Tottenham defender Luka Vuskovic, 19, currently on loan at Hamburg, has suggested he could return to Spurs despite interest from major clubs in Europe. (The Standard), external
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Chelsea 0-0 Tottenham
Really good stuff from Chelsea as full-back Niamh Charles gets to the byline on the left and cuts back for Alyssa Thompson.
The USA international hits it first time at the near post but Lize Kop does well to get a strong right hand to it.
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Chelsea 0-0 Tottenham
It's been a fast start with plenty of early attacking intent from both sides.
Alyssa Thompson made a dart down the Chelsea left but she was unable to pick out a blue shirt in the middle with her cross.
Then Signe Gaupset looked to be in behind for Spurs but Niamh Charles did well to recover before the Norwegian could get a shot away.
'We need to start games more quickly'
Chelsea v Tottenham (13:30 BST)
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham manager Martin Ho, speaking to Channel 4: "Second half against Arsenal and Man City we started slowly and we know we have to do that a lot better. We know we can create, we know we have to be better at starting games quicker and can't just give teams a lead. So far this year, we have faced so much adversity that we've learned from and now we need to make sure it's a really honest performance."
'Being clinical has been missing this season'
Chelsea v Tottenham (13:30 BST)
Chelsea
Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor, speaking to Channel 4: "We are professionals and we love to play many games. We knew this was a busy block and we are ending it with a big game again, FA Cup, one of the objectives for this season."
On limited time between matches: "You have to work differently and make sure the players are fresh to go into every game. You have to make sure you teach them the tactics for them to be the best prepared for every game. We are used to that. We always find a way to go into the next game the best prepared as possible."
On what she is looking for today: "Being clinical is maybe what has been missing this season. Today we are going to create again and be in the final third. We just need to make sure that when we are in the final third we score goals."
'FA Cup is a chance to put league form aside'
Chelsea v Tottenham (13:30 BST)
Jenna Schillaci
Former Tottenham Hotspur captain on Channel 4
Martin Ho has come in and transformed a team who were pretty down and out last season. The turnaround has been remarkable.
They are going through a bit of a difficult patch in the league but the FA Cup is a chance to put that aside.
It is one game to create their own bit of history and beat Chelsea.
'There's no bigger test than Chelsea'
Chelsea v Tottenham (13:30 BST)
Tottenham Hotspur
"There's no bigger test than Chelsea, so we've got to make sure we're really at it come Monday," said Tottenham boss Martin Ho earlier this week.
"They've got world class players, a world class manager. You have to play the top teams if you want to win the competition."
Spurs have lost all 18 of their competitive meetings with the Blues, including both league games this term, though Ho takes confidence from those recent performances.
He added: "We know that in the games we've played against them this season, they've been really tight.
"We've had numerous opportunities, we've controlled parts of those games. So we need to go in with confidence."
Chelsea 'missing clinical element'
Chelsea v Tottenham (13:30 BST)
Chelsea
Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor has called on her side to be more ruthless in front of goal as they look to continue their FA Cup defence against Tottenham.
"We have been missing that clinical element in front of the goal, and that's probably why our season is not at the level we want it to be," said Bompastor.
The blues have misfired in recent weeks with missed chances proving very costly, particularly in the Champions League as they were eliminated by holders Arsenal in the quarter-finals.
She added: "It's always the most difficult thing [to finish chances]. Weâre always able to create opportunities, but we have to make sure we stay composed and we are ruthless."
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What happened yesterday?
We've already had a 'cupset' on quarter-final weekend, with Brighton knocking out record 14-time winners Arsenal on their own patch.
Second half goals from Madison Haley and Caitlin Hayes sent the Seagulls on their way to the semi-finals.
Liverpool have also booked their spot in the final four after seeing off second tier Charlton.
The tie went deep into extra time before Zara Shaw bundled home the winner in the 115th minute.
Team news - two changes for Chelsea, England starts for Spurs
Chelsea v Tottenham (13:30 BST)
Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor makes two changes to the side who beat Arsenal 1-0 in the Champions League last Wednesday but exited the competition 2-3 on aggregate.
Niamh Charles and Naomi Girma comes in to the defence with Lucy Bronze and Veerle Buurman dropping to the bench.
Chelsea XI: Hampton, Carpenter, Charles, Buchanan, Girma, Walsh, James, Nusken, Cuthbert, Thompson, Kerr.
Subs: Spencer, Peng, Buurman, Baltimore, Bronze, Potter, Sarwie, Kaptein.
There are three changes to the Tottenham side who lost to Arsenal in the north London derby last time out.
Julie Blakstad, Bethany England and Eveliina Summanen start with Molly Bartrip and Olivia Holdt on the bench. Maika Hamano is not in the squad.
Tottenham XI: Kop, Koga, Blakstad, A Nilden, Wijk, Gaupset, Spence, Vinberg, Summanen, England, Tandberg.
Subs: Heeps, Rybrink, Morris, Bartrip, Grant, Ahtinen, Holdt, M Nilden, Gunning-Williams.
Can spirited Spurs march into last four?
Chelsea v Tottenham (13:30 BST)
Tottenham Hotspur
It's been a season full of promise for Tottenham with Martin Ho taking the team to new heights since taking over last summer.
As late as mid february they were still in with a chance of sneaking into Europe, although three successive league defeats has more or less scuppered that dream.
Still, if you'd offered Ho and his players a top five finish and an FA Cup quarter-final before a ball was kicked they'd surely have taken it. Now the challenge is to take the next step and compete for silverware.
Predecessor Robert Vilahamn made it all the way to Wembley in 2024, though his side were comprehensively beaten by Manchester United in the final.
Can Ho go one better in his maiden season in charge?
Blues aiming for more FA Cup glory
Chelsea v Tottenham (13:30 BST)
Chelsea
After being knocked out of the Champions League in midweek, and with the Women's Super League title all but out of reach, the FA Cup resembles Chelsea's last real shot at silverware for the 2025-26 campaign.
Of course the Blues already have the League Cup in the bag, so while there may be disappointment at missing out on the two big prizes, a domestic cup double to follow last season's unbeaten Treble would be some achievement for a an injury-hit squad in transition.
The Blues have reached four of the past five finals in this competition, winning all four of them, including beating Manchester United 3-0 in last season's showpiece at Wembley.
Tottenham's players and coaches have come in for major criticism this season.
Roberto de Zerbi has seven games left to turn things around and stave off relegation.
He will not tolerate interference and will not stand for players who won't do what he wants them to. If they fall short, they will be out.
De Zerbi's identity as a coach is about free-flowing and forward-passing football, which fits Tottenham too - it is what their fans want - but without having strong characters and a bit of well-directed leadership on the pitch, that will not count when the going gets tough.
Wherever I managed, having that kind of character in my team was always hugely important to me. I felt a sound base like that within the team gave even limited players a chance of being successful by getting results over the course of a long and demanding season.
To find out the character of these players, I would go through numerous routes to make sure the lad I was going to sign indeed had the right credentials.
Watching them in away games was a must, for example. So was speaking to their former coaches or managers - and players who had played with them.
Off the field, I'd try to put a picture together too. Did they go out a lot? Were they married? The whole process would be as thorough as I could make it. I should add that it did not always go to plan!
Spurs cannot sign anyone now to change things, so instead their players have to step up and show they have the ability to scrap it out and remain a Premier League side. If they are not up for the fight, they are going down.
I was once told by a very senior manager at a top club that my biggest challenge at a team I had just taken over would be to get everyone pulling together as one. If I could manage that, he said, I would have a great chance of success.
That applies to every manager, but with the added layers of management today, doing it has become even tougher. It has to be the target for De Zerbi and Spurs too, whatever division they are in next season.
With the appointment of Roberto de Zerbi, Tottenham are on to their third manager this season and they are in serious relegation trouble. How, I ask, can a club with so much going for it end up in such a mess?
In the past few years, Spurs have developed a state-of-the art stadium and training facilities which are the match of anything across the globe.
Both are something I'm sure the club's hierarchy are extremely proud of but, with that in mind, I'd like to recall a quote from one of these islands' greatest football legends, Bill Shankly, who once asked if you had a choice of a great stadium and no team, or a poor stadium and a great team, which would you choose?
Bill followed it up by saying he'd have a poor stadium and a great team because the people come to see the team.
He's right, of course. Football is about the players and the game, not the surrounds.
From my perspective as a former manager, I know supporters just want to see their teams win, and they will prioritise performances over infrastructure all day long.
So, are Spurs' current problems simply down to them taking their eye off the ball in terms of what is happening on the pitch, and being too focused on what is happening off it?
Wwhile the club has invested heavily in the transfer market, it seems many of their supporters believe that they have always maintained a tight restraint on player wages - which I am sure has cost them when competing for signings with other top Premier League teams.
On top of that, behind the scenes they have not only moved on from long-serving executive Daniel Levy, who left in September after almost 25 years in the role, they have also consistently changed important roles in their management structure.
As I've mentioned in previous columns, today's managers and coaches are more or less given players to coach rather than choosing signings themselves.
If you are the manager and you have real differences of opinion with the people making those decisions, or there are constant changes above you, then goodness knows how you can be successful, whoever you are.
With that in mind, and also looking at where Spurs have gone wrong with some of their player recruitment in recent years, I cannot believe that a manager of Roberto de Zerbi's standing would sign a five-year contract without him having some say on signings and the new players who will be coming into the club.
With Spurs maintaining a strict wage budget, their recruitment must be smart and resourceful whatever division they are in, but it is also important it is in line with the coach's needs and wishes.
First things first, though. How does De Zerbi try to keep them up?
Spurs' players and coaches have come in for major criticism this season. De Zerbi has seven games left to turn things around and stave off relegation.
Earlier this week I spoke to Adam Lallana, who worked with De Zerbi when he was at Brighton, about his methods and what he is made of. The picture I was given was of someone who wants do things 100% his way.
He will not tolerate interference and will not stand for players who won't do what he wants them to. If they fall short, they will be out.
De Zerbi's identity as a coach is about free-flowing and forward-passing football, which fits Tottenham too - it is what their fans want - but without having strong characters and a bit of well-directed leadership on the pitch, that will not count when the going gets tough.
Wherever I managed, having that kind of character in my team was always hugely important to me. I felt a sound base like that within the team gave even limited players a chance of being successful by getting results over the course of a long and demanding season.
To find out the character of these players, I would go through numerous routes to make sure the lad I was going to sign indeed had the right credentials.
Watching them in away games was a must, for example. So was speaking to their former coaches or managers - and players who had played with them.
Off the field, I'd try to put a picture together too. Did they go out a lot? Were they married? The whole process would be as thorough as I could make it. I should add that it did not always go to plan!
But behind it all, I knew the system I wanted to play and getting the right fit, in terms of the identity of every player in that system, was imperative for us.
When you are going up against clubs who are bigger and, supposedly, better than you then those fine details were so important, but every team needs character and, too often this season, Spurs have lacked it.
While Tottenham's wage budget is lower than any of the Premier League's other 'big six', it's still much higher than Bournemouth, Brentford and Brighton - yet the difference between them is plain to see, on and off the pitch.
That has to change in the next few weeks. Spurs cannot sign anyone now to change things, so instead their players have to step up and show they have the ability to scrap it out and remain a Premier League side. If they are not up for the fight, they are going down.
Around 40% of clubs in England's top four divisions of men's football have changed their manager this season, and one in four of those teams have made more than one change.
With those stats still so high, I am sure people outside the game must be wondering about the process of appointing a manager.
In my day, I never once put on a presentation in front of a chairman or board of directors as part of any interview process.
Usually it was your management record, and your relative success with the respective budgets you'd been given, that would seal the deal.
Today, that has all changed. Many managers and coaches, I'm told, pay to have these presentations professionally prepared for them.
Before you get to that stage, however, club owners and chairmen will rely on their sporting director and chief executive to compile a list of names.
As I've mentioned in previous columns about the lack of opportunities now for British managers, with so many foreign owners in our game, there are lots of foreign sporting directors too, so it is not surprising they appoint managers and coaches they know.
Also, the agents who have assisted the owners when they purchased the club, will often have a big say on who the sporting director is too.
Players will also flow into some clubs in a similar fashion, I'm sure, and I'm afraid all of this impinges on managers and coaches from this country, who are not part of that network.
Academy coaches from the top clubs are finding a way through the system, as I am sure their contacts with clubs' young players is part of their appeal.
It is definitely a route into management that is worth following but I am sure any ex-professionals who have followed it will have quickly been exposed to the key difference between managing at academy level and being in charge of a club's first team.
Unlike academy football, which is about development, first-team football is about winning.
Every week you will be judged on your result and, no matter what philosophy you employ, the fanbase and the people above you will react accordingly.
Any academy coaches entering the crazy world of club management will also grab the importance of the club's alignment, and how well every part works together.
That alignment is something else that appears to be lacking at Spurs. Thomas Frank had a wonderful seven-year spell in charge of Brentford, benefiting from the co-operation of a unified club.
The glue between the Brentford manager and the people above him remained when Frank left for Spurs last summer, leaving Keith Andrews an organisation that had a clear pathway, where everyone is involved in the journey through the season.
Whether it is recruitment, academy matters, medical issues or at first-team level, they are an example of a club that is united.
Brighton and Bournemouth are the same. They have both not only recruited players brilliantly in recent years, they have followed a plan that suits their own principles and fits the identity they want to establish.
To simplify it, it is a case of round pegs and round holes, but it is hardly rocket science anyway. Fill the spaces left by any players who have moved on, and make sure everyone at the club pulls together.
I was once told by a very senior manager at a top club that my biggest challenge at a team I had just taken over would be to get everyone pulling together as one. If I could manage that, he said, I would have a great chance of success.
That applies to every manager, but with the added layers of management today, doing it has become even tougher. It has to be the target for De Zerbi and Spurs too, whatever division they are in next season.
Tony Pulis was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.
New Tottenham boss Roberto de Zerbi has apologised to fans over comments he made about Mason Greenwood.
The Italian's appointment has been opposed by some fan groups because of remarks he made about former Manchester United player Greenwood, who he signed and managed at Marseille.
Greenwood faced charges of attempted rape, controlling and coercive behaviour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in 2022 before they were dropped.
De Zerbi told the Spurs website: "I have never wanted to downplay the issue of violence against women or violence against anyone more broadly."
De Zerbi, 46, added that he had always "stood up for those" that needed protecting.
"I've consistently fought and taken a stand to be on the side of those who are most at risk," he said.
"Those of you who know me well, will know that I'm not the kind of person who makes compromises to win more games or win an extra title.
"I'm sorry if I offended anyone's feelings with this subject matter. I have a daughter and I'm very sensitive to these things and I always have been.
"I hope that over time people will get to know me better and understand that at that moment, I didn't mean to take a stance."
Spurs turned to De Zerbi after interim head coach Igor Tudor was sacked on Sunday with the club 17th in the Premier League, just one point and one place above the relegation zone.
More to follow.
In his first interview as Tottenham head coach, Roberto de Zerbi was asked about fan concerns over comments he made during his time as Marseille boss on the signing of Mason Greenwood.
De Zerbi has said Greenwood "paid in a strong way" after leaving Manchester United for Marseille after charges against him, including attempted rape and assault, were dropped and added the forward "seems a good lad" who "I feel sad for".
Greenwood was seen as one of United's most promising young players when, at the age of 20, he was arrested in January 2022.
All charges against the former England international were dropped in February 2023.
Choosing to answer the question in Italian to ensure he is "clear" in his response, De Zerbi said: "I have never wanted to downplay the issue of violence against women or violence against anyone more broadly.
"In my life I've always stood up for those who are more vulnerable, more fragile.
"I've consistently fought and took a stand to be on the side of those who are most at risk.
"Those of you who know me well will know I'm not the type of person who makes compromises to win more games or to win an extra title.
"I'm sorry if I offended anyone's feelings with this subject matter. I have a daughter and I'm very sensitive to these things, and I always have been.
"I hope that over time people will get to know me better and will understand that at that moment I didn't mean to take a stance."
Tottenham manager Martin Ho says the club can look back at their progress this season with "a lot of pride".
Ho signed a new long-term contract last week as reward for his instant impact since joining from SK Brann in July.
Spurs currently sit fifth in the Women's Super League table and are preparing to meet Chelsea in Monday's FA Cup quarter-final (13:30 GMT).
They have already surpassed last season's WSL tally with three games remaining - a remarkable improvement after finishing second bottom in 2025.
"We have come a long way off the pitch and on it with the infrastructure and resources around the players, how efficient we've been as staff to try and apply the right processes and by creating a new identity," said Ho.
"We have put foundations in place that enable us to be successful moving forward and to evolve the squad, as we've done in both windows.
"We know if we want to be successful we need to do that again and we will do. But I'm really pleased with where we're at."
Tottenham have suffered three successive defeats for the first time this season but Ho backs them to bounce back against a Chelsea side wounded by their Champions League exit on Wednesday.
"We can't let two or three of these results cover up the work we've done so far in this short space of time. I think it's remarkable what we've done," added Ho.
"We can definitely build from this and it's a good platform. From where we finished last season, to now, there's been huge progress. We can look at it with a lot of pride.
"We've done well in the FA Cup. You have to play the top teams if you want to win the competition. We know this test against Chelsea will be tough.
"We need to go in with confidence and know we can compete."
Premier League clubs made payments of £460m to agents over the past year - a 13% increase on the previous 12 months.
It covers payments made by clubs to agents registered with the Football Association involving a player, coach or club - including transfer and contracts - between February 2025 and February 2026.
Chelsea, who paid out £65.1m, were the highest spenders for the third consecutive year.
On Wednesday, the west London club announced the biggest pre-tax loss in Premier League history. The £262m deficit for 2024-25 eclipses the £197.5m lost by Manchester City in 2011.
The Blues partly attribute this year's figure to recording the highest number of player sales in Premier League history.
Chelsea offloaded nearly £300m worth of players to comply with Uefa sanctions.
After record payments of £75m to agents in 2023-24, the club have spent a total of £200m over the past three assessment years.
Aston Villa were second on the list, paying £38.4m, which was an increase of £13.4m - the highest rise of any club.
This is despite the Villans spending a relatively modest £69m on incoming transfers. Unai Emery's side had a high number of costs associated with renegotiating player contracts and new professional registrations.
In third were Manchester City with £37.4m, though year-on-year spending fell dramatically - down by £14.8m from £52.1m.
Arsenal, Liverpool and Wolves also saw significant increases in agents fees.
The Gunners' payments went up £9.4m to £32.1m. Liverpool's rose £13m to £33.9m. Wolves saw an increase of £12.5m to £26m.
Sunderland's unexpected promotion to the Premier League through the play-offs brought a rise in payments from just £2.2m to £10.6m.
Alongside Manchester City, seven other clubs reduced payments to agents.
Brentford, Fulham, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and West Ham saw modest drops.
Newcastle's payments were reduced by £4.1m to £20.3m, while Leeds - despite being promoted - cut outgoings on agents' fees by £4.9m to £14m.
Spending in the Women's Super League rose 75%, by £1.6m to £3.8m.
Chelsea were again the biggest spenders, with their £1.1m accounting for over a quarter of the total.
Payments went up by 10% in the Championship to £69.7m, with Ipswich Town the highest spenders on £11.7m.
Agents fees in League One soared by 85%, influenced by the presence of Luton Town (£3.3m), Cardiff City (£1.7m) and Huddersfield Town (£1.5m), who accounted for close to half of the £14m total.
In League Two, the amount fell slightly by 5% to £2.6m.