Abdukodir Khusanov was arguably Manchester City’s best player in their latest 1-0 win against Tottenham Hotspur.
Pep Guardiola lauded Khusanov’s display against Tottenham as he was a rock at the back for City, making crucial interceptions and challenges while reading the game brilliantly throughout the contest as well.
What was particularly impressively about Khusanov’s showing is how he defended in the wide areas — using his searing pace to full effect to cover acres of space and putting in perfectly timed challenges.
If not for the 20-year-old, Tottenham may well have scored a goal or two as they were causing Manchester City a whole of problems on the counter-attack.
While in possession as well, Khusanov was ace — especially when playing raking long balls to either Jeremy Doku or Savinho.
All in all, the Uzbek centre-back perhaps put in his most accomplished performance till date in a City shirt.
Heung-min Son congratulated Abdukodir Khusanov as he starred for Man City vs Tottenham
Manchester City will be delighted that Khusanov looks the part, considering they would have been hoping for all of their new signings to have an instant impact.
Aside from Vitor Reis, who is clearly being eased in by Pep Guardiola, Omar Marmoush and Nico Gonzalez have also settled in well but the former RC Lens defender has looked like the pick of the bunch.
After Manchester City’s narrow victory against Tottenham, Heung-min Son walked up to Khusanov, gave him a hug, a thumbs up and congratulated him on his impressive performance.
Son has a reputation of being one of the nicest footballers around and that was proven as he went out of his way to give the highly-rated defender the credit he deserves.
In the aftermath of the contest, Khusanov was also spotted swapping shirts with his former RC Lens teammate Kevin Danso.
The Manchester City colossus will be over the moon as he seems to be finding his feet in the Premier League very quickly.
Comparing Khusanov vs Son’s stats during Tottenham vs Man City
When Ange Postecoglou did bring Son off the bench, perhaps Pep Guardiola would have been worried that he could cause his defence problems.
The South Korean international has a history of hurting Manchester City and he almost scored late on in the game as well.
But when comparing Khusanov and Son’s statistics, it is clear to see that the former won the battle between the pair.
| STATS VS TOTTENHAM | ABDUKODIR KHUSANOV | STATS VS MAN CITY | HEUNG-MIN SON |
| DRIBBLED PAST | 0 | DRIBBLES COMPLETED | 0 |
| DUELS WON | 2/3 | CHANCES CREATED | 1 |
| RECOVERIES | 4 | TOUCHES IN OPP. BOX | 2 |
| CLEARANCES | 4 | TOUCHES | 11 |
| CHANCES CREATED | 1 | XG + XA | 0.46 |
While Son’s combined Expected Goals and Expected Assists is quite high at 0.46, that is only because he missed a sitter. Khusanov was not dribbled past once throughout the clash, including after the Tottenham captain came on the pitch, won two out of his three duels and even created the same number of chances as him.
Perhaps Son was just blown away by how cracking a prospect the young man looks, a sentiment Manchester City fans would agree with as well.
