Sunny (or is that Sonny?) September

The sun has shone upon Spurs on virtually every playing day this month, when we managed not only our first league win (at Sunderland), but won all three of the Premier League games played as Autumn beckons. When the darkness did come to Tottenham from the wrong end of The Seven Sisters Road, it did see an early end to our League cup campaign this season. Despite my negativity about this result, and that of the vast majority of Spurs fans, the facts and the stats don't lie, as this month has seen virtually a ten point increase in every element of our playing performance.

This month's spursometer marks have risen almost by 10 points across the board. Mauricio Pochettino's ratings have risen by a similar factor. The team has gained 9 Premier League points, and risen 9 places in the table, which after seven games, now begins to take a realistic shape.

We've made a good start to our Europa League campaign, winning 3-1 against Qarabag, blessed by two goals on his home debut by the ever happy Heung-min Son. "Sonny" scored his first league goal in the following game at home to Crystal Palace, thus securing his good start to a Spurs career in which he has already won the hearts of his fans. Son's presence is good for the club too, when you consider shirt sales to the audience in South Korea. Already, flocks of Son's native fans have been spotted in and around White Hart Lane.

September hasn't all been about "Sonny" though, and I can tell you that once again, Hugo Lloris has won your player of the month vote. Hugo also heads the early "Player of the season" vote. Hugo has headed, or perhaps I should say provided the base for, for a solid defence, which has conceded only one goal in its three league games this month. The first choice defence currently is clearly Lloris; Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, and Ben Davies - not Danny Rose. Rose started the Qarabag and Arsenal games, but the only league game in which he has started so far this season was against Everton in August. That defence also secured three consecutive clean sheets in the league against Everton (August 29th), Sunderland and Palace.

Hugo's closest challenger for player of the season so far is Eric Dier, accused of being a "square peg in a round hole" by some early season observers, but now clearly winning over the majority of fans and commentators alike. With Ryan Mason and Nabil Bentaleb missing most games this month, Dier has been ever-present, and only got a rest at the end of the Europa League and Capital One Cup games. Dier also played 150 minutes in the England under-21 games this month. Eric has the early distinction of being our leading goalscorer in the Premier League, having scored his second goal against Man City last Saturday. Remember last season, he also scored two early goals.

Enough has been written about Harry Kane's lack of goals for his club until that 4-1 win over City, but suffice to say that England manager Roy Hodgson's joy when Harry scored was as unrestrained as that of Harry and his fans. Kane continues to score for his country, adding two to his senior International tally this month. That makes three such goals in just 176 minutes of football for his country, which more than matches record England scorer Wayne Rooney's start for England 12 years ago.

Another Erik (this one with a K) has won great applause and admiration from the White Hart Lane crowd with two great performances. Erik started the Spurs breakaway move that led to the Palace winner from outside his own area, with persistence and determination to win the ball, and great skill and speed in picking out Eriksen with his pass. Against Man City Lamela capped a fine show with a goal in which he rounded the goalkeeper before slotting home in front of the Park Lane crowd. Lamela has drawn praise from none other than Gay Neville, who has also praised Pochettino's progress at Spurs.

There have been, and there will continue to be frustrations for Spurs. City, who had such a great start this season, proved that can be the case with any team on Saturday, and the previous week at home to West Ham. Last season's champions are still 8 places and four points sbehind us.

Michel Vorm and Federico Fazio blotted their copybooks against Arsenal, but there have been plenty of positives. Apart from those already mentioned, Clinto N'Jie shows a good turn of speed and skill, and seems to be settling in well. Perhaps he'll get a start against Monaco this week. Dele Alli continues to impress, whether he is played in the attacking or defensive midfield. He does need to keep an eye on his card count though. On the subject of cards, full marks to Toby Alderweireld, who has not been shown any card in his 8 games to date, proving he has class and solidity in full!

October brings the challenge of five more games. Three in the league and two Europa League away matches. They say we are in for an Indian summer. Hopefully, the sun/son will continue to shine on/for Spurs!

· Review the 2015-16 Premier League season here

Don't forget to check out the players' current figures re. appearances, cards, goals scored and accumulated ratings to date at the bottom of this page.

...if you want to read reports of the matches played during this season, then links are on the Spurs Odyssey Fixtures/Reports page here. By working your way back through the previous month's figures, you can review the performances over 15 years!