Football365

Tottenham face Eintracht Frankfurt in the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final this evening and we thought we would add to the woes of doom-stricken Spurs fans in the build-up by reassigning the players who will likely be following their miserable manager out of the door in the summer as they seek European football next season.

James Maddison – Manchester City

We admit to stifling a laugh upon hearing a report claiming Manchester City view Maddison as “the natural replacement” for Kevin De Bruyne, though our mirth was tempered somewhat by the startling realisation that the Spurs playmaker has actually managed nine goals and six assists in the Premier League this season. That’s a goal contribution every 118 minutes, which is bettered by just nine players to have played over 25 games.

That record combined with Maddison being picked out by Pep Guardiola for sweet nothings after games and the obvious Australian caveat for his drop in value this season suggests it’s not the most improbable marriage, but still, it’s Kevin De Bruyne.

Mathys Tel – Chelsea

Not actually a Tottenham player and although they do hold a £45m option to buy him, Daniel Levy is unsurprisingly looking to get a discount on Tel having spent years cultivating an environment at the club where it’s impossible for one of the most talented young forwards in Europe to arrive and show he is one of the most talented forwards in Europe. Credit where it’s due, Levy’s played the long game there.

Chelsea were keen in January, because of course they were, and may well reignite that interest because what’s one more mercurial, unproven winger?

Cristian Romero – Atletico Madrid

He’s been so poor since returning from injury that Spurs fans are starting to question whether he’s doing it on purpose to force a move from the club, and we wonder whether a footballer’s head can be turned by interest to such a degree as to disconnect the synapses between their brain and legs.

But as with most of the players on this list, current form will play very little part in their transfer prospects as they play for a club entirely written off as a basket case. Real Madrid are supposedly interested but we can’t see past a move to Atletico Madrid after a meeting with Diego Simeone involving more shouting than talking and one of those head-to-head nuzzles that isn’t quite a headbutt but combines aggression with that hint of romance that El Cholo covets in his warriors.

Micky van de Ven – Liverpool

Richard Hughes may have sorted out the futures of Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk but the contract issues keep coming at Liverpool, with Ibrahima Konate next up as Paris Saint-Germain reportedly step up their interest while the Frenchman’s agent wants a £200,000-per-week salary for his client that we can’t see the Reds offering.

We suggested this week it may be a straight choice for Hughes between Konate and Dean Huijsen after a season in which the Bournemouth star has caught the attention of all the big boys. But a report in February claimed Arne Slot is also ‘very keen’ on Van de Ven, who he sees as an ‘elite Champions League level’ centre-back.

Dejan Kulusevski – Napoli

We would love him to stay in the Premier League because we love Dejan Kulusevski, but Antonio Conte supposedly wants to reunite with him at Napoli and the Sweden international is one of those players – and there weren’t many at Spurs – with whom Conte appeared to form an unbreakable bond.

Kulusevski said Conte “changed my world” when he brought him to Tottenham from Juventus and while his teammates lost faith as the Italian routinely dug them out and slammed the wider mentality of the football club, Kulusevski remained loyal, insisting “I will always respect him” and claiming “when he speaks, the words enter your heart by force.”

Destiny Udogie – Manchester City

A revelation when he arrived last season and Manchester City’s interest is clearly based on those displays in his first few months in the Premier League rather than his later performances which have seen him suffer the ignominy of being dropped from this Spurs team.

Djed Spence – Nottingham Forest

There’s less shame on Udogie’s part for being ousted from the starting line-up seeing as Spence has done the ousting. In a season of few success stories at Tottenham, Spence’s emergence as a key player is the feelgood story of the campaign.

He waited two years for his first start after his £20m move from Middlesbrough and having been called “a signing the club wanted” in a parting gift from Conte as he left the club, Postecoglou spouted some absolute hokum in February about “purposefully making it difficult” for Spence by not playing him rather than admitting he had him all wrong.

Ola Aina could be on the move from Forest at the end of his contract in the summer despite his excellent campaign and a return to the City Ground for Spence, who made his name during their promotion campaign in 2021/2022, feels like a good fit.

Tottenham and Manchester United are reportedly both ‘keen’ on international goalkeeper Yahia Fofana, with both watching him in action over the weekend amid their own problems in net.

Spurs have not had an awful lot of trouble with Guglielmo Vicario between the sticks. The Italian kept eight clean sheets in all competitions last season, but there’s been more pressure on a lot of the Tottenham squad this term.

That told on Vicario at the weekend, when he was at fault for two goals against Wolves, who are below his side’s own poor position of 15th.

He failed to distribute for one, the ball finding its way immediately to a Wolves player, not long before it found its way into the net, before Vicario made a full-stretch dive only to parry the ball off Djed Spence and into the back of the net.

Following the 4-2 loss, TBRFootball has reported Tottenham are ‘keen’ on Ivorian international Fofana. They and Manchester United are both said to be interested.

In fact, both were reportedly among the sides who watched Fofana in a 2-0 victory over Montpellier at the weekend. It means Angers are three points above the Ligue 1 drop zone.

In terms of personal stats, Fofana has a 72.5 per cent save percentage this season, better than Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

At either Spurs or United, Fofana could be replacing a struggling goalkeeper. United have had their issues with Andre Onana, who has made more errors leading to a goal in all competitions of any Premier League goalkeeper since he joined the club in 2023.

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He made two in his late game, against Lyon, before being dropped for the next game. But Ruben Amorim has confirmed that Onana will be back between the sticks in the second leg of the Europa League quarter-final.

“As a coach and former player first of all I try to do things that can help a player in this situation.

“We speak about managing players physically but we also have to manage them also mentally. We had one weekend where I felt it was better for Andre Onana not to play and a good thing for Altay [Bayindir] to play.

“Onana, he will play tomorrow.”

But whether the faith is kept in him for long remains to be seen, with Fofana joining a number of top goalkeepers on United’s shortlist, with big names including Aaron Ramsdale said to be on there.

The Tottenham managerial shortlist seemingly contains four consistent names. Which might be the only consistent thing about the shortlist. By coincidence those four managers – Thomas Frank, Andoni Iraola, Oliver Glasner and Marco Silva – are the only four potential candidates who a) sit above them in the Premier League table, b) would even briefly consider joining Spurs, c) have never been employed by Spurs before and d) are neither child nor old man.

We know – because this is Tottenham and they have in their possession a massive blunderbuss that they point in the general direction of Premier League managers – that Nuno Espirito Santo would absolutely be on that list if they had not already appointed and summarily sacked him already.

And we fully expect Vitor Pereira to be added as soon as Daniel Levy (or whoever he employs to look at the Premier League table) realises that he has made Wolves far, far better than Tottenham.

Like most football clubs (and human beings), Tottenham are forever trying to recreate the alchemy of their greatest relationships; they reached into the pool of over-achieving mid-table Premier League managers to appoint Mauricio Pochettino in 2014 so they will do so again, ignoring that their last attempt created more sh*t than gold with Santo in 2021.

What did not unite Pochettino and does not unite Frank, Iraola, Glasner and Silva is style. Either in terms of tactics or personality. It’s just a list of managers. Crystal Palace are second for set-piece goals in the Premier League this season; Fulham are dead last. Bournemouth play the most long balls in the Premier League; Tottenham play the very least.

It’s a scattergun approach from a scattergun club who have delusions of DNA, with Levy saying in 2021, between sacking Jose Mourinho (currently being linked again) and appointing Santo:

“We are acutely aware of the need to select someone whose values reflect those of our great club and return to playing football with the style for which we are known – free-flowing, attacking and entertaining – whilst continuing to embrace our desire to see young players flourish from our Academy alongside experienced talent.”

There is an argument that Pochettino fitted that (pipe)dream (and he remains the bookies’ favourite for the job) and so does the doomed Ange Postecoglou, but it reflected the styles of nobody employed between. And those who champion Frank and Iraola might want to take a closer look at the pragmatic styles they embrace rather than a long-distance glare at a painful Premier League table.

Tottenham are in the curious position of being a Big Six club (when measured in terms of income, reach, media presence) but not a top-six side. That puts them in an odd position when it comes to the recruitment of both players and managers. You can absolutely see why they are seeking to recreate the Pochettino effect but there was logic to that appointment; in many 2013/14 metrics, Saints were almost a mirror image to Tottenham.

Fast-forward 11 years and Spurs are looking again towards the middle reaches of the Premier League, but that seems – from the outside at least – to be their only real criteria. Have all four of those managers done well with the resources they have been given? Yes. Could one of then be a successful Tottenham manager? Probably. But the fact that all four are being targeted suggests that there is no real clarity of thinking. Again.

Of course, Spurs could render these discussions moot by winning the Europa League despite being one of the worst teams in the Premier League. And then Postecoglou would magically be the right man again. At least that might be slightly more logical than loading the Premier League table and writing down the name of pretty much every manager between eighth and 12th.

Former Premier League striker Clinton Morrison doubts Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou “will be in a job on Saturday” if they lose to Eintracht Frankfurt on Thursday.

Spurs lost their 17th match of the Premier League season with Postecoglou’s side currently 15th in the table as they enter the final six matches.

There is a feeling that Tottenham may act and sack the Australian if they were to be knocked out of the Europa League on Thursday.

Tottenham drew 1-1 against German side Eintracht Frankfurt last week and head to the Bundesliga outfit hoping to keep their season alive.

The Athletic‘s David Ornstein revealed earlier this week that Postecoglou leaving at the end of the campaign is looking “increasingly likely”.

And now ex-Crystal Palace and Republic of Ireland striker Morrison reckons Postecoglou won’t be in a job at the weekend if they lose to Frankfurt in midweek.

Morrison said on Football Daily: “Nowhere near Tottenham are good enough and Frankfurt are the favorites. It’s 1-1, you go into Frankfurt, I’ll make a statement here.

“If they don’t win on Thursday, I don’t think Ange will be in a job on Saturday. That’s how much the place is toxic at the moment. You can’t buy a win at the moment.

“What excuses is he going to make? ‘Oh, I’ve still got 10 or 11 of my best players injured’? No, all your players are back, and you’re still not getting results. It’s nowhere near good enough.”

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Morrison’s comments come after the Daily Telegraph ruled out Andoni Iraola leaving Bournemouth to take over as the new Tottenham manager if Postecoglou gets fired.

Iraola has been linked with the role for months but the Daily Telegraph insist that the Spaniard is ‘ready to disappoint’ Tottenham ‘and stay at Bournemouth’.

The report adds:

‘Andoni Iraola is moving towards committing his immediate future at Bournemouth despite being a candidate for clubs such as Tottenham in the event of a change of manager.

‘Iraola, 42, has one full season left on his contract at the Vitality Stadium and his work on the south coast over the last two campaigns has drawn admirers and has raised the possibility of a move this summer.

‘But sources are now suggesting the Basque coach is inclined to stay at Bournemouth beyond the current season, with his club firmly in contention for European qualification in 2025-26.

‘With one year left on his deal, which runs until 2026, Bournemouth are also trying to convince Iraola to sign a new deal.’

Tottenham don’t yet know whether they’ll be able to sign Mathys Tel, as they won’t pay the £45million option to buy him, and Bayern Munich will recall him initially.

Tel landed at Spurs in January on a six-month loan, with an option to make the move permanent for around £45million. He had initially said no to Tottenham, before deciding to join them late on.

For the north London club, the Bayern-owned forward has three goals in 11 appearances. But Spurs reportedly accept that he’s joined in a tough period – they’re 15th in the Premier League – and will look to sign him after his loan is up.

However, they are not prepared to do so for the £45million they would currently have to part with.

And Bayern will throw things further up into the air by deciding to recall and use Tel almost immediately. According to Football Insider, they ‘plan’ to utilise the forward in the Club World Cup campaign.

That tournament begins on June 14, which is before Tel’s Spurs spell is officially set to end, but FIFA has created a small transfer window in the first 10 days of June so sides can prepare for the Club World Cup.

As such, Bayern would be able to recall Tel with no problems, and use him in the tournament.

The report states talks will ‘continue’ between Tottenham and Bayern in the off-season, when the Bundesliga side will ‘make a decision’ on Tel’s long-term future.

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That they want him for the Club World Cup, it seems he could impress enough for them not to sell him. It is made clear that Spurs will ‘look to negotiate a lower price’ for Tel if he is ‘receptive to the move’.

Given he initially didn’t want to leave Bayern, a return to the club could see him hope to remain. If not, and if Tottenham don’t want to pay full price, there might be other sides who do.

It remains to be seen what happens in the Frenchman’s future, but given he is under contract until 2029, Bayern have a good selling position, and don’t have to drop their demands if they don’t want to.

The paths of Jose Mourinho and Tottenham could ‘sensationally cross again’ per a report, which notes how Spurs are ‘not sailing in such safe waters’ under Ange Postecoglou.

Tottenham are not in a good position under Postecoglou. After a positive fifth-placed Premier League finish in his first season, Spurs would have been hopeful he’d have been able to build on that.

But things have regressed massively, with the north Londoners down in 15th in the league, the only potential of positivity this season coming from the Europa League, where they are in the quarter-finals, the tie poised at 2-2 ahead of the second leg.

A few reports have suggested if Postecoglou does not engineer success in Europe, he’ll no longer have a job. And his replacement could be a blast from the past.

Tutto Calcio Estero reports ‘the doors could reopen for a return’ to Tottenham for former boss Mourinho, suggesting the paths could ‘sensationally cross again’.

The report notes that with Spurs ‘not sailing in such safe waters’ and the ‘turbulent adventure’ of Mourinho in Turkey with Fenerbahce so far, the move could be possible.

Mourinho managed Tottenham for a year and a half, finishing sixth in the Premier League in 2019/20, and reaching the League Cup final in 2020/21, though he was dismissed before having a chance to coach the final, which Spurs lost.

It might be that current boss Postecoglou is not shown the door until the end of the season, even if his side bow out of the Europa League at the quarter-final stage.

Indeed, David Ornstein recently suggested it’s looking “increasingly likely” that Spurs will look to make a change in the summer.

It was since suggested that Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner will walk to take up the Tottenham job. Former Premier League defender Carragher feels Europa League failure should be the catalyst, though.

“I think if they go out to Eintracht Frankfurt in the cup, it probably would be a shake hands and move on to something different for both parties in terms of the manager and the club,” he said.

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Whether that is the case remains to be seen, but there are now a few options to take over from Postecoglou, with Mourinho and Glasner alongside Andoni Iraola, Marco Silva and Edin Terzic, per reports.

Jamie Carragher delivered a damning verdict of Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur prospects on Sky Sports this week, saying the club will “shake hands and move on” if they suffer a Europa League defeat at the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt.

Tottenham head to Germany on Thursday on the back of a tense 1-1 draw in London, just days before suffering another heavy defeat at the hands of Wolves in the Premier League.

The Liverpool legend thinks that defeat will spell the end of Postecoglou‘s reign amid growing calls for his departure.

“I think if they go out to Eintracht Frankfurt in the cup, it probably would be a shake hands and move on to something different for both parties in terms of the manager and the club,” Carragher said.

Spurs controlled possession and were rarely threatened during the first leg at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, though Hugo Ekitike’s goal in the sixth minute was enough to claim a first-leg draw for the Germans.

He continued, “And, you know, Ange Postecoglou, since he’s come in, I love watching Spurs. I love it when I’ve got a Spurs game.

“I love analysing as things go on. But if you’re a Spurs fan, you know, you’re so open. You’re always conceding goals.

“They’re an exciting team to watch. I’ve said it for so long: They should be everybody’s second team in some ways because you’re always going to get a great game.”

The Premier League’s grand entertainers have scored 60 goals while conceding 49 times en route to 17 losses in 32 Premier League fixtures.

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The Liverpool legend was keen to acknowledge an ongoing injury crisis that has hampered their season, though he also referenced their poor form from previous seasons.

“But some of the results that we’ve seen this season, there’s been mitigating circumstances in some cases in terms of the injuries that they’ve had.

“Even when they’ve had the full team, they haven’t been winning enough games.

“This has not just been going on this season. If you go back to the first 10 games of last season, when they were fantastic, top of the league, from then, this has been going on for a long time.

“This has been going on for nearly 18 months, with them conceding goals and losing games.

“So it’s not, you know, just turning on the manager really quickly over a run of form. This has been going on a long time.”

Tottenham will look to extend their stay in the Europa League when they visit Frankfurt on Thursday night.

Former Sky Sports presenter Richard Keys thinks Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou is a “dead man walking” even if he wins the Europa League.

Spurs lost their 17th match of the Premier League season with Postecoglou’s side currently 15th in the table as they enter the final six matches.

There is a feeling that Tottenham may act and sack the Australian if they were to be knocked out of the Europa League on Thursday.

Tottenham drew 1-1 against German side Eintracht Frankfurt last week and head to the Bundesliga outfit hoping to keep their season alive.

The Athletic‘s David Ornstein revealed earlier this week that Postecoglou leaving at the end of the campaign is looking “increasingly likely”.

And beIN Sports presenter Keys doubts Postecoglou will last even if he guides Tottenham to Europa League silverware.

Keys wrote in his blog: ‘Of course there are a few different reasons a coach can lose his job. An obvious one is to not be very good – or perhaps he/she can be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Both apply to Ruben Amorim.

‘A coach can be stubbornly wrong. Russell Martin comes to mind in this category. If he hadn’t been so naive – no daft – early in the season, Southampton wouldn’t be going down labelled as the worst PL team of all time. Russell arrogantly over-played and refused to change. Saints weren’t good enough to stroke the ball and play ‘the right way’.

‘A coach can sometimes overstay his/her welcome. Players can get tired of hearing the same voice. It’s usually the coach that goes in these circumstances nowadays – Fergie had the luxury of being able to change the players of course.

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‘A coach will go if the chairman/owner starts getting stick from supporters. He/she doesn’t have to get on with decision makers but it helps to manage upwards as well as down.

‘There are many internal reasons that can lead to a change and we don’t always get to know about those, but the last two categories I’m going to mention are a no no.

‘Losing the dressing room will end badly. Ask the last half dozen coaches at Leicester and Chelsea. Players have so much power these days if they don’t fancy a coach they’ll be gone.

‘Steve Cooper found that out. He clearly wanted to take Jamie Vardy on, but didn’t get the time. Vardy took him out early.

‘And the last category is crossing a line from which few – if any – ever come back. That is – pissing supporters off.

‘Ange is a dead man walking. He picked a fight with Tottenham fans during the recent Chelsea game. Bad call Ange. You just can’t do that.

‘He’s gone – even if he wins the Europa League. I backed him half way through the season but I’ve changed my mind. I’m tired of listening to him mumble at the floor explaining ‘it’s what we are mate’. He knows he’s toast. Perhaps it’s why he doubled down at Wolves?’

A Tottenham flop is reportedly ready to outlast Ange Postecoglou at the club as he’s made a ‘key decision’ to wait until the summer to ‘decide whether his future lies at Tottenham’.

There are not many Spurs players who have covered themselves in glory this season. The north London outfit are currently 15th in the Premier League, having come fifth last season.

Brennan Johnson is the only player to have surpassed 10 Premier League goals, and there are only five players with more than five. The defence has also been particularly leaky.

But some players will be persisted with by Tottenham, while others will be given the boot. It’s been suggested that Richarlison – who cost the club £60million in 2022 – could be sold, after just 19 goals in 82 games for the club.

But the striker could manage to escape a sale if a new manager comes in, and that’s seemingly his plan. According to TBRFootball, Richarlison ‘could wait until the summer to decide whether his future lies at Tottenham’.

That ‘key decision’ could come as manager Postecoglou’s ‘likely sacking’ could make him stay, due to the ‘possibility of a new manager being keen to work with’ Richarlison.

READ: Who will be the next manager of Tottenham after Ange Postecoglou?

Tottenham boss Postecoglou has reportedly had it made apparent to him that if he doesn’t win the Europa League, he’ll no longer have a job.

A recent report stated that his sack ‘could be sealed’ this week, if Spurs bow out of the European competition at the quarter-final stage.

However, another report states it’s looking “increasingly likely” that Postecoglou will be given his marching orders at the end of the season instead.

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In any case, it looks as if Spurs will have a new manager at the helm come the end of the season. That could give Richarlison the chance at more opportunities than he is currently getting at the club.

He’s started just two of his 10 Premier League appearances this term, though he has been injured between many of those, so starting the Brazilian could be a risk, given the potential of aggravating his injuries.

Whether a new boss would want to give Richarlison consistent minutes remains to be seen, and he could yet be shown the door at Spurs, providing they receive the same sort of sum they paid for him from Everton.

Oliver Glasner is being reported as the most likely option to take over from Postecoglou at the moment.

Vitor Pereira has done as much to embarrass Ruben Amorim as Manchester United have, while Ange Postecoglou is gone and Newcastle did Eddie Howe proud.

Premier League winners

Vitor Pereira

Ruben Amorim was right back in December: the Wolves squad was “built for the system” of Vitor Pereira and so the comparison of Portuguese mid-season manager appointments at struggling clubs cannot be completely pure.

But for Pereira to accrue three more points in five fewer games than Amorim is a remarkable feat considering their starting positions. Only the managers of the current top seven have a better points-per-game record than Pereira in the Premier League this campaign.

Wolves, 19th and five points from safety upon his appointment, are 16th and 14 points clear of the bottom three five months later. Their current winning run of four games is a longer sequence than Arsenal have put together this season, and as good as Liverpool’s best.

And aside from the final 20 minutes of the victory over Spurs, that has been achieved entirely without best player and chief social media liability Matheus Cunha.

“Matheus is committed, working and preparing himself to help the team,” Pereira said before the Spurs win, the first time in 2025 Wolves had scored more than two goals in a match. “But we won the last three games, playing consistently, tactically and mentally.

“What is fair? It is fair to keep going with the same team. This is my opinion. This is football, this is commitment, this is leadership. And Matheus will come on to help us,” he added of a player who scored his 16th goal of the season from the bench. It is difficult not to be impressed with such clear management and confident coaching.

Manchester City

It cannot have been often that four Manchester City academy graduates have shared the same pitch in a Premier League game, even if James McAtee was immediately substituted upon Oscar Bobb’s introduction.

Pep Guardiola might consider integrating McAtee and Nico O’Reilly earlier this season if given the opportunity again, while Rico Lewis will be grateful for the chance to develop in slightly more settled circumstances.

Those players are good enough to be part of Manchester City’s new era and Guardiola’s trust in them instead of the faltering old guard is long overdue.

Newcastle

There are many different ways of measuring a manager’s ability even in the context of just one game, but securing such a powerful victory in both their image and absence is a fine indicator of success.

Eddie Howe had been missing from the touchline for a Newcastle game before: his first in charge, against Brentford in November 2021. His input was inevitably heavily relied upon, with Jason Tindall saying the pair were in “constant dialogue” and that the manager made the “final call” to introduce substitute Ryan Fraser, who set up the late equaliser in a 3-3 draw.

Newcastle could not possibly have been expected to function properly as a Howe team back then, but three-and-a-half years later the machine functioned effortlessly without the man who holds the blueprint.

Even with the undoubted generosity of an opponent as bereft of confidence and identity as Manchester United, it was a phenomenal performance that should give Howe immense pride. Neither Tindall nor the players needed their hands holding on this occasion; the manager put the game plan in place earlier in the week but only sent “the odd” message from hospital from Friday onwards. He knew he could trust the kids not to burn the house down this time.

David Moyes

The accepted wisdom is that you never go back. Moyes, having taken West Ham from relegation adjacence to European glory in his second spell in charge, would already have disagreed before picking up where he left off at Everton almost 12 years ago.

A pettier man might derive some perverse joy in sitting above both the Hammers and Manchester United after being dumped by both, even if those exits were entirely justifiable. But Moyes is long enough in the tooth to look beyond settling past personal scores and will instead focus solely on his current objectives.

Everton are closer in terms of points to the top four than they are the relegation zone. They are currently 13th, not only the highest they have been all season but the highest they have been since October 2022. Yet still Moyes is looking up, publicly dreaming of having “a season like Nottingham Forest are having this season, next season here”.

Sean Dyche habitually delivered results like these against high-flying teams. But rarely was it so consistently backed up against the rest of the league and never did he actively encourage supporters to aim high and be ambitious. It is a powerful shift in mindset.

Liverpool

The Manchester United champion vintage of 1996/97 have already been reeled in, with Arsenal’s Double winners of 1997/98 next and only two points ahead.

Liverpool still have plenty of future issues to sort but only 12 teams have ever had more points at this stage of a Premier League season and that really is quite good.

Aston Villa

It is arguably easier said than done against the continent’s form team but if Villa can keep Paris Saint-Germain within touching distance relatively deep into their Champions League quarter-final second leg then Unai Emery will know the mere act of turning to his bench could shift momentum inexorably.

Some might also suggest PSG are slightly better than Southampton but those people are no fun.

Emery specifically imbued his squad with more attacking depth in the winter, like a hibernating squirrel discarding Jhon Duran while storing Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio in preparation for a busier mid-spring.

Donyell Malen remains ineligible in Europe but his goals in three consecutive games in which he has played just 88 minutes sum up the general theme still pushing Villa on three fronts. If the first team in Premier League history to have three different substitute scorers in one game do not beat you from the start, they have more than most in reserve to finish the job.

Here’s the Premier League table since the January transfer window closed, by the way:

Kieran McKenna

Facing Enzo Maresca four times with a vast disadvantage in terms of resources and remaining unbeaten against the Italian as a manager is a neat trick. McKenna preventing it from going stale by getting relegated is wise.

On a slightly more serious note, this was welcome proof that Ipswich can function without Liam Delap ahead of his predestined summer transfer auction. He has started all but three games in the Premier League and the Tractor Boys had lost the previous two 4-3 and 4-0, with Delap scoring one of those goals off the bench.

George Hirst was mightily effective against Chelsea and has earned his shot as the attacking fulcrum in the Championship.

Brentford

The explanation for their Jekyll and Hyde ridiculousness was initially that Brentford simply had easier home fixtures and tougher away trips at the start of the season, with their form generally tracking when that was inverted at the midway point.

Then they came from behind to take a point from the Emirates, their first this season away at a team higher than ninth, and everyone just came to accept Brentford are fundamentally quite weird.

Leicester

It is difficult to recall the last time an entire team simply needed one to go in off its collective arse, so Leicester will not look a gift horse made entirely of fortunate deflections and atrocious set-piece marking in the mouth.

This will not spark a miraculous push for survival but Ruud van Nistelrooy was right about the Foxes needing “to break a negative cycle”. How unfortunate that they have six games left to get back into one.

Aaron Ramsdale

The ninth keeper to save two penalties in a Premier League game will surely soon have the opportunity to pick his next career move a little more wisely. Although perhaps joining a Southampton side incompetent enough to entirely absorb his poor performances while platforming his more eye-catching displays was actually fine 4D chess.

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Premier League losers

Spurs

Ange Postecoglou settled on “unusual” as the buzzword to describe the individual mistakes which underpinned a 17th defeat entirely typical of a miserable Premier League season.

It felt like the manager was purposefully subdued, almost to the point of antipathy after the game. Postecoglou might suggest he cannot win in that case, having been criticised for his more antagonistic, argumentative post-match interviews throughout the season. But for such a gifted orator he has so frequently struck the wrong tone this campaign.

“We made errors that conceded goals, so that’s all you can analyse and that’s what happened today,” said Postecoglou. The hope is that being outshot by a team lower in the table despite having almost two-thirds of the possession warrants a little more in-house scrutiny, because one or two individual mistakes leading to a goal is an anomaly but four such instances in the same game points to deep systemic issues.

A chaotic system begets chaos. A lack of proper structure leads to structural problems. And as was wholly predictable, those returning from injury have simply been consumed by that chaos and lack of structure rather than miraculously correcting it through their mere presence.

If Postecoglou is only willing to “analyse” those specific individual mistakes then Spurs can expect nothing else while he remains in the post.

Manchester United

It is genuinely impressive to finish level on points with a team, poach and then part with their sporting director to the tune of £4.1m while cutting costs and making hundreds redundant, outspend them by more than £150m and for the gap to widen to 18 points and ten places in their favour.

That is not all on Amorim but the perennial question remains: do things really need to be this specifically awful? The Portuguese inherited an undoubted mess but the worst of Erik ten Hag had Manchester United four points from Champions League qualification in November; they are three above 17th in April.

The tactics are a separate abject point but even the sort of bold selection calls a manager often relies on to make a statement or evoke a reaction are backfiring horribly. The Andre Onana problem has now been compounded ahead of a game which will help define this miserable season.

Nottingham Forest

No Premier League club has used as few as their 23 players this season and it is starting to show. The legs might be weary with minutes while minds start to be weighed down by pressure and expectation.

Nuno Espirito Santo saw “no positives” but there was also nothing Nottingham Forest did specifically wrong. Their attack was just blunt with Chris Wood returning perhaps a game too soon, while Murillo soiled a hard-earned clean sheet in stoppage time. Everton took full advantage.

The hope is that consecutive defeats can be compartmentalised, coming as they have against one of the league’s form teams and a side which has become remarkably difficult to beat. Everton were organised in defence and struck on the break to secure an ostensibly narrow but ultimately deserved win; Forest have administered that medicine often enough this season to know how to take it and move on.

Enzo Maresca

The prevailing theory that he is quite prone to being Found Out in some way is twofold:

Chuck in an inclination to clash with fans over the playing style and it would be no surprise if Chelsea were conducting another manager search shortly. Blaming the supporters for the errors of Robert Sanchez is brave coming from the man who has played, dropped and then restored him to the starting line-up this season.

Brighton

No club outside the bottom three has accrued fewer points per game against that imminently relegated trio than Brighton (1.67). It is a record somehow damned further by being shared with Spurs.

Brighton’s manager reign-spanning inability to extract the absolute maximum from theoretically the season’s easiest fixtures is well established but no less infuriating. They have faced four of the bottom five at home and failed to win each time, keeping just one clean sheet.

Theirs is a substantial injury list robbing them of key players in crucial positions but excuses and caveats really shouldn’t be necessary against a team which hasn’t scored for eight games dating back to late January, never mind avoided defeat.

The biggest spenders in the Premier League this season still need to invest a little more in defence and on research to discover a way of consistently beating the division’s worst teams.

Oliver Glasner

The latest manager to react in the only sensible way to being linked with taking over at Spurs: by promptly losing his next match.

Glasner did at least own it, admitting that changing formation when leading 2-0 at half-time was “the wrong decision” and his ambitious plan “didn’t work” after some early brilliance at the Etihad.

But even that is a mark against his candidacy for other more illustrious posts. The big nerd has been here long enough to know that blaming VAR or sneering at the long-ball merchantism of the opponents is far more preferable than public introspection and accountability.

Arsenal

Already more Premier League points dropped this season than in both of the last two, with a relatively worrying trend developing in terms of squandering advantages: before this campaign, the most points Arsenal dropped from winning positions in a full season under Mikel Arteta was nine. It is 16 and counting in 2024/25.

The good news is that it is really beyond the point of actually mattering and there are no relevant scenarios in which Arsenal’s emerging tendency to waste a hard-earned lead can properly hurt them this season.