Tottenham Hotspur head coach Thomas Frank described the suggestion that he had deliberately used an Arsenal-branded cup as “extremely stupid”.
Before Tottenham’s 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth on Wednesday, Frank was photographed holding a small cup with the logo of Spurs’ rivals Arsenal on it. Arsenal were the last team to play away at the Vitality Stadium.
After the image circulated online, Frank addressed the incident in his post-match press conference.
“(I) definitely (did) not notice it,” he said. “I think it’s fair to say that (I’m) not winning every single football match so it’d be absolutely, completely stupid of me to take a cup with Arsenal.
“You know, they’ve (Arsenal) been in there, the changing room, the game before us. Was normal. Take a cup, give me an espresso. I do that before every game. So I think actually, it’s a little bit sad in football that I need to be asked a question about that.
“I think we’re definitely going the wrong direction if we need to worry about me having a cup with another logo of another club where, of course, I’ll never do that. That’s extremely stupid.”
Tottenham took the lead against Bournemouth through Mathys Tel but entered half-time trailing after goals from Evanilson and Eli Junior Kroupi. Joao Palhinha equalised with an overhead kick in the 78th minute before Antoine Semenyo — playing his final game for Bournemouth before his move to Manchester City — won the game for the home side in the fifth minute of added time.
Wednesday’s defeat means that Spurs have begun 2026 without a win, having drawn their two previous games this year against Brentford and Sunderland. Frank’s side are 14th in the Premier League on 27 points and have won only twice in their last 12 league games.
Tottenham are next in action at home against Aston Villa in the FA Cup on Saturday. Their next league game sees them welcome West Ham United to north London a week later.