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Tottenham Hotspur are unbeaten in the Barclays Women’s Super League season so far, with a 3-1 win against West Ham and a 1-1 draw with Liverpool. This is a positive start to their, which they are looking to continue as they face fellow London side, Crystal Palace, at the weekend.

Despite being a newly promoted team, Crystal Palace have also had a strong start to the WSL season. Their 0-0 draw against Arsenal at the Emirates last weekend was a particularly impressive defensive and their compact defensive structure is something that Tottenham will have to break down if they are looking to win in this fixture.

The most competitive WSL season

Crystal Palace’s results so far also highlight the competitiveness of the WSL this season. Speaking to the media before this London derby, Martin Ho described this season as "one of the most, if not the most competitive season in the WSL for a long time."

He explained that this is because of “more investment from clubs, as well as the quality of players being recruited or returning to the league” as well as the “individual development of each team and squad.”

Due to the competitiveness of the league, Ho explained that “there is never a game I go in to expecting to win” and that he makes sure his team “do not get carried away with one performance or result.” However, you “cannot take away hard passion, desire and fight, which can mean more than individual quality in certain games.”

When asked where he thought Crystal Palace might cause problems for his side, he responded that their “resilience and defensive organisation is very strong.” However, this is one of the reasons why his team’s ‘passion, desire and fight’ is important and his work on shifting the team’s mentality is significant.

Liverpool have advanced to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup after beating a Tottenham Hotspur side that have struggled at the beginning of this season under new boss Roberto De Zerbi.

The Redmen managed to claim a two goal advantage over the north London outfit thanks to goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo, before Conor Gallagher recorded Tottenham's first goal of the season to make it 2-1 in the 69th minute.

After a tight final twenty minutes, Liverpool finally managed to unlock the Spurs defence for the third time of the night, as substitute Dominik Szoboszlai fired in a world class half-volley from thirty yards out to ensure that his side progressed further in the competiton.

Andoni Iraola fielded a heavily rotated side, leaving out names such as Virgil Van Dijk, Alexander Isak, and new summer signing Bradley Barcola - instead opting for second string players such as James McConnell, Trey Nyoni, and Lewis Koumas.

At the beginning of the season, many fans believed that squad depth was one of Liverpool's biggest weaknesses, having let go of players such as Curtis Jones and Andy Robertson, who acted as rotational players in the last campaign.

The game on Wednesday night however, may have proven that this is not the case.

Midfield Options

Alexis Mac Allister has now scored two in three games for Liverpool and is looking to have found some form following a not-so glamorous campaign last season.

The Argentinian has recently expressed his disappointment in having not recieved a new contract offer unlike teammates Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai, and he seems to have taken this decision to heart through his recent performances.

You would assume that it can surely be only a matter of time until contract discussions begin, especially given that the 27-year-old seems keen to remain at Anfield.

Youngsters Trey Nyoni and James McConnell also impressed against Tottenham having been given their first competitive starts of the season by their new boss.

Nyoni provided an composed performance for his side, once again proving why the 19-year-old is more than capable of being a mainstay in this Liverpool midfield.

James McConnell on the other hand, has had his role at the club questioned this summer, as his loan move to Preston North End fell through this summer following the departure of Curtis Jones.

It therefore felt to many as if the academy graduate may face the majority of the season watching on from the bench, unlike Nyoni who has been more frequently involved in first team action in recent seasons.

The 22-year-old seems to have taken his chance to impress last night against a high-level opponent, and we may see more of the midfielder this season than we may have originally anticipated.

Koumas Shows Promise

Lewis Koumas was another young player who dazzled for Liverpool last night, and even won the Player of the Match award for his performance.

Andoni Iraola stated that he was captivated by the Welshman's high work rate, a trait that he has displayed coming off the bench in some of the Redmen's opening Premier League fixtures.

Koumas' intense pressing could provide him with a larger role within the squad, gifting his side a player that will consistently close down defenders and the goalkeeper for long periods of time.

The 20-year-old is another individual that we may see a lot more of than people expected this season, and he seems to have the tools to consistently feature week in week out.

What Does the Future Hold for Mamardashvili?

Giorgi Mamardashvili looked brilliant between the sticks on Wednesday night, and may be looking to make a case for himself as Liverpool's long-term first choice goalkeeper.

The Georgian has been inconsistent as a back-up since his arrival in Merseyside last summer, but with the departure of Alisson looming near, it is vital that he performs well this campaign in order to stand a chance to become the Brazillian's replacement.

His performance against Tottenham could mark a new beginning for the 25-year-old shotstopper, and he will hope to continue to produce exquisite performances for the remainder of the season.

Roberto de Zerbi spoke about a 0-0 draw between Tottenham and Everton.

After defeats to Newcastle United and Brentford, Spurs picked up their first Premier League point of the campaign in a goalless stalemate at the City Ground against Nottingham Forest.

But the hunt for a goal went on, and it extended after the 90 minutes against the Toffees were over on Saturday.

‘We made many mistakes in the last third’

De Zerbi’s slick football is not materialising, and the pressure is piling up on his camp.

"We played 30 minutes very well. Then we lost some confidence because we didn't score. We lost energy because our physical condition is not good enough yet. We made many mistakes in the last third - we made wrong decisions in finishing and passing.

Squad problems after the World Cup

"But we started late and had many problems in the squad because of the World Cup players, injuries, transfer market where situations were too late not because of our responsibility. Now we are working. We started 10 days ago to work with all players.

"We have to improve. We have to analyse better the situations individually and collectively.

An apology to the fans

"Football is like this. You could have lost the game today. We have to respect that. We are sorry to the fans because they stayed very, very close to the players, especially in the first half.

But when you have fans and a coach like me who are very passionate, you can be angry when you don't score or shoot when you have chance.

Tosin Adarabioyo has agreed to sign for Tottenham from Chelsea on a year-long loan.

After four seasons at Fulham, Tosin was drafted into the first team for the Blues on a free transfer.

Though he has played 70 times for the club across the last two campaigns, his playing time would have been cut by the presence of Maxence Lacroix as well as the lack of continental competition.

·‘A strong, athletic defender who plays with confidence’

Spurs have decided to allow Kevin Danso to depart on a loan deal of his own for more minutes at Sunderland.

With Cristian Romero gone to Atletico Madrid, the board backed Roberto de Zerbi with another option as a backup. The head coach commented about the qualities Tosin can offer.

"Tosin is a strong, athletic defender who plays with confidence and understands the demands of playing at the highest level. I've also been impressed with his mentality and desire to be part of what we are building. He knows the responsibility that comes with representing this Club. We’re happy to have Tosin with us and I know our supporters will quickly see the qualities he can bring to the team."

Tosin on his Spurs move

The 28-year-old admits that this deal can help him maximise this current moment of his career.

"I'm in an important part of my career and speaking to the Head Coach and knowing the type of football he wants to play. I think it's a very good fit. He wants the team to play with courage and that's something that I always look to do.

“I want to achieve the absolute best, to push this team and this club as much as possible to where we deserve to be. That's something that has to be done every single day, especially on the training pitch, and I will be bringing that mentality to the Club."

Tottenham Hotspur have agreed to take Mykhailo Mudryk from Chelsea on a year-long loan.

Spurs also have the option to make the deal permanent for a fee of £75 million. In the immediate term, it is an opportunity for the Ukrainian to find his feet again after 20 months away from the game.

From Shakhtar to Stamford Bridge

Mudryk broke through into the first team at Shakhtar Donetsk under the tutelage of Roberto De Zerbi, who moved to the club from his post of three years at Sassuolo.

He was named Ukrainian Footballer of the Year and Player of the Year for Shakhtar in 2022, earning a move to Chelsea.

Signed for £62 million in January 2023, he became the most expensive Ukrainian player in history. The attacker transitioned through spells under the leadership of Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino in his first year and a half in West London, showing signs of quality without consistency.

·‘I'm so excited to be reunited with Roberto De Zerbi’

Then, his minutes were mostly limited to the Conference League when Enzo Maresca came into the dugout at Stamford Bridge.

And he took another major dent to his career when the FA provisionally suspended him from playing for the Blues after testing positive for the banned substance meldonium.

He was stripped of the number 10 shirt in June 2025, and charges were not dropped till July this year.

Now, the 25-year-old looks forward and wants to reinvigorate his career with the help of a familiar face.

"It's a great feeling. I can't wait to start training and playing for the Club, and I'm so excited to be reunited with Roberto De Zerbi. I'm a player who brings speed and creativity, and I want to help in both the offensive and defensive areas. I want to make the fans excited. I can see it's a strong squad here with good players, and I'm looking forward to sharing a pitch and special moments with them."

De Zerbi backs his former forward

The Italian head coach once said that Mudryk has the talent to win the Ballon d’Or. Even if the statement has aged badly, De Zerbi still feels that the attacker has a lot to give to the game.

"Having worked with Misha earlier in his career, I know exactly what he can bring to our team.

"He has the quality to change a game with his speed and ability in one-vs-one situations, and is an exciting, attacking talent. I will demand a lot from Misha and it is our job to help him find the best version of himself. If we do that then he can become a very important player for us. I am very happy he chose to come here, and I cannot wait to work with him again."

Roberto de Zerbi conceded that Tottenham have a 'mentality problem.'

The Italian fought to help keep the club in the Premier League in the last two months of the 2025/26 season, but their hefty expenditure does not seem to have turned around the fortunes of the team.

Spurs struggling for results

Defeats to Newcastle United and Brentford have seen Spurs ship five goals and fail to score one across 180 minutes of football as the stylish patterns associated with de Zerbi are yet to materialise.

But a bigger problem according to the head coach might be the spirit missing within the squad.

'You can't buy the mentality in the transfer market'

"It's the biggest problem, it's the biggest challenge and it's the biggest target to find the right mentality. Unfortunately, you can't buy the mentality in the transfer market or putting many players inside. Football is like a magic thing, you know? You can change many players in a window, in one window of transfer market and you can find the balance immediately or you need more time.

"I think we achieve this target and this goal. I would like to achieve this target quickly and as soon as possible because it is crucial to play football, but the plan and the project of the club and what we are doing to build and rebuild a new team with new players is a great plan and a great project. I have no doubt the result of this project. We have to accept and to be stronger to move on after this defeat.

"I think in the first half, if we scored two goals today, now we would have talked about different things, unfortunately we lost the game, and you know in Italian, who wins, celebrates, and who loses, explain why and I'm explaining why."

Roberto de Zerbi spoke about another defeat for Tottenham at the start of the season.

'I'm really happy to see improvement'

Spurs were smashed 3-0 by Brentford on the opening matchday of the Premier League season.

They needed a response in their first fixture of the campaign on home soil, hoping that the presence of full debutants Omar Marmoush and Mateus Fernandes would make a difference to the outcome.

But at the final count, Newcastle United weathered the storm and turned their moments into the key contributions, scoring twice in the second half with strikes from Anthony Elanga and Yoane Wissa.

De Zerbi on his players' qualities

"I have big confidence in the qualities of my players. At the end, when we become a team, when we improve the connection between the players, when we improve the quality of the play, when we improve the defensive space, distances between the attackers, defenders, midfielders, when we create a team, this group, with me or with another coach, nothing changes, because they are good players.

"I'm sorry for the club, because anyway they are building a great squad, but maybe now we are not ready yet, for many, many reasons. We are not ready yet, for many reasons, but today, I think, until the first goal, we played better than Newcastle.

"Newcastle is a good team, good coach, good player, good everything, but we created more chances to score, we shot more times, we had the control of the ball more than Newcastle. We suffered too much in two or three situations in the first half, because the distance between the attackers and defenders was too big, too much space, and then after the goal we conceded, we lost the confidence.

The reaction was not good enough

"The reaction was not good enough, not the reaction I want to see on the pitch, and I said after the end of the game, the players, because when you build something new, it's tough, there are problems, the difference is how you want to find the solution of these problems, and the solution is not to put down the head, but to react, because we had 20 minutes to score one, two or maybe three goals."

After the emphatic win over the Championship outlet who made 10 changes from their win over league favourites West Ham, here is what we can take from a routine win.

Savio is looking dangerous.

A new identity with the name changes on his shirt seems to signify a fresh start after a torrid time at Manchester City.

After just two goals in his entire City tenure, he managed to equal that last night in a game which hopefully will give him more confidence when he makes his Premier League debut for the Lilywhites.

Pacy, direct and able to find the back of the net are all attributes of his game that he struggled with last season.

It is always encouraging no matter the opposition when your forwards are gaining confidence from a good start to their Spurs career.

It is so early in the season to make any conclusions.

Most fans would have seen the loss to Brentford coming.

However, most fans, regardless of if they are Spurs fans or not, have already started writing off De Zerbi from that one game.

This is not a team to write off after one game.

You can only take so much from a game against a side evidently much worse, but doing a respectable job as expected over Charlton was very much needed to show the team are confident and can play how the manager wants to get them playing.

It is unclear how much of an impact Savio will have on the team, but an emphatic win shows you cannot tell how the season will go based off the first game.

This team needs time.

An encouraging performance from Mikey Moore

The youngster did not have the best game against Brentford, with excellent opportunities squandered in front of goal.

However, yesterday was much better from the winger.

After being on loan at Rangers last season, Spurs have trusted him with early starts until the attacking recruitment is complete, and it seems as if that performance yesterday will only help regain his confidence.

A goal will take a massive pressure off his shoulders knowing he can find the back of the net, and it was deserved from how he stood out.

There is no certainty Moore will remain at Spurs this season, with loan options rumoured to still be on the cards, but after the performance yesterday, he may be given another opportunity to prove himself in his natural position on the left against Newcastle on Saturday.

It is hard to take much away from a game where the lesser opposition play a much-changed side, but the result can quickly erase the horrors of Brentford from the players’ minds going into the first home tie of the season.

Roberto de Zerbi stood behind his selection decisions after Tottenham lost 3-0 to Brentford.

Mamadou Sangare shone for the Bees on his Premier League debut in stark contrast to Lucas Bergvall, whose talent still requires refinement to excel consistently at the top level of the game.

·‘We try to build something good for the club’

Rodrigo Bentancur and Mateus Fernandes both came off the bench at half time to join summer signing Sandro Tonali in the middle of the park. The hosts almost immediately added to their two-goal lead with a third strike from a set-piece, but the inclusion of Bergvall remained a talking point.

With those senior options available on the roster, de Zerbi tried to justify his inclusion in the lineup.

“We lost too many duels, we made too many mistakes in the timing when we wanted to push the pressure higher. We arrived second for the second ball, we didn't win one second ball, one duel, one tackle, and it's tough.

“But if you analyse everything, you can find that we played with one [born in] 2007, one 2006.

“Lucas Bergvall, the second goal. I think he didn't play bad today, even if I substituted in the half-time. But Lucas Bergvall in the next two years, he will not lose that ball in that moment of the game.

“I think at the beginning of the season, at the beginning of the new project, it was good, it was right to play with Lucas Bergvall. But I knew before the game, Lucas Bergvall, in this type of game, maybe he could suffer more than Rodrigo Bentancur, nine years older, and Lucas, 20. I knew before the game, but at the end you have to think.

Brentford began their Premier League campaign in style with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.

Goals from Keane Lewis-Potter and Vitaly Janelt saw Brentford two up at the break, after a dominant first half display, before Michael Kayode added a third shortly after half time to have the Bees in dreamland.

Keith Andrews’ side delivered a performance so impressive that it could even be argued a 3-0 scoreline did not do them justice and instead flattered Spurs, with the Bees having the chances, including a missed penalty from Igor Thiago, to inflict a potentially embarrassing scoreline on their opposition.

The win was Brentford’s first home victory against Spurs in the Premier League, drawing four and losing one of their previous fixtures at the Gtech Community Stadium against the Lilywhites.

Brentford Player Ratings

Caoimhin Kelleher – 8

Brentford’s number one began his second season in West London with a clean sheet.

Having been rarely troubled in the opening 45, the Irish shot stopper made a number of important saves in the second half to prevent any chance of a Tottenham comeback attempt.

Michael Kayode – 8

Fresh off of a summer in which he signed a new six-year contract at the club and became a father, Kayode netted a poacher’s goal from the rebound of Mamadou Sangare’s effort to put Brentford three up, and score his second Premier League.

Making his 50th Premier League appearance, the Italian right back continued to show the quality that has made him a firm fan favourite amongst Brentford fans, both defensively and offensively.

Kristoffer Ajer – 7

Continued on from his impressive form for Norway at the World Cup.

Won six out of six aerial duels at the heart of a Brentford defence which looked relatively comfortable throughout the evening.

Nathan Collins – 7

After a challenging first campaign form wise as captain last season, Brentford’s skipper looked back to his best level in the season opener.

The Irishman was impressive in both boxes, with his back post header to set up Sangare’s shot crucial in Brentford’s third goal of the evening.

Keane Lewis-Potter – 9

An excellent display to remove a lot of doubts about the natural winger’s selection as first choice left back to start the season.

Lewis-Potter netted Brentford’s first goal of the season, finishing off a fabulous move, and was a constant threat throughout the game, working incredibly hard to fulfil defensive duties whilst also being a constant option going forward down the left wing.

Vitaly Janelt – 8

A performance which emphasised just how sorely missed the German was when injured in the second half of last season.

An excellent midfield display, winning the ball back consistently, passing well with some threatening set piece deliveries whilst also on hand to divert home the rebound of Mathias Jensen’s effort from range for the Bees’ second goal, and his 15th for the club.

Mamadou Sangare – 9 (Man of the Match)

A display which perfectly encapsulated exactly why Brentford broke their transfer record to sign him.

Sangare appeared to cover every blade of grass throughout the game, not giving the opposition midfield a moment to breathe, and produced a moment of brilliance to set up the opening goal, playing a clever one two with Dango Ouattara before finding the key pass for Lewis-Potter to finish.

The Mali midfielder could also count himself unlucky not to have got on the scoresheet, with his fine first-time effort drawing a good save from Antonin Kinsky before Kayode turned home the rebound for the third goal.

The 24-year-old was substituted to a standing ovation from the home fans and looks well at home at his new club already.

Dango Ouattara – 6

Had a relatively quiet game but by no means a bad one.

Looked lively at times down the right wing, and his pass to Sangare in the move for Brentford’s first goal was an important moment of quality in the game.

Mathias Jensen - 7

An impressive performance to kick-off his eight season in West London.

Won the ball back brilliantly from Lucas Bergvall before his strong effort was parried to Janelt for the second goal, whilst also providing some excellent crosses to trouble the Spurs defence, particularly from set pieces.

Kevin Schade – 7

A consistent outlet for Brentford in attack, dominant in the air and on numerous occasions too quick for Archie Gray at full back.

Did well to win a penalty that should’ve brought Brentford’s fourth goal.

Igor Thiago – 6

Will be disappointed not to have found himself on the scoresheet, hitting the post with a penalty that should’ve put Brentford four up.

Whilst not up and running goalscoring wise, the Brazilian striker held the ball up well and had some nice touches to help facilitate attacks and contribute to a dominant Bees performance.

Substitutes:

Yehor Yarmoliuk – 7

Worked very hard off the bench, providing an important injection of energy to a midfield that had just began to tire a little.

Jaidon Anthony – 7

Looked energetic and creative on debut, setting up a few chances in the last 20 minutes whilst working very hard defensively.

Aaron Hickey – 6

Struggled a tad against the pace of Mathys Tel, however still held his own defensively to ensure Brentford held on to a clean sheet.

Mikkel Damsgaard – 6

Showed flashes of his usual quality in possession and carried the ball well.

Callum Wilson – 6

Held the ball up well up top and gave a needed rest to a hardworking Thiago in the closing stages.