BBC

This is always a bit of a grudge game because the two sets of fans don't really like each other.

Chelsea need the result more, and they also have a much better record in this fixture, but their home defeat against Sunderland was another example of how flaky they are at the moment.

Tottenham have made the better start to the season but it still feels like there is more to come from them when their injured players come back, which won't happen this week.

I don't really know which way to go with my prediction, so I'm going to go for a draw. I feel like I'm turning into AI.

Sutton's prediction: 1-1

James DelaneyBBC Scotland

The former Aberdeen and Arsenal defender Willie Young has died at the age of 73.

Young played more than 180 games for the Dons before going on to lift the FA Cup with the Gunners in 1979.

He is perhaps best remembered for forcing a change in the laws of the game and the creation of the "professional foul" following his tackle on West Ham forward Paul Allen in the 1980 final of the competition.

In a statement, Arsenal said his "physicality and commitment made him a cult figure" with the club's supporters.

They added: "Reliable, dominant in the air and fearless, his immense contribution to a successful period means he will always be remembered fondly by those who saw his colossal frame repelling attacks and causing havoc to opposition defences at set pieces."

Posting on X, Aberdeen said the club was "saddened" to learn of his passing.

Born in Edinburgh, Young grew up in the village of Heriot in Midlothian and began his career at Aberdeen in 1970.

He spent five years at the club before joining Tottenham Hotspur in 1975.

He made a controversial move across North London to Arsenal two years later, linking up with his former manager at Spurs, Terry Neill.

With his towering 6ft 3in frame and trademark ginger hair, he formed a formidable defensive partnership with Irish centre back David O'Leary, reaching three straight FA Cup finals between 1978 and 1980.

He earned a winners' medal in the 3-2 defeat of Manchester United in the "five-minute final" of 1979.

But it was his scything down of a then-17-year-old Allen in the 1-0 defeat to West Ham the following year which etched his name in the history of the game.

With the forward bearing down on goal in the dying stages, Young cynically hacked him down on the edge of the area, preventing a near-certain goal.

He received a yellow card for the incident, but it prompted a national debate on the need for a specific law governing professional fouls.

Automatic red cards for "denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity" were introduced two years later.

Young also played in Arsenal's 1980 Cup Winners' Cup final defeat to Valencia in Brussels.

Scotland ban

Despite his success at club level, Young never made a senior appearance for Scotland due to a lifetime ban incurred following an altercation at a Danish nightclub.

The "Copenhagen five," Young, Joe Harper, Arthur Graham, Billy Bremner and Pat McCluskey, were all excommunicated from the national set-up over the incident.

Harper and Graham were later reinstated after being cleared of any wrongdoing but Young was never allowed to pull on the dark blue jersey.

He departed Arsenal in 1981 after 237 appearances, joining Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest.

Young retired in 1984 due to injuries following short spells at Norwich City, Brighton and Hove Albion and Darlington.

Slavia Prague are winless in their four meetings with Arsenal (D2 L2); only facing Anderlecht (5) more times in European competition without managing a victory.

Slavia Prague have only won one of their eight home games against English teams in European competition (D2 L5), going winless in seven since beating Leeds United in March 2000 in the UEFA Cup (2-1). After scoring twice in that game versus Leeds, they only netted one goal across the following seven.

Arsenal are unbeaten in their 10 matches against sides from Czechia, with eight of those ending in wins (D2). The Gunners have scored 27 goals across those 10 games, while only conceding three in return and keeping eight clean sheets.

Slavia Prague are winless in their last 14 UEFA Champions League matches (D6 L8) since winning their first game in the competition in September 2007 against FCSB. It’s the longest current run of any of the 36 sides in this season’s competition, and the joint longest run by a Czechia side – Sparta Prague also went 14 without a win between February 2004 and December 2005.

Arsenal have won their first three UEFA Champions League matches this season without conceding a goal, one of two sides to do this, along with Internazionale. The Gunners are looking to win their opening four games of a season for the first time since 2005-06, while the only English team in European Cup history to win their first four matches of a season without conceding were Leeds United in 1969-70.

Slavia Prague are one of four sides who didn’t score on MD2 and MD3 of this season’s UEFA Champions League, with the Czechia side accumulating the lowest xG of any side (0.84), while their shots had the lowest xG per shot value (0.04).

Only Bayern Munich (1.37) have faced a lower xG in UEFA Champions League games this season than Arsenal (1.51), while the Gunners have faced the joint fewest shots on target (6, level with Man City).

Gabriel Martinelli has scored in all three of Arsenal’s UEFA Champions League matches in 2025-26. The only Gunners player to score in their first four matches in a major European campaign was Ian Wright in the 1994-95 Cup Winners’ Cup (scored in first eight).

Mikel Arteta has won 63% of his UEFA Champions League matches as Arsenal manager (won 17 of 27 games) – that’s the eighth best win ratio for a manager to take charge of 20+ games at a club, and the best at an English side.

Frank began his news conference by confirming the "positive news" that Cristian Romero, Destiny Udogie, Wilson Odobert are all available to face Chelsea.

However, Dominic Solanke will not return until after the November international break and Dejan Kulusevski is "still not on the grass". Meanwhile, Kota Takai is "about to be training soon" after a quad injury.

On captain Romero: "Very aware of trying to be able to make the best possible decisions. I'll get a lot of the decision from the medical staff but, in the end, it's always on me. If a player breaks down, it's on me. He's ready to be involved tomorrow. Let's see how much."

Frank said facing rivals Chelsea under the lights will be "unique and special": "I'm really looking forward to it. We need the fans behind us. I know they give us everything and the best clubs are all united together. We have maybe the best stadium in the world and definitely the best fans in the world, and we know the sound in that stadium can be insane."

More on the importance of facing the Blues: "There is so much on it against a very good Chelsea team. It has everything to be a top game that will hopefully put you on the edge of your seat."

Reflecting on Wednesday's Carabao Cup defeat at Newcastle, Frank said: "I like to have a challenge. If we had won - which I think we weren't far from - we would be in the next round and still competing. It is tough to compete in 60 games. Every club is rotating. That is part of it and you're trying to find the right balance."

On Micky van de Ven's form, after the defender scored two goals in last weekend's win over Everton: "Every defender needs to be good in defence and attack. He is very good on the ball, has good composure and his pace is quite unique. The cool defending in the decisive moments he is doing better and better. He is ticking a lot of boxes. He just needs to continue to perform at a good level consistently."

Former Tottenham goalkeeper Alfie Whiteman has retired from football to begin a new career as a director and photographer.

The 27-year-old, who came through the Spurs academy, left the club at the end of his contract in the summer.

Whiteman made one first-team appearance for the north London side, coming on as a substitute in a Europa League match against Bulgarian club Ludogorets in November 2020.

After being part of the squad that won the Europa League last season, he retires with a European winner's medal.

Maresca confirmed that they are still taking time with Cole Palmer's return: "I met him in the canteen this morning and I say 'in one week, you will be back' – he was laughing. But no, the plan is exactly the same. We will wait and hopefully he can be back soon."

He also confirmed that Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez and Joao Pedro are all available, but added: "Game by game, we can't plan with them because of their problems, their situations. So, it's about taking it game-by-game and seeing how many minutes we can use them. We try to use the whole squad because, at this moment, we need the whole squad."

After Liam Delap was red-carded on his injury return in midweek, the Chelsea boss said the striker was "aware of the situation, aware he made a mistake" and that "straight after the game in the changing room, yes, he apologised to everyone".

On his own comments after the game when he suggested Delap struggles to listen to anything else when inside the pitch: "I'm not from England, when I sometimes translate from Italian it doesn't work. He is more focused to do battle against central defenders than the rest, that is what I was trying to say after the game."

When asked whether he had sat the players down about the number of red cards, he responded: "Again, some red cards we could avoid. Some reds we cannot avoid," and added: "Something we need to learn. Something we have to do better. In future we will be better on that."

On his evolution as a young manager and whether he can become more forceful on discipline: "I like to learn, I like to evolve. In this moment we are trying to do everything to avoid this kind of situation. Hopefully we can learn and be better in the future."

Maresca said they are "aware" of Tottenham's long-throw tactics and "are working" on defending these after conceding from them in recent games.

On the choice between Jamie Gittens and Alejandro Garnacho: "They are both adapting to the way we work every day. Both doing well. Giving what we want from our wingers - goals and assists. Both are doing well so it is good we can choose one or the other."

Barcelona defender Eric Garcia has agreed terms on a new Barcelona contract, despite the 24-year-old Spain international attracting interest from Tottenham and Chelsea. (TBR Football), external

Tottenham will look to sign Juventus striker Jonathan David during the January transfer window, with Bayern Munich also eyeing the 25-year-old. (Fichajes - in Spanish), external

While English media outlets have reported growing interest from Tottenham and other Premier League clubs in Scott McTominay, sources close to the Scotland midfielder say he is extremely happy with Napoli. (Sky Sports), external

Former Tottenham and Nottingham Forest manager Ange Postecoglou is very unlikely to become Celtic's next boss, with Ipswich Town's Kieran McKenna and Wales head coach Craig Bellamy among the candidates. (Sky Sports), external

Want more transfer news? Read Friday's full gossip column

We asked for your thoughts after Wednesday's Carabao Cup game between Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur.

Here are some of your comments:

Newcastle fans

Steve: The first time I can remember, we actually had a squad to rotate, everyone played well, and that is still with three players missing.

Paul: Excellent performance from Tonali, ran the show, but a big thumbs up to Ramsdale - great saves, great on the floor with the ball and spread confidence through the back four.

Katie: A very professional performance, good pressing and energetic style. Slight worry that we didn't put our foot on the neck in terms of closing the game out by half-time. Need to be more clinical!

George: We were in control for most of the game. While Tottenham had a few chances, Ramsdale made a few good saves and had good distribution. Tonali covered every blade of grass on that pitch. He is my man of the match without a doubt.

Tottenham fans

Laurence: The front line looks very light again, no control, just trading attacks with the opponents and hoping to do more damage than them.

Simon: Richarlison is just awful, Xavi Simons is awful. Tel is awful, we desperately need a striker who'll get in there putting their body in and not bottling it at the last minute like Richarlison does, could've played all night and we'd never score.

Stephen: The result was coming for Spurs. No depth in midfield or up front, so it was only a matter of time before the defence gave way. No Van de Ven, no result.

Vinicius Jr no longer feels 'untouchable' - so what's going on?

Slot 'making excuses' - but should he have rested key players?

Vinicius Jr no longer feels 'untouchable' - so what's going on?

England have 'no doubts' over Ashes prep but is it enough?

Same old story or have England improved under Edwards?

Weekly sports quiz: Who scored their first goal for Man Utd?

'I was seen as a dinosaur but not many managers moan about set-pieces now'

Beever-Jones 'asking questions' - should she start for England?

'Without 2002-03 there was no chance of 2005' - Vaughan's road to Ashes glory

Spurs did not have to wait anywhere near as long as Newcastle to end their own wait for silverware last season.

It was just the 17 years, but manager Thomas Frank rightly talked up how his side were "very eager to win more trophies" after predecessor Ange Postecoglou led them to Europa League glory.

While injuries have limited Frank's options, somewhat, it was rather telling the Spurs manager only made four changes for this tie.

That's how seriously he took it.

Spurs have been harder to beat under the Dane and boast the top-flight's best away record, but the visitors will rue the manner of this defeat - and the goals they conceded.

Ahead of the first, Pedro Porro and Richarlison each feebly threw an arm up in a bid to grab the referee's attention as Djed Spence put his boot back on - and Spurs should have been more alert and defended the subsequent corner much better.

For Newcastle's second, Antonin Kinsky was at sea after coming off his line to try to claw Joe Willock's cross away - only for Nick Woltemade to get there first.