Spurs 16/17 — Pochettino's 86-Point Peak: Full Squad & Ratings

Tottenham 2016/17 season — all 18 players rated, best XI, and how to draft them in 38-0.

Tottenham 2016/17 — Season Story

Tottenham Hotspur's 2016/17 season was the peak of Mauricio Pochettino's project: 86 points, second place — the club's best league finish since 1963 — and a last, glorious season at White Hart Lane that ended with the ground's final competitive match, a 2-1 win over Manchester United, played under the lights of the stadium's last day.

The football was the most complete Spurs had produced in the Premier League era. The high press suffocated opponents, the full-backs — Kyle Walker and Danny Rose — bombed forward in tandem, and the spine of the team — Hugo Lloris, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Victor Wanyama, Christian Eriksen and Harry Kane — was the best in the country outside the champions. Only Chelsea, with their record-equalling winning run, finished above them.

The defensive record was extraordinary: 26 goals conceded in 38 games, the fewest in the division, and only three league defeats all season. At home they were untouchable — 17 wins and two draws from 19 games at White Hart Lane, with the ground's famous atmosphere carrying them through the winter. The unbeaten home league season was the last entry in the old stadium's record book.

Harry Kane won the Golden Boot for the second consecutive season with 29 goals; Dele Alli scored 18 from midfield; and Eriksen, the quiet genius, created more chances than anyone in the league. The 2016/17 squad is rated 81.7 OVR in the 38-0 dataset — the highest-rated Spurs side in the pool, and the team that proved Tottenham could genuinely challenge at the top.

The Last Season at White Hart Lane

The ground had stood on the same site since 1899, and its final season became a farewell tour with a football team to match. Tottenham won their first home league game of the season 1-0 and never looked back — 17 wins and two draws from 19 matches, the only unbeaten home record in the league, and a goal difference of +39 at the Lane alone.

The last game, a 2-1 win over Manchester United, was the perfect goodbye: Kane scored, the crowd sang, and the old stadium went out with a trophy presentation for the record books — the Premier League's best-ever home campaign. The new stadium, three years away, would inherit a team at its peak.

Kane and Alli: The Golden Duo

Harry Kane's second consecutive Golden Boot — 29 goals, including four hat-tricks — established him as the best striker in England. His goals were the difference between a good season and a great one: 11 of them came in the final ten games, as Tottenham chased down Chelsea's lead and finished the season with nine straight wins.

Dele Alli, at 20, scored 18 league goals from midfield — a return no English midfielder has matched since — and his combination with Kane, built on the training ground, was the most productive in the league. Eriksen, meanwhile, quietly created more chances than any player in the division, and the three of them together gave Pochettino the most feared attacking core outside the title winners.

The Wanyama Difference

The signing that completed the team was Victor Wanyama, the Kenyan midfielder who gave Pochettino exactly what he had lacked: a destroyer who won the ball and let the creators play. His partnership with the returning Eric Dier and the advancing Mousa Dembele gave Tottenham a midfield that out-fought every opponent, and his physicality was the reason the back four could push so high.

Wanyama's goal in the 2-0 win over Chelsea at White Hart Lane in January — the first league defeat of Chelsea's title run — was the turning point of the season. Tottenham had lost at Stamford Bridge earlier in the campaign; the home win proved they could beat the champions-elect, and the nine-game winning streak that followed took them to within four points of the top.

Key Players & Ratings

Harry Kane (88 OVR) is the star — Golden Boot winner and the best striker in the country. Hugo Lloris (87) and Christian Eriksen (87) are the other elite names, with Toby Alderweireld (86) and Dele Alli (86) completing the top tier. Jan Vertonghen (85), Mousa Dembele (84), Kyle Walker (84) and Son Heung-min (84) provide exceptional depth.

The squad average of 81.7 OVR is well above the 80.7 pool average, and the balance is the story: elite goalkeeper, elite defenders, elite midfield, elite striker. The only weak spot is the backup striker — Vincent Janssen at 73 — but the starting-quality names here are among the best in the draft.

Full 18-Man Squad

Best XI — Tottenham 2016/17

The highest-rated eleven available from this squad in 38-0:

• GK Hugo Lloris 87 OVR
• RB Kyle Walker 84 OVR
• RCB Toby Alderweireld 86 OVR
• LCB Jan Vertonghen 85 OVR
• LB Danny Rose 82 OVR
• CDM Eric Dier 81 OVR
• CM Mousa Dembélé 84 OVR
• CAM Christian Eriksen 87 OVR
• CAM Dele Alli 86 OVR
• LW Son Heung-min 84 OVR
• ST Harry Kane 88 OVR

Drafting This Squad in 38-0

This is a premium landing with a clear pick order: Kane for the striker position, Lloris for goal, Alderweireld for defence, Eriksen or Alli for midfield creativity. The squad is so balanced that need-based drafting works perfectly — there is genuinely no bad position to pick from.

In Legend mode, the hierarchy to remember: Kane (88), Lloris and Eriksen (87), Alderweireld and Alli (86), Vertonghen (85). The top five are elite; below them, Dembele, Walker, Rose and Son (82-84) are all good picks. Avoid only Janssen (73).

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