The New York Times

“We also struggle to keep clean sheets. We haven’t had as many as you would want if you want to go higher up in the table. That is a bad combination to pick up as many points as we want.”

Liverpool chairman Tom Werner, visiting from the United States, was in the directors’ box and won’t have enjoyed what he witnessed.

This wasn’t a tale of Liverpool simply not being ruthless enough in the final third. Yes, they edged it on xG (1.6-1.2) but they had fewer shots on target (four versus seven) and created fewer big chances as defined by Opta (one to two) — despite having 63 per cent of the possession.

What was truly alarming was the sight of the same old issues which have dogged Liverpool all season. There’s a lack of conviction and composure in all departments. They allow games to drift. Midfielder Alexis Mac Allister won just two of his 12 duels. Once again, Liverpool failed to score from open play. Once again, they conceded a truly dreadful goal.

It was so avoidable, with goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario’s long punt not dealt with by Andy Robertson before captain Virgil van Dijk failed to halt Randal Kolo Muani. Joe Gomez, inexplicably, got drawn across and left Richarlison unmarked to score. There’s a glaring fragility to Liverpool and they have now conceded eight Premier League goals in the 90th minute or later in 2025-26 — their most in the competition in a single campaign.

No manager can legislate for senior pros making mistakes like those but the problem for Slot is that, approaching the business end of the season, there’s little sign of him galvanising the talent at his disposal. Their reign as champions has been so stop-start. Every time they seem to generate some momentum, they stumble and let themselves down. Lessons just aren’t being learned.

There are some mitigating circumstances for these struggles, from the tragic death of Diogo Jota, to recruitment decisions made above Slot’s pay grade, signings needing time to adjust to new surroundings, key personnel losing their way and the injury issues which have hampered the team’s progress.

But the biggest reason why Slot is haemorrhaging support among match-going fans is the stale brand of football Liverpool are playing. There’s so little to excite. So little to emotionally invest in. Teenager Rio Ngumoha was a breath of fresh air on his full league debut yesterday with his positivity and directness, but the hosts got considerably worse in the final half-hour after he was subbed off.

Where Klopp provided the chaos, Slot was all about control last season. But even that seems beyond him currently. When Liverpool really needed to take the sting out of this contest in the second half and ideally build on their 1-0 lead, it got fraught and panic set in. Game management was non-existent.

“Because we were not able to score the second goal — that would immediately damage the momentum of the other team,” Slot added. “When it’s still 1-0, it’s normal that the subs the other manager makes, going even more offensive and direct, taking more risks, that can lead to them creating chances but them also being very open for counter-attacks. We didn’t concede chances by being too open or too offensive or being outplayed through midfield. It was from playing balls over the press into our last line.

“All the chances we had in the second half were from when we picked up second balls and counter-attacked them. But the three, four, five times they picked up the second ball, they were a threat. That is probably the belief teams have now when they play against us, and we might be a bit anxious towards the end. That’s normal to start to feel like that when it’s happened so many times.”

When Liverpool signed off 2025 with four straight wins across the Premier League and Europe, there was a belief that they had finally turned a corner after the dark days of autumn. It turned out to be a false dawn. This calendar year, they have won just four of 12 league games, including taking only one point out of the past six on offer against last-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers and struggling Spurs.

Galatasaray, who will be holding a 1-0 first-leg lead when they arrive on Wednesday to decide a Champions League last-16 tie, will fancy their chances of advancing to the quarter-finals on this evidence.

Asked about the growing sense of unrest in the stands, Slot added: “I think it is understandable for fans to be frustrated because it has happened already so many times — the home team not picking up the points they expected and us conceding goals in the last minute. It’s up to me and the players to take that frustration into Wednesday evening and give the fans the kind of performance and the result they deserve because the fans have been so supportive throughout the season.”

Liverpool still have two routes to silverware this season in the FA Cup (they visit Manchester City in the quarter-finals on April 4) and Europe and do now occupy fifth place in the Premier League, which is almost certain to be enough to secure Champions League football next season, thanks to this point. All is not lost.

But the sight of fans leaving in their droves, both at 1-0 up deep into normal time and after Spurs equalised at the start of stoppage time, was damning. They had seen enough and you could hardly blame them, given the paucity of what they had witnessed.

Slot hasn’t reached the point of no return. He could still turn this around, but the clock is ticking.

Liverpool can’t afford another shambles like this one.

As the clock ticked down towards the 90th minute, Tottenham Hotspur’s first positive performance under Igor Tudor looked to be a missed opportunity.

He has made a point of communicating a “small-team mentality” as Spurs boss, suggesting the team’s best shot at survival lies in bridging the gap in quality through effort and fight. Until Sunday, that had seemed at odds with a group that had become accustomed to losing.

The alarm bells of their protracted slide from European contenders to relegation candidates were ringing last season, but in the wake of the Europa League success, they were drowned out by promises of a new era under Vinai Venkatesham and the Lewis family. In reality, they picked up one win from their last 12 league matches last term, and their slide into a genuine relegation battle was only a continuation of their form through 2025.

Anyone who has watched Tottenham in 2026 — aside from Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt — might echo Tudor’s scathing analysis after the 2-1 away defeat to Fulham, criticising the players for lacking attacking quality, running power in midfield and the ability to “stay (in defence) to suffer and not concede the goal.”

It was his responsibility to fix these issues, and he has clearly fallen short. But just as his era appeared to be nearing a swift end, Tottenham finally embodied that underdog ethos on Sunday at Anfield, picking up a crucial first point of Tudor’s tenure against the reigning Premier League champions.

Owing to injuries and suspensions that kept out Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie — the latter of whom has not yet made a matchday squad under Tudor — the head coach switched from his favoured 3-4-2-1 system to a 4-4-2, with Souza, nominally a left-back, lining up at right wing.

Liverpool pressured Tottenham’s goal in the opening period, and after falling behind to a dipping free kick from Dominik Szoboszlai, the travelling supporters might have expected another collapse. Instead, Tottenham battled their way back into the game, and could have been on level terms through Richarlison with two good opportunities shortly before the half-time whistle.

Tottenham continued to surrender the ball to Liverpool in the second period, but fought through pockets and gaps to create opportunities of their own. Archie Gray and Pape Matar Sarr led the charge through the midfield, while Mathys Tel and Richarlison left everything on the line, desperately working to find a way through. When it hit, with Randal Kolo Muani squaring for Richarlison to slide past Alisson, his international team-mate, the Tottenham end erupted for the first time in what feels like forever.

“It’s a long way to our goal, which is to stay in the Premier League,” Tudor said in his post-match press conference. “Still a lot of games to play, but today was important to show what they showed, independently of the result. When you are honest, you need to be honest and give everything; then the football will give you back.

“That was my words before the game, so this happened today. As I said, it was not easy, and now we need to see what to do in these two games, in front of us, to see who is able to play, who is not able to play, who is injured, who is not injured, so it’s not easy. We continue to have problems from that point of view, the numbers, but that’s why this result is even more important.”

In their position, Tottenham must approach every game with this attitude.

West Ham, who sit 18th, one point below Tottenham, picked up a point against both Manchester sides this year, first ending United’s four-game winning streak before battling their way to a 1-1 draw on Saturday against City. Earlier this month, Nottingham Forest fought back to draw 2-2 at the Etihad Stadium. These are not the kind of matches you picture Nuno Espirito Santo or Vitor Pereira circling with a red marker as opportunities to get points on the board. Still, the momentum positive results bring against top opposition can be worth as much as the points themselves.

Tottenham failed to capitalise on a relatively kind fixture list over the festive period, and are still without their first league win of the calendar year, so the time for red markers is long gone. To shift the mentality of a team that has become accustomed to losing, the “small team” spirit must be adopted regardless of the opposition, and even beyond fixtures like an away trip to Anfield to face Liverpool, where Spurs have not won since 2011.

Because while every game is a cup final to a side one point from the drop zone, Tottenham face the biggest and most consequential test since the final in Bilbao next week.

Spurs can’t forget the scars of the season against Forest, but their performance and crucial point against Liverpool can provide a new reference point to underpin their final eight league games of the campaign.

A late Richarlison goal gave Tottenham a vital point in their fight against relegation and left Liverpool scratching their heads at Anfield after a disjointed display.

Dominik Szoboszlai had given Arne Slot’s side the lead in the first half with another goal direct from a free kick. But after that, the home side tailed off, producing little of note, despite an impressive first start for 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha.

The result leaves Tottenham on 30 points, and in 16th place, only ahead of Nottingham Forest and West Ham by one. Liverpool are fifth, two points behind Aston Villa, who lost 3-1 to Manchester United earlier on Sunday.

Here, our writers break down the key talking points of the game.

Tottenham take advantage

Against a shaky Liverpool side, Tottenham delivered their best performance of the Igor Tudor era. On a different day, it could have been a more comfortable margin of victory for the home side, with Tottenham, as they have been for much of the season, far too easy to play through in the first half.

But, as he threatened to do all afternoon, Richarlison popped up in the 90th minute to deliver their first point since Tudor took charge, a crucial momentum boost ahead of Nottingham Forest next weekend.

Now, Tottenham need to translate that fight and desire demonstrated at Anfield into what is a true relegation six-pointer next Sunday.

Forest is the biggest game Tottenham have played since the Europa League final last season, and this boost could not have come at a better time.

Elias Burke

Disjointed Liverpool

This was a result that epitomised Liverpool’s season.

Another day of missed chances and another late goal conceded through dreadful defending. For large parts of the second half, Liverpool played with fire as they allowed the game to turn into an end-to-end battle, and ultimately, they got what they deserved when conceding the late equaliser.

It was disjointed, far from convincing, and yet another day where Liverpool failed to see off one of the worst teams in the division on current form.

Gregg Evans

Is Szoboszlai the best free-kick taker in the world?

Dominik Szoboszlai chipped in with another vital contribution as he closes in on a record-breaking season.

The Hungarian, who opened the scoring, converted his fourth free kick of 2025-26 in the Premier League and is now just one away from levelling the record set by two former set-piece specialists.

Szoboszlai will join David Beckham and Laurent Robert on five direct free-kick goals if he scores another in the closing eight games of the campaign after becoming the first Liverpool player to score four in a season.

Szoboszlai all-round play has been Liverpool’s shining light this campaign with his all-action performances, but it’s his goals that have made the headlines. When head coach Arne Slot has needed a moment of magic from his team, often it has been Szoboszlai to set up.

Admittedly, this free kick was not at the same level as his previous efforts, particularly against Manchester City, Arsenal and Bournemouth — and, in truth, it was more a goalkeeping error from Guglielmo Vicario.

Yet again though, it was a strike on target, with pace, and that made the difference. Szoboszlai is one of the best dead-ball takers in the world right now, and his five goals in all competitions from direct free kicks put him level with Bayer Leverkusen’s Alejandro Grimaldo in the scoring charts across the top five leagues in Europe.

And to think, Liverpool were concerned they would struggle from free kicks when Trent Alexander-Arnold left for Real Madrid last summer.

Gregg Evans

Tottenham’s keeping problem

In isolation, Tudor’s decision to trial Antonin Kinsky away to Atletico Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League seemed like a strange decision. He turned 23 on Friday and had not started a match since the 2-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Newcastle United in October, a game where he made a costly error. But placed in context, it doesn’t sound so ludicrous.

Vicario has been underperforming in a Tottenham shirt for a while. He had an excellent spell in October, including a match-saving performance against Monaco in the league phase 0-0 draw, but aside from that short period, he’s had a tough season between the Spurs sticks. His failure to stop Szoboszlai’s free kick, which was powerful and dipping but nowhere near the corner, is yet another example of his struggles.

After Kinsky’s horror show on Tuesday, it’s difficult to see him displacing Vicario between now and the end of the season, basically handing the Italian the starting spot by default. He’s one of the squad’s most experienced players and was named in Thomas Frank’s senior leadership team, and while he may play an important role in trying to keep spirits high behind the scenes, Tottenham have long needed more from him on the pitch.

He made an impressive save down to his right to prevent a powerful Cody Gakpo shot from nestling into the bottom corner, but remained nervy and inconsistent with his feet.

If Tottenham are to survive, they can no longer gift goals to the opposition due to goalkeeping mistakes, so the error-prone Vicario must improve.

Elias Burke

Ngumoha’s impressive start

The most important statistics won’t show the impact that Rio Ngumoha had on this game. No goals, assists, or key passes, but that’s only half of the story.

For a 17-year-old who became the fifth-youngest top-flight starter for Liverpool, he was again the most vibrant attacker on the pitch and a relentless threat to the Tottenham back line.

The experienced Pedro Porro had a tough time handling him, particularly in one-on-one situations, and in the second half, before his substitution on 64 minutes, Liverpool found themselves increasingly relying on Ngumoha to spearhead the attack down the left.

He looked bright, sharp, and skilful throughout, and chants of his name could be heard around Anfield as he filled the stadium with excitement.

Liverpool have lacked pace and attacking purpose this season, but Ngumoha brings a totally different outlook. He completed all six of his dribbles in the first half and looked to be growing in confidence as the game went on.

A couple of chances went begging, and if there was any criticism, it’s that he should have at least hit the target with an opportunity early in the second half.

But overall, this was a good day for the youngster and one that showed he’s more than worthy of his starting place.

Gregg Evans

Tel-tale signs of improvement

Tottenham Hotspur’s confidence might be on the floor coming into this clash, but Mathys Tel looked full of confidence at Anfield.

His battle with deputising right-back Szoboszlai was a key feature of the first half in particular, with 63 per cent of Spurs’ attacking touches coming down their left third of the pitch in the opening 45 minutes.

Quick feet and direct running were served alongside a decent final ball in places, with the 20-year-old unlucky not to have had an assist in the first half after two crosses — one in open-play and another from a corner — found Richarlison’s head.

Tel moved to the right flank in the second half and continued to lead the fight with his progressive carries and neat flicks. It was a performance that was much stronger from the whole Spurs side compared with recent weeks, but Tel looked to be at the heart of all things they did well going forward.

Mark Carey

What did Slot say?

“In large parts of the game, we were the better team. That is the moment where you have to score the second, and we had moments to do so quite a lot.

“In the last 15 to 20 minutes, when it was more equal, it was waiting for one of the two teams to score. They created their chances in a similar way with a long ball and then picking up the second ball.

“But we also picked up a lot of those second balls and were able to counterattack them. From all the four versus three, and three versus two situations, with the quality players we have we should be able to create a better chance and score but we didn’t. Then in the last minute we conceded an equaliser and there was not much time left to make up for it.

“If course it is damaging. How many times has it been damaging for us? We don’t help ourselves at all. So many times this season we have created more xG and chances than we have scored. We also struggle to keep clean sheets. We haven’t had as many as you would want if you want to go higher up in the table. That is a bad combination to pick up as many points as we want.”

What did Tudor say?

“It’s a long way to our goal, which is to stay in the Premier League, still a lot of games to play, but today was important to show what they showed, independently of the result. When you are honest, you need to be honest, give everything, then the football will give you back.

“That was my words before the game, so this happened today. As I said, it was not easy, and now we need to see now what to do in these two games, in front of us, to see who is able to play, who is not able to play, who is injured, who is not injured, so it’s not easy. We continue to have problems from that point of view, the numbers, but that’s why this result is even more important.”

(On the change of system) “We were preparing one training session with Conor [Gallagher] in the middle, and other solutions, but we needed to change today, so it was a system, it was a team putting in without training. Let’s say, two, three positions were changed, because it totally happened like this, you know, you prepare two trainings, then in the morning, the team you didn’t prepare, because someone is out. So this, again, to repeat, is even more value of this victory to the guys. Congratulations to the guys, they were happy there also, you know, team spirit, that was the key of this point.”

What next for Liverpool?

Wednesday, March 18: Galatasaray (Home), Champions League round of 16 second leg, 8pm UK, 4pm ET

What next for Tottenham?

Liverpool host a Tottenham Hotspur side desperate to avoid Premier League relegation at Anfield today.

Spurs head coach Igor Tudor has lost all four games in charge since taking over from the sacked Thomas Frank.

While Arne Slot's hosts are aiming for a win which would boost their chances of Champions League qualification.

Start time: 4.30pm GMT, 12.30pm ET, 9.30am PT

TV info: Sky Sports (UK), Peacock (U.S.), DAZN (Canada)

Team news: Ngumoha pushing for start; Romero, Palhinha out

Contact: live@theathletic.com; Read this week's live schedule here

Tottenham Hotspur are set to be without captain Cristian Romero and midfielder Joao Palhinha for the visit to Liverpool after the pair clashed heads towards the end of Tuesday’s Champions League defeat at Atletico Madrid.

It has been confirmed that both players are undergoing concussion protocols and will therefore miss the game in a fresh blow to beleaguered interim head coach Igor Tudor.

Tudor also confirmed Yves Bissouma will miss the game with a muscle injury, and said fellow midfielder Conor Gallagher has been suffering with a fever, admitting he had “a lot of problems” in naming a competitive XI.

With Micky van de Ven suspended after being sent off against Crystal Palace and Ben Davies among Spurs’ long-term injury absentees, Tudor only has two senior centre-backs available in Kevin Danso and Radu Dragusin.

James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Lucas Bergvall, Wilson Odobert, Mohammed Kudus, Rodrigo Bentancur and Destiny Udogie are also sidelined.

Spurs have lost six matches in a row in all competitions for the first time in their history, and are aiming for their first league win since December against Liverpool.

Arne Slot said Rio Ngumoha is staking a strong claim for a first Premier League start ahead of today's clash with struggling Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield in his pre-match press conference on Friday.

The 17-year-old shone in last week’s 3-1 FA Cup victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers before being an unused substitute in Tuesday’s 1-0 Champions League defeat by Galatasaray.

“We have treated him carefully this season... because of (potential) stress fractures. Rio is a player who could start for us. He is definitely an option to start in one of the upcoming three games.

Slot expects to have Alisson back in goal for the visit of Spurs. Giorgi Mamardashvili deputised against Galatasaray after the Brazilian keeper picked up a minor injury in training on Monday.

Winger Federico Chiesa is also set to return to the squad after missing the trip to Istanbul due to illness.

The Premier League's 30th matchweek of 38 began yesterday with five fixtures across the country.

Not many goals, but plenty of drama as Brighton and Newcastle picked up narrow away wins against Sunderland and Chelsea respectively, while there were thrills and spills in the title race.

Arsenal struggled to break down Everton but finally did, with a history-making goal from 16-year-old Max Dowman, while rivals Manchester City dropped two points against West Ham.

Here's how they finished:

Burnley 0-0 Bournemouth

Sunderland 0-1 Brighton & Hove Albion (Minteh)

Chelsea 0-1 Newcastle (Gordon)

West Ham 1-1 Manchester City (Mavropanos; Silva)

Arsenal 2-0 Everton (Gyokeres, Dowman) — recap everything that happened with The Athletic's live coverage from the match here

It is, on the face of it, a ludicrous notion.

If, back in August, anyone had suggested that Tottenham Hotspur fans would end the season engaged in deeply serious conversations about whether Harry Redknapp was the right man to save the club from possible relegation to the Championship, they would have been greeted with derision.

And yet here we are, with Spurs locked in a tailspin that has seen them sink to within a point of the Premier League’s bottom three courtesy of one failed managerial experiment (Thomas Frank) and with another (Igor Tudor) quickly heading in the same direction.

Redknapp, now 79 and out of management since 2017, has not been shy in addressing the issue himself, telling anyone who will listen — usually a television crew at the Cheltenham horse-racing festival — that he would be thrilled to return to the club he left in 2012 after four years in charge.

That prospect is still far from being realised, although as The Athletic reported on Friday night, Spurs are considering possible options if they decide Tudor has to go.

But would Redknapp’s return be a good idea? Tottenham Hotspur editor James Maw and football news reporter Phil Buckingham take up opposing views.

Yes: Redknapp can lift a broken squad off the floor

When Sky Sports tweeted the pick of the goals from Tottenham’s August 2011 win over Liverpool to promote this weekend’s meeting between the two teams, they inadvertently made the best possible case for Harry Redknapp being parachuted back into N17.

The scorer of that goal, Luka Modric, had spent the summer of 2011 trying to engineer a move to Chelsea, even visiting the club’s then-owner, Roman Abramovich, on his super yacht in Nice.

Daniel Levy was characteristically bullish and insisted the Croatian stick with Spurs.

Forcing a player to stay at a club — especially one destined for “the very top” as Redknapp would put it — can often be a fool’s errand, and at first it seemed Spurs were taking a huge risk.

But things worked out perfectly for both player and club. Modric enjoyed his best season in a Tottenham shirt as Redknapp’s team finished in the top four for a second time in three years. He was then sold to Real Madrid in 2012, allowing Spurs to avoid the indignity of losing a star player to a London rival and Modric to win the Champions League six times.

Redknapp had the man-management skills to help keep Modric laser-focused on the job at hand rather than easing off while waiting for that big move. In light of The Athletic’s reporting this week on the current Tottenham squad, that feels an incredibly relevant skill.

It is blatantly obvious to anybody who has watched much of this Spurs side that they suffer from incredibly brittle confidence. They can start a game steadily, then completely collapse at the first sign of adversity. Tottenham actually played well for the first five minutes at Atletico Madrid on Tuesday. By 15 minutes, they were 3-0 down.

It is therefore no surprise that Igor Tudor’s ‘all stick, no carrot’ policy is not reaping rewards. These are players who need an arm around the shoulder and a kind word in the ear, rather than the cold shoulder Tudor showed the prematurely substituted Antonin Kinsky in Madrid, or the not exactly rousing post-match debrief to reporers that followed defeat at Fulham: “We lack when we attack. We lack quality to score. We lack in the middle to run. We lack behind to stay and suffer and not concede.”

It’s not at all hard to imagine Redknapp walking into the dressing room at Hotspur Way and immediately lifting the gloom. Yes, he would simplify the tactics, and yes, he would play players in their best positions, but most crucially, he would pick the players up off the floor, get them believing in themselves and each other, and give them the conviction to ‘f***ing run around a bit’.

Sure, there will be some Spurs fans who would prefer a manager with a less-checkered past, or one who wasn’t alive during the Korean War, but Redknapp would surely be better than what they’ve got now (or, respectfully, Sean Dyche).

Speaking to Croatian newspaper 24Sata earlier this season, Modric called Redknapp “a real expert, a guy who understands football”. And with those six Champions League winners’ medals, he’s a pretty good judge.

James Maw

No: Spurs need more than a sentimental reunion

It is best to start with the acceptance that Redknapp could do no worse than Igor Tudor, the charmless deadweight currently dragging Spurs under. Redknapp would bring something, anything, and extract more than Tudor has managed to date.

Harking back to the Redknapp years through misty eyes, though, would only represent another aimless leap of faith from a club that needs more.

Spurs’ plight is not for a 79-year-old who has spent almost a decade retired. Of course he would answer the call, it’s good old ‘Arry after all, but just contemplating such a step underlines the growing desperation of a club unravelling at pace.

Any justification for giving Redknapp the job would be based on a vague hunch that he might still have those old charms to bring to a dressing room. The manager who found the best of Gareth Bale and Luka Modric during a four-year spell as Spurs manager must still have something, right?

Queens Park Rangers will have thought the same when appointing Redknapp in November 2012, only to win four of 25 games and finish bottom of the Premier League. Promotion followed the next season through the Championship play-offs, but when resigning in 2015, citing the need for knee surgery, Redknapp had set QPR on course for another relegation.

The Premier League has not seen them or Redknapp since, and it is now eight and a half years since he was on the managerial frontline at all. Tottenham were still playing at White Hart Lane when he was floundering at Birmingham City in the first weeks of the 2017-18 season, eventually put out of his misery when sacked after five straight defeats.

Aside from a role as England manager in Soccer Aid, the annual charity match, the only thing resembling a coaching job since was a publicity stunt for Specsavers in 2023, taking over Cwm Albion in the Swansea Senior League in a bid to revive the UK’s worst team.

Now that might be a sound qualification for taking over Spurs (ba-dum-tish), but it would be an appointment clinging to sentiment rather than common sense.

Spurs are locked in a spiral of self-sabotage: they need conviction and clarity in their next steps if they are to avoid falling into the Championship. Calling an old flame because he reminds you of better times cannot possibly be the answer.

Phil Buckingham

“From dream to nightmare to dream again.”

These were the words posted on an Instagram by Tottenham goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky in the hours after the thrill of making a first Champions League start dissolved and all a goalkeeper’s worst fears were realised.

The 22-year-old was a surprise pick in Igor Tudor’s starting XI for Tottenham Hospur’s Champions League last-16 first leg against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday. Chosen ahead of Spurs’ usual No 1, Guglielmo Vicario, Kinsky was making his first appearance since October at Atletico’s daunting Wanda Metropolitano home.

It took six minutes for Kinsky’s world to start falling apart: the Czech slipped while taking a goal kick, gifting the home side possession and ultimately allowing Marcos Llorente to fire in.

Less than 10 minutes later, with Spurs now 2-0 down after another awful error (this time from defender Micky van de Ven), Kinsky miskicked a simple back pass, allowing Julian Alvarez to effectively walk the ball into an empty net.

Moments later, Kinsky looked up to see Vicario ready on the touchline and his number being flashed up by the fourth official. As Kinsky trudged disconsolately off the pitch, there was no acknowledgement whatsoever from his manager. Only three goalkeepers have been substituted earlier in Champions League history.

Kinsky received widespread sympathy, especially from fellow members of the goalkeepers’ union. Former England and Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson said on the BBC that Tudor’s actions were “selfish” and he had shown “no consideration for the young goalkeeper.” Ex-Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, meanwhile, said the interim manager had “absolutely killed (Kinsky’s) career. It’s going to take something to get over that.”

It is hard to disagree. The white heat of that emotional night may have died down, but the ramifications could be long-lasting.

How can Kinsky come back from such a humiliation? How will his team-mates react to seeing their friend treated that way? And what of Tudor? Many are surprised the Croatian is set to lead Spurs into tomorrow’s game at Liverpool given his record of four defeats in four — a historic nadir for the club’s new manager. Can he really rebuild relationships as the club prepares for a desperate relegation battle?

Tudor has been short of allies in recent weeks, but not everyone is unsympathetic to his plight.

“Without any doubt, the coach had a reason (for switching goalkeepers),” says Gus Poyet, the former Brighton and Sunderland manager, who also played for Tottenham. “The coach made the very difficult decision to change Vicario and put in the No 2. And then an even more difficult decision to change him after the two mistakes.”

The Uruguayan recalls a time when, a month after taking over a Sunderland side that was bottom of the Premier League table in the 2013-14 season, he chose to drop the No 1 goalkeeper, Keiren Westwood, and replace him with Vito Mannone for a home game against the eventual champions, Manchester City.

“I put in my mind, without talking to any other staff, that when it comes, the most difficult game for us so far, I will try the No 2, because I want to see him in a big game — meaning a game that, if it goes normal, we’ve got little chance to win,” Poyet recalls.

It was a gamble, but it paid off. Sunderland won 1-0 and ultimately survived by five points.

“(Mannone) played the whole season after that,” says Poyet. “If we lose that game 4-0, I would probably look like an idiot. But the situation is that you have to look for solutions and the more good decisions you make, the better for the team. And if you don’t make good decisions, well, you saw the result.”

What it comes down to, he says, is trying to make what you think is the best decision for the team. In Tottenham’s case, both the decision to select Kinsky and then to remove him from the game were made while thinking about the best outcome for the team.

“They want to play him and they want to take him out, to release him from that pressure,” Poyet says. “Because the team is more important than a single player.”

So much for the practical considerations. What, though, about the psychological stakes? How does a player come back from such a humiliation?

History is littered with talented stars who have been brought to earth by catastrophic displays — think former Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius, whose horrible errors during the 2018 Champions League final against Real Madrid effectively ended his career at the club.

“For a young player like Kinsky, this wasn’t just 17 minutes on the pitch, it was the hopes, dreams and preparation that led up to it”, says sports psychologist Jeremy Snape, host ​​of Inside the Mind of Champions podcast.

“Moments like this can define a career and an athlete’s life. The question now is whether it is a defining chapter that supercharges his resilience, or an emotional scar that shapes everything after. Just like recovering from a shocking injury, his team-mates and inner circle will have a huge role to play in his recovery.”

What is it that will determine the direction Kinsky takes? “It’s how he meets that experience”, says sports psychologist Sam Kotadia, who works with the first team at Wrexham. “If he can hold in the heat of that feeling, be deeply present with it, then the impact could not necessarily be negative; it could actually be the best thing that’s ever happened to him.

“If you can weather it and, despite the whole world talking about it and feeling humiliated, hold the line in that feeling and know that, actually, potentially I’m OK, then that’s growth, that’s resilience. If I don’t give myself space to feel, that’s when I can create a block — or you can call it a trauma.”

It can also become negative, says Kotadia, if blame gets involved. “You might start indulging things like ‘The manager shouldn’t have done this’, etc. “That only creates more animosity and anger. If we indulge that for the rest of our career, we’re not going to do too well. Blame doesn’t help a culture move forward.”

There is also the risk of Kinsky’s team-mates being negatively affected by seeing Tudor’s treatment of his goalkeeper.

Jack Cassidy, a coach at Major League Soccer side Portland Timbers, was once the assistant coach of a club where the manager had a habit of making multiple substitutions at half-time in games. It was a trend which began to impact players’ first-half performances.

“Lads were so scared that they might get taken off,” he says. “That manager is a really terrific person, and if you asked him, ‘How do you want your players to feel on the football pitch?’, he would have said, ‘I want them to play with freedom, express themselves.’

“If you looked at his coaching behaviour, that was the opposite. If a player made a mistake, he’d be on at them straight away. That was one of my biggest learnings; seeing how the pressure on the coach impacted him — there was a massive disconnect between his behaviours and how he actually wanted the players to feel.”

After the game, Tudor explained that he had never before, in 15 years of coaching, done what he did to Kinksy. In his view, it had been “necessary to preserve the guy, preserve the team.” He added that he had spoken to the goalkeeper since, but there was no comment on his lack of acknowledgement for the player as he left the pitch.

For Poyet, who won 26 caps for Uruguay in a distinguished playing career, avoiding a player who has been substituted can be the wiser move.

“You know the players and you need to be smart as well not to create a bigger problem,” he says. “You don’t know how the player is going to react.”

When Poyet takes off a player, especially if it’s a “big character” who is likely to be unhappy at being removed, he purposely tries to avoid him, so as not to create a bigger issue. “For him as well. Because if I go (to him) and he does something silly, then we have a problem.

“So I don’t force the players. I had a few coaches who forced the players to shake hands with the coach. I think it’s too ‘dictatorship’. So I don’t think it is right or wrong. I think it depends on how you are and on the feelings of the moment.”

What is true, adds Poyet, is that “the kid was destroyed.” He makes the point that it won’t just be Kinsky either, but his family and friends, too. “Everybody suffered. He’s the worst, but all people who love the kid, after that, would be down and fuming badly.

“This football passion that we have affects more than the player or the coach themselves. That’s something that we don’t put into consideration; here, there are many people who got really hurt, apart from the player, apart from the result at the end.”

Is there a way back?

Tudor was doing his best to rebuild bridges in his pre-match media conference for the Liverpool game, telling reporters that Kinsky “will play for sure” this season and praising his “positive” response in training.

“This is normal, this is a mistake that will happen,” he added. “For sure in his career there will be other mistakes but he has a strength and quality and in front of him is a very good career.”

Asked more generally about the mood at the club, Tudor said: “Like everything in life, you can choose how to see the situation. So, you can stay and cry, or you can fight. You can be the victim or you can say I can change something.”

For Tudor, the solution is simple, but not easy. “He needs to win,” says Poyet. “You can be the best coach in the world, put on the best training sessions, the best PowerPoint presentation, the best analysis of the opposition, the best plan to play, but you only convince the players by winning.

“If you don’t win, the players don’t get convinced. And if you don’t convince the players, you don’t have any chance.”

And for Kinsky, it’s all about how he interprets the events of Tuesday night.

“When we label a mistake as pervasive and permanent — ‘I’m a total failure and I always will be’ — it becomes a deep identity flaw that’s hard to escape,” Snape says. “The most resilient players do something different: they depersonalise it and isolate the setback to a specific action at a specific moment. ‘I’m a failure’ becomes ‘I lost my balance as that pass arrived at 7.32pm, I took the wrong option and that’s something I can fix.’ One is a life sentence; the other is a powerful lesson that shapes every training session going forward.”

The other strategy is to change the timeframe, he says. In the immediate aftermath, things can feel painful and raw, but imagine looking back as a successful 30-year-old and that 17 minutes will be a blip.

“Stuart Broad got hit for six sixes in the T20 World Cup (by India’s Yuvraj Singh in 2007) and went on to become one of England’s greatest bowlers, so setbacks can fade,” says Snape. “But only if the athlete’s mind allows them to.”

Kinsky’s Instagram note suggests he is already “dreaming again,” which is a positive sign that perhaps those 17 minutes against Atletico will one day be a mere footnote in his story, and no longer the headline.

Archie Gray will be one of the only Tottenham Hotspur players to emerge with any credit from this miserable season. It is remarkable when you consider that he only turned 20 on Thursday while his team-mates are a collection of senior internationals.

Spurs have lost six matches in a row for the first time in their 144-year history. They are one point above the Premier League’s relegation zone and will probably be eliminated from the Champions League following Tuesday’s crushing 5-2 first-leg defeat to Atletico Madrid.

It has been a season of misery and anger for Tottenham fans, so the response to the club’s ‘Happy Birthday’ message for Gray probably says a lot.

While most things Tottenham have posted on social media in recent months have been met with scathing responses from fans furious with the direction the club in heading, there was universal love and appreciation for Gray — hundreds of comments wishing him well and praising him for being one of this team’s real leaders.

Gray has registered four direct goal contributions since he joined Spurs for £40million ($53m) from Leeds United in July 2024. Three of those — one goal and two assists — have come in his last four Premier League matches. While the attitude of other players has come into question, Gray is doing everything he can to help Spurs avoid relegation.

A brilliant piece of skill led to Dominic Solanke opening the scoring in last week’s defeat to Crystal Palace, while a few days earlier, a beautiful cross had set up Richarlison to head home against Fulham. Gray grabbed an equaliser in Thomas Frank’s final game in charge against Newcastle, but Jacob Ramsey scored Newcastle’s winner minutes later.

In fact, Gray scored the only goal the last time Spurs won a top-flight fixture back on December 28 at Selhurst Park. He has more league goals (two) than Wilson Odobert, Xavi Simons, Conor Gallagher and Randal Kolo Muani, even though they are all regular starters, when fit, and play in more advanced positions.

Gray’s flexibility has made him a useful tool under three successive head coaches. The England Under-21 international prefers to play in central midfield but has slotted into the defence on multiple occasions. Since Igor Tudor replaced Frank on an interim basis last month, Gray has performed at left wing-back, right wing-back and in midfield across four games.

For the second season in a row, Gray had to wait patiently for his chance. Ange Postecoglou had started Gray in all of Spurs’ Europa League initial phase games in the 2024-25 campaign, but he did not make his first league start until a 1-0 defeat to Bournemouth that December. An injury crisis led to him featuring regularly from that point onwards, and he was shunted across the defence depending on which other players were available.

There was optimism when Frank combined Gray with Lucas Bergvall and Pape Matar Sarr in midfield on the opening weekend of this season. The youthful blend complemented each other perfectly in a 3-0 victory over Burnley.

“I like (Gray’s) dynamic,” Frank said. “He’s covering a lot of ground; he’s good in duels. Good in the pressure and great to carry the ball forward as well.”

Bizarrely, Gray was then an unused substitute in eight of Tottenham’s next 11 fixtures. He missed two of those games with a calf injury and came off the bench in the 89th minute of their 2-2 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion. Gray’s only starts until the defeat to Fulham on November 29 came in a Carabao Cup tie against third-tier Doncaster Rovers and a goalless Champions League draw at Monaco. Frank put greater trust in the duo of Rodrigo Bentancur and Joao Palhinha.

Gray grew in importance across December and January, playing regularly in midfield. He has been forced to cover full-backs Destiny Udogie, Djed Spence and Pedro Porro over the last few weeks as they have all spent time out injured. Gray has started Tottenham’s last eight games in all competitions, which covers the end of Frank’s reign and Tudor’s spell in charge.

Gray’s selflessness and willingness to play wherever his manager needs him are admirable but the long-term effects of this on his development need to be considered. Spurs bought Gray with the intention of developing him into a quality holding midfielder.

“That’s the problem,” interim Tottenham head coach Igor Tudor said when asked in Friday’s press conference about Gray having so regularly changed positions. “He needs to, every game, change position. Four games here, four positions for Archie Gray. He’s an amazing player, but that’s been (a problem). Beautiful guy, beautiful player. I didn’t know him before so much, so from inside, he has my big respect.”

This will have stunted his growth but hopefully it is only a temporary setback. The concern is that Gray is not the only young player who might struggle to fulfil their potential at Spurs. Bergvall, Tel, Odobert and Antonin Kinsky have shown flashes of their quality, yet it is hard to consistently impress when the team is low on confidence and in a precarious position in the table.

It is not just Gray’s goal contributions which have stood out. While other players have been guilty of dropping their heads during games, Gray is always brimming with energy. Gray has grown up with huge expectations on his shoulders because several members of his family played football, including his dad Andy and great uncle Eddie.

They all represented Leeds United, while his younger brother Harry is on loan with League One side Rotherham United. Gray was only 17 when he was part of Leeds’ squad under Daniel Farke which was expected to achieve promotion in the 2023-24 season but lost the Championship play-off final to Southampton. Maybe it is why he does not buckle or look nervous under pressure in the same way as some of his team-mates. Gray is becoming more vocal on and off the pitch, too.

“He’s a phenomenal player, great guy and he’s one of the boys who has been speaking as well, which he has every right to,” Solanke told Sky Sports before this weekend’s game against Liverpool.

“You have seen him play all over the pitch this season, so he is such a versatile player and he is still so young. So it is great to have him in the team and he has so much potential. Even now, you can see how much he adds to the team as well.”

Gray might be required to play out of position again this weekend. Captain Cristian Romero and Palhinha are unavailable to face Liverpool after a stoppage-time clash of heads against Atletico, while Micky van de Ven is suspended. Radu Dragusin and Djed Spence have both missed recent matches with minor injuries too.

Tudor might be left with no other choice but to partner Gray with Kevin Danso at centre-back. It will be a difficult challenge for the 20-year-old to come up against Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz and Mohamed Salah, but you can guarantee he will not complain.

Tottenham Hotspur are actively working on options to replace Igor Tudor as head coach if they decide another change is needed in the dugout.

Tudor was appointed last month on a deal until the end of this season after Thomas Frank’s sacking.

But the 47-year-old Croatian has lost each of his four games at the helm, leaving Spurs in a tense battle to avoid relegation from the Premier League.

The short-term impact Tudor has enjoyed in crisis situations elsewhere is yet to materialise, leading the north London side to explore a further alteration as they try to achieve top-flight survival.

A squad ravaged by injury and suspension travel to reigning champions Liverpool on Sunday, when the situation could get even worse, and Spurs are contingency planning for the event of bringing Tudor’s reign to an end following the Anfield trip.

The club have declined to comment but it is likely this would be viewed internally as an expected and sensible course of action, given the circumstances.

Should Tudor exit, Spurs must choose whether they stick to the original plan of implementing an interim solution through to the summer or bring forward the installation of a longer-term boss.

After the Liverpool game, Tottenham will host Atletico Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie, facing a 5-2 aggregate deficit.

On March 22, Nottingham Forest will make the trip to north London in a crucial battle between two teams seeking to avoid the drop.

Spurs running out of time to find the right formula

Analysis by football writer Elias Burke

Having failed to make a positive impact in his four matches in charge, it’s perhaps no surprise Tottenham are already looking at alternatives to Tudor in a desperate bid to ensure Premier League survival.

Tudor’s start hasn’t been easy, facing table-toppers Arsenal in his first match in charge before a short trip to Craven Cottage to play a Fulham side eyeing Europe. His side then went ahead against Crystal Palace, but soon found themselves 3-1 behind before half-time after Micky van de Ven was sent off. But after a calamitous opening 15 minutes at the Metropolitano Stadium on Tuesday, where three separate individual errors were pounced upon by Atletico Madrid, Tudor’s position came under further scrutiny.

With just nine games remaining, starting at Anfield on Sunday, a potential new head coach does not have much time to make an impact. But with a crucial relegation six-pointer against Forest next Sunday, the need for a first league win of 2026 has never been greater.

Arne Slot says Rio Ngumoha is staking a strong claim for a first Premier League start ahead of Sunday’s clash with struggling Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield.

The 17-year-old shone in last week’s 3-1 FA Cup victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers before being an unused substitute in Tuesday’s 1-0 Champions League defeat by Galatasaray.

Slot has been keen not to overburden the winger, who has made 11 league appearances off the bench so far this season, but it is becoming harder to leave him out given the injection of pace and creativity he provides.

“We have treated him carefully this season,” Slot said at a news conference on Friday. “He cannot have too many days in a row on the pitch because of (potential) stress fractures. Players of this age can have them and have had them at this club.

“Jayden Danns is one of the examples of that but Rio is a player who could start for us. I said a month ago he would get more playing time and we’ve all seen him coming in for longer spells and starting against Wolves (in the FA Cup).

“He is definitely an option to start in one of the upcoming three games because for the fifth time this season we have to play three times in seven days with an early kick-off at Brighton next Saturday. We’ve been very ‘lucky’ with that schedule this season.”

Slot expects to have Alisson back in goal for the visit of Spurs. Giorgi Mamardashvili deputised against Galatasaray after the Brazilian keeper picked up a minor injury in training on Monday.

“Ali has been with the physios until now. Let’s see if he can join the team session today,” Slot said. “It’s something I expect but not 100 per cent sure yet. I am hopeful (he will be available).

“He felt something in one of his muscles when he passed the ball. When we checked it, it was so minor we don’t think it needs to take long but as always games come so fast. He had to miss Galatasaray.

“Hopefully, he’s ready and available for Sunday. If not I’m expecting him to definitely be back for the second leg against Galatasaray.”

Federico Chiesa is also set to return to the squad after missing the trip to Istanbul due to illness.

Meanwhile, Slot insists it would be wrong to make sweeping judgements about the current strength of the Premier League after the English clubs’ struggles in the last 16 of the Champions League this week.

Four of the six clubs were beaten — three of them by three-goal margins — with Arsenal and Newcastle United managing draws.

“Jumping to a conclusion after one game day, which is such a small sample size, is never the smartest thing to do. Maybe after next week we will have a different conclusion,” he added.

“In general, I don’t think it’s helpful for English clubs not to have a winter break. But I’m not saying those games were lost this week because there wasn’t a break. When you’re in the last 16 of Europe, you’re facing very good teams.

“Five of the six English teams in the Champions League played away from home. It’s usually a disadvantage to play away.

“To say the Premier League level is not as high as we expected it to be isn’t the right conclusion to make at this moment. Let’s judge us all after next week.”

Welcome to week 30 of The Athletic’s Premier League predictions challenge, where the subscribers are now leading the way.

For the first time since September, you guys are on top of the table: the early-season pacesetters who lost their way but have clawed their way back to the summit.

Frankly, the thought of being beaten by the subscribers terrifies me.

As much as the thought of being beaten by six-year-old Wilfred? Even more so, actually. At least if Wilfred wins, I can say I was up against a child prodigy, whereas if you lot win… no, I don’t even want to contemplate it.

Still, at least the algorithm’s continuing inconsistencies are of some consolation.

Each week since the season began in August, four of us — young Wilfred, a guest subscriber on rotation, an algorithm and I — have been predicting the Premier League results with varying degrees of success.

We’re awarding three points for each correct scoreline and one point for each correct result. We’re also awarding a bonus point for any “unique” scoreline, so, for example, last week’s guest subscriber Derian, a Chelsea fan from New York, picked up a bonus point because he was the only one to predict West Ham beating Fulham away.

In a challenging week for the rest of us, Derian picked up seven points for the subscribers, with one correct scoreline (Everton 2-0 Burnley) and another three correct results, including that bonus point for West Ham’s victory.

Week 29 is summed up by the fact that five results caught all of us by surprise: Sunderland’s win at Leeds, Wolves’ defeat of Liverpool, Nottingham Forest’s draw at Manchester City, Newcastle’s dramatic last-gasp triumph against Manchester United and (hang on, why did nobody see this coming?) Tottenham’s capitulation at home to Crystal Palace.

It has been that sort of season, especially for me, but I was happy finally to get a correct scoreline with Everton 2-0 Burnley. I expected a bonus point for backing Chelsea to get three points away at Aston Villa, but Derian was wise to it too.

It leaves the subscribers with a slender one-point lead over Wilfred at the top of the table. I am well adrift, having had a torrid run since January, so it’s looking very much like a two-horse race.

This week sees the subscribers’ baton passed to another New Yorker, 43-year-old Liverpool fan Tim. Can he keep their challenge going? No pressure, Tim…

Our subscriber’s match of the week

Manchester United vs Aston Villa, Sunday, 2pm UK/10am ET

Tim says: “I think United v Villa is the match to watch. Both teams are under pressure from Chelsea and Liverpool for the top four. Will one of them rise up and take three points, or will they both struggle just to keep a single point?”

Manchester United 2-2 Aston Villa

Oli says: “Will these two teams still be third and fourth when the music stops in May? I’m more confident in Manchester United right now, particularly with no cup commitments to distract them. Villa have begun to drift a little (one win in six Premier League games) and, although they handled the Thursday-Sunday-Thursday-Sunday schedule superbly in the first half of the season, the impact of their ongoing Europa League commitments threatens to weigh much more heavily now.”

Manchester United 3-1 Aston Villa

Oli’s other predictions

Burnley vs Bournemouth

Bournemouth are ninth in the Premier League, on course to match the highest finish in their history, but they will be kicking themselves after allowing precious points to slip through their fingers in the past three matches against West Ham, Sunderland and Brentford. Goals have been harder to come by for them since selling Antoine Semenyo to Manchester City in early January, but Burnley have adopted more of a do-or-die approach in recent weeks — more die than do, sadly — which hints at an open game.

Burnley 1-2 Bournemouth

Sunderland vs Brighton

If Brighton coach Fabian Hurzeler is still frustrated by the amount of time Arsenal’s players spend over their goal kicks, throw-ins, free kicks and corner kicks — and I’m with you on that, Fabian — he might not enjoy this trip to the Stadium of Light. It’s a league-wide epidemic, and Sunderland, such a breath of air in so many other ways this season post-promotion, are among the prime exponents. Their 1-0 win at Leeds last time out was a masterclass in eating up time. Hurzeler had better hope his lads don’t fall behind.

Sunderland 1-0 Brighton

Chelsea vs Newcastle

In a terrible week for English clubs in the Champions League, Newcastle emerged with credit. They were excellent against Barcelona, unfortunate to have a first-leg lead cancelled out by a stoppage-time penalty, and now Eddie Howe must decide whether to go strong away to Chelsea on Saturday or rest players ahead of Wednesday’s second leg in the Camp Nou. Chelsea counterpart Liam Rosenior has a similar dilemma — and with the unforgiving Wednesday-Saturday-Tuesday schedule to contend with — but, 5-2 down to Paris Saint-Germain after the away leg of their Champions League last-16 tie and with a battle to secure a place in next season's competition, he should prioritise Premier League points.

Chelsea 2-1 Newcastle

Arsenal vs Everton

Everton’s away record demands respect, but this is such a great opportunity for Arsenal. Victory on Saturday evening would take them 10 points clear at the top of the table, albeit having played two games more than Manchester City, who visit West Ham immediately afterwards. Arsenal, like Chelsea and City, have that horrible Wednesday-Saturday-Tuesday schedule to contend with. But even more than City, they have the strength in depth to deal with it.

Arsenal 2-0 Everton

West Ham vs Manchester City

City have played nine Premier League games at London Stadium since West Ham moved there in 2016: seven wins, two draws, 28 goals scored, six conceded. That tells you something about their quality over the past decade — and something about West Ham’s struggles to make the place feel like home. But I have a thing about how certain stadiums are totally different atmosphere-wise if you play in them at night, as City will on Saturday. West Ham have had terrible results in evening kick-offs at home this season, but the spirited 1-1 draw with Manchester United last month underlined what I’m getting at. I’ll predict a City win, but it’s going to be a real test. They can’t afford to drift towards Tuesday’s Champions League second leg at home against Real Madrid.

West Ham 1-2 Manchester City

Crystal Palace vs Leeds

Ah, here we are. Out-of-form hosts vs in-form visitors. It is surprising to see — and feels almost indecent to point out — that Palace, after a period of drift, have taken twice as many points (10 to Leeds' five) from the past six games. That illustrates how hard it is for promoted teams, like Leeds, to sustain the kind of results that took them out of the relegation zone. They are still in a dogfight, despite losing just four of their past 16 league games. If they’re going to get the wins they need — and I think they will — it is more likely to happen at Elland Road.

Crystal Palace 2-1 Leeds

Nottingham Forest vs Fulham

That highly impressive draw at City last time out was so important for Forest — great for new coach Vitor Pereira to get a point on the board after back-to-back defeats — but they need to start winning games, particularly at home, where they’ve had just three victories out of 14 this season. It’s another very quick turnaround for Forest after a Europa League last-16 first leg on Thursday. They have to try to overcome that apparent disadvantage against a Fulham team who have only Premier League points to play for over the next two months after a limp FA Cup exit last weekend at home to Championship side Southampton.

Nottingham Forest 2-1 Fulham

Liverpool vs Tottenham

As inconsistent and unreliable as Liverpool have been for much of this season, I struggle to see anything other than a home win here. It’s not because of Tottenham’s terrible record at Anfield (four league wins since 1912). It’s because getting a result at Liverpool, even this season, requires a team to dig in and show levels of resilience and fight that appear to be totally beyond this Tottenham side. Igor Tudor was hired last month based on his ability to make an immediate impact. So far, it just isn't happening and, with injuries and suspensions piling up, this one could get ugly for Spurs.

Liverpool 3-0 Tottenham

Brentford vs Wolves

After all the talk of potentially breaking that unwanted record of the worst Premier League season (set by Derby County with just 11 points in 2007-08), Wolves now look like they mean business. Surely (surely) it is too late to avoid relegation, but they have a chance of avoiding the wooden spoon, having moved within three points of second-bottom Burnley. That said, their next three games — indeed, five of their remaining eight games — are away from home. It’s hard to look beyond a Brentford win here.

Brentford 2-0 Wolves