Football365

Coventry, a side that had taken their total attempts on goal to 39 for a return of zero actual goals, were probably already feeling like luck was not on their side even before Lewis Dunk scored an absurd 30-yard screamer that fizzed and dipped its way under the crossbar for the fourth of Brighton’s five goals.

It really is hard to imagine how the start of this season could have gone any worse for Coventry. The fixture list was not kind to them, but it’s not just their own desperate struggles that make it all look so grim.

While they sit on zero points and zero goals, their fellow promoted clubs – clubs who were simply not on their level in the Championship last season – have already racked up 14 points and 12 goals between them.

The early success of those teams already makes survival look near impossible for Coventry, who must now also suffer the ultimate indignity of finding themselves as bad as only Tottenham when it comes to scoring Premier League goals.

It feels like there could be some kind of curse at work here. That someone gave a Coventry fan a monkey’s paw 10 years ago and said ‘A decade from now you will be just like Tottenham’.

They have, in fairness, taken a different path to the same outcome this season. Spurs, aware that they have no finisher in their expensively assembled squad at all, have shown all their nous and experience by simply not wasting any time or effort on creating chances at all. It’s just easier that way.

Silly, callow, naïve Coventry have not been so canny. They have foolishly highlighted the scale of their inadequacies in front of goal by creating a great many chances. Several of them against Manchester City, for goodness’ sake.

Coventry’s xG in what was in the end a harrowing 4-0 defeat to a very good Brighton side was 1.72. There can’t be many times in a 5-0 game where the victorious keeper gets man of the match for his unlikely clean sheet.

And this was a game that showed just about more clearly than any other this season the obvious, trite yet no less meaningful fact that goals change games.

Charalampos Kostoulas’ superbly taken opening goal on 35 minutes came, ludicrous as it feels to say it given the final scoreline, entirely against the run of play.

Coventry were much the better side at that point, having already had eight attempts and forcing that eventual man of the match Verbruggen into significant action on more than one occasion.

But while the scope of the defeat was no doubt influenced by Taiwo Awoniyi’s red card eight minutes into the second half, the contest was over by then. There was absolutely no sense that Coventry had it within them to recover from 2-0 down.

While Coventry’s attacking misfortune will obviously garner the most attention, they were also startlingly open at the back. That’s where the real agony lies, because there were legitimate positives to be taken from last week’s all-round effort even in defeat at Manchester City. Those were p*ssed away here.

There is a clear desire, bordering on desperation, in the football media for none of this to be Frank Lampard’s fault. The language used around a struggling side is always interesting. At half-time here, Roy Keane noted that Frank would be disappointed. Oddly for a man whose catchphrase is quite literally ‘That’s his job’ there was no indication that Coventry not being a disappointing football team might in some way be, well, his job. But reality can be ignored for only so long. If things don’t change soon, a beleaguering is inevitable.

Brighton were superb, though. Once they got in front and sensed blood, they really did look like a top-quality side. The early stages of this season always felt like a huge opportunity for Brighton, a team approaching the new season with what is this year a rare sense of equilibrium and continuity. They have taken that early chance and now sit cosily inside the top four and are comfortably the division’s leading scorers having racked up 13 more goals than Coventry in the first four games of the season.

There is nothing unsustainable about Brighton’s start to the season, which doesn’t necessarily feel like the case for everyone else currently breathing rarefied air. This is a season of huge opportunity for them.

Coventry can only take comfort from the fact that the only other team to endure a pointless and goalless four-game start to a Premier League season were 2017/18’s Crystal Palace (who didn’t actually get either goals or points on the board until game eight amid The De Boer Unpleasantness) and they still finished 11th.

But still finishing 11th after a bad start is about the most Crystal Palace-coded thing of which it’s possible to conceive. They’re literally on their way to finishing 11th after a bad start right now.

Coventry have no such status and, with 10 goals conceded, are right now technically and statistically twice as bad as Spurs, which really shouldn’t actually be possible.

Jamie Redknapp has torn into Tottenham and manager Roberto De Zerbi over their “diabolical” start to the Premier League season.

After finishing 17th in consecutive seasons and only just missing out on relegation last term, Spurs spent £300m in the summer in an attempt to avoid another similarly disappointing campaign.

But they’re off to a poor start again as De Zerbi – who was drafted in to save them from relegation at the end of last term – has struggled to get his philosophy to reap attacking rewards in the Premier League.

After shipping five goals in their first two games, Spurs have kept two clean sheets on the trot, but incredibly they’re yet to score a goal this season.

Redknapp can’t quite believe what he’s seen from his former side, labelling their inability to find the net “diabolical”.

He said on Sky Sports: “Out of all the things they have done spending £300 million, one of the problems I thought when they assembled this squad will not be a lack of goals, I did not see that one.

“I thought they might struggle to win games… but I thought about the players they have got in midfield -Fernandes, Tonali, Marmoush, Savinho, even Kudus coming off the bench – surely they have goals in this team. But to not score in the Premier League in six hours of football is absolutely diabolical whatever way you look at it.

“They defended better today, I think the two centre-backs were better than what they have been, but just not enough. Solanke up front, I look at the team that has started to take shape, but no, they have to find the net. How could you not score in six hours of football?”

READ: The first ever 0-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium gives Jamie Redknapp his Curb moment

De Zerbi shirking the blame

Ahead of the 0-0 draw with Everton on Saturday, pundit Chris Sutton hit out at De Zerbi and called for him to take “a bit of responsibility” for how Tottenham have started this season.

“This is absolutely massive for Tottenham boss Roberto De Zerbi. First and foremost, though, he needs to take a bit of responsibility for his side’s poor results,” Sutton stated.

“He blamed the Spurs strikers after their 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest, but at least he has got some in his squad. Spurs are a ‘law of averages’ team, or at least that’s the way I see it.

“Eventually they have to score and eventually they have to win too, but I don’t see both things happening this weekend.”

Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur proved with their draws against Fulham and Everton that the quality of the Premier League has declined.

Also, two supposed Manchester United ‘mercenaries’ are defended for being ‘vital cogs’ for Michael Carrick.

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com…

Sympathy for Mikel Arteta, kind of…

I can’t blame Mikel for raging at the Sunderland peno call.

He’s watched his players man handle anything with a pulse in the penalty area for years now and get away scott free – then all of a sudden a ref says opposition players ought to be able to actually move ?? Absolutely unacceptable.

The inconsistency must infuriate lego-hair Mikel. His players only managed to initiate a cross-faced crippler move this time. Hardly worthy of a peno when normally they dish out Stone-cold Stunners?

Patricio Del Toro

READ: Raya and Arsenal exorcise Sunderland demons to show strength of champions

Bull on Man Utd pair ‘must be a joke’

What a load of bullshit from Gaptoothfreak, Man Utd, New York. Calling Cunha and Mbeumo mercenaries must be a joke. If anything, it looks like they absolutely love the club and want to be there. They seem to have geled well, look happy and I am yet to hear any Rumors of dressing room discontent, or line ups leaking.

The usual buzz around transfer Rumors is that United under Ineos want players that actually want United over others.Hence why we gave up Mateus Fernandes,or that apparently we paid a bit less overall for Sesko vs what Newcastle was offering because he chose us.

Coming to football side of things, yes an argument can be made that their output has decreased at United but it was their first season at a big club (or back at a big club in case of Cunha), mostly under the misfiring “sufferings” of Amorim and the remaining under the then interim Carrick. Plus they no longer are the biggest Cog (best source of goals) in their team’s machinery.

At united, they have to compete with each other, Captain fantastic Bruno, Sesko, and a surprisingly goal scoring Casemiro. Add in Amad and a returning Rashford, and their appearances could further deplete too.

They are not the marquee Galacticos signings; they are vital cogs to a consistent United. Gone are the days of SAF where United were truly theatre of dreams with players like C. Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez, Van Persie etc. and even then there were players like Nani, Valencia and Park to fill in the gaps.

If Gaptoothfreak is worried about their fees? just look at the going rate this season for players, then add PL tax and United tax and the fees sound fair (not everyone can sign a Tzolis for just 30 mil).

Post SAF, United has signed plenty of these Galacticos wannabes, players like Di Maria, Pogba, Sancho,Sanchez, Onana et all and all of them have been some form of failure.

Most importantly they were bought for crazy money, on crazy wages, and are now textbook definition of mercenaries (want high salaries, were never value for money didnt settle well at club and gave some very half hearted performances among themselves).

Gaptoothfreak, NYC, should fill his gap in football knowledge and focus on electing better president than the Orange one and his corporate mercenaries before commenting on United players.

Rahil, MUFC

(did he call us Manyoo? isn’t that derogatory? is he a troll? why did mailbox publish a troll as their first mail)

Spurs and Liverpool prove Premier League decline

Re the recent debate about the lack of excitement/quality of the current PL, and the responses suggesting Kentona, me, and whoever else agrees it’s not a patch on the olden days of the 90s/00s are akin to old men shaking our fists at passing clouds: Care to explain the utter quality vacuum that was Spurs v Everton?

Or Liverpool not even managing to score versus Fulham at home with hundreds of millions of pounds worth of “talent” up front?

RHT/TS x

(Did I REALLY see a mail from an Arsenal fan stating that the present day Gooners would wipe the floor with the 97/8 vintage? Have you bumped your head mate?)

Mike, LFC, you’ve completely missed my point. I wholeheartedly agree with your notion railing against the idea of “the day”. I don’t think music was better back then, I don’t think film or TV was, nor literature. I had a lot more time for all of those things too, but I’m not glorifying them. Of course we enjoy things more when we’re younger, because we’re young, that’s the subjective. I purposefully acknowledged that, because I think football is different. I think it was objectively better.

Look at the leagues. There was quality, in depth, across Europe. Now you have Bournemouth signing Porto’s Brazilian international striker for £40m+. That’s bad for the wider game. Look at the state of Serie A, or La Liga outside of the big 3. Then there’s stats and marginal gains taking over. That for the better? Someone mentioned Ronaldinho; could he play that expressively in the systems heavy world of today? Would Riquelme succeed or would his pressing stats just be too bad.

I reiterate the point I made; that period of football was the sweet spot on the graph, balancing money and sports science. There was just the right amount of it. The set piece coaches, the xG, the VAR, the concentration of wealth into the Premier League has all made the wider sport worse. I’m willing to bet that the vast majority of fans of non-PL clubs would agree too. I think it’s easy to miss how much fans across Europe are sick of the financial dominance.

Personally, I’m increasingly invested in Altrincham, my local non-league team and am raising my kids as Altrincham fans, precisely because of how much the modern, elite game repulses me. It’s too late for me, the 7 year old’s first love will remain, no matter how much I’d like to move on, but it’s not too late for them. Up the Robins!

Lewis, Busby Way

RHT/TS’s dig at Arsenal debunked

‘RHT/TS x (Obviously swerved watching Arteta and his functional cheats bore their way to another 1-0 – does anyone choose to watch Arsenal bar their fans?)’

Do you even know what a football is or where it’s played – 25 shots, 9 on target, 58% possession, 93% pass accuracy and 6 corners – a boring game it was not – oh and BTW the other team Napoli’s home stats for the last 20 games, also recent champions of Italy – 14 Wins, 4 Draws, 2 Losses and +17 goals!!!!!

You have a crush, stay there if you want but oh please let the rest of us move on without having to know the details that flow through your mind about the coach, the club and if you know any Arsenal supporters personally I hope you’re resisting the urge to start the same with them.

I can tell you are obsessed (anyone caught you boiling bunnies yet…) as your ramblings are getting more desperate and you shoehorn any odd comment about Arteta and/or the Arsenal into all of your poorly thought out posts.

I am certain if you really tried you could one day say something positive about your own team and to show your weaning yourself off the Arsenal you could resist the urge to write anything associated with the Arsenal unless it’s a balanced well thought out comment – I believe in you!

Micky (I want stats on technical area entries, exits, distance covered etc…the same as the penalty area stats but based around the coaching team and the ref – will eventually prove all managers are actually as jumpy as all other managers – or everyone could just let it go – do we not remember what happened to sporn VAR?)

Andy Gray

Hey All,

I know you don’t like him but did you hear Andy Gray on commentary on talk sport? So good. He even managed a cheeky “what a hit son”.

It was brilliant. Good luck for the season all!

Chaz

According to reports, there are ‘increasing doubts’ about Roberto De Zerbi’s position at Tottenham Hotspur after Saturday’s draw against Everton.

De Zerbi was drafted in to save Tottenham towards the end of last season, and he just did enough to keep them in the Premier League following a prolonged relegation battle.

And De Zerbi was heavily backed in the summer transfer market as part of a huge Tottenham rebuild, with over £300m spent on signings.

Sandro Tonali, Matheus Fernandes, Omar Marmoush and Jan Paul van Hecke were among their big-money recruits, but they have made a poor start to the 2026/27 campaign.

After four games, Tottenham sit just above the relegation zone with two points, and they were booed by their home supporters after a 0-0 draw against Everton on Saturday evening.

READ: The first ever 0-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium gives Jamie Redknapp his Curb moment

Roberto De Zerbi facing ‘increasing doubts’ at Tottenham

Now, journalist Pete O’Rourke for Football Insider is reporting that De Zerbi has been told Tottenham’s ‘sack verdict’, with the head coach facing ‘increasing doubts’ about his position.

“Look, no manager in the Premier League can go on for too long with a losing start to the season,” O’Rourke told Football Insider.

“That’s the job, this game is based on getting results and Roberto De Zerbi will be fully aware of that. One point from three games is not good enough.

“It’s not what Tottenham expected this season following their heavy outlay in the transfer window to improve the squad, they were expecting an immediate impact.

“But there’ll be no knee-jerk reactions at Tottenham. The club are fully behind De Zerbi and they see him as the man to get things right.”

Before the Everton game, pundit Chris Sutton hit out at De Zerbi and called for him to take “a bit of responsibility” for how Tottenham have started this season.

“This is absolutely massive for Tottenham boss Roberto De Zerbi. First and foremost, though, he needs to take a bit of responsibility for his side’s poor results,” Sutton stated.

“He blamed the Spurs strikers after their 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest, but at least he has got some in his squad. Spurs are a ‘law of averages’ team, or at least that’s the way I see it.

“Eventually they have to score and eventually they have to win too, but I don’t see both things happening this weekend.”

Tottenham Hotspur manager Roberto De Zerbi has explained why he was frustrated with Mathys Tel during the match against Everton at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and has also expressed his delight with Andy Robertson’s performance.

Spurs endured a difficult afternoon at home on Saturday, as they failed to win against Everton.

The match between Tottenham and Everton finished in a goalless draw.

It was the first time in Tottenham’s history that they had failed to score in any of their first four league fixtures in a single campaign.

Tottenham manager De Zerbi cut a hugely frustrating figure in the dugout during the game.

Immediately after the full-time whistle, De Zerbi went on to the pitch and started speaking animatedly to Tel.

READ: Jamie O’Hara tears into five Tottenham players after Everton draw – ‘Cement in his feet’

Tel did not start the match against Everton, but the 21-year-old former Bayern Munich forward came on for Dominic Solanke in the 63rd minute.

Roberto De Zerbi on Tottenham forward Mathys Tel

De Zerbi said about Tel, as relayed by The Independent journalist Miguel Delaney on X at 8:19pm on September 12: “Yes, I coach him on the pitch… the striker can’t play with his back to the goal.

“He has to play like a striker, looking at the goal, or on the cross for Robertson.

“He has to stay inside.

“He started as a striker, eh, now he’s playing as a winger.”

The Tottenham manager added: “But I love Mathys as a player and a guy, there is not a problem.”

Roberto De Zerbi on Tottenham left-back Andy Robertson

While De Zerbi was not pleased with Tel, the Tottenham manager has praised left-back Robertson for his efforts during the game.

The former Liverpool left-back took one shot, played two key passes, and put in seven crosses – of which one was accurate.

Football.London quoted De Zerbi as saying: “There is a word in Italian that literally translates as we unblock ourselves.

“I think the team is incredibly strong and we can win games.

“We can find the goals with the quality of our players.

“The full-backs and their quality.

“Andy Robertson was very good today but we didn’t maybe trust his crosses enough.”

The Tottenham manager further said about his team’s performance: “I came last season when the s*** was like this (puts his hand up to his forehead), you know?

“S***, I repeat.

“And I’ve always been, not positive, but realistic.

“Now I explained, I’m sorry for the results, but it’s not immediate, no?

“Not the improvement, not immediate to make a team.

“Today we played as a team.

“We didn’t score, we didn’t win, but today and Nottingham I think we played as a team.

“And I can’t say nothing as an attitude, as a behaviour of the players, no, no.

“I said to stay calm, maybe to not lose the confidence because we are not scoring, we are not winning.

“Stay calm, improve, work hard and individually try to understand where is the improvement, no?”

Jamie O’Hara has been fuming following Tottenham Hotspur’s failure to win against Everton at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with the talkSPORT pundit picking five players for criticism after the Premier League game.

Tottenham played out a goalless draw with Everton at home in the league on Saturday.

It was the first time in Tottenham’s history that they have failed to score in their opening four games of the season.

Roberto De Zerbi’s Tottenham find themselves 17th in the Premier League table at the moment with just two points from four matches.

Former Tottenham player Jamie O’Hara was following the match, and he laid into five players – Savio, Omar Marmoush, Dominic Solanke, Lucas Bergvall and Sandro Tonali.

Jamie O’Hara reacts to Tottenham 0-0 Everton

O’Hara said on talkSPORT (7:22pm, September 12, 2026): “We have played four games, we haven’t scored a goal.

READ: The first ever 0-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium gives Jamie Redknapp his Curb moment

“We haven’t scored.

“What is going on?

“Seriously, what is going on?

“I can’t get over this team.

“I can’t get over it, mate, how bad it’s gone.

“We spent £350million, we can’t score a goal.

“Savio runs down dead ends, Marmoush looks like he has got cement in his feet, Solanke’s miles off it, Bergvall comes on, he’s like a kid, Tonali, we spent £100million (on), he’s non-existent in the game.

“What is going on with this side?

“It’s absolutely shocking.”

Jarrad Branthwaite and David Moyes react

Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite said after the match: “You look at the game from the start, they put us under pressure and we had to dig deep to stay in the game.

“Then we grew into the game towards the end of the first half and showed that mentality again in the second half.

“We had chances to win the game as well.

“The backs to the wall mentality will help us go a long way.

“If we can keep clean sheets, you can go a long way in the league.

“But it’s not just us the defenders.

“It’s the whole team working hard.

“It’s a team effort.”

Everton manager David Moyes said: “It felt like Tottenham had more [shots on target] than we did.

“Was I happy with the performance? No, not really.

“I told the players about coming here and our club’s record here.

“Tottenham were so good for 20 minutes, put us under so much pressure and we struggled to get out of it.

“We didn’t play well enough today though and turned the ball over too much.”

“If we’re talking in two hours and they still haven’t scored, I’ll be absolutely amazed,” stated Jamie Redknapp in his pre-match punditry ahead of Tottenham vs Everton.

He was practically begging for a Curb Your Enthusiasm theme with that one.

It sounded a particularly bold claim, when, only a couple of minutes later Sky Sports flashed up a graphic showing that no player in Tottenham’s starting XI – including their £350million-plus worth of summer signings – scored more than four league goals last season.

And the only player with four was centre-back Micky van de Ven. The only player in the Spurs squad who scored more last season was Richarlison, reportedly considering legal action, and watching on from the stands after being omitted from Roberto De Zerbi’s Premier League squad.

Redknapp’s optimism, he reasoned, was that this was finally something close to De Zerbi’s first-choice XI, summer additions bedded in and starting – and that there’s simply too much attacking quality for the drought to continue.

After all, Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne are probably the two standout Premier League players of the last decade. Look at Cole Palmer now. All of them were once spare parts at big six clubs. All of them shone when given faith and opportunities. Maybe that’ll be Savio and Omar Marmoush…

Or maybe not. But you sensed Redknapp might’ve actually been on to something when the hosts made a bright start, the crowd sounding up for it, with Savio looking particularly lively.

That lasted all of 10 minutes, and it failed to result in any major chances of note. Everton grew into the game, had a spell on top, and reached the break without facing a shot on target. Classic David Moyes.

Jordan Pickford’s first save, from a tame long-range Mateus Fernandes effort in the 46th minute, was met with ironic cheers from the home fans. Vibe check: Not great.

After an erratic start to the season from De Zerbi – Archie Gray their youngest-ever captain one week, an unused sub the next – this line-up at least made sense on paper. A solid defence, a combative midfield and an attack that theoretically had the tools to hurt the opposition.

But all three of Rodrigo Bentancur, Sandro Tonali and Matheus Fernandes recalled Jose Mourinho’s infamous ‘trivote’ of Pepe, Xabi Alonso and Sami Khedira at Real Madrid. A lot of graft, very little guile. It was no wonder they struggled to create, and as the second half wore on, you were just waiting for De Zerbi to fix it.

James Maddison looked the most obvious solution, but he had to wait as the Tottenham manager opted for Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Bergvall in place of Bentancur and Fernandes just past the hour mark. Mathys Tel replaced an isolated, ineffective Dominic Solanke. Something different, at least.

Yet it was Everton that looked the likelier to score. It was Jack Grealish who looked the most impactful substitute. Maddison was eventually introduced in the 77th minute, but while De Zerbi’s side made inroads in terms of territory, Pickford’s goal remained untroubled.

It was only in the dying minutes, when Maddison cut out an errant goal kick and Bergvall struck sweetly from range, that they ever looked close.

Somehow, this was the first-ever Premier League goalless draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. On this evidence – whereby Spurs were organised and competent while completely anaemic in the final third – there’ll be a whole lot more in the weeks and months to come.

If newly-promoted Coventry City score against Brighton tomorrow, Spurs will be the only remaining club in the top five tiers of English football yet to score a league goal this season.

And if Hamburg, who have only played twice, find the net against RB Leipzig, the same will be true across Europe’s five major leagues.

That’s 192 clubs in total. You don’t want to be the odd one out there.

The relationship between Spurs and Tottenham striker Richarlison “looks completely broken”, according to Fabrizio Romano.

Richarlison has had several options to leave north London in a rollercoaster few weeks for the Brazilian but none of them have materialised

The Tottenham striker was used in a part-exchange deal to sign Iliman Ndiaye from Everton but that deal fell through as Richarlison could not agree terms with the Toffees.

Spurs agreed a loan deal for Chelsea winger Mykhaylo Mudryk instead with Ndiaye eventually moving to Manchester City before the transfer deadline.

Super Lig side Trabzonspor were interested in signing Richarlison but that move didn’t happen and now Brazilian outfit Vasco da Gama are trying to sign him.

A report on BBC Sport revealed on Friday that any transfer is still a challenge as Richarlison is ‘in dispute over the remaining nine months of his contract’ at Tottenham.

READ: Paul Merson makes Tottenham claim ahead of Everton match – ‘you would start really, really worrying’

Richarlison is ‘keen to be released from his deal’ but Tottenham are currently against that, with the report adding: ‘Talks between the club and player’s representatives are ongoing to find a resolution but it is believed the matter has escalated in recent days.

‘While Richarlison is eager to reach an agreement with Tottenham which would allow him to walk away from the club for nothing, Spurs are not considering that option as realistic. To complicate matters, Spurs have a 12-month option to extend Richarlison’s contract until the end of next season. Spurs are unwilling to negotiate a settlement with Richarlison over the rest of his deal.’

Giving his own update on Richarlison’s future, Romano said on his YouTube channel: “Guys, at this stage, I’m not aware of anything close between Richarlison and Vasco da Gama.

“I know there were many questions. Richarlison was close to joining Trabzonspor, but Tottenham rejected all the proposals sent by Trabzonspor. Richarlison agreed terms with Trabzonspor, not with Vasco da Gama.

READ: Tottenham star makes U-turn on his future with new deal completed as he reveals reason for decision

“Now we will see what happens with his future, because at the moment the relationship with Tottenham looks completely broken.”

Harry Kane new deal: ‘It’s not imminent today or tomorrow’

Tottenham legend Harry Kane is also attempting to sort out his own future as negotiations continue over signing a new contract at Bayern Munich.

Giving an update on talks, Romano added: “Harry Kane keeps negotiating a new contract at Bayern. He has confirmed that it’s going to take some time. It’s not imminent today or tomorrow, but the negotiations are going well.

“And I can confirm that for Bayern, this is an absolute priority. Bayern consider the new contract for Kane and then Michael Olise. But first, Harry Kane, the absolute priority.

“The conversations are taking place. I think it’s going to take some time, but Bayern are on it. Bayern are prepared to offer Harry Kane something really important in terms of the contract. So this is going to be an important topic.”

Arsenal legend Paul Merson has dramatically suggested that Tottenham Hotspur’s season could be on the line this weekend against Everton.

There has been a lot of change at Tottenham since they avoided relegation from the Premier League, with Roberto De Zerbi backed more than any other Spurs manager.

In this summer’s transfer window, Spurs invested over £300m on signings to rebuild their squad, with Sandro Tonali, Matheus Fernandes and Jan Paul van Hecke among their additions.

Despite this, Tottenham have made a slow start to this season, with De Zerbi’s side only picking up a single point from their first three Premier League games.

The north London side have still been without a few key players, but Merson thinks Saturday’s home match against Everton is a “cup final” for Spurs.

“Spurs have to beat Everton this weekend. It’s a cup final for them – I’d go as far as to say this is their season on the line,” Merson told Sky Sports.

READ: Spurs will succumb to 13-year all-time Premier League table low soon – but might Liverpool drop too?

“Here we go again…”

“If they lose to Everton, then you starting thinking: this is going to be another grind of a season. Here we go again. You would start really, really worrying as a Tottenham fan.

“But if they go and beat Everton, you start going two games without a defeat, they’ll be on four points. Then all of a sudden you can build from there.”

He continued: “It’s not as big as the Spurs vs Everton game on the final day of last season. If they lost that game, they were going to Lincoln. But, at the moment, I just don’t see this team putting five or six wins on the trot together. So this is a big football match.

“The start Spurs have had is Brentford away, Newcastle at home and Nottingham Forest away. If they lose to Everton and have one point from four games, you start to worry.

“If they beat Everton, then they’ve got every chance of beating Aston Villa at home next week. If they don’t beat Everton, they’re not beating Villa. That’s how it works. It’s a snowball effect.

“When you win football matches, you expect to win the one after. But if you don’t, the confidence goes.”

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Lucas Bergvall has gone from looking close to leaving to signing a new long-term contract with Spurs.

There has been a major squad overhaul at Spurs after they came close to suffering relegation from the Premier League last season.

Head coach Roberto De Zerbi was backed more than any other Tottenham manager, with over £300m spent on summer signings.

Most of Tottenham’s spend went on rebuilding their midfield with the signings of Sandro Tonali and Matheus Fernandes, and this fuelled reports linking Bergvall with an exit.

In the summer, Bergvall reportedly expressed a desire to leave amid interest from Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest, but a deal did not happen as the interested clubs did not match Tottenham’s asking price.

“We’re building something great here…”

Now, Tottenham have announced that Bergvall has signed a new contract to commit himself to the north London outfit, and he has stated that he is staying because the club is “building something great”.

“I think we’re building something great here. It’s an exciting time for the Club and that’s why I’m happy to extend my contract,” Bergvall said in an interview for Tottenham’s website.

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“I’m always trying to achieve as much as possible, to be the best version of myself both on and off the pitch and I know this is the right place to do that.

“Personally, my goal is to produce more for the team – performances, goals and assists – to help as much as I can.

“I’m getting better every day in training and I’m looking forward to what will be a really good season ahead.”

Spurs boss De Zerbi, meanwhile, has lauded Bergvall’s attitude and quality with his “best football still ahead of him”.

De Zerbi said: “Every day in training you can see Lucas’ desire to learn, improve and push himself to the highest level.

“Lucas is brave, he wants responsibility and has the personality to play in big moments. He also understands that development is a process and he has shown a fantastic attitude towards working on the areas of his game where he can become even better.

“I believe his best football is still ahead of him and we want to give Lucas the platform to reach his full potential.”

Sporting Director Johan Lange added: “Lucas is an outstanding young player with enormous potential and we are delighted that he has committed his future to the Club.

“From the moment he arrived, he has demonstrated not only his technical ability and intelligence on the pitch, but also the character we expect from our players.

“Lucas has a fantastic attitude to his work, he is eager to learn and improve every day, and he has become an important part of the group.

“This new contract is a reflection of our belief in Lucas and the role we see him playing both now and in the future of the Club.”