Inter Milan.

“Players sometimes want to change numbers, but surprisingly no one wants to touch them. Everyone who’s been at the club longer than me tells me, ‘Ah, you know, like he had the nine and he didn’t score and he had the nine and he didn’t score either.’ So now we have a moment where nobody wants to touch the number nine.”

While the specters of Fernando Torres, Alvaro Morata and others loom over this vacant shirt, Timo Werner also returns to what he knew at RB Leipzig. Before and after Tuchel’s arrival, Chelsea’s hit rate in attack was frightening.

Raheem Sterling’s stellar career suggests he’ll be different, but it was odd to see him play through the middle as Kai Havertz was an ineffective presence down the left flank during a reluctant 1-0 win at Everton.

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Sterling rarely played central when City played without a striker last season, while his impressive work through the middle with England saw Kane play out. Havertz was Chelsea’s Champions League final winner as a false nine in 2021 but stuttering attempts to integrate Lukaku last season brought confusion around the role of an obviously gifted attacker.

Mason Mount at least has clarity and will play a key role in whatever Chelsea will achieve in the Tuchel era. Eleven Premier League goals was the England international’s best tally of a career last season. Mount tracking in the right direction is a huge advantage as a goalscorer; the fact that it made him Chelsea’s top scorer, not so much.

Tottenham finishing third in 2022/23 was a popular guess outside of Stamford Bridge. If Sunday’s game also suggests Spurs overtake Chelsea to become London’s leading team, it will likely have a lot to do with a front three that appear to be a step ahead of the competition.