How quickly things can change in the football world.

Just three-and-a-half weeks ago, Tottenham were rock bottom of the Premier League table and without a win to their name, with pressure building on Roberto De Zerbi's shoulders after he had pulled off the great escape last season to guide the Lilywhites to safety in the Premier League.

Fast forward to now, however, and everything is looking rosy for Spurs. They have enjoyed three straight victories to move into the top half of the table and, playing early on Saturday, they could move as high as fifth ahead of the other matches taking place.

De Zerbi splashed the cash in the summer transfer window to put his imprint on the squad he inherited from Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor, spending more than £300million, with that figure to rise to the £400million mark when Omar Marmoush's loan move is made permanent next summer.

It took a while for the players to gel, which is hardly surprising, given ten new faces arrived at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and to get used to De Zerbi's style of football. But things appear to have clicked now, as evidenced by those wins against Coventry City, Chelsea and Crystal Palace.

It finally looks like £185m well spent at Spurs

De Zerbi's philosophy is based around high intensity, possession-based football. The Italian expects his teams to play out from the back, through a ball-playing goalkeeper and centre-backs, playing through a midfield duo and into wingers and a No.10 behind a main striker.

Micky van de Ven and Jan Paul van Hecke have been crucial to this strategy, with the duo of Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes - both new arrivals in the summer - ahead of them key in the midfield double pivot too.

De Zerbi, who ranks highly among current Premier League managers, was described by Pep Guardiola as "one of the most influential managers in the last 20 years" when he was at Brighton in 2023, and it has become clear that his influence is steadily growing on Tottenham too.

Spurs had 34 shots against Palace on Saturday, the most they have had in a match in the Premier League since 2016. It is a far cry from the shot-shy outfit of the last 12 months.

Heatmap graphs from before Spurs moved up the table suggested the side were on the right track unde the Italian, without picking up results, with some suggestions that they were dominating games just like top two Manchester City and Arsenal, despite being in the bottom three.

And, now the players are starting to click, that has proven to be true.

Tottenham are second in the table when it comes to possession so far this season, with only Manchester City averaging more in their nine games of the season.

It is no surprise to know that a De Zerbi team likes to have the ball, but it is perhaps somewhat surprising that Spurs are already the second most dominant team in the Premier League when it comes to having the ball, particularly given how they started the season.

What they have done in the last three matches is found a way to win, to turn their dominance into goals and subsequently three points. If they continue to do that, they could become a force to be reckoned with in the top flight, particularly without the sitraction of European football.