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It is pretty unanimous amongst the Tottenham Hotspur fanbase that defensive reinforcements are needed in this January transfer window. Whilst the defensive record has improved a bit of late, there are still a number of square pegs in round holes. Acquisitions would allow players such as Archie Gray to move back into their natural positions, which would help further improve the side.

As a result, Spurs have already been linked to a number of central defenders this month, though none have been signed as of late. One of the latest to be linked with a move to the club this month is Senou Coulibaly.

Tottenham looking for Malian central defender from Cyprus

According to African media outlet Africa Foot, Spurs are interested in the defender, who currently plays for Cypriot side AC Omonia. They state that the club have been particularly been impressed with the player's performances in the UEFA Conference League. Furthermore, they suggest that the club "appreciate his profile", and that they are "currently in discussions" to bring the defender to Hotspur Way.

However, the club are said to not be alone in their interest in the defender, with the report suggesting that both West Ham United and Serie A side Fiorentina have also alleged to have had talks with the player, with the former considering a meeting to discuss the outlay of a potential transfer.

As it stands, Coulibaly only has six months remaining on his existing contract, so could be available for a very modest fee - albeit Africa Foot state that the club "have not given up" on their attempts to tie him down with a new contract.

In terms of profile, the 30-year old stands at around 6'4 tall, making him fit the description of "towering" centre half. That said, there could be some doubts over whether or not he has the required athleticism and mobility to play in such a high line like Spurs so often do.

Although he has improved in recent weeks, there have been plenty of criticism aimed at the signing of Radu Dragusin, with the player not seen as someone who is capable of playing in a high line. It is important that they do not make the same mistake with other signings, given the amount of games Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero tend to miss each season.

Nevertheless, at what would surely be such a low fee, it could be something that Spurs look to explore this month.

It is safe to say that Antonin Kinsky has made an excellent early impression since joining Tottenham Hotspur early on this month. Thrown into the deep end with a debut at home to Liverpool just days after signing, the goalkeeper kept a clean sheet, making a few excellent saves, and looking extremely comfortable with the ball at his feet, helping Spurs to a big win.

Even against Tamworth, the goalkeeper had a busier afternoon than he was probably expecting. With near enough the final kick of second half stoppage time, the goalkeeper made a save to deny an opposition toe poke, and save Spurs from perhaps the most humiliating defeat in the club's history.

Petr Cech reveals Chelsea had looked at Antonin Kinsky

However, in another timeline, he may have been producing for another London side instead. Speaking to The Telegraph, Petr Cech has revealed that Kinsky could have joined Chelsea a number of years ago: "I remember the moment when Antonín Kinsky was still playing for the national team at under-16. A game when we watched him and when we scouted him for our own club [Chelsea].

You could see that he was strong, with his legs, you could see that he had a good starting position and he was actually helping the team at the back to launch attacks.”

Inevitably, Cech was asked about the comparisons to himself, but wanted to play it down: "Of course, he comes from Czechia and that comparison will always be there. But I think it’s important that he makes his own way. Radek Cerny already made a good impression at Tottenham.”

As you can imagine, the goalkeeper had to make a dig at the club, when asked if he has what he needs to succeed in North London, though was complimentary in the end. “I always went there [Tottenham] just for the game at the stadium and we always won and went back home (smiles). So it was always nice and all that.

But I have to say that the important thing here is that the facilities are great, whether it’s the training centre or whether it’s the stadium and I think that’s where you spend most of your time, so this is important.”

On Wednesday evening, Tottenham Hotspur will make the short trip to face Arsenal in the North London derby, for game week twenty one of the Premier League season.

Going to extra time against Tamworth, and having to bring on the likes of Dominic Solanke, Heung-Min Son, Dejan Kulusevski, and Djed Spence on to win the game, was far from ideal preparation. However, it has ended up being even worse for Arsenal.

Later on in the day, in fact the game had actually kicked off before Spurs' had finished - they hosted Manchester United for their third round tie. Despite United having ten men for nearly an hour of the game, they could only draw the game 1-1 after extra time, and were dumped out after a 5-3 penalty shootout defeat. Even though it is impossible to play with ten men, allegedly.

Key Arsenal forward ruled out of the North London derby

Five minutes before the break, Gabriel Jesus was taken off, having needed a stretcher. Since the game, it has been suggested that the forward has potentially suffered an ACL injury, which will obviously keep him out of Wednesday's game, as well as most of 2025.

As a result, their numbers in attack have become even more bare than before. Their injuries are nothing like Spurs have endured, let's make that clear. However, the absences they do have all appear to be in the same area - on the right hand side.

To begin, Bukayo Saka picked up a hamstring injury before Christmas, resulting in surgery, and an absence of at least two months. Next in line on the right hand side was 17-year old Ethan Nwaneri, whom has played with Mikey Moore for the England age groups. In their draw away to Brighton and Hove Albion, he also picked up an injury - and will miss the North London derby as a result.

So, all three of their right-wing options will be out for the game. As mentioned above, it is not like having three of your starting back four out, as well as your goalkeeper - making it four out of five from the defensive unit - but useful for Spurs all the same.

Furthermore, whilst both teams games went to extra time, Arsenal had a hell of a lot more first teamers out there. The likes of Gabriel, William Saliba, Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, and Gabriel Martinelli all played for two hours. This could be an opportunity for Ange's side, whom drew this fixture 2-2 last season.

Former Tottenham Hotspur academy defender, Kyle Walker-Peters, who has been linked with a move back to the club this season - has been listed as available for just £7m from Southampton this January transfer window.

Tottenham linked full back available for a very small fee

This is due to the player being out of contract this summer, and the player refusing to extend his contract at the South Coast club, of whom he has spent five years with, since joining from Spurs - initially on loan - this time in 2020 - before making it a permanent transfer that following summer.

Although not a player of absolutely immense quality, he is someone who can provide cover in both full-back positions. When Southampton were previously in the Premier League, his form was good enough to get an England call up, and subsequently get a couple of caps under his belt.

Furthermore, Walker-Peters would boost Spurs' club trained and homegrown quota, which can never be a bad thing. It is basically like having another version of Djed Spence - someone who can cover at left back, or right back, although he is probably not of the same quality as the 24 year old.

At just seven million pounds, you would like to hope it wouldn't scupper any other deals. I.e. if Spurs want to buy a forward, you would have thought it would not then be unable to happen as a result of a £7m transaction. There is the idea of waiting until the summer, and getting him on a free - but for the sake of seven million, would it not be wise to add some depth into the full-back areas.

We have seen how tired Pedro Porro has looked of late, and he was really, really poor against Tamworth. There is Spence to play at right back instead, but he is currently having to cover both at left back and centre back of late. To have the four options of; Udogie, Spence, Porro, and Walker-Peters would feel reasonable, albeit three of those are right-footed, even if two have experience at left-back.

We'll have to wait and see. Out of the one million transfer links this window, this is one of the less exciting ones, but sometimes the more basic signings can end up being more valuable than those that have all the clamour towards them, so you never know. One to keep an eye on.

Tamworth goalkeeper Jasbir Singh has hailed Tottenham Hotspur star James Maddison as an "absolute gent" and thanked him for his actions behind the scenes.

Tottenham Hotspur were very nearly made the victims of "magic of the cup" at the weekend. Tamworth surprisingly took Spurs to extra time in the FA Cup third round match.

From our perspective, we can pinpoint the blame on the Tottenham players for not burying the game within the 90 minutes, which is what anyone would have expected going into the match-up.

However, it is also important to give credit where its due. Tamworth played with plenty of heart and not only were they brilliant hosts, they gave excellent competition and a steep learning curve to the Spurs team.

Tamworth goalkeeper highlights one Tottenham star as an “absolute gent”

In a conversation on X (formerly Twitter), Tamworth goalkeeper Jaz Singh described James Maddison as an "absolute gent" and thanked him for his actions behind the scenes at the Tamworth vs Tottenham match.

In his own words, Singh said: "Absolute gent I think all our boys appreciate the time and effort you made with them."

Singh put in a phenomenal shift against Tottenham. The Tamworth goalie kept a clean sheet to see Tamworth into extra time. It was a defensive mistake from Tamworth which saw Spurs break the deadlock.

Ultimately, it was great to see the respect shown by Tottenham players against Tamworth. No celebrations were over the top and if we're reading between the lines, we can assume Maddison even made an effort with the Tamworth players behind the scenes.

Without a doubt, the sense of respect shown by Tottenham players would have been instilled, if it wasn't already, by Ange Postecoglou. In the buildup to the match, Ange was quick to remind everyone that most players he's worked with, including those at Tottenham, came from a grassroots/non-league background.

While it was annoying that Tottenham were dragged into extra time by Tamworth, we can have nothing but respect for the team from Staffordshire. We also wish them nothing but the best for their future endeavours and we thank them for reminding us all what football is really about.

The current situation Spurs have at left-back is fairly well documented. Destiny Udogie came into the campaign having missed almost all of pre-season due to surgery, and is now currently out injured for a while. In Europe, Archie Gray has covered there - but is now needed at centre-back. In the meantime, Djed Spence has also filled in well, but is right footed and a right back by trade.

Therefore, we have genuinely see Sergio Reguilon play some meaningful minutes. In the FA Cup third round win over Tamworth, he was actually one of Spurs' best players, alongside Gray and Yves Bissouma - not that the bar was set very high, mind you.

As good as Udogie is, it would be wise for the club to bring in another left back, you would feel. Have him and a new signing competing there, whilst Spence and Pedro Porro compete at right back, and ideally allow Gray back into his natural midfield position.

Spurs looking at very talented left back from Bournemouth

One player they could potentially be looking at is Bournemouth star Milos Kerkez. That is according to journalist Ben Jacobs, whom was speaking on the Last Word on Spurs Podcast: "And Tottenham are there for Milos Kerkez, for example, along with Manchester United, who are probably the front-runners at this stage. I don’t think Bournemouth will sell in January. They want 40 plus million.

But in the summer, Kerkez has got a new agent. So let’s wait and see. And you never know, Manchester United might get PSG’s Nuno Mendes [instead of Kerkez], who Ruben Amorim gave his debut at Sporting. And then that will be their left back covered - and then Kerkez may be available in the market to a slightly smaller pool of Premier League clubs, and the player would prefer to stay in England. So Tottenham could be there as far as Kerkez is concerned.”

Make no doubt about it, the Hungarian international is a great player, who would seriously improve the Tottenham Hotspur squad. Although an instinctive thought might be that he does not fit an Ange side, with Kerkez more of a high flying, intense full back - we have seen Spurs use their full backs in a more 'natural way' in recent weeks.

The last signing from Bournemouth turned out to be pretty good. We have seen Nathan Ake do pretty well for Manchester City, and Callum Wilson do well for Newcastle United before all of the injuries. Let's wait and see.

According to Lilywhite Rose, an expert when it comes to Tottenham Hotspur academy football - and someone well worth a follow on twitter if you wish to keep up to date with all the musings from the academy - Spurs central defender Alfie Dorrington is set to join Scottish side Aberdeen on loan until the end of the 24/25 season.

Teenage Spurs defender set to move to Aberdeen in Scotland

During the 5-0 win over Southampton back in December, the defender made his first team debut for the club, coming on as a substitute in the closing stages of the game. He has been named on the bench a number of times this season, including in the win over Tamworth in the FA Cup third round on Sunday.

As for Aberdeen, they currently sit fourth in the Scottish Premiership, with 35 points from their 22 games so far. Things could have been a lot better, mind you - on the 9th November they were only below Celtic on goal difference, but no wins since then mean they are now a whopping 24 points behind the defending champions.

Nevertheless, there is still plenty to play for, including European spots. Depending on when a deal is done, Dorrington could make his debut on Wednesday evening, when the Dons travel to Glasgow to face Rangers at Ibrox - one of the games he was on the bench for this season was Spurs' trip there in the Europa league last month.

On the 26th of February, he could face up against another Spurs academy centre back, when Aberdeen play away to Ange's old side Celtic, whom have Cameron Carter-Vickers as one of their regular starters in the heart of their defence. He may also face the Tottenham Hotspur linked Nicolas-Gerrit Kuhn, Celtic's star man on the right hand side of their attack.

It definitely feels like the next step in Dorrington's career is to make the leap from U21s football to playing regular senior football - so let's hope he will get that at Aberdeen. The other central defender Spurs have on loan at the moment, Ashley Phillips, is having a fruitful spell at Championship side Stoke City, so let's hope for something similar here.

After scraping past non league side Tamworth FC in the FA Cup third round proper, where they needed extra time, Tottenham Hotspur have been drawn away to fellow Premier League side Aston Villa in the fourth round. The game will be played somewhere between the 7th and 10th of February. The likelihood is it will be the 9th or 10th, with the Carabao Cup second leg set to take place on Thursday, the 6th of February.

Spurs to play fellow Premier League side in fourth round

Pretty safe to say, Spurs will need to play 100x better in that game than they did today, if they are to stand any chance of progressing to the fifth round of the competition. Hopefully it was the wake up call that they needed.

It will be the second all Premier League game in a row for Villa, whom beat West Ham United 2-1 on Friday night. There was an element of fortune to the victory, with their equaliser coming from a corner that should have been awarded as a goal kick.

This game will be the second meeting between the two sides this season, with Spurs coming out as 4-1 victors at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, back at the beginning of November. The Premier League game at Villa Park is the penultimate game of the season on the 18th of May.

Last time out away to Villa, we saw Ange's side win 4-0, with all four goals coming in the second half, with two goals each either side of a John McGinn red card for the hosts. Nevertheless, this will be a very difficult game, and was one of the harder games they could have drawn.

Meanwhile, there is a potential treat for Josh Keeley, Jamie Donley, and their Leyton Orient side. Should they overcome Derby County this midweek, when their postponed third round tie is played, they will host Manchester City for their fourth round tie.

It would actually not be the first time that Donley has faced City and Pep Guardiola in his career, having come on as a substitute for Brennan Johnson when Spurs drew 3-3 at the Etihad in November of 2023.

From being moments away from being knocked out to non league opposition in the first round, when Keeley scored a 99th minute equaliser, to being one game away from playing Manchester City. Some journey it has been for the Spurs loanees and their Orient side.

Finally, Matthew Craig and his new Mansfield Town side have a chance to host Premier League side Fulham, should they manage to beat Wigan Athletic in their rearranged tie this midweek.

During their time in North London together, Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son struck together a deadly partnership. Their 47 goal combinations is the most in Premier League history, and by quite a fair way too.

Harry Kane has glowing things to say about Spurs skipper

In a recent interview with L’Equipe, the former Spurs striker was asked about his chemistry with Son, and whether he could recreate it with another player at Bayern Munich. He responded: “I got on incredibly well with Heung-min Son. I also think he's one of the most underrated players in the top leagues. We've always had a very good technical relationship.

But it took on another dimension when José Mourinho came to Spurs. Before, the roles were more established, I was number 9, Sonny was on the left. We already understood each other very well in the game, but under José, we formed more of an attacking duo and there we created an almost telepathic connection with much more changing roles, one time I was upfront, another time I was dropping back to set him up.”

Fans were hoping we could see the same this season with Son and Dominic Solanke. Despite the latter’s elite hold up and overall game, it hasn’t quite happened as a duo so far, but it is still very early days — and you do have to factor in the sheer workload on both players at the moment.

Later on in the interview, Kane also spoke about watching Teddy Sheringham and Jermain Defoe being two of his role models growing up, with the latter of whom briefly crossing paths with Kane in the first team. “At the very beginning, it was Teddy Sheringham who had a very good sense of the game. We could add Ruud van Nistelrooy or Jermaine Defoe who was the Spurs scorer when I was in the youth team.”

Although there will be some Spurs fans who do not care about how Kane does over in Munich, it would feel pretty cool if Tottenham won the Carabao Cup, and Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga in the same season.

The important part is Spurs winning a trophy, but it would feel like a happy ending from a film if both things were to happen. Most importantly, a trophy is won— whilst Kane gets the silverware that has escaped him so long, without the narrative of having to leave Spurs for it, given in this scenario they would have won one.

On Sunday afternoon, Tottenham Hotspur travelled to the Midlands to face National League side Tamworth, in the FA Cup third round proper.

For the task at hand, Ange went with a strong XI, opting for; Kinsky; Porro, Dragusin, Gray, Reguilon; Sarr, Bissouma; Johnson, Maddison, Moore; Werner.

How it all happened when Spurs played Tamworth on Sunday

The game was delayed by five minutes or so, with one of the nets being broken - which had to be fixed by a Tamworth player, who works as a supervisor at Zara.

Within the first 45 seconds, Kinsky was called into action. Beck-Ray Enoru managed to weave through a number of players, before getting a shot off inside the box. The same player whose day job is working at Zara.

After around 17 minutes, another counter attack from the hosts lead to getting a shot away, but Gray was there to block the effort, and send it behind for a corner - which was well claimed by Kinsky.

With a little under ten minutes of the first half remaining, Spurs had their first presentable opportunity of the game. Nice link up in central areas from Maddison and Werner lead to the former having a clean chance at goal, but he could not get the backlift required and his shot was straight at the goalkeeper.

That would be that for the first half, after a really embarrassing 45 minutes from Spurs. Seriously, seriously humiliating.

Ten minutes into the second period, Moore took his man on down the outside, before playing an outside of the foot cross towards the far post. From there, Werner headed the ball back across goal, but it was cleared off the line.

Not long later, Tamworth generated another chance from their giant throw, with Dragusin and Gray having to make crucial blocks inside the area.

Twenty minutes into the second half, Spurs had their first true, clear cut chance of the game. Running through the middle of the pitch, Johnson found Werner with a through ball, but his one on one was a poor finish, and made it too easy for the goalkeeper.

Just a few minutes after, Tamworth had a big chance of their own, from a corner, but could not convert a headed opportunity from close range. Immediately after, Bergvall and Solanke replaced Sarr and Moore.

With twenty minutes or so remaining, a whipped in cross from Reguilon found Johnson at the back post, but he could only stab the ball into the side netting. Tight angle in fairness, but may have done better there.

There were 15 minutes left of normal time when Enoru knocked the ball past Porro, with the Spurs full-back receiving a yellow card for taking him out. Supervisor. At. Zara.

Deep into stoppage time, Tamworth went close from a set piece, twice. The first one was well blocked by Bissouma, and the second was very fortunately a little miskicked. That would be that. An absolutely humiliating game. The first 90 minute draw since the AC Milan second leg in March of 2023.

For extra-time, Ange looked to his bench, as Son, Spence and Kulusevski came on in place of Werner, Dragusin, and Maddison.

After 100 minutes, Spurs finally scored. At long last. After a set-piece, the ball was bundled into his own net by a Tamworth player. The pass from Porro to take the free-kick was clever, but everything else was very fortunate.

One minute into the second half of extra time, a low driven strike from Kulusevski into the bottom corner ended the tie. Make no mistake about it, this was absolutely humiliating. Fans have been crying out for Solanke and Kulusevski to get some rest, and they ended up having to player 52 and 30 minutes respectively against non league opposition. Another 30 minutes for the shattered Son too.

With three minutes remaining, the ball fell to Johnson inside the box, with a smart, swept finish into the far bottom corner. Has there ever been a more annoying 3-0 in football history?

Get out of there, and pretend that game never happened. Very frustrating day. Had Solanke started the game, and been taken off at half time, he would have played fewer minutes than he did. The likes of Kulusveski and Son playing half an hour, not optimal.

Three days before the North London derby, this felt like a good opportunity to get plenty of rest in, whilst they have an intense game against Manchester United. Never mind. In the hat. We go again.