Hotspur HQ

Tottenham are targeting a swift recovery from Sunday's disappointment when they take on Ligue 1 outfit Monaco in the Champions League on Wednesday night.

Thomas Frank's side succumbed to a 2-1 defeat at home to Aston Villa after the October international break, having raced into an early lead. Fine finishes from Morgan Rogers and Emi Buendia helped the visitors turn the tide against the flat and dull Lilywhites, who struggled to build any second-half momentum.

It was a performance that thrust the spotlight onto the manager and led many to question his current approach. Whether there's enough time to oversee an overhaul in midweek remains to be seen, but supporters are keen for Spurs to produce a more dynamic showing with the ball in Monaco.

The extent of their improvement may well depend on who Frank has available. Here's how Spurs could line up for their third league phase outing of the season.

Tottenham predicted lineup vs Monaco (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper & Defenders

Guglielmo Vicario (GK) – You know that I'm on the Antonín Kinsky train and would absolutely bring him in here. However, this is a prediction of what Frank is going do, not what I want.

Pedro Porro (RB) – Spurs are leaning heavily on their right-sided combination, with Porro's distribution from deep attempting to make up for the shortcomings in midfield.

Kevin Danso (CB) – Cristian Romero's groin injury will likely keep him out here, so long-thrower Danso will continue at the heart of Spurs' backline.

Micky van de Ven (CB) – With Romero missing, Van de Ven should don the armband. The Dutchman partnered Danso in our previous league phase outing against Bødo/Glimt and was the skipper on Sunday.

Djed Spence (LB) – Destiny Udogie missed out at the weekend due to a knee injury, and although Frank believes the setback is nothing to worry about, the quick turnaround means Spence is poised to start again.

Midfielders

João Palhinha (CM) – Palhinha was superb without the ball on Sunday, and his limitations in possession were exacerbated by his partner. I also question whether Frank is instructing his pivot to avoid risky vertical passes through defensive lines. Anyway, Palhinha should get the nod again in midweek.

Lucas Bergvall (CM) – We can't have Rodrigo Bentancur alongside Palhinha again. Not after Sunday. Spurs desperately need a superior source of dynamism in their engine room, and young Swede Bergvall supplies it.

Xavi Simons (AM) – The Dutchman will look a whole lot better if those behind him are willing to pass forwards. At the moment, Xavi's moments are arriving far too infrequently, placing a greater onus on every sequence he does get to shine. Frank's structure isn't helping.

Forwards

Mohammed Kudus (RW) – An imbalanced attack means too much is being put on the Ghanaian's plate, and Udogie's absence means Spurs will likely lean on Kudus for attacking inspiration again on Wednesday.

Richarlison (ST) – Mathys Tel didn't do much with his 11 touches on Sunday, and I expect Richarlison to return to the XI here. When's Dominic Solanke back?

It was a Sunday that started with so much promise for Thomas Frank and Tottenham.

Sure, injuries to Destiny Udogie and Cristian Romero tamed the optimism plenty would've entered the day with after the victory at Elland Road two weeks ago, but there was a very brief period when it looked like Spurs had taken an early 2-0 lead over Aston Villa.

After Rodrigo Bentancur crashed home the opening goal inside five minutes, Mohammed Kudus thumped an effort beyond Emi Martinez, but the linesman's flag subdued Lilywhite enthusiasm.

Still, the hosts were well on top.

However, Spurs' promising opening act quickly faded into dreary monotony. Aston Villa weren't great, but they punished the hosts with two excellent finishes to turn the game on its head and escape with a 2-1 victory. It was a contest that neither team deserved to win, and our defeat thrust the spotlight onto Thomas Frank, who simply must evolve his framework in the aftermath.

Thomas Frank must evolve if he's to survive as Spurs boss

I'm a big fan of Frank, and accepted that the Dane's emphasis on defensive solidity, resilience and functionality was going to inhibit the fluidity and efficiency of our possession play at the start of his reign.

Before the October break, Frank had succeeded in ensuring his side were far tougher to beat compared to Ange Postecoglou's domestic iteration of the Lilywhites for the vast majority of his tenure. At the weekend, however, Spurs were defeated by a pair of strikes from distance, which involved the shooters having far too much time to let fly.

Still, the story of Sunday's game wasn't our concessions, it was the eye-gouging work with the ball that concerned the majority.

Frank's possession principles have never caught the eye, with his teams previously excelling on the counter-attack, and when they can create artificial transition sequences by utilising depth in the build-up, thus tempting opponents onto them and facilitating space for fast-moving attackers.

Right now, Spurs are operating with two triangles out wide which absolutely everything revolves around. The centre of the pitch has been made redundant, and debate has raged in the aftermath as to whether that particular avoidance is down to Frank's selection of midfield personnel, or if the manager exclusively wants his team to attack out wide.

If the latter's the case, then I feel for Xavi Simons. The Dutchman was another talking point from Sunday's game, due to his anonymity, but when we perform as we did, with central progression avoided like the plague, how can we expect our chief playmaker to develop any rhythm? He needs to be getting as many touches as possible, but only Wilson Odobert (29) and Mathys Tel (13) recorded fewer than our No. 7 (35).

Bentancur opened the scoring, but Frank's reliance on the Uruguayan is costing him; there's no two ways about it. I don't even understand his inclusion from a security perspective. He's proven to be a defensive liability over the past 18 months, and simply no longer performs with the elegance and, most importantly, consistency that he did at the start of his Tottenham career. Utilising Pape Matar Sarr or Lucas Bergvall alongside João Palhinha has to be the move going forward.

But, as I alluded to, I don't think this is solely a personnel issue. Spurs, in games where they're expected to dominate possession, are far too predictable. It's Mohammed Kudus or bust, and this reliance allowed the imbalance to resurface again on Sunday, after it dissipated during the 2-1 win at Leeds. The Ghanaian was off colour in the second half, rendering Spurs' efforts to restore their lead then work their way back into the game futile.

The set-pieces that looked so dangerous at the very start of the season have had their menace sapped, and, in times of strife, supporters are going to struggle to get behind Kevin Danso taking minutes off the clock to ensure his impressive long throw is optimally delivered. I can't deny their importance in the current landscape, but celebrating dead-ball situations makes the romantic in me weep.

If Frank's framework fails to evolve and he refuses to scale up his principles, we can only expect more outings like Sunday afternoon. Such dreariness had been covered up by results before the October break, but it won't be long until the charismatic Dane is feeling the heat if his team endure a slump and similar issues perpetuate. Football supporters are not the patient type.

Frank's current emphasis on risk-aversion and caution is emerging as the meta at the elite level, with Spurs' uninspiring and disjointed performance the sort that plenty of Premier League fanbases have been subject to at the start of 2025/26. The sport is suffering from an entertainment perspective, overall.

Tottenham Hotspur dropped more points over the weekend in the Premier League, this time losing out on all three points in what should have been a relatively easy win over an Aston Villa side that, to that point in the campaign, were even more disappointing than Manchester United.

Spurs barely had a better share of the position and totaled just one more shot than a team with less talent than theirs, losing 2-1 as Villa took their chances while Spurs, in all reality, failed to create many meaningful opportunities of their own.

What Tottenham fans are starting to realize - and what they should have already known as early as the first game of the entire campaign - is that there is a dire lack of star quality in the attack that still remains despite a pretty active summer transfer window.

Mathys Tel has shown flashes, but nobody should pretend that he is ready yet or praise him as such. The other strikers are abysmal or not healthy, meaning, no matter how you spin it, they aren't moving the needle for Tottenham and have one percent of the quality Harry Kane did.

It's Kudus or bust for Spurs

Only Mohammed Kudus is living up to his billing and looking like a legitimate starter for a club with Champions League qualification aspirations like Tottenham. The rest are either inconsistent, like Tel, or not even worth considering as starters.

Even Xavi Simons has been pedantic in an attacking sense, and if it were any other player without his name or price tag, they would have been binned. Now, Simons is still adjusting and should be afforded some grace, but, at some point, you have to call a spade a spade when the results aren't going the club's way.

Nobody is worthy of praise at this point besides Kudus. This isn't the time for participation trophies, and while there should be an acknowledgement that Simons will likely come good and that Wilson Odobert and Mathys Tel are legitiamte talents of the future, the reality is that none of these three players are performing in the here and now.

And that doesn't even begin to get into the depth of the issue at striker. If Tottenham can't find someone who can even get 15 goals, let alone 20, in a Premier League season, they can kiss the top five goodbye with the competition honestly only getting better. The time for blind optimism must end, and the time for constructive criticism must heighten for Spurs.

Tottenham lost against Aston Villa, despite looking like the more active team in the attacking third. The reason why they lost is painfully obvious, and it's already an action item for Thomas Frank.

This season, Tottenham has started rather inconsistently. With an underwhelming 4-2-2 record, Spurs will want to have a better runout in their next 10 games.

Of course, there are many factors which could explain their inconsistent start. The first, and most obvious factor is that they have a new manager at the helm. Naturally, it will take Thomas Frank a bit of time before he finds his best squad.

Secondly, Spurs returned to the Champions League. They were used to European football last season, but let's face it, the Champions League requires more attention than the Europa League.

The third reason is that Tottenham doesn't even have a consistent squad. They have a squad that gets injured more often than it scores goals, so Thomas Frank can hardly be blamed for failing to go on a serious winning streak.

Against Aston Villa, though, Tottenham's biggest weakness was on full display.

The real reason why Tottenham lost to Aston Villa

Tottenham created three big chances but scored a laughable one goal out of those chances. Tottenham also held more possession (53%) than Aston Villa (47%) and created a higher xG (0.75) than the Villans (0.32). Yet, the one stat that matters most, is that Villa scored more than Spurs.

It was overarchingly obvious that Tottenham lacks a central threat. With Randal Kolo Muani only afforded 11 minutes, and Dominic Solanke injured, Spurs had no center forward who could finish their dinner.

It says a lot that Tottenham's midfielders, Rodrigo Bentancur and Joao Palhinha attempted the most shots for Tottenham (2, matched by Wilson Odobert). This, if nothing else, tells the entire story.

But can Tottenham's former owner, Daniel Levy, really be blamed for this? After all, he already signed Solanke backup in Muani. It's hardly his fault that both the first and second option are injured, or at least recovering from injuries, right now.

But it's almost more difficult when there is nobody to blame. You almost end up wishing that there was, as if that would make the dilemma any easier to solve.

Right now, though, the only obvious solution is to sign a player in January who could at least fill the gap at center forward when needed. It isn't the first time that Tottenham has needed a plan C, and it won't be the last.

It always feels like a day of reckoning the morning after a Tottenham Hotspur loss, and one in which the club played this brutally against a beatable opponent like Aston Villa is bound to lead to overreactions and gripes from across the fanbase.

But since this isn't the first, second, or third disappointing display of the early Thomas Frank era in the Premier League, it's fair to say that not all of the strong reactions by Spurs supporters are necessarily overreactions either.

Tottenham were poor, no matter how you spell it, against Aston Villa. You can bring up the xG or whatever figures you want, but every single person who actually watched that game understands that Spurs did not deserve to win and did not play like a top five contender.

Although he had a goal contribution, Rodrigo Bentancur, once again, was at the heart of the criticism for an underwhelming, slow, and uninventive game. And at this point, starting Bentancur over Archie Gray is tantamount to malpractice, and if Frank continues to start the Uruguayan next to Joao Palhinha, serious questions have to be asked by the fanbase as to whether or not the new coach is even paying attention.

Rodrigo Bentancur is at the bottom now

Initially a key player for Tottenham after joining from Juventus, Bentancur is now next to last on the midfield pecking order ahead of only Yves Bissouma. Xavi Simons, Pape Matar Sarr, Lucas Bergvall, Gray, and Palhinha are all better and more important to the cause than Bentancur, who is materially offering Spurs nothing.

Meanwhile, Guglielmo Vicario also joined Tottenham as a star from Serie A and had his bright moments, and he's actually had a good season overall. But fans are scapegoating him nearly as hard as Bentancur, with Vicario doing nobody any favors with his display against Aston Villa.

His positioning, handling, and fundamentals leave Spurs fans feeling nervy, and even though he makes up for his errors with acrobatic saves, the mistakes are becoming too much to bear and a crux that leads to Spurs dropping points in the table.

Both of the goals by Aston Villa came from outside the box, and Vicario should have saved them both. He has to be doing better than this, and goalkeepers are paid for their ability to not lose games. Vicario is better than some people give him credit for, but with Antonin Kinsky talented and looming, it's not far off base for his detractors to say that Kinsky has now earned at least one or two starts over him in goal.

Overall, the Thomas Frank era at Tottenham Hotspur has gotten off to a successful start, but it's really only been a mild success to this point. Once again, Spurs were left second best on the pitch this Sunday, falling 2-1 to an Aston Villa side that had, to that point of the campaign, been one of the most disappointing sides in the entire Premier League - even worse than Manchester United.

But Tottenham collapsed against Villa after ceding an early lead, conceding cheap goals while creating frustratingly little of their own. Spurs all of a sudden made Aston Villa's struggling midfield and back line look highly competent, while their own midfield was both plodding an ineffective.

Whereas Ange Postecoglou committed the cardinal sin of leaving his team entire vacant and vulnerable to being shredded apart, Frank has moved in the opposite direction and become far too tinpot for the likings of any Spurs fan.

Tottenham are a big club. They signed Mohammed Kudus, Mathys Tel, Joao Palhinha, Xavi Simons, and Randal Kolo Muani this summer. And yet the way Frank has them playing, you'd think that they were Burnley or Leeds United with how passive and scared he is.

Tottenham are losing easy points

Frank is also too content to chalk up losses to bad luck, or shots outside the box, or any number of explanations that would be perfectly rational at a club with no real expectations or pressure like, say, Brentford. But at Tottenham you have to account for these possibilities and leave luck out of the equation if you want to compete with Chelsea and Newcastle and reach the Champions League year after year.

From Bodo Glimt to Brighton to Wolves and now to Aston Villa, Frank has underperformed in winnable games for Tottenham, and he hasn't shown the requisite fire and desire to actually get the full three points. And savvy Tottenham fans are noticing this worrying trend of Frank playing down Spurs when the new leadership team is trying to push to win the whole dang show in the English top flight.

That has to change for Frank and Spurs to improve, in a true sense, going forward. Frank is being far too soft tactically and mentally with how he approaches games and winning, and Tottenham are going to need an entire cultural shift and shift in goals first in order to see the results really take off on the field like they want them to.

Tottenham mark their return to Premier League action after the October international break by welcoming Aston Villa to north London on Sunday afternoon.

These two sides faces off three times last season, with Villa winning both duels on home soil after Spurs scored an emphatic victory in N17. The come-from-behind triumph against Unai Emery's side was one of very few domestic highs for the Lilywhites.

Much has changed since the pair faced off in May, as Ange Postecoglou rotated heavily for the Friday night trip to the West Midlands to prioritise the Europa League final. Villa's 2-0 victory was incredibly forgettable.

Now led by Thomas Frank, Spurs have enjoyed a productive start to 2025/26 and showed signs of veering away from functionality in possession at Elland Road two weeks ago. The hosts enter the weekend third in the table, while Villa, who were the league's crisis club not so long ago, are in a far brighter mood.

They're four games unbeaten domestically and won back-to-back games before the October break.

Here's our preview of Sunday's Premier League clash.

Tottenham vs Aston Villa: Preview, Prediction & Lineups

What time does Tottenham vs Aston Villa kick off?

Tottenham vs Aston Villa kicks off on Sunday 19 October at 14:00 BST.

When is kick off? Sunday 19 October, 2025

What time is kick off? 14:00 BST

Where is it played? Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London

Referee:Â Simon Hooper

Tottenham vs Aston Villa head-to-head record (last five games)

How to watch Tottenham vs Aston Villa on TV & live stream

Tottenham team news

Frank has confirmed that Randal Kolo Muani is in contention to make his Premier League debut on Sunday, having recovered from a dead leg over the international break. The summer arrival is unlikely to start, with Mathys Tel deserving of keeping his place.

Dominic Solanke is on the comeback trail but isn't ready to return, while the maligned Yves Bissouma picked up an injury on international duty that will keep him sidelined for weeks.

The same back four that started at Elland Road should be retained, but there could be a change in midfield. Lucas Bergvall may come in for Rodrigo Bentancur and partner João Palhinha, while Xavi Simons should function as the creative force from a No. 10 position.

Tottenham predicted lineup vs Aston Villa:Â Vicario; Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie; Palhinha, Bergvall; Kudus, Simons, Odobert; Tel.

Aston Villa team news

Ollie Watkins returned from England duty early after a collision with the post, but Unai Emery has confirmed his starting striker is in contention for Sunday's game. Emiliano Buendia and Jadon Sancho are also available amid injury concerns.

Tyrone Mings could return after a two-game absence, with Saturday's training session decisive. If not, Pau Torres will likely start alongside England international Ezri Konsa.

Youri Tielemans is a big miss in Villa's midfield, and he's not expected until next month at the earliest. The Belgian has missed much of the season because of a calf injury.

Aston Villa predicted lineup vs Tottenham: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; McGinn, Bogarde, Kamara, Rogers; Watkins, Malen.

Tottenham vs Aston Villa score prediction

I'm glad Villa picked up form before the break. I'd have been incredibly nervous for Sunday's bout were they still winless and in dire straits. Their improvement oddly makes me more confident.

Emery's side haven't evolved all that much. You know what you're going to get from the Villans. They're very narrow, very compact, and typically slow when they build from the back. They'll aim to draw Spurs out and utilise depth as a means of exploiting the hosts in defensive transition.

Thus, I think there will be plenty of cagey periods here, but the hosts are built to exploit this Villa team. I'm expecting a statement performance from Frank's side.

On Sunday when the Premier League returns from the October international break, Tottenham Hotspur will take on Aston Villa in a match that usually was a high-stakes one for a spot in European competition. This season, though, Villa have been a shell of themselves, so third-place Tottenham are overwhelming favorites to take down Unai Emery's men.

Thereafter, the schedule will start to get tougher. Tottenham must face Monaco on the road in the Champions League on Wednesday. After that, Spurs have matchups against Everton, Newcastle, and Chelsea in a row. And yes, Everton are now a tough team and a sleeper for European football after the transformative signing of one-time Tottenham transfer target Jack Grealish.

The toughest of those matchups is clearly the Nov. 1 battle against Chelsea, who, like Tottenham, are also darkhorse contenders to steal a Premier League title from top two teams Liverpool and Arsenal this season.

For Tottenham, the good news is that their match against rivals Chelsea just got quite a bit easier. According to Blues manager Enzo Maresca, via Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea superstar attacking midfielder Cole Palmer will have to miss six more weeks with a groin injury that has slowed him this season.

An easier rival match for Tottenham

Chelsea have quite a few star players, such as defensive midfielder Moises Caicedo and new winger phenom Estevao Willian, but there is no question that Palmer is their best player and one of the biggest talents in the Premier League. He is one of the few players in England who is capable of winning a Ballon d'Or one day.

That Tottenham won't have to face him running counterattacks, weaving through defenders, and scoring goals and assists at will is a massive boost. It makes the jobs of midfielders Pape Matar Sarr and new star No. 6 Joao Palhinha that much easier, not having to scramble to track Palmer or contend with his game-changing playmaking.

Obviously, it stinks to even see a rival's player injured, and top competitors always want to beat their opponents when they are at their very best. But Tottenham will take all the bonuses they can get when they come, and facing a Chelsea team without Palmer is just about one of the biggest advantages a team can get in the Premier League. Palmer is an absolute baller, and anyone who watched the Club World Cup can certainly attest to his ability to take games over against any caliber of opponent.

Tottenham Hotspur had one of the worst midfields in the Premier League last season under Ange Postecoglou, but now under Thomas Frank, that group has been stabilized. The additions of Xavi Simons and Joao Palhinha this summer have been massive, as the duo looks set to be among the very best in their roles in the Premier League this season; Palhinha already is.

But there are young players coming over from last season who are set to be important under Frank. Archie Gray and Pape Matar Sarr are already making huge strides from what they were doing under Postecoglou.

The real key player to watch in midfield is Lucas Bergvall, though. He was a standout in his first season with Tottenham and has been important again this season. Bergvall needs to be a key player for Spurs going forward, just as he needs to be a key starter for his country, Sweden.

The Swedish national team just had a terrible October international break with poor result after poor result, and the teenage Tottenham star was a victim of that, including being subbed off controversially in the game against Kosovo.

Not you, Potter

That manager has now been fired, but Jon Dahl Tomasson's replacement as the Sweden national team coach may not be much of an upgrade, which will come to the chagrin of Bergvall.

According to a report from Fabrizio Romano, the Sweden national team is close to hiring Graham Potter as the manager, even though Potter was just swiftly fired by West Ham after embarrassing himself with the Hammers even more thoroughly than he did at Chelsea.

Potter has been one of the worst Premier League managers over the last three years, and he is hardly much of an upgrade on Tomasson. Bergvall having to work under Potter is not going to be a great deal for him, and he's unlikely to learn much that he can use to translate to Spurs from a guy who isn't even fit to manage the worst teams in the Premier League.

It's a blow for Spurs and Bergvall, because coaches of the ilk of Tomasson and Potter are also hard to trust when it comes to playing the best players and guiding young talent. Potter didn't even develop Brighton's players at the level of his successors, and he's looking more and more like a fraud who was simply propped up by a great scouting system that fed him the talent in Brighton.

Tottenham Hotspur are slowly but surely shaping into a contender under new manager Thomas Frank, and despite a few poor results in recent weeks, the club are quietly third in the Premier League behind only perennial contenders Liverpool and Arsenal.

And Spurs are doing it without a steady striker situation. Richarlison had a hot start to the 2025/26 season, but the disappointing transfer from Everton reverted back to his old ways and is now struggling to find the back of the net - or make a real impact at all.

Tottenham are playing short-handed at striker, as Dominic Solanke has been slow to heal from an injury that required surgery. Meanwhile, new acquisition Randal Kolo Muani, signed on loan from PSG, has yet to even debut for Tottenham due to an apparent "dead leg".

Tottenham ready for a boost

Well, Frank finally has some good news on Kolo Muani, as the former Eintracht Frankfurt star could actually be ready to start for Tottenham on Sunday in the Premier League with a match against Aston Villa. Frank said, via Spurs Global

“Kolo Muani has trained for two weeks with the team - he looks better and better - and he's in contention for the weekend.

Dom's progressed well post-surgery, he's moving forwards. Biss unfortunately had a situation with the national team and has a ligament issue in his ankle so he'll be out for a few weeks.”

Although Kolo Muani's had a torrid time in Paris, he was great on loan at Juventus last season, but Spurs were able to beat Juve to the punch for the loan deal. And before all that, Kolo Muani was one of the best and most well-rounded overall forwards in the Bundesliga for Eintracht.

Tottenham have Mathys Tel ready to break out at striker, but they need an all-around veteran who can score and assist for the team. Kolo Muani can be the solution Spurs are looking for up top, and he can prove that he's a piece of the puzzle on Sunday, even in 15-20 minutes off the bench as a tune up for a potential start in the Champions League on Wednesday against former Ligue 1 rivals Monaco.

If Spurs can solve their striker situation and get one of Wilson Odobert or Mathys Tel to break out on the left wing, they will then have no glaring weaknesses left in Frank's ideal starting XI. Let's see what Kolo Muani can do.