It couldn’t get much better for Tottenham Hotspur fans on Sunday, December 6, 2020.

A 2-0 win over Arsenal, with Heung-Min Son and Harry Kane both scoring and assisting, saw them remain at the top of the Premier League table.

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The victory meant something special too, Spurs had leapt the hurdle of a daunting fixture list, beating Man City and drawing with an in-form Chelsea prior to the clash with their rivals.

Many thought Jose Mourinho’s men would stumble at this juncture and show their true selves, but they navigated the games without conceding a single goal.

Title talk followed, of course it would, even after just 11 games, less than a third of the season.

One man didn’t think so, of course, and what he said after the north London derby has become hauntingly true as his side slip down the table and into a dogfight for a top four spot.

“We can lose everywhere in the Premier League, we can go to any team and lose, any team can come here and beat us,” Mourinho said before revelling in their recent run.

Never a truer word was spoken by one of football’s sagest men, but two months on from those glorious early December days, the Portuguese is under pressure and fans aren’t happy.

Many would, rightly, argue that no supporters at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium have saved him from further scrutiny. Performances are insipid and the stats are startling.

A 1-0 loss to Brighton was the worse showing since the opening day defeat to Everton, chance creation was near-impossible until they had five attackers on at the death, while defensively, even with a back-five, Spurs were all at sea.

And since that Arsenal game they sit 14th in the form table, just 11 goals scored, and 12 conceded, with four defeats in the league and just two wins, against Leeds and Sheffield United.

Even the base stats are worrying, it’s only the relegation battlers and Southampton who are below them.

Other season-long figures, though, lay bare the defensive attitude of Mourinho and how it was just a matter of time before things got this way.

They sit just 10th in the Premier League table in terms of shots on target per game (4.5), even rivals Arsenal, who have struggled in front of goal have managed 5.7, while Aston Villa are managing six.

Mourinho will argue it’s about how clear cut those chances are, for sure, but, in terms of UnderStat’s expected goals (xG) model, Tottenham have garnered shots with a value of 29.1 xG.

They are outperforming that with 34 goals but the 29.1 xG also sees them 10th overall in the Premier League.

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Okay, in a chaotic season, paired with patchy form, it’s salvageable, right? Well, hold your horses on that one.

They get in to attacking areas and do damage, yes. But Tottenham just don’t spend much time in the final third of the pitch.

In fact, they make just 88.5 Accurate passes in the opponent’s third per league game – the fifth WORST in the division – even bottom club Sheffield United make more passes there (113.4).

Meanwhile, they have made just 133 passes into the penalty area – also the fifth worst in the Premier League.

So, does that mean the ball is at the other end? You bet your bottom dollar it does.

Mourinho’s side concede 147.7 accurate passes in their defensive third per league game – the second WORST in the division – only West Brom concede more.

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Quite frankly, it shows how impressive some of the early season defending was from Mourinho’s men as all season as they have only conceded 21 goals, and only allowed shots with a combined value of 25.72 xG.

But, nothing lasts forever and against Liverpool and Brighton, things came home to roost, they created 0.47 xG and conceded 4.36 xG.

Some of the rearguard action they displayed is certainly outlined with the fact they have made more clearances (546) than any other club too.

Let’s not forget individual form in the matter, Son has just one league goal in his last seven, although he did have a goal disallowed against Liverpool, and hit the post in a one-on-one against Fulham – fine margins.

The disappearance of Moussa Sissoko in the league is also a conundrum.

The Frenchman isn’t Tottenham’s finest player technically but in their run against Man City, Chelsea, and Arsenal, he was in tremendous form and arguably the best player across all three games thanks to his reading of off the ball runs towards the space between right-back and centre-back.

Since the Arsenal clash, he’s only started five games, while three of those were in odd positions as he played at right-wing against Fulham, at right wing-back against Brighton and, in the first fixture with Liverpool, wide on the right of a four-man midfield before being switched centrally, improving Spurs’ performance dramatically.

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Tactics are a major concern right now too, 4-2-3-1, with Tanguy Ndombele as a No.10 appeared to be doing the trick in their run early in the campaign.

But, starting with their first defeat to Liverpool, Mourinho has swapped both formations and player roles at an alarming rate.

The last eight games have seen four different systems played, while against Brighton, a midfield two of Ndombele and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg were in a war of attrition against a Seagulls midfield three, Yves Bissouma, Alexis Mac Allister, and Pascal Gross had them outnumbered and outgunned.

There was no way to progress the ball through the centre of the pitch and as a result, the defeat wasn’t a surprise.

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A change needs to come after weeks of decline.

The absences of GIovani Lo Celso, Sergio Reguilon, and Harry Kane won’t help, while the strange decision to substitute Serge Aurier against Liverpool now appears to have had wider ramifications leaving them shorn of one of their best stars early in the campaign.

But against Brighton you couldn’t help but feel the stage was set for Dele Alli’s return as creative force behind a striker.

Mourinho needs to pull a rabbit out of the hat in north London pretty soon, or even European football will be a distant dream.