The Guardian

The problem with selling a superstar winger for £70m is that everyone knows that you have £70m to spend. Napoli may have sent Khvicha Kvaratskhelia out of the door, with the Georgian coughing for the PSG doctors today before his big-money move, but now the Italian side have a Kvaratskhelia-shaped hole on the left side of their attack and a lot of money to spend.

Antonio Conte, Napoli’s manager, wants Alejandro Garnacho with Manchester United now rejecting an offer of £40m for the 20-year-old. The deal looks increasingly difficult, given the Argentinian played 90 minutes in United’s win over Southampton on Thursday, unless Napoli decide to up their offer from the spare £30m they have knocking about. “[Garnacho] has talent,” said Ruben Amorim after United’s 3-1 victory. “I think he changed the way he sees himself. He’s finding the best way to play in this system and is improving during training.”

Kvaratskhelia, for what it’s worth, issued a statement overnight, which should be read in the context of him trying to force a move away from Naples. “It’s truly difficult for me, but it’s time to say goodbye,” he sobbed. “I felt great here. We shared beautiful moments and thrilling experiences. This has been my home. My hope is to meet again. I know you are heartbroken now, but I’ll tell you everything one day.” How enticingly cryptic!

Speaking of young left wingers, former prodigy Ansu Fati can’t get in the Barcelona squad after returning from an underwhelming loan spell at Brighton last season. That hasn’t put off West Ham or Tottenham, who are in need of attacking reinforcement.

Eintracht Frankfurt forward Omar Marmoush will soon cross the Ts and dot the Is on his deal to join Manchester City, but that hasn’t stopped the English club giving Erling Haaland a new whopping nine-and-a-half-year contract. Crucially, City have removed a release clause and all they had to do was give Haaland one of the most lucrative contracts in sporting history, with the Norwegian set to earn half-a-million pounds a week as a basic wage.

Bad news for Brentford. Their excellent goalscoring form – only Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham have scored more in the league – has meant there are a host of clubs sniffing around their forward line. Newcastle are hoping to nip in ahead of Arsenal to snaffle Bryan Mbeumo, Borussia Dortmund like the cut of Kevin Schade’s jib, while Nottingham Forest are eyeing Yoane Wissa but only if their own striker, Taiwo Awoniyi, leaves for West Ham.

Everton are interested in Lyon’s Ernest Nuamah, with the French club demanding £25m for the right winger. That might mean Everton pursue a loan deal with an option to buy, with David Moyes historically quite keen on that sort of deal: think Joseph Yobo to Everton (2002) or both Saïd Benrahma and Thomas Soucek to West Ham (2020).

In the buildup to the north London derby the former Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson repeated a line that almost every pundit/journalist/fan has used this season: “With Spurs, you don’t know what you’re going go get.” The trouble is it feels increasingly – especially in the league – that you know exactly what you’re going to get.

Wednesday night appeared entirely predictable. Watching two great young prospects, Djed Spence and Archie Gray, play the ball to each other, slowly but surely progressing it backwards towards their own corner flag before giving away possession/a throw/a corner with almost no other options, seemed like a very limited and dispiriting choose your own adventure.

On the rare occasion Spurs had the ball in Arsenal’s half, at no point did the players look like breaking through the back line. Knocking the ball from one side to the other, ignoring the opportunity to sling it into the box so Pedro Porro could overhit an impossible pass inside the full-back, giving Gabriel Magalhães another opportunity to show just how good he is at shepherding a ball out of play.

As with all football matches, it is worth pointing out the existence of the opposition. Arsenal may not be thrilling going forward but defensively they were absolutely brilliant. Even in the exact moment of conceding a goal they didn’t really look in any danger.

Spurs, since beating Manchester City 4-0 at the Etihad at the end of November, are 18th in the form table. They have five points from a possible 27. They are level on points with Crystal Palace and below West Ham. Since Ange Postecoglou’s impossibly good start last season (26 points from the first 10 games), his league win percentage is 39%.

So is there any kind of compelling case for keeping him? None of us is objective. Since moving to Australia I have been brainwashed by the football community. Perhaps because there are no Australian superstars in the men’s game, Ange carries the hopes of a wildly passionate set of fans who are almost universally desperate for him to succeed.

A lot of Premier League fans and pundits are quick to dismiss his achievements elsewhere. The A-League, the J-League, Scotland. If anything, the Scottish Premiership is a bit of an outlier compared to his previous successes. The Sydney Morning Herald sports reporter Vince Rugari wrote Angeball: The definitive biography of Ange Postecoglou. “Celtic is the only time he’s clearly had the best/richest team in the league,” he says. “In every job he’s had he’s faced exactly the same questions/criticisms as he is now: he must adapt, it won’t work at this level, he’s naive, been found out, no plan B. Every time he’s proved that sort of narrative totally wrong.

“If you’re faced with the question: ‘Do we trust this guy to turn it around?’ It really depends for me how highly you rate his credentials from earlier in his career. If you think Asia is a joke and that it’s easy to win the Asian Cup or whatever, and can’t recognise how difficult it is to navigate a salary cap and build a team that plays possession football with limited Aussie players … then yeah you probably think, bin this guy. But if you are the opposite, then betting against Ange is a bit like thinking that maybe this time Wile E. Coyote is gonna get that bloody Road Runner.”

Injuries also matter. They are not interesting to talk about – any conversation about them ends with: “Everyone has them, you just have to find a way.” But they can define seasons. If important players are injured in positions where you have limited cover you will get fewer points. To be without your first-choice goalkeeper and centre-backs (and now left-back) for such an extended period means Spurs should be a few points lower than expected.

It also adds to the exhaustion of the 14 or so who are playing every few days. There is an interesting question about how much Ange’s style contributes to injuries. Historically there doesn’t seem to be a consistent pattern of it happening under him, although perhaps the physicality and relentlessness of the Premier League pushes Angeball hamstrings past their elastic limit.

Limited cover, especially at the back, seems an important point here. Where should blame be apportioned for going into a season with only three centre-backs and a second keeper with such a wildly different skill set to your No 1?

This is where Daniel Levy comes in. The Football Weekly podcast regular, and Spurs season-ticket holder, Mark Langdon from the Racing Post articulated it well on a recent episode. “Inside the stadium not many people have been calling for Ange to go. I think the issues lie way above Postecoglou. Daniel Levy has been in charge for a quarter of a century.

“ There’s a direct link between wage bill expenditure and success in football and Tottenham have tried to do it on the cheap. According to Deloitte’s last figures, for the 2022-23 season, Spurs have got the lowest wages to revenue ratio in the Premier League. That in itself shows a lack of ambition. They wanted [Leandro] Trossard, they wanted [Pedro] Neto, they wanted Luis Díaz. They got [Arnaut] Danjuma, [Manor] Solomon and Timo Werner. There are lots of things at the club that people are unhappy with and Ange is a long way down that list even though things are not going well on the pitch.”

So if football leagues are the same (a big if), history suggests that Ange, with a fit squad and a bit more investment, can overachieve with Spurs. Perhaps for a number of reasons the Premier League is where this approach falls down. Postecoglou is coming up against the best managers and players he’s ever faced.

I would stick with him – for this season, and next. If nothing else to just see it play out. At their best under Ange they are a brilliant and thrilling football team. I am more interested to see if he can get them doing that consistently than to see another manager come in and start again.

Worst-case scenario Spurs are average at best for another couple of years. Their fans should be well adjusted to cope with that – nothing in the past two and a half decades suggests someone else would do better. Just imagine if it did work, with those talented teenagers at the heart of it. If all things were fair and equal, then this crisis will only make the story better in the end.

NOT SO HOTSPUR

Since comfortably beating Aston Villa at the start of November, Tottenham Hotspur have won only two of the 11 Premier League matches they’ve contested. Well, played in or at least turned up for. Indeed, a good lawyer might argue that technically they haven’t really won any because one of the aforementioned victories came against peak b@nter era Manchester City, while not even Spurs were capable of doing anything other than swat the current Southampton rabble aside, a feat that is not so much something to be proud of, but more the equivalent of helping yourself to the pennies covering a dead man’s eyes. Having taken just eight points from their previous 10 games, Ange Postecoglou’s knack-depleted team went into Wednesday night’s north London derby as firm underdogs … and duly lived down to their billing.

Despite taking a first-half lead with what would prove their final shot on target, they did little else to ensure that their Australian manager would conduct his post-match interviews while staring forlornly at his brogues in the style to which he, assorted interrogators and so many Spurs fans, have become wearily accustomed. “Not good enough, especially the first half which was way too passive,” fumed Ange following a derby in which only the hosts seemed to go about their business with any additional neighbourly animus. “We allowed Arsenal to take control. I was disappointed with us with and without the ball, allowing them to dictate the tempo. Nowhere near good enough. That’s not who we are. That’s not how I set the team up to play. To be sitting in and allowing Arsenal to play just wasn’t good enough.”

While all available evidence suggests that, despite Ange’s protests to the contrary, “that” is exactly who Spurs are and have been for so long that their very name has become a byword for spinelessness and meek capitulation, but quite how the increasingly frustrated Aussie plans to rid the club of its apparently ingrained loser mentality remains to be seen. With Spurs currently sitting 13th in the table eight points clear of the relegation zone and just one better off than the worst Manchester United team of the past 30 years, he is unlikely to get the chance to try anything unless results improve very quickly.

While Arsenal had knack issues of their own to contend with, their manager and fans were understandably delighted with the performance of Myles Lewis-Skelly, who became their youngest player to start a match against Spurs in 20 years. Far from being overwhelmed, the 18-year-old snapped into tackles, blocked what passed for anything resembling a kitchen sink that Spurs threw at him and crowned a memorable day at the office by winding up Richarlison. “My mum, my grandma, my friends [were at the game],” he tooted before revealing the presence of one relative in particular had kept him motivated. “I had to put on a show for my grandma, to make sure that I did not look soft in front of her. I had to make sure I was winning my tackles for her, and hopefully she is proud of me.”

Expect Ange to issue a flurry of invitations to the nans of assorted Tottenham players before Sunday’s game against Everton if he thinks it might finally shame some of his underperforming stars into a performance that might move them up the table.

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I would never dare doubt the accuracy and reliability of statistics from Big Website, but some of the match stats from the Holsten Pils Kiel v Dortmund game that you directed us to in Wednesday’s News, Bits and Bobs (full email edition) seem more inflated than a Roman Eagle handler’s tackle. By my maths, this works out at a shot every 52 seconds, a corner just shy of every three minutes, and more than a foul every minute. Pity the poor set-piece coaches and magic-sponge carriers, they’ll be needing a second winter break to recover from the exertions” – Neil McGwyre.

I’m not sure I need to get involved in this, but perhaps Thomas Ayre (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) meant to say that Lazio didn’t have the ‘cojones’ to sack the eagle/fascist bloke, rather than ‘cajones’, which would mean they didn’t have the drawers, or possibly coffins. Or maybe, as these are both Spanish, we’d be better off with ‘coglioni’” – Mark Taylor (and 1,056 others).

After Everton’s home defeat on Wednesday, perhaps David Moyes will actually need Leighton Baines to help him find a Pret (Tuesday’s David Squires cartoon) – as he has already lost his way” – Dedric Helgert.

Darian Boyd’s letter o’ the day (yesterday’s letters) for his motorbike-related quip was some Triumph” – Mike Wrall.

Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Neil McGwyre. Terms and conditions for our competitions – when we have them – can be viewed here.

Pedro Porro hit the post in the 94th minute. It was an opportunistic shot from a tight angle, about 20 yards out. No kind of angle for a shot, really. But it was struck well, fierce and swerving viciously away from David Raya in the Arsenal goal, who probably wouldn’t have saved it. The frame was still rattling several seconds later.

So, here’s a thought exercise. What are the consequences if Porro’s shot goes in? Does it make this Tottenham team any better? Does it change our assessment of their season so far? Does it render the club any better run or better coached? It shouldn’t, right? A hopeful pot-shot going an inch to the left shouldn’t mean anything beyond itself.

But of course a miracle goal in injury time of the north London derby changes everything, from the title race to the mood music around Arsenal to – very possibly – the trajectory of Tottenham’s season. And the reason for pointing all this out is that it’s becoming increasingly clear, 18 months into the new Spurs era, that this is a project whose success or failure is going to turn on stupidly fine margins.

Here Ange Postecoglou’s side had a golden opportunity to do the funniest thing imaginable, which was to beat Arsenal 1-0 with a goal from a set piece. Instead they suffered one of their characteristic bleak episodes, those few pulsing minutes when the lights start flashing, and the room starts spinning, and the voices, and the voices, and the voices. Arsenal scored two largely undeserved goals in four minutes just before half-time, and that was enough to seal Tottenham’s 12th defeat of the season in all competitions.

And again, here you can choose your own adventure. Eleven of those 12 defeats have been by a single goal, illustrating that Spurs have been supremely unlucky, or unforgivably naive, or lacking in killer instinct, or so close to being very good. This is perhaps the defining theme of Angeball: the ability to create multiple realities around itself, to add layers and layers of context until even hard facts begin to feel traitorous. So forget what you think about this team. What do we know for sure?

Well, we know that right now Tottenham are very bad. How bad? On their current trajectory they’re on course for 43 points, which would be their worst ever Premier League season in the 20-team Premier League era. Worse than the Christian Gross season, worse than the Juande Ramos season, worse than the season where they fired Glenn Hoddle and basically forgot to replace him.

We also know these players have basically been getting flogged twice a week, in a ruthless high-intensity style, since August. Look at the team who started this game. The ones who are good are knackered, and the ones who are not knackered are not good. There are times when it feels like Dejan Kulusevski is carrying this team on his lungs alone. Dominic Solanke has lost a yard of sharpness. Son Heung-min has lost a yard of pace. James Maddison is not capable of a full 90. Porro looks sketchy as hell.

Most of the rest are basically a punt on potential. New goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky is a good example: a wild and mercurial talent with abundant confidence on the ball and a habit of getting tackled maybe twice a game. The sort of player you nurture and protect. Instead, with half an hour on the clock Kinsky had taken more touches than any other Tottenham player.

And yet with 39 minutes on the clock, Spurs were ahead. All that was required from here was a little poise and patience against an Arsenal team struggling for goals, hesitant in the final third, lacking a reliable scoring threat, tense and taut and sullen and doubting themselves. This isn’t about Plan B, or shutting up shop, or compromising on a sacred footballing creed. It’s about making good decisions, staying composed, doing the simple things well. Playing 90 minutes, not just the next 90 seconds.

Instead Kinsky misjudged a corner and Radu Dragusin lost the run of Gabriel Magalhães. Instead Yves Bissouma was caught in possession when there was an elementary pass on to Djed Spence. Twenty minutes against Brighton. Fifteen against Ipswich. Twenty against Chelsea. Four minutes here. That’s the difference between a Champions League tilt and the worst Spurs side since Ossie Ardiles.

There is a really good side in here. Maybe lacking in passing sophistication, but exciting and youthful and aggressive and reared in a common style and with a devastatingly high ceiling. But it is also a side addicted to danger, impulsive and impatient, perennially on the wrong end of fine margins because this is what happens when you play like there are no consequences and infinite excuses.

It’s the injuries. It’s the poor recruitment. It’s the schedule. It’s the corner that shouldn’t have been given. This is just the way we play, mate, and we trust the process. The good times are just around the corner. And of course there is a rich irony here. In keeping the faith, Tottenham fans are displaying the kind of exemplary patience so lacking in the team representing them.

Arsenal could feel the heat. Back-to-back home losses in the domestic cups had seen to that. One has pushed them to the brink of elimination in the Carabao Cup, ahead of the semi-final second leg at Newcastle. The other on penalties against Manchester United in the FA Cup was terminal.

Mikel Arteta’s team could also sense opportunity. Liverpool’s draw at Nottingham Forest had seen to that. And so the equation was pretty clear. Manage the occasion against the team they most love to hate. And win to move to within four points of Liverpool at the top, albeit having played an extra game.

There would be a blip when Tottenham, whose recent Premier League form is an embarrassment, went in front through the captain, Son Heung-min. What a tonic it was for them and for him, as he negotiates a personally trying season.

But the overall thrust of things was Arsenal pushing out their chests and asserting themselves. They would gain control with a devastating one- two punch before the interval. First they forced a Dominic Solanke own goal on a corner; their 27th in the league since the start of last season, the 10th of the current campaign. And then Leandro Trossard found a way through Antonin Kinsky’s hands; a nightmare moment for the new Spurs goalkeeper.

Spurs simply did not do enough in the second half; they barely threatened en route to another league defeat – their sixth in nine games. Ange Postecoglou keeps on explaining them away. Arsenal are looking up.

It was quite the scene before kick-off, fireworks exploding and the Arsenal support unfurling a giant tifo: London is red. The home team tore into Spurs from the first whistle, refusing to give them an inch, forcing turnovers high up. And winning corners and free-kicks in wide areas. Kinsky was subjected to an exacting initial test.

For Spurs, it was about weathering the early storm. They had to put their bodies on the line. Arsenal’s intensity was really something. Spurs wanted to build from the back, as usual, but it was difficult to connect their moves up and out. Kinsky had a couple of dicey moments on the ball, Kai Havertz robbing him on one occasion before the goalkeeper dived on it.

The first 22 minutes was all Arsenal; Spurs barely crossed halfway. And yet when they did, the game would turn. The visitors made their mark with a bang. First Djed Spence almost found Dominic Solanke with an outside-of-the-boot cross; Gabriel Magalhães made a crucial intervention. From the corner, when Dejan Kulusevski beat Declan Rice, he had a clear shooting chance. David Raya made a fine block.

When Spurs won another corner, they made it count. Arsenal could only half-clear to the edge of the area where Son was lurking and he did well to keep the volley down. His fortune would be a deflection off William Saliba which was too much for Raya.

What had Arsenal created of clearcut note during the first half of the first period? Only Rice’s touch for Trossard, which led to a brave intervention by Radu Dragusin. The crowd felt edgy as half-time neared. Raheem Sterling, a surprise selection ahead of Gabriel Martinelli, could get nothing going. Spence had his number.

Then it turned again, just as sharply. It was a corner for Arsenal, of course it was; controversially awarded because the last touch looked to have been off Trossard and not Pedro Porro. When Rice bent it over, Magalhães jumped with Dragusin beyond the far post, the ball appearing to come off the Spurs defender before flicking off Solanke and going in.

Arsenal completed the turnaround before the interval when Thomas Partey robbed Yves Bissouma and got Arsenal moving through Martin Ødegaard. It was yet another quick transition. Ødegaard went to Trossard, who dragged a low shot towards the far corner, which Kinsky looked to have covered. He got his arm down and across in time. It was just that the ball bounced and went over it. Kinsky buried his face in the turf. He knew.

Postecoglou shuffled his creative options for the second period; a rare luxury given his ongoing selection crisis. It was just the nine players unavailable here. On came James Maddison and Brennan Johnson; Dejan Kulusevski moved inside from the right. Arteta had been without six players, the most painful miss remaining Bukayo Saka, who was here, leaning on his crutches. Thomas Tuchel, the new England manager, was another interested onlooker. Myles Lewis-Skelly for the problem left-back position?

Arsenal continued to push after the restart. Havertz went close with a header from a corner and directed another one straight at Kinsky, although the offside flag did go up. There was a flicker from Sterling, which never threatened to come to anything, and a touch then air-kick from Trossard. As long as the ball was in the Spurs half, the Arsenal crowd could breathe easy.

Kinsky was one of four Spurs starters aged 22 or under; these players are learning in an incredibly pressured situation. He got himself into trouble with a heavy touch just after the hour before getting out of it with a Cruyff-style flick. It is called personality.

Spurs could not make it happen in the second period; Solanke had a shot blocked and Porro went close from a tight angle at the very end but it was Arsenal that had the bigger chances. Rice banged straight at Kinsky while Ødegaard somewhat pushed wide of a post when gloriously placed.

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You can get sevens on Tottenham Hotspur to win tonight. That doesn’t seem particularly generous seeing they’ve only won one of their last 31 Premier League visits to Arsenal, that victory coming all the way back in late 2010. To be fair to Spurs, their 3-2 triumph that day was one for the ages: relive it here in the old-style MBM format. [Contains references to Charles Mingus and Lester Young. Any old excuse… ]

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Ange Postecoglou talks to TNT Sports. “It’s a special game … we should all embrace that part of it … it’s not just another game … [Antonin Kinsky] has handled things really well so far … some big games, some tricky games … it’ll be a great test for him but I’m sure he’ll cope well … apart from [Archie Gray] helping us through this period, the growth we’ve seen in him and the benefit we’ll get from that once we get some players back will be enormous … we’re super pleased to get [Richarlison] back … him and Mikey Moore give us a few more options in the front third … Richy can’t wait to get out there and will see some action tonight … hopefully we can give the fans a night to remember.”

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It’s derby day, so chances are the Emirates will be a cauldron of bedlam tonight. That’ll be just as well from Arsenal’s perspective, argues Jonathan Liew. “For all the focus on Arteta’s attention to detail, the fixation on things such as set pieces and defensive spacing, at root he is a vibes coach.” Click below for more.

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Arsenal make four changes to the XI that started the FA Cup defeat to Manchester United. Raheem Sterling, Leandro Trossard, Declan Rice and Thomas Partey are in from the off; Gabriel Martinelli, Mikel Merino and Jorginho drop to the bench, while Gabriel Jesus prepares for surgery on his ACL.

Tottenham Hotspur make five changes to the side that began the win at Tamworth. Lucas Bergvall, Dejan Kulusevski, Dominic Solanke, Son Heung-min and Djed Spence step up; James Maddison, Sergio Reguilón, Brennan Johnson and Mikey Moore drop to the bench, while Timo Werner misses out altogether.

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The teams

Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly, Odegaard, Partey, Rice, Sterling, Havertz, Trossard.

Subs: Neto, Tierney, Martinelli, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Merino, Butler-Oyedeji, Kabia.

Tottenham Hotspur: Kinsky, Porro, Dragusin, Gray, Spence, Bissouma, Sarr, Bergvall, Kulusevski, Solanke, Son.

Subs: Austin, Reguilon, Richarlison, Maddison, Johnson, Lankshear, Moore, Olusesi, Hardy.

Referee: Simon Hooper

VAR: Peter Bankes

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Updated at 20.03 CET

Preamble

Neither of these teams covered themselves in glory in the third round of the Cup. Both could do with a big bounce-back result in the Premier League, with the title race, robustness of peg for Ange’s coat, local pride, etc., all in mind. Kick-off at the Emirates is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!

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Antonin Kinsky has bred confidence in his new Tottenham teammates and liberated them, according to the manager, Ange Postecoglou, who is ready to pitch him into another huge challenge on Wednesday night – the north London derby at Arsenal.

It has been a whirlwind period for the 21-year-old goalkeeper since his arrival from Slavia Prague on the Sunday before last; the £12.5m fee made it one of the most expensive transfers from the Czech league.

With the regular Spurs No 1, Guglielmo Vicario, out with a fractured ankle, Postecoglou put Kinsky into the lineup for the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at home against Liverpool last Wednesday. Everybody knew how it would have been portrayed if Kinsky made a mistake but he starred in the 1-0 win, making a couple of fine saves, and was largely assured with his distribution.

Then came a different game in the FA Cup on Sunday at non-league Tamworth, who brought a no-frills aerial approach on set pieces, including long throws. Kinsky stood firm in the 3-0 extra-time victory to become the first Spurs goalkeeper for more than 100 years to keep clean sheets in his first two matches. Postecoglou said he could talk up Kinsky’s technical ability but what had really impressed him was his mindset.

“It’s more to do with being prepared to embrace the challenge,” Postecoglou said. “It’s not easy going to a place like Tamworth and they’re throwing balls literally under the crossbar and you’ve got about 20 bodies around you. It’s more about mindset and tackling that, and he didn’t shy away from it.

“It does give some comfort to the players around him if they see he’s handling it well. It means they can focus on their own job and be a lot more clear-headed. When he came out and dealt with the first two and caught them, the players around saw that he’s got this. If he didn’t and there was uncertainty, it tends to filter through the whole team.”

The atmosphere at Tamworth was hostile, with Postecoglou receiving terrible abuse from the fans behind his bench. “The stuff I heard was pretty vile and detestable, and getting things thrown at me … not a great experience,” he said. “We’re kind of expected to be the bigger person, but I would love to have turned around and not been the bigger person in that moment.”

Kinksy may reflect that the Tamworth experience will prepare him for what Arsenal will seek to do on set pieces – get men in his six-yard box; physically unsettle him. When Arsenal won 1-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the fourth game of the Premier League season, Gabriel Magalhães’s goal came from a corner and it continued a trend.

Spurs had conceded from a set piece in their previous match – the defeat at Newcastle – and were breached 16 times from set pieces in the league last season; only three clubs conceded more. Since Gabriel’s goal, though, they have let in only four from set pieces. As an aside, Spurs have conceded the fewest goals in the division away from home – nine.

“It’s the evolution of the team,” Postecoglou said. “Last year, people were pretty simplistic in their outlook when I spoke about set pieces, that I didn’t care about set pieces and we didn’t have a set-pieces coach so we didn’t work on them. We haven’t put more emphasis on it. We’ve changed a few things around with the way we’re defending and it’s working really well for us this season.

“When we played Arsenal at our place, they scored a good goal and that was the difference. They’ve done that to a lot of teams but for the most part we handled the set pieces well and we will have to again. Declan Rice delivers a great corner and they’ve got some big guys.”

Postecoglou spoke about how the in-form striker Dominic Solanke, who joined last summer, had “exceeded” what he was hoping for. But the manager is happy that Richarlison is poised to return after two and a half months out to reduce the load on Solanke. Spurs are desperate for a positive result after winning once in eight league matches and losing five, slipping to 13th place.

Ange Postecoglou defended the abolition of FA Cup replays after his Tottenham side defied non-league Tamworth 3-0 in extra time of their third-round tie. Under the previous regulations, Tamworth would have earned a lucrative replay at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when the whistle blew at 90 minutes with the game still goalless.

But from this season, matches are being played to a finish on the day, and a tiring Tamworth were swept aside in the extra period to earn Tottenham a fourth-round tie at Aston Villa. Postecoglou said that scheduling concerns for top clubs justified the change. As well as league and European commitments, Tottenham are currently engaged in a two-legged League Cup semi-final against Liverpool this month.

“I get the sentiment, but at the same time I’ve been banging on about less [fewer] games so it is a balancing act,” he said. “The way the calendar is at the moment, it would be almost impossible for us to fit another game in. We are already struggling to fit it all in. I certainly believe in the competition and what it does offer every part of the football pyramid, and I think it should be protected.”

The Tamworth coach, Andy Peaks, paid tribute to his semi-professional players for their performance against a team ranked 96 places above them in the league pyramid. “To take a team to extra time, it is unbelievable,” he said. “I am immensely proud. I just said: ‘Don’t be disappointed, because we almost created history there.’

“Even this week it didn’t really sink in what we were actually going to do. It will probably take a few days. I’m getting Archie Gray’s top. He has promised me one. He won’t let me down. He knows I’m a Leeds fan.”

Fourth-round draw roundup: Manchester United face Foxes

The FA Cup holders Manchester United have been drawn to play Leicester at Old Trafford in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

United, who defeated Manchester City in last season’s final, have been rewarded with a home tie after their 10 men won at Arsenal on penalties in the third round earlier on Sunday evening.

The Premier League leaders Liverpool will travel to the Championship’s bottom club Plymouth, who upset Brentford on Saturday, and Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City face an away trip to either Leyton Orient or Derby.

Three all-Premier League ties will see the eight-time winners Chelsea take on Brighton at the Amex Stadium, while Aston Villa host Tottenham and Everton face Bournemouth at Goodison Park.

Exeter, in the fourth round for the first time since 1981, face a tough home tie against Nottingham Forest and Newcastle will play at League One leaders Birmingham.

Ties will be played between 7-10 February.

The fourth-round draw in full:

Manchester United v Leicester City

Leeds United v Millwall/Dagenham & Redbridge

Brighton v Chelsea

Preston/Charlton v Wycombe

Exeter v Nottingham Forest

Coventry City v Ipswich Town

Blackburn Rovers v Wolves

Mansfield Town/Wigan v Fulham

Birmingham v Newcastle

Plymouth Argyle v Liverpool

Everton v Bournemouth

Aston Villa vs Tottenham

Southampton v Burnley

Leyton Orient/Derby County v Manchester City

Doncaster Rovers v Crystal Palace

Stoke v Cardiff

Non-league Tamworth produced a heroic display to take Tottenham to extra time before the Premier League club limped into the FA Cup fourth round with a 3-0 win. Andy Peaks’ National League outfit pushed Spurs all the way at a buoyant Lambs Ground, before Nathan Tshikuna’s own goal finally put the visitors ahead after 101 minutes.

Tamworth had threatened to win the tie in second-half stoppage time before Ange Postecoglou watched two of his substitutes help them progress. Dominic Solanke’s effort – via Tshikuna’s final touch – broke the deadlock, before Dejan Kulusevski clinched the hard-fought victory with a second, six minutes later. Brennan Johnson added unjust gloss to the score with a third late on, but it failed to sour a memorable occasion for the hosts, who received a standing ovation after extra time.

Tamworth had asked for volunteers to help clear the ground on Saturday morning to ensure the biggest match in the club’s history could go ahead 24 hours later and Postecoglou showed plenty of respect with his starting lineup.

James Maddison captained a Spurs side which contained five players from the midweek victory over Liverpool, but kick-off was delayed due to an issue with the net in one of the goals.

Play eventually got under way five minutes later after Tamworth’s Beck-Ray Enoru got on the shoulders of the goalkeeper Jas Singh to help fix the net – and he almost stunned the visitors inside 25 seconds. Enoru raced past Pedro Porro on the left but his rasping cross-shot was tipped over by Tottenham’s January recruit Antonin Kinsky.

Tamworth’s long-throw specialist Tom Tonks was required after four minutes and yet Spurs dealt with it comfortably to briefly quieten a partisan home crowd. It was not the case with the next one as Tonks’ arrowed long throw beat Kinsky and hit a post, although the referee, Peter Bankes, had already awarded a foul.

Tottenham had struggled to get to grips with the artificial surface at the Lamb Ground until Maddison started to dictate play midway through the first half. He had tried his luck twice early on to no avail but went close in the 31st minute with a superb curled effort, which Singh parried wide.

Pape Sarr had a shot blocked moments later and Maddison should have scored after 38 minutes. Timo Werner found Maddison inside the area, but the Spurs playmaker could only fire straight at Singh in the Tamworth goal, which ensured it was goalless at the break.

A raucous cheer greeted the return of the Tamworth players for the second half as the sun started to break out in a frosty Staffordshire. The breakthrough almost arrived in the 55th minute when Mikey Moore picked out Werner, but his header was cleared off the line by Haydn Hollis.

Three minutes later and Tamworth went agonisingly close as Enoru had a shot blocked before Callum Cockerill-Mollett’s follow-up was deflected wide. Chances were being created more frequently now and Johnson played in Werner, but Singh got out quickly to deny the Germany forward and Jordan Cullinane-Liburd produced an equally fine block to thwart Werner again.

It was almost followed by a sensational breakthrough for the non-league side when Ben Milnes’ corner was headed off target by Cullinane-Liburd with 22 minutes of normal time left.

Postecoglou had seen enough and introduced Solanke and Lucas Bergvall, which failed to spark a dramatic swing in momentum. As the seconds ticked away, the frustration of the Premier League side started to grow with Porro booked before six minutes were added on at the end of normal time.

Tamworth dug into their energy reserves to keep going and were almost rewarded with a dramatic stoppage-time winner. A slip by Solanke presented a chance for Tom McGlinchey but Yves Bissouma got across to block and Kinsky gratefully gathered the loose ball after Cullinane-Linurd threatened again.

It was a scoreline to be proud of for Tamworth, yet they unfortunately saw Son Heung-min and Kulusevski ready to go for extra time. As the part-time outfit started to fatigue, quick-thinking helped create the opener as Son found Johnson from a free-kick and his cross found Solanke, before the unfortunate Tshikuna turned the ball in.

Kulusevski made it 2-0 in the 107th minute with a fine finish after Son’s pass and Johnson wrapped up the scoring with two minutes left as Tottenham reached round four after an almighty scare.