Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has admitted he was really impressed with his 28-year-old on Sunday.
Three points against Nottingham Forest and former manager Nuno Espirito Santo has taken Spurs into fourth spot.
But Tottenham are by no means home and dry in the race for the Champions League with some seriously difficult fixtures coming up.
Ange Postecoglou‘s men have Newcastle United on the weekend and then face the top three before the end of the season.
Although Spurs cruised to a 3-1 victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the end, it was yet another poor first half display from the Lilywhites.
There were even some performances which saw two players withdrawn at half time as Postecoglou looked to freshen things up for the second 45 minutes.
Despite Heung-min Son and Brennan Johnson showing fine form in front of goal in recent weeks, Spurs relied on two of their defenders to fire them to three points.
Micky van de Ven impressed yet again with his first goal in front of the north London fanbase and Pedro Porro scored his first league goal of the season.
The Dutchman has just returned from injury this week, but he’s taken no time in getting back up to speed with Jamie Redknapp likening him to his compatriot Virgil van Dijk.
Postecoglou impressed by player who looks set to leave
There were a number of positive performances out there on Sunday with Tottenham much improved in the second half.
Timo Werner is a player who arrived in January fighting for his long-term future at Spurs with the club holding the option to make the deal permanent in the summer.
And he certainly impressed Roy Keane with the Sky Sports man admitting he has liked what he has seen from Werner when playing on the wing.
However, there were also some underwhelming displays from some Spurs players which saw both Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr withdrawn at half time.
The latter of which, Sarr, had only just returned to the starting XI having been replaced by Rodrigo Bentancur for the game against West Ham on Tuesday.
But the Uruguayan was called upon during the break along with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and the pair transformed the game for Spurs.
Hojbjerg has been heavily linked with a move away in the summer with the expectation for him to move on over the coming months.
The Dane has just one year remaining on his contract and has already changed agents ahead of the summer window.
Although the 28-year-old has not played regular football under Postecoglou, the Australian told the media just how impressed he was with his display on Sunday.
“It wasn’t anything Biss or Pape did. I just thought, I have the luxury of a strong squad now which I didn’t for the middle part of the year and I thought we needed some energy and legs in the midfield for the second half because I could see Forest were working really hard to maintain their grip on the game.
“I thought Pierre and Roddy were outstanding in the energy they brought and the quality they brought in the second half.”
Could Hojbjerg earn himself a Spurs stay?
Whether Postecoglou would admit it or not, it was apparent he was not impressed with the defensive work of Bissouma who played a big part in Forest’s equaliser.
Spurs have looked vulnerable on the counter attack with a lack of protection in front of their defensive line.
Hojbjerg’s future does look set to be elsewhere next season, but it will be interesting to see whether the display on Sunday could earn him a run of games.
He has spoken about how displeased he is with his game time this season and you never know what a good run of games before the end of the term could do.
Spurs don’t play now until the weekend after three quickfire games last week, perhaps Hojbjerg could still have an important role to play at Spurs this season.