Brennan Johnson's Form Not Just the Work of a Few Weeks

The name on the end of everyone's lips at Tottenham at the moment is Brennan Johnson's. After deactivating his social media accounts due to abuse from his own fans after defeat in the North London Derby, Johnson has scored in seven straight games for club and country.

Proving people wrong has been a staple part of Johnson's career since long before signing for Spurs.

Johnson's career began in the East Midlands after he came through the ranks at Nottingham Forest, whilst also playing for both England and Wales at youth level.

He made his professional debut for Forest, coming off the bench in a 2 - 1 defeat to West Bromwich Albion on the opening day of the 2019/2020 Championship season; Johnson's first start was in a 3 - 0 derby win over Derby County in the Carabao Cup at the City Ground.

The 2020/2021 season saw Johnson move to League One Lincoln City on loan where he played a pivotal role in securing the Imps a place in the playoffs.

His first professional goal came in October 2020, as he helped Lincoln to a 2 - 0 victory over Plymouth Argyle with both a goal and assist. This spurred him on to finishing the season on ten goals and twelve assists in the league which in turn helped Lincoln to a 5th place finish. 

Johnson conjured up a lethal partnership with current Aston Villa attacker Morgan Rogers during his time at Sincil Bank as they showed to be one of the most feared attacking partnerships in the division.

Lincoln overcame Sunderland in the play off semi final with a 3-2 win on aggregate with Johnson scoring in the first leg to help send his side to Wembley Stadium for the playoff final.

Michael Appleton’s side ultimately fell short under the arch as Blackpool secured their place in the Championship with a 2-1 victory. A first tough moment in Johnson’s career but Lincoln and Appleton played a key role in developing his career.

During his sparkling season in League One, Johnson received his first call-up to the Wales squad and played three times in his first season with his country. Despite playing for England at youth level he qualified to play for Wales through his mother and picked the Dragons.

Following the successful loan at Lincoln, there was big expectation for his return to Forest with a starting spot in the team seeming a guaranteed place for the winger.

But it was heavily speculated that then Forest manager, Chris Hughton, thought he wasn't ready for Championship football and he thought another loan spell was the best solution. How wrong this was.

The Nottingham boy scored his first Forest goal against Derby, a moment he could only have dreamed of.

It wasn't until Steve Cooper replaced Chris Hughton that Johnson really found his feet in the Championship. He finished the season with 16 goals and 10 assists as Steve Cooper guided the Reds from the relegation zone to a 4th-place finish and a Championship playoff spot.

Johnson was a playoff scorer once again, netting in both legs of the semi-final against Sheffield United; Forest went on to win the tie on penalties.

The Welshman was on the right side of the second playoff final of his career, as an own goal from then-Huddersfield centre-half Levi Colwill secured a 1 - 0 win for Forest.

Ahead of Forest's first top flight campaign for 23 years, Johnson signed an extension with Nottingham Forest.

He scored in just his third top flight game to secure a 1 - 1 draw with Everton, on his way to ten-goal campaign which helped Forest remain in the Premier League.

That was his final season at Forest as he earned a move to Tottenham for a fee of £47.5m, ending a 14-year association with Forest. It was a big move for the Welshman as it was a platform to show what he could do on the big stage.

He scored five goals and assisted ten in his first season in North London as Spurs finished 5th, missing out on a Champions League spot to Aston Villa.

This season was to see if Johnson could really push on. But it was a difficult start to the season for him.

After the 1 - 0 defeat to Arsenal in September, Spurs fans grew frustrated with him. This led to him deactivating his Instagram account after receiving a lot of stick from his own supporters. But he would go on to prove them wrong.

Since that dismal showing against Arsenal, Johnson has scored in seven straight games, six of those for Tottenham.

The opponents haven't exactly been the most difficult, with his goals coming against Coventry, Brentford, Qarabag, Manchester United, Ferencvaros and Brighton, but scoring in six straight games is impressive either way.

That just shows the type of player he is.

He can bounce back even at the worst of times and he is starting to show how important he can be for Ange Postecoglou this season. He will be looking to keep this fine form up when Tottenham host West Ham United in an all-London affair.