Ben Davies Hails Scapegoat Moussa Sissoko for Proving Critics Wrong With Recent Displays

​Tottenham defender Ben Davies praised Moussa Sissoko's performance against Chelsea, claiming that the French midfielder has silenced critics who previously made a 'scapegoat' out of him.

Sissoko started for the sixth consecutive Premier League match on Saturday as he continues to deputise for the injured Mousa Dembele. He delivered another confident performance as Tottenham won the midfield battle to run out comfortable winners.

Sissoko came in for plenty of criticism during his first two seasons at ​Spurs after joining from ​Newcastle in 2016, but ​Davies believes that his teammate is now showing his true colours.

"I thought he was excellent again," Davies told reporters, quoted by ​Goal. "He's really showing the quality he's got, but we never had any doubts about what he can bring to this team. 

"He got a bit of flak, sometimes unfairly, and he became a bit of a scapegoat when we didn't perform at our best.

"But I thought today, and during this season, he's been excellent for us, so we're delighted for him. Possibly [the criticism got to him]. It's tough to say. It's hard to get in players' heads and know what they're thinking at the time.

"But if you get told you're not playing well it's going to get in your head. If you can come back from that, you can do anything. He's really shown his importance to this team."

Since Sissoko replaced Dembele in the starting lineup, Tottenham have won five out of six matches, with the only setback coming against league leaders ​Manchester City.

Spurs are just five points behind City though and Saturday's victory saw them leapfrog ​Chelsea into third ahead of next weekend's North London derby against ​Arsenal.


Source : 90min