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James Maddison’s half-time substitution during Tottenham’s Premier League clash against West Ham was for ‘tactical reasons’, Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou has confirmed.

It was the Hammers who broke the deadlock in Saturday’s early kick-off at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Mohammed Kudus turning home Jarrod Bowen’s inviting cross on 18 minutes.

Spurs equalised 10 minutes before half-time through Dejan Kulusevski, who got the ball from Maddison before making progress towards the West Ham goal and beating Alphonse Areola from the edge of the box.

The only half-time change saw Pape Sarr replace Maddison, who appeared to take a knock just before the interval.

But TNT Sports commentator Darren Fletcher suspected Maddison has suffered an injury before saying his withdrawal was for tactical reasons.

‘You would think, I’m guessing, he’s taken a slight knock,’ Fletcher said before confirming: ‘Well, I’ve just been told there is no injury to Maddison.

‘It’s a tactical decision from the Spurs manager. To confirm, there’s no injury to Tottenham’s No. 10.’

Reacting to Postecoglou’s surprising decision, co-commentator Ally McCoist said: ‘He [Maddison] was quite quiet, wasn’t he?

‘Clearly Ange was expecting more from him and he’s thought enough is enough at half-time.’

Ex-Tottenham striker Peter Crouch added: ‘I was surprised at first.

‘But you can see Kulusevski is keeping much higher and he’s got two players behind him now for more protection. What you’ll see now is Kulusevski in a much freer role.’

Maddison soon took up his place on the Spurs bench once the second half resumed and watched on as the hosts scored three goals in 15 minutes to take a commanding 4-1 lead.

Yves Bissouma put Spurs in front seven minutes after the restart before Jean-Clair Todibo scored an own goal as West Ham fell two goals behind.

Son Heung-min skipped clear and beat Areola to add Tottenham’s fourth in a remarkable blitz following the half-time break.

Following Tottenham’s 4-1 win, Postecoglou explained his decision to remove Maddison at half-time.

‘Yes it was tactical, I just felt we needed a bit more running power in that midfield area,’ the Australian added.

‘Pape gives us some good energy there and I thought that really helped us in the second half.’

Assessing his team’s performance, Postecoglou added: ‘I thought we were good today. We had to work hard in the first half but we got back into the game after conceding.

‘After that it was outstanding from the lads, good energy, some good goals although I thought we could have gotten a few more. Good day at the office.’

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The fastest player at all 20 Premier League clubs this season so far has been revealed and there are some surprising names missing from the list.

When you think of top flight speedsters, the likes of Adama Traore and Kyle Walker might spring to mind, but neither of them are even the quickest at their own clubs.

More predictably the galloping centre-back at Tottenham Micky van de Ven is not only the fastest player at Spurs but in the entire division.

The Dutchman has already registered the highest speed since Premier League records began, clocking 37.38 km/h in January when Tottenham played Brentford.

Van de Ven hasn’t quite hit that height again this season, but has still gone quick enough to out-pace everyone else in the top flight.

Outdoing Traore at Fulham is full-back Antonee Robinson and out-pacing Walker at Manchester City is Erling Haaland, with the giant Norwegian incredibly fast as well as powerful.

A new name to many will be Wolves winger Carlos Forbs who is on loan from Ajax this season and has quickly showed off his blistering pace, with only Van de Ven quicker.

Here are the quickest players so far this season thanks to data from the BBC and Opta.

Van de Ven arrived from Wolfsburg last year and quickly impressed his Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou, not just for his immense pace.

The Australian said of the 23-year-old last season: ‘Obviously we kind of knew what we were getting with Micky from a physical perspective.

‘There was plenty of evidence that we’d already seen that his speed and his ability to recover was elite, for sure. But then it’s not just about running fast, football is more than that. It’s more than just speed, you’ve got to use that in the right way.

‘I’m really impressed with how he’s adapted to Premier League football. He’s up against the top strikers every week and obviously he was out injured but when he’s played, his ability to use that speed in an effective way in terms of his defensive work, I think has been outstanding for a young man in his first year.’

Tottenham have been handed a double injury boost with Ange Postecoglou ‘hopeful’ that Son Heung-min and Richarlison will be available for selection against West Ham this weekend.

The Spurs captain was forced off in the second half of the 3-0 win against Qarabag FK in the Europa League last month.

The South Korean missed Tottenham’s next three games and remained in north London over the international break to continue his rehabilitation.

Richarlison, meanwhile, has not been seen since a substitute appearance against Everton in Tottenham’s second game of the season.

The Brazillian sustained a calf injury in training but is also now fit again having missed his side’s last eight games.

Speaking ahead of Spurs’ clash with West Ham on Saturday, Postecoglou told the club’s media channels: ‘I guess the main ones, Sonny [Son Heung-min] and Richy [Richarlison], have done some good work and trained with the group which is a real positive for us.

‘Sonny was always hopefully going to get through this international break really well and be ready, and Richy has done some good work, so hopefully both are available for the weekend.’

Elsewhere, summer signing Wilson Odobert remains sidelined with a hamstring injury, while Postecoglou was confident that Lucas Bergvall can shake off a knock picked up with Sweden to play a part on the weekend.

‘The international guys, just about all of them got through okay. We’re still waiting on a couple to come back into the building,’ he added.

‘Lucas is the only one that had a slight niggle but again we’re hoping that he’ll be okay.

‘It’s really only Wilson, who has also done some good work in the last couple of weeks, and hopefully he joins the main group at some point next week.’

Son, if fully fit, will be expected to replace Timo Werner on the left wing who has struggled to fill the void left by the South Korean’s abscence.

Tottenham will be hoping to get back to winning ways after a spectacular collapse last time out against Brighton saw them lose 3-2 away from home having led 2-0 at the break.

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Tottenham will hope to have Son Heung-min available once again when they return to Premier League action against West Ham United this weekend.

Son has missed his side’s last three games after limping off with a hamstring injury in the Europa League victory over Qarabag.

After sitting out of games against Manchester United, Ferencvaros and Brighton, he also missed South Korea’s World Cup qualifying clashes against Jordan and Iraq.

Ange Postecoglou will provide update on the 32-year-old this week with hope he can return to the squad.

Richarlison meanwhile has not featured since the second game of the season with his manager urging reporters ‘to stop asking me about him’ in late September, admitting the Brazilian was still a ‘fair bit off’.

Elsewhere, Wilson Odobert is recovering well from a hamstring injury he suffered in the Carabao Cup against Coventry although this weekend may come too soon for the former Burnley winger.

Lucas Bergvall meanwhile returned to north London ahead of schedule after suffering a ‘minor injury’; that ruled him out of Sweden’s game against Estonia. He will be assessed ahead of Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off.

West Ham United meanwhile have a relatively clean bill of health ahead of the London derby.

Summer signing Niclas Fullkrug has failed to get going in east London with an achilles problem also hampering his start to life at the Hammers, having not played since August.

Speaking before the game against Ipswich Town, Julen Lopetegui was hopeful he would be in contention again following the international break. The Spaniard is expected to provide a further update on the striker later this week.

Predicted Tottenham XI to face West Ham

Vicario, Porro, Romero, van de Ven, Udogie, Kulusevski, Bentancur, Maddison, Johnson, Solanke, Son

Predicted West Ham XI to face Tottenham

Areola, Wan-Bissaka, Todibo, Kilman, Emerson, Rodríguez, Bowen, Soucek, Pacqueta, Kudus, Antonio

Where to watch Tottenham vs West Ham? Kick-off time and TV channel

Tottenham vs West Ham kicks off at 12:30pm on Saturday 19 October.

Live coverage is available on TNT Sports 1 and TNT Sports Ultimate and available to stream on the Discovery+ app.

Son Heung-min’s father has been found guilty of ‘violating child welfare law’ after abusing young players at his football academy.

Son Woong-jun was one of three coaches indicted on charges in August having been accused of physically and verbally abusing young players who are part of the Son Football Academy in South Korea.

The trio have now been found guilty by a South Korean court and ordered to pay a fine of 3 million won (£1,683) as well as complete 40 hours of child abuse treatment programs.

Woong-jung, 62, denied wrongdoing but issued an apology in which he said he would review the coaching methods at his academy.

The allegations were initially investigated in March after a parent of one of the children at the academy went to police with concerns.

They claimed their son had sustained injuries to his thigh area and required two weeks of treatment after he was struck with a corner flag by Heung-yun at a training camp in Okinawa, Japan, in March this year.

The youngster’s parents also allege that Woong-jung hurled profanities at players for making mistakes during those sessions.

Video footage showed Woong-jung kicking a player during a match and other coaches swearing at the children, according to reports.

Woong-jung, well-known in South Korea for his time as a professional player, previously admitted hitting a student with a corner flag for ‘coming last in a race’, for which he apologised but didn’t agree it amounted to ‘physical abuse’.

‘This incident was not corporal punishment but a mutually agreed event as part of fitness training,’ he said in a statement at the time, claiming the player was supposed to be ‘hit once’ on the thigh.

The Son Football Academy – which boasts six pitches, a classroom and a clubhouse – cost around £11 million to construct, according to The Athletic.

Son’s dad is credited with coaching and developing the now Tottenham captain when he was a youngster.

The Spurs forward has missed his side’s last three games with injury but will hope to make a return after the international break.

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Manchester City are reportedly set to appoint Sporting Lisbon ‘transfer guru’ Hugo Viana as their new director of football to replace Txiki Begiristain.

It would be a major coup for the Premier League champions, who are once again hoping to land this season’s top-flight trophy over Arsenal and Liverpool.

That’s because he is highly regarded for his business acumen, and was responsible for Sporting signing a number of players who’ve moved on to the Premier League.

Viana played a big role in securing deals for Manuel Ugarte and Pedro Porro, who have since left Sporting to join Manchester United and Tottenham respectively.

He is now expected to swap Portugal for England early next year with City having the basis of a deal in place, according to The Telegraph.

City have worked long and hard to find the perfect replacement for Begiristain, regarded as one of the best sporting directors in the world, who is stepping down at the end of the season.

They want Viana to ‘shadow’ Begiristain from early 2025 so he is ready to take over for the 2025-26 season onwards.

As well as his impressive work in the transfer market, Viana played an instrumental role in bringing in the highly-rated Ruben Amorim as Sporting’s head coach.

City’s deal for Viana comes at an interesting time, with City’s current manager Pep Guardiola out of contract at the end of the season.

While Bayer Leverkusen head coach Xabi Alonso is expected to be a leading contender, it is thought that Amorim could now come under consideration.

That’s only if Guardiola decides to leave the club and it should be noted that he is yet to indicate whether he intends to extend his deal with City or leave.

Amorim has been linked to the Chelsea and United jobs following his impressive work at Sporting in Portugal.

The 39-year-old, Sporting’s manager since 2020, has helped the club win two Primeira Liga titles and two Portuguese League Cups.

Tim Sherwood has likened Georginio Rutter to Arsenal’s Kai Havertz after Brighton’s victory over Tottenham on Sunday.

The 22-year-old joined Brighton in a £40 million deal from Leeds in the summer having scored just seven goals in 48 Championship appearances last season.

Rutter was handed his fourth Premier League start of the season on Sunday and scored Brighton’s equaliser in their 3-2 win at home to Spurs.

Havertz, meanwhile, has been one of Arsenal’s standout performers so far this season and Sherwood believes Rutter shares similar characteristics to the Germany international.

‘They [Brighton] don’t get it wrong,’ Sherwood told Premier League Productions after the game.

‘They don’t get it wrong with managers either as well as players, give them the credit for that.

‘Albeit in the Championship with Leeds with the numbers, but if he [Rutter] can continue like that and get the confidence from scoring in the Premier League.

‘I can’t pigeon-hole him, I don’t know what he is but certainly a good technical player, he finished that one [against Tottenham] brilliantly.

‘He is very similar to Kai Havertz, he’s not a No.9, not a No.10, he’s a bit of both.’

Meanwhile, former Brighton striker Glenn Murray says the club’s use of data was key behind their decision to sign Rutter from Leeds in the summer.

‘He’s starting to find his feet in a Brighton shirt in the Premier League as well,’ Murray said.

‘He’s a funny one, you can’t really put him in a box, Rutter, he reminds me a little bit of Havertz, not quite a No.9, not quite a No.10, but he’s a big physical presence, he’s just an issue, he always causes a problem.

‘There were questions asked and eyebrows raised when they paid £40 million for a lad who had only scored six in the Championship last year, but apparently on the data sheet that Brighton use for recruitment his numbers were off the chart in the final third, like final third entries, forward passes, things like that.

‘That’s why the club felt so strongly to go and pay that amount of money for him.’

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Here’s today’s starter for ten: what’s the difference between a graveyard and a cemetery?

Well, a graveyard lies in the grounds of a church while a cemetery is on common land.

Both, though, have been described as the place where Tottenham’s dreams of a successful season have been laid to rest following their 3-2 defeat at Brighton on Sunday following a second half manager Ange Postecoglou described as ‘unacceptable’.

It was the tenth time since the Premier League’s inception the boys from N17 have lost a match after leading by two goals, which is an unwanted record.

But don’t be too quick in adding fuel to the fire by calling them ‘Spursy’ because it’s more complex than that.

Tottenham were a joy to watch in the first 45 minutes and would have been ahead inside 30 seconds if Timo Werner had found the unmarked Brennan Johnson with an accurate pass.

The former Nottingham Forest winger soon opened the scoring with his sixth goal in consecutive matches and James Maddison doubled the lead just before the interval with the Seagulls thanking their lucky stars they weren’t three or four down by then.

It was the thrilling brand of exquisite entertainment which had pundits purring as Spurs overwhelmed Manchester United and Brentford in their previous league outings and shows how dangerous they are when on top of their game.

The way they threw in the towel in the second half is alarming and shows there are speed bumps lying along the path to progress under Big Ange’s leadership but they lost because of individual errors and not because they kept attacking at full throttle.

Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte preferred the more cautious approach, shutting up shop whenever possible, and where did that get them? If Tottenham keep dominating play and crushing opponents the way they did for more than two hours from Brentford’s trademark early strike to Brighton’s first goal at the Amex two minutes after the restart, they will be fine.

Back them with confidence at 3/1 with Paddy Power and Betfair to finish in a Champions League position.

Let’s not forget that Aston Villa and Chelsea also underwhelmed at the weekend and while Spurs’ top-four chances were sent to the chapel of rest, in some quarters they are still alive and kicking.

• Defending champion Luke Humphries is 6/4 with Ladbrokes and Coral to win his second-round match against Germany’s Ricardo Pietreczko at the World Grand Prix in straight sets.

• Seamus Power has averaged 67.75 strokes in his last 28 rounds on the PGA Tour after finishing tied 11th at the Sanderson Farms last week. The Irshman is worth an each-way interest in this week’s inaugural Black Desert Championship in Utah at 22/1 with William Hill, Paddy Power and Betfair.

Robin van Persie terrorised Premier League defences during his goal-laden spells at Manchester United and Arsenal but only after Spurs passed up the opportunity to sign him.

Arsene Wenger won the race to sign the Dutchman in 2004 and he went on to score a century of goals for the Gunners, before his acrimonious move to United eight years later.

Van Persie’s predatory instincts helped fire United to the title in his first season at the club and helped Sir Alex Ferguson enjoy the perfect end to his Old Trafford reign.

Prior to his exploits in England, Van Persie honed his skills at Feyenoord where he started out as a precocious and often hot-tempered winger.

Arsenal ultimately were the first to really benefit from his talents, but it all could have been very different had their north London rivals been more decisive when they scouted Van Persie at the same time.

‘Then as a director of football, at Tottenham, I went to Feyenoord to see Robin van Persie,’ Spurs legend David Pleat told FourFourTwo.

‘He came on as a sub, shirt out of his shorts, socks rolled down, looking a right mess.’

‘Steve Rowley at Arsenal had decided not to sign him, but they went for a second look and decided to take a chance,’ he added.

Van Persie was far from the only high-profile signing Pleat missed out on during his illustrious career with two eighties legends also having slipped through his grasp;

He said: ‘John Barnes’ agent told me he was leaving Watford: £750,000, But I had Waddle and Hoddle. I didn’t take Barnes and he went to Liverpool.

‘At Luton we had Stuart Pearce training for a week with the reserves when he was at Wealdstone; I asked the coach what he was like and he said, ‘OK.’ I should’ve played him in an 11 vs 11 and made everyone play properly: then we would have seen his character.

Wales head coach Craig Bellamy insists Brennan Johnson is an ‘elite player’ and believes Arsenal legend Robert Pires endured similar criticism to the Tottenham winger when he first moved to the Premier League.

Johnson was signed by Spurs in a £47.5 million deal from Nottingham Forest just over a year ago and the 23-year-old has come under fire for his inconsistent performances since his transfer.

However, the 23-year-old has been in excellent form in recent weeks, scoring in each of his last five games for Ange Postecoglou’s side.

Bellamy has included Johnson in his Wales squad for their upcoming Nations League games against Iceland and Montenegro.

And the Wales head coach feels Johnson is already showing that he is worth his transfer fee for Spurs.

‘His high intensity is through the roof and he is elite,’ Bellamy said.

‘Spurs have paid that money and he could have a bad few years.

‘But if I was in another job and he was worth £80m I’d go and buy him for that.

‘Trust me, he’s got every part of football that makes him an elite player. That’s the player I see.

‘Sometimes you hit the ground running at a club straight away, while sometimes it takes longer.

‘I remember Robert Pires for a whole season was a waste of money and the next season he wins the player of the year. It can work that way at times.

‘Brennan is young and I believe all we are seeing now is what the talent is allowing us to see.

‘It was going to happen and hopefully that continues.’

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