The Straits Times

LONDON – Arsenal are out to inflict more damage on a wounded Aston Villa this weekend, while Tottenham Hotspur are desperate to see some return for their £300 million (S$518 million) investment in new signings when Newcastle United visit north London.

New Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola also makes his home bow at Anfield against Nottingham Forest and Manchester United badly need to bounce back from an opening weekend shocker at Hull City when Ipswich Town visit Old Trafford.

AFP Sports looks at the pick of the Premier League action.

Villa torn apart

Ezri Konsa could make his Arsenal debut to a frosty reception on his return to Villa Park.

The England international is just one of a series of departures from Villa in recent months which has torn apart the side that won the Europa League and finished fourth in the Premier League last season.

Morgan Rogers joined Chelsea for £117 million, while Youri Tielemans moved to United and Lucas Digne departed for Paris Saint-Germain.

Ollie Watkins and Emi Martinez appear set to join the exodus before the transfer window shuts.

A depleted Villa found themselves 4-0 down to Brighton & Hove Albion inside 31 minutes last weekend.

Worse could be to come against an Arsenal side brimming with the confidence of champions.

Mikel Arteta’s men have swatted aside Manchester City and Coventry City 3-0 to pick up the Community Shield and make a perfect start to their title defence.

The depth of options available to the Gunners means Konsa may even have to wait for his chance to shine despite the absence of William Saliba to a long-term back injury.

But Villa captain John McGinn remains hopeful they can still have a successful season as long as Unai Emery remains in charge.

“I’m still positive about the season but we need to make sure we keep hold of the manager,” he told the Stick to Football podcast. “If we lose him, it’s a different story.”

De Zerbi sets Savio target

Tottenham have fans who have been waiting years for their club to be the Premier League’s big spenders, but were brought back down to earth with a 3-0 pummelling by Brentford last weekend.

Since then Savio and Omar Marmoush have joined from City for combined fees that could reach nearly £150 million.

Savio’s £75 million price tag has attracted astonishment from some after failing to make the grade in two years at City, but Roberto de Zerbi is confident the Brazilian can help transform Spurs’ fortunes after two 17th-placed finishes in the Premier League.

“I think his biggest step and biggest improvement is to increase the number of goals because as qualities, I think he is one of the best wingers, but the best wingers score many goals,” said de Zerbi after Savio scored on his debut against Charlton Athletic in the League Cup on Aug 26.

“Last season we suffered too much because also the number of goals were not enough to compete for nothing more than that (17th) position.”

Anfield awaits Iraola

Liverpool needed a 99th-minute penalty from Dominik Szoboszlai to salvage a point in Iraola’s first game in charge from a 2-2 draw at Newcastle.

The growing pains of a change in style to Iraola’s high-energy pressing game were obvious as twice Liverpool were cut open by Newcastle counter-attacks to score.

Forest have won at Anfield in each of the past two seasons, but Iraola is hoping to have an afternoon to savour in his first competitive game at home.

“I think it’s going to be emotional and I think it has to be like this. It is a special place,” said the Spaniard.

“I’ve had to fight a lot to arrive to this place and I hope everything goes well and I can enjoy also the game.” AFP

March 20 - Tottenham Hotspur interim manager Igor Tudor has been charged with misconduct for his remarks about the match official after their 2-1 Premier League defeat at Fulham earlier this month, the FA said on Thursday.

"I didn't like the referee today, too much of a home team referee," Tudor told the BBC after the game on March 1.

"All the decisions were on their side. He doesn't understand football, the feeling of what is wrong and what is right."

The FA said his remarks "imply bias and/or question integrity and/or are personally offensive in relation to a match official", giving Tudor until March 23 to respond.

Tottenham, who are 16th in the league, host Nottingham Forest on Sunday. REUTERS

SEOUL – BTS is set to achieve another milestone at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, with the highest-ever audience capacity for a single concert at the venue, according to Live Nation UK.

Via its social media channels, the British concert promoter announced that BTS’ fandom, Army, would “create the highest single show capacity” to date for the group’s upcoming concert at the venue.

BTS is scheduled to hold two shows at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on July 6 and 7, with an estimated 120,000 fans attending. The concerts will feature a 360-degree stage setup.

According to ticket sales and distribution company Ticketmaster, tickets for both shows in London sold out completely in 30 minutes.

The stadium, home to English Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur, boasts a seating capacity of around 62,000. Since opening in 2019, it has hosted performances by international acts including Beyonce and Travis Scott, as well as K-pop group Stray Kids.

The London shows are part of BTS’ upcoming world tour, which kicks off April 9 at Goyang Stadium in Gyeonggi Province. In addition to the sold-out London concerts, all currently listed shows are sold out.

Anticipation is also building for BTS’ fifth full-length album Arirang, slated for release on March 20 – their first full-group musical activity in over three years.

As at Feb 4, the album ranked No. 1 for the third consecutive week on Spotify’s Countdown Chart Global – a chart based on pre-save counts for upcoming releases – topping other mainstream western artists including Bruno Mars, Harry Styles and Charli XCX. According to Spotify, as cited by Big Hit Music, the album surpassed three million pre-saves as of said date and one million within two days of pre-saves opening.

Attention is focused on whether it will surpass Taylor Swift’s record for the highest number of pre-saves in Spotify history, with Swift’s The Life Of A Showgirl reported to have hit six million ahead of its release.

In addition to the album release, BTS is slated to hold a live comeback performance at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul on March 21. The performance will be

livestreamed globally via Netflix

in over 190 countries.

Meanwhile, BTS’ previous releases are continuing to receive steady love from fans ahead of their long-awaited comeback.

The music video for Boy With Luv, the leading track of the group’s 2019 album Map Of The Soul: Persona, surpassed 1.9 billion views on YouTube in January, becoming BTS’ second video to achieve the feat since their 2020 track Dynamite, which has already racked up two billion views. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

LONDON – Thomas Frank is adamant key figures at Tottenham Hotspur are “completely aligned” about his future at the troubled English Premier League club.

Frank is fighting to save his job after a disappointing first season in charge of the north Londoners.

Tottenham are languishing in 13th place ahead of the Jan 7 trip to Bournemouth, which took place after press time, with pressure mounting on former Brentford boss Frank.

The shock departures of Enzo Maresca and Ruben Amorim at Chelsea and Manchester United respectively over the last few days served to underline the tenuous grip managers have on their jobs when results waver.

Tottenham are unbeaten in their last three matches, but they have won only two of their last 11 in the Premier League and not scored from open play since Dec 6.

Frank’s prosaic tactics have irritated Tottenham fans and some are already calling for his dismissal.

However, the 52-year-old Dane insists he has the support of chief executive Vinai Venkatesham and co-sporting directors Johan Lange and Fabio Paratici.

“I think the biggest thing, which we are, is that we are completely aligned, so the biggest thing is that let’s say Johan, Fabio, Vinai and I are aligned. That’s the biggest thing and then we also aligned with the ownership,” Frank told reporters on Jan 6.

“Vinai is one of the best communicators I ever met, as a CEO, leader or whatever, he is absolutely excellent in that. I think I’m OK, but he is way superior, which I think is crucial internally and externally.

“He’s calm and he takes sensible decisions – two rare abilities in football, but also two absolutely crucial abilities if you want to have success long term. For me, Vinai is crucial for Tottenham to have success in many ways.

“Then, of course, we have known each other for six months, so we are getting closer and closer and know each other better and better.”

Former Arsenal executive Venkatesham backed Mikel Arteta during a rocky first 12 months at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners are reaping the rewards as they sit six points clear at the top of the Premier League and Frank hopes for the same treatment at Tottenham.

“Yeah, definitely, no doubt about that, plus he also knows what good looks like and also knows how unfortunately it can take time to get up to where good should look like,” he said.

“That’s definitely beneficial because also he understands the journey we’re on.” AFP

– The battle of the teams with woeful winless runs ended with Leicester City snapping their seven-game English Premier League losing run with a 2-1 away triumph which extended Tottenham Hotspur’s own winless sequence to seven matches on Jan 26.

The result helped Ruud van Nistelrooy’s side move out of the relegation spots for the first time since Christmas, as they sit 17th on 17 points.

Spurs are just two places above them in 15th on 24 points, as pressure continues to mount on manager Ange Postecoglou. Tottenham are on their longest winless run in the top-flight since a nine-match spell in 2008.

Spurs’ five points from their last 11 matches is the league’s second-worst record, after bottom-placed Southampton.

Yet, it all started so promisingly for the home side at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Spurs’ first big chance came in the 17th minute when Lucas Bergvall picked out Son Heung-min, who cut inside and shot from outside the box, but Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk pushed it out for a corner.

Tottenham continued to threatened and on 31 minutes, Stolarczyk punched Dejan Kulusevski’s free kick only as far as Son, whose cross surprised the goalkeeper and hit the frame of the goal.

Two minutes later, Spurs were ahead.

Richarlison, who has endured an injury-plagued season, scored for the second game running after sneaking in between James Justin and Wout Faes and heading in a lovely cross from Pedro Porro.

Since he made his debut in February 2023, no defender has registered more Premier League goal involvements than the 25-year-old Spanish right-back, who has a combined 23 goals and assists.

He is level with Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold – the standard-bearer for attacking fullbacks in the league.

Porro looked the best player on the pitch for a dominant Tottenham team before the break, a regular menace in attack who also won four of his duels and regained possession seven times.

But his second-half showing offered a microcosm of Spurs’ season.

The other side of Porro’s game was on display in the opening minute of the second period, as he was caught out of position too high up the pitch as the Foxes attacked down his flank.

Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s low cross evaded goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky but not Jamie Vardy, who scored his 10th league goal in 18 matches against Spurs.

Before Spurs could recover from that goal, Leicester were ahead.

On 50 minutes, Porro’s sloppy pass saw Foxes win possession and a few passes later, Bilal El Khannouss was driving towards goal, and with centre-backs Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies failing to sufficiently close him down, he curled a shot past Kinsky from outside the box.

It was the first time Spurs had conceded two goals in the opening five minutes of a second half in the Premier League since November 1997 against Liverpool.

That woke Spurs up though, with a combination of Faes and Stolarczyk needed to deny Kulusevski scoring from a routine long ball out from the back, before Porro’s free kick deflected off Vardy’s head and off the crossbar.

On 66 minutes, Porro’s lovely feet saw him wriggle into the box but instead of trying to tee up better-placed teammates, he blasted a shot from a tight angle which did not test Stolarczyk.

LONDON - Struggling Tottenham Hotspur had to settle for a 2-2 home draw against a revived Wolverhampton Wanderers side after a late strike by Norwegian substitute Jorgen Strand Larsen in an entertaining Premier League clash on Dec 29.

Having suffered four defeats in their previous five league games, injury-hit Spurs were aiming for a convincing performance to take the pressure off manager Ange Postecoglou but it was the visitors under new boss Vitor Pereira who came away the happier.

Wolves had taken the lead after seven minutes through Hwang Hee-Chan who fired a low shot that went in off the post after a short free kick, but Spurs equalised five minutes later when Rodrigo Bentancur’s header beat keeper Jose Sa from a corner.

Tottenham spurned the chance to go in front when Son Heung-Min’s spot kick was saved but they did go in ahead at the break after Brennan Johnson struck from close range. The second half was an end-to-end affair with Strand Larsen scoring in the 87th.

The result left Spurs languishing in 11th with 24 points from 19 games - the first time they will finish the year lower than seventh since the 2008-09 season. Wolves are 17th on 16 points and stand two points above the relegation zone.

Wolves started brightly and stunned the home supporters when a short free kick was played to South Korean Hwang on the edge of the box and he fired a low shot into the far corner that beat the diving Fraser Forster and went in off the post.

Spurs levelled soon after when Bentancur rose above the defence to send a powerful header past Sa from a Pedro Porro corner on the right much to the relief of Postecoglou.

Son misses penalty

Tottenham had the chance to take the lead just before halftime when they were awarded a penalty after Andre bundled Johnson over in the area but captain Son’s spot kick was brilliantly saved by Portuguese Sa down to his right.

Spurs did go in front in added time at the end of the first half though when Johnson struck from close range after clever footwork inside the area by Dejan Kulusevski who cut the ball back from the right for the Welshman to finish smartly.

Wolves took off the injured Matheus Cunha, who was their most creative player in the opening period, and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde at the break, and brought on Strand Larsen and Goncalo Guedes as they looked dangerous chasing an equaliser.

Spurs soon made a change themselves as Destiny Udogie hobbled off and was replaced by Sergio Reguilon at left back, bringing more defensive woes for a side hit by injuries, with their first-choice centre backs both missing.

Another Tottenham substitute Timo Werner was soon in the thick of the action and burst down the left before sending over a low cross that Dominic Solanke just failed to connect with.

Spurs continued to press and Kulusevski was played through by Solanke 10 minutes from time, but although his tame effort got past Sa it was cleared by Santiago Bueno.

Wolves also looked dangerous though and snatched a point when Rayan Ait-Nouri played the ball down the left and Strand Larsen turned inside the box before firing a rising shot into the net past the stranded Forster to delight the away fans.

The Midlands side have now taken seven points from their last three games to boost their chances of avoiding the drop. REUTERS

Victory would have put them ahead of Aston Villa into the guaranteed Champions League berths. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Spurs can leapfrog Aston Villa into a Champions League qualifying spot with a Premier League victory over Fulham. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Spurs are now two points behind fourth-placed Villa with a game in hand. Read more at straitstimes.com.

BIRMINGHAM, England - Tottenham Hotspur hammered 10-man Aston Villa 4-0 in the Premier League on Sunday thanks to four second-half goals, allowing them to close the gap with their Birmingham rivals to two points in the chase for Champions League football next season. Read more at straitstimes.com.