Archie Gray’s first start for Tottenham proved to be an enthralling Carabao Cup clash that saw Spurs manage to overcome Coventry City in the end, but he showed he’s still Leeds after the match.
The 18-year-old swapped Leeds for Tottenham at the start of July, costing Spurs a whopping £40m. But a quarter of that fee was immediately returned to Spurs, for the permanent purchase of player Joe Rodon.
But Gray has been made to wait for minutes at Tottenham. He came on in Spurs’ opening two Premier League fixtures against Leicester and Everton, but was unused against Newcastle United and Arsenal.
On Wednesday night though, Ange Postecoglou handed Gray the chance to start and he played the 90 minutes as Spurs came from behind to beat Championship side and FA Cup semi-finalists Coventry.
Gray describes as Elland Road as “our ground” in interview
A brilliant goal from Djed Spence and then an injury-time winner from Brennan Johnson cancelled out Brandon Thomas-Asante’s opener just after the hour mark. Spence’s equaliser came in the 88th minute.
Speaking after the match, Gray explained how he knew facing Coventry would be a tough clash having played against Mark Robins’ side for Leeds. Inadvertently, he described Elland Road as “our ground”.
“Difficult place to come here. Played here last year, even at our ground last year, they always bring a tough game and lots of transitions. They did well and the fans got behind them,” Gray told Sky Sports.
Gray solid but he was outshone by Spence in first Spurs start
Two tackles, passing accuracy above 90% and an interception according to WhoScored is proof that Gray has a solid, steady first start for Spurs in what was a banana skin for Ange Postecoglou’s side last night.
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But Gray was outshone by Spence. The Leeds flop, who is back at Spurs after a loan spell at Genoa, came on at half-time on the other side of Tottenham’s defence and was the architect of his side’s late equaliser.
Not only that, but he had a better passing accuracy than Gray, as many tackles and as many clearances in the 45 minutes he played. It might be back to the bench on the weekend when Spurs take on Brentford.