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Dominic Solanke showing positive signs for Tottenham, Youri Tielemans filling Aston Villa's Douglas Luiz void -The Radar

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Welcome to The Radar, a Sky Sports column in which Nick Wright uses a blend of data and opinion to shed light on need-to-know stories from up and down the Premier League. This week:

⚪ Solanke enhancing Spurs' pressing

💪 Tielemans taking responsibility for Villa

🚜 Hutchinson's work-rate key for Ipswich

Solanke showing signs of what he can bring

Dominic Solanke's Tottenham career has lift-off after he scored for a second consecutive game in their Europa League win over Qarabag on Thursday. But it was his assist for their opening goal that best typified the ways in which he can excel for Ange Postecoglou's side.

His pass to tee up Brennan Johnson came after he had pounced on a loose touch from a Qarabag player to steal possession in the final third. It is worth noting Solanke's goal against Brentford came in similar style, albeit with James Maddison winning the ball.

Solanke's threat in those moments of opposition instability was evident last season at Bournemouth. His total of 55 shots in transition was the highest in the Premier League. Forty per cent of his 15 open-play goals occurred within a few seconds of turnovers.

One example came in a famous 3-0 win at Old Trafford, the ground he returns to with Tottenham on Super Sunday, when he flicked home a low cross by Lewis Cook after the midfielder had intercepted a Bruno Fernandes pass near Manchester United's box.

Spurs, the Premier League's most aggressive high-pressing side under Postecoglou, will look to Solanke to help force similar errors, as he has done in his early appearances. Second Spectrum data shows he ranks third among Premier League for final-third pressures creating turnovers this season.

Those numbers help show why Postecoglou was so eager to take him to Spurs and his presence among the top five is some going given he missed two of their games with an ankle injury.

On top of dealing with that interruption, Solanke is having to adapt to a different set of circumstances tactically.

The speed and intelligence of his movement is another of his biggest strengths. Inevitably, though, there are fewer opportunities to run in behind opposition defences when playing for a side averaging 64 per cent possession, against opponents sitting deep, compared to Bournemouth's 44 per cent last term.

As such, it is not surprising that his percentage of off-the-ball runs defined as "challenging the opposition's backline" has dropped, from 37 per cent last year at Bournemouth to 24 per cent at Spurs. He has so far only had four games to get to grips with this change.

As he is finding out, though, a £65m fee brings high expectations, even more so given the scoring feats of the player he is succeeding in Harry Kane. Solanke will be judged on goals, ultimately. But even at this early stage, he is showing he brings other valuable qualities too.

Tielemans stepping up for Aston Villa

Aston Villa invested heavily in their midfield following Douglas Luiz's departure to Juventus in the summer, bringing in Amadou Onana, Samuel Iling-Junior, Enzo Barrenechea and Ross Barkley. But the void is being filled by a player who was already there.

Youri Tielemans has been outstanding in the left-sided No 8 role vacated by Luiz. Having started only 15 of Villa's Premier League games last season, and in various positions, he is now one of only two players, along with Morgan Rogers, to have played every minute.

He has been key to Villa's excellent start and his heightened influence is evident in the statistics. Tielemans is averaging roughly 30 per cent more touches of the ball than he was last season. What matters most, though, is just how effectively he is using it.

Tielemans has become the orchestrator of Villa's attacks; the player they lean on to unpick their opponents. He is creating more than twice as many chances as last season. Even his passing accuracy rate has increased, from 86 per cent to 89 per cent.

That last statistic is particularly impressive given how often he has opposition players breathing down his neck. According to Second Spectrum, his total of 205 pressured passes is second only to Manchester City's Manuel Akanji in the Premier League.

His ability in tight spaces is invaluable against pressing opponents, and, happily for Villa without Luiz, his delivery, both from set-pieces and open play, is another strength, as shown most recently with the teasing cross for Ezri Konsa's goal in the win over Wolves.

That assist was his second of the season in the Premier League and followed a goal and assist in Villa's Champions League win over Young Boys. But a deeper look at the numbers is required in order to reveal the full extent of his attacking influence on the side.

According to Opta, Tielemans has been involved in five open-play passing sequences leading to goals this season, the joint-most in the Premier League along with Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister, and a figure which represents half of his side's overall total.

It helps that he is demonstrating an appetite for the defensive side of things too. From the press box at Villa Park during their defeat to Arsenal, it was striking to see him celebrate a tackle in the second half with the same gusto you might normally see for a goal.

As you would expect under the famously meticulous Unai Emery, none of this has happened by chance. "When we signed him last year, we were doing a plan with him," he said. But even the Villa boss could not have envisaged such a smooth changing of the guard.

Hutchinson's work-rate helping Ipswich

Newly-promoted Ipswich welcome Aston Villa to Portman Road on Super Sunday as the Premier League's bottom-ranked side for shots, shots on target and expected goals.

The circumstances have not been ideal for their attacking players, especially given they have averaged only 38 per cent possession this season, down from 53 per cent in the Championship last term. But one of them, in Omari Hutchinson, is making an invaluable contribution in other ways.

Kieran McKenna has asked his side for greater intensity out of possession and the 20-year-old, a £20m signing from Chelsea following an excellent loan spell last year, is leading the way. According to Second Spectrum, he has registered the most pressures in the Premier League.

His off-the-ball work-rate ensures that, even when he is not sparkling in an offensive sense, he remains key to McKenna, so much so that he has played 444 minutes of a possible 450 so far.

The next step for Ipswich is to demonstrate greater attacking threat to match their defensive efforts. The talented Hutchinson has a big role to play there having contributed 10 goals and five assists in their promotion-winning campaign. But he is already doing his bit.

Player Radar: Who else to keep an eye on

It was interesting to hear Luis Diaz detail the ways in which Arne Slot has unlocked his scoring potential at Liverpool's training ground this week. Expect the Colombian to feature prominently against Wolves on Saturday as he aims to add to his tally of five goals in five games.

Luis Diaz: We want to win it all under 'spectacular' Arne Slot

Live Radar: What's on Sky this weekend?

Liverpool will hope to continue their strong start to the campaign when they travel to Wolves live on live on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event on Saturday, kicking off at 5.30pm.

Super Sunday kicks off with Ipswich's home clash against Unai Emery's Aston Villa live on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event from 1pm ahead of the 2pm kick-off. Then it's onto Manchester United against Tottenham, kicking off at 4.30pm.

Don't miss Monday Night Football, with Jamie Carragher and David Jones live on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event from 6.30pm ahead of Bournemouth against Southampton at 8pm.

Read last week's Radar

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Man Utd vs Tottenham LIVE! Premier League match updates, score, stream and highlights

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Paul Merson says: Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou not under pressure but Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag is

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Paul Merson is back to preview the Super Sunday clash between Manchester United and Tottenham, live on Sky Sports, and the Magic Man thinks defeat for United would crank the pressure up on boss Erik ten Hag again...

'Huge game in top-four mini league'

Manchester United vs Tottenham is a huge game.

You've got your little leagues within the Premier League. One league is Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool. Basically, who's going to finish top of Premier League from those three sides.

Then you go into the next league and for me, you're looking at Tottenham, Manchester United, Chelsea, Newcastle and Aston Villa. You are looking at those five teams and thinking who is going to get fourth place and qualify for the Champions League.

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After that, you look at the bottom and there's about five teams at the bottom who are in trouble, and that's another league.

United against Spurs is a top-of-the-table clash in the league to reach the Champions League.

Neither side is winning the league, in my opinion. But the goal is to qualify for the Champions League, and with that in mind this is a really important football match.

'Both sides will want points on the board fast'

It is a huge game. There will be people that say there's 30-odd games left but I don't agree. You need points now.

In basketball, why do they play the first three quarters? Because you've got to get the points to go to the fourth quarter and have a chance of winning the game.

In the past in England, look back at Jose Mourinho's Chelsea team. Every time he won the league at Chelsea, he got off to a flyer. He just blows everybody away early doors and then that's it, there's no chance for any other side to recover.

They never came from behind to win their last 10 games of the season. They just went bang, crash and blew everyone away.

This is where I think some people miss a trick. Look back at Sunday and Manchester City vs Arsenal. That was another big game. if Arsenal had lost the game they would have been five points behind Manchester City. That is a huge gap, especially to City, at any stage of the season.

However, there would have been people flagging the amount of games left but to me it doesn't matter. You get the points when you can whatever time in the season. You need the points. The margins are so fine up and down the league.

These are massive football matches and if you don't go into it with that attitude, you won't get where you need to get. It's also how you win league championships. That's how you win Premier League. Every game counts.

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'Pressure will never be far away for Ten Hag'

I don't think Ange Postecoglou is under pressure. In my view, he's doing okay at Spurs.

They aren't top, I know, but no disrespect, they aren't one of the biggest teams in the league.

People will say I'm saying that just because of my Arsenal connection but they aren't the biggest club in the world.

On the other hand, Manchester United are one of the biggest clubs in the world.

They should be finishing in the top four at the very least with the heritage they have as a club.

That is why the pressure is always seemingly on Erik ten Hag. He has to get in the top four, minimum, and that is difficult with potentially only one place up for grabs with Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool.

That's why this is such a big match. Lose at home to Tottenham and that pressure will start to crank up again.

'United need to find consistency'

Last season, if you go through the Manchester United results, they always had a nice game at the right time. They always seemed to have a game at home where you thought they would get a result. And they got those results at just the right time. A result to paper over the cracks.

Somehow, Manchester United need to find some consistency.

Last weekend, they could have beaten Crystal Palace. They had good chances to win the game, but to be fair so did Palace.

If they had have snuck a win, you start to think they might get on some sort of a roll. But that never seems to happen for this United team and Ten Hag. They will never go and win five, six, seven games on the trot.

They always seem to be up against it.

'Man Utd biggest club in world but not biggest team in world'

Manchester United are the biggest club in the world, but they're not one of the biggest teams in the world. Far from it. It's not even close, and that's where we forget.

Being one of the biggest clubs in the world is different from being one of biggest teams in the world. We probably need to get used to that with Manchester United. I'm still treating them like the great United teams of the past. They were a championship side year in, year out. Not anymore. They are lucky if they are a top-four team.

It does make you think about where it has all gone wrong at Old Trafford.

It's not like they've built a new stadium like Arsenal and Tottenham. They are still in the same stadium and it still has holes in the roof. Why has it gone so horribly wrong at the club? It's tough to answer.

It doesn't really matter if Ten Hag has the support of the fans. It doesn't really matter if he has the support of all the people behind the scenes at Manchester United now.

The players at the club have got to be behind the manager.

If they are, Ten Hag has every chance of succeeding. The players are the most important thing.

'Not much wrong at Spurs'

If you take away the Arsenal game, Spurs should have won every game.

They were bang unlucky at Leicester on the opening day. if they score a second goal it would have become a rout.

They then go and slaughter Everton before getting beat by Newcastle. I do not know how they got beat at Newcastle.

It wasn't great against Arsenal, I know. But at the end of the day they only lost to a set-piece goal. Now we are talking about Arsenal as Manchester City's nearest challenger so the defeat is not the worst in the world.

Brentford then get swept away comfortably. What I'm getting at is there isn't a lot wrong at Tottenham.

'Problem for Spurs is being judged against Arsenal'

The problem at Spurs is they are always being judged up against Arsenal.

It's a bit like Manchester United. if Manchester City weren't where they were then it wouldn't be so hard to swallow for United.

All I'd say about Spurs is be careful what you wish for.

Look at West Ham. I was waiting to practise my dance on Strictly last Saturday and one of the floor managers came up to me and said Chelsea were 2-0 up. He was a West Ham fan. I asked him what was going on and his reply was that they haven't even got Europe to look back on.

That really struck me. West Ham had some really great times under David Moyes but they got rid. Just be careful.

With Tottenham, i find people have short memories too.

It really wasn't good for a few years at Tottenham. But now, I like watching Tottenham. I think they're a good team.

I don't see Ange being in any trouble. I really like him.

'United a good match-up for Spurs'

Against United, I think it is a good match-up for Spurs.

I see there being plenty of goals with Tottenham causing United a lot of major problems. Spurs will press and building from the back is not one of United's strong points.

Ange plays one way. He goes out on the front foot and gets his side playing to win football matches.

It doesn't matter if they are playing a lower-league side in the cup or one of the top sides in the Premier League, they will have a go.

That's what I like about him as well. He won't sit there and play 10 behind the ball. At Old Trafford, he'll go out and put Manchester United under pressure.

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