Building a Tottenham penalty shootout line-up based on statistics from the spot
There is perhaps no more high-pressure moment in a football match than a penalty kick – even more so in a penalty shootout. But who are Tottenham’s best current takers?
All the chaos and unpredictability of open play fades away, giving way to silence. The duel is simple. The goalkeeper. The taker. Twelve yards between them. The fate of their teams resting on their shoulders.
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup entering into its latter stages, spot kicks have already claimed Germany, who lost to Paraguay; Micky van de Ven and the Netherlands, who were defeated by Morocco; Australia, with big Ange Postecoglou’s countrymen defeated by Egypt; and former Spurs man, Davinson Sanchez and Colombia, who were pipped to a quarter-final spot by Switzerland.
On the flip side, former Spurs hero, Harry Kane, has buried two for England already – the most recent coming in a very high pressure situation in that 3-2 triumph versus Mexico.
So, when the domestic action returns, who should Tottenham be entrusting from the spot? And what should Tottenham’s line up be for a penalty shootout?
How good are Tottenham at penalties?
Tottenham’s most recent penalty shootout came in the UEFA Super Cup final versus PSG.
After drawing 2-2, blowing a 2-0 lead late on, Thomas Frank’s men lost 4-3 in the shootout. Dominic Solanke, Rodrigo Bentacur and Pedro Porro all scored, with Micky van de Ven and Mathys Tel missing.
In the 2023-24 season, they lost 5-3 to Fulham on penalties. Heung-min Son, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski all scored, Davinson Sanchez – as he recently did at the World Cup – missed.
The last time Tottenham won a penalty shootout was September 2021 in the EFL Cup versus Wolves, while they also toppled Chelsea in the same competition on penalties a year earlier. Unsurprisingly, none of the scorers in those games remain at the club.
So that’s shootouts, what about in games?
Tottenham weren’t awarded a single penalty in the Premier League across the 2025-26 season. In 2024-25, Heung-min Son scored one and missed one, while Mathys Tel and Dominic Solanke both had a 100% record from the spot – only taking one each, though.
For 2023-24, Son scored both of the penalties Tottenham were awarded, with the season prior – 2022-23 – Harry Kane’s final one in a Spurs shirt. He scored five of the six they were awarded.
Kane and Dele Alli shared responsibilities for the 2021-22 season, the former scoring all four of his, with Alli scored one.
What’s clear now, though, is there is not an obvious taker like there was during the Kane era. Mohammed Kudus and Xavi Simons both scored penalties in a 3-0 win over Slavia Prague last season. Simons also scored one in a 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid.
So Simons would appear a potential candidate – though his ruptured anterior cruciate ligament of his right knee, sustained in the 1-0 win at Wolves, means that right now Spurs have to look elsewhere.
Who are the likely candidates?
Dominic Solanke has stepped up three times for Tottenham and scored all three. For Bournemouth, he scored six out of eight. That’s a success rate of 82%.
While there is speculation of a move away for Richarlison, he scored four penalties for Everton, as well as one for Spurs in the Europe League in 2024 versus AZ Alkmaar. He missed from the spot against Copenhagen in the Champions League. Before that, he scored four out of four for Fluminese, and has scored once for Brazil, missing the other. That’s a success rate of 83%.
Mohammed Kudus has scored all of his spot kicks at club level with a record of five out of five, as well as scoring one out of two for Ghana. That’s an even higher success rate of 85%.
Xavi Simons does appear a very strong candidate to be Tottenham’s spot kick taker once back from injury, having missed just one of 14 penalties. That’s a monster success rate of 93%.
Elsewhere, Mathys Tel has a perfect record from the spot – though the vast majority of those (nine out of 10) have come at youth levels with France. Finally, while never stepping up from the spot for Tottenham, James Maddison has scored seven out of nine, a success rate of 77%.
A case for the defence – and what about the new signings?
A theme of this year’s World Cup has been defenders missing in penalty shootouts.
That includes former Tottenham man, Davinson Sanchez who spectacularly smashed the crossbar against Switzerland. That was after defender Manuel Akanji, formerly of Manchester City, ballooned his own effort over the bar.
In total, defenders have scored less than half of their 11 attempts when stepping up in shootouts. So, what about Tottenham’s backline?
New recruit, Jan Paul van Hecke, has scored four out of four, while Kevin Danso has scored three, missed two. Destiny Udogie scored his loan spot kick for Hellas Verona’s U17 side. Pedro Porro, meanwhile, has a perfect record of three out of three.
So, looking at a wider line up for a penalty shootout, van Hecke and Porro are certainly candidates.
Van Hecke is one of a handful of new signings already in the building at N17, with Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes other big money arrivals. Tonali, though, has never actually taken a penalty in a game situation. He was the only one to score in Italy’s penalty shootout defeat to Bosnia as their bid for World Cup qualification crumbled, however.
Fernandes, meanwhile, has scored one and missed the other two he’s taken. Therefore, perhaps it will fall on the shoulders of another new signing as Tottenham look to strengthen forward areas to share the burden.
Who should be in goal?
Goalkeepers have very little lose when it comes down to penalties. The penalty is scored? Well, unless they’ve made a complete mess of it, that was the expected outcome.
Save it? You’re the hero.
So, which of Tottenham’s goalkeepers have the best record?
While Roberto De Zerbi favoured Antonin Kinsky as his number one towards the end of last season, it’s Vicario who has the better record.
Kinsky has saved just one of 21 penalties he’s faced. Vicario, on the other hand, fares slightly better, saving five out of 43. Though Vicario did concede all 11 he’s faced as Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper.
Tottenham did bring in Martin Dubravka this summer, too. The experienced stopper has saved five out of the 46 penalties he’s faced.
So, who should be taking Tottenham’s penalties in 2026-27? And what should the shootout line-up be?
It’s clear Xavi Simons is the most dependable from the spot. Though, out injured right now, the best candidate as it stands is seemingly one from Kudus, Solanke or Richarlison.
That gives us a shootout line up of:
Then, Pedro Porro and Jan Paul van Hecke seem solid candidates to come next, though the experience of Tonali would suggest he would have little trouble stepping up if asked.
Still, it’s clear Tottenham do not quite have that Harry Kane like figure in their squad right now to step up and bury spot kick after spot kick. The transfer window is still young. Maybe their penalty taker is yet to arrive.
