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Former Tottenham defender William Gallas feels the absolute best Spurs can hope for this season is fourth and he is not convinced they will manage that.

Ange Postecoglou’s side looked great as they got their season underway against Leicester on Monday night, taking a first-half lead and dominating the contest.

However, it turned out to be a frustrating evening as they couldn’t convert any more of their numerous chances and switched off at the back, allowing Jamie Vardy to equalise and secure a 1-1 draw at the King Power.

It is hardly disastrous for Tottenham, but it was annoying for their fans and Gallas feels they have more frustration to come this season.

The Frenchman is not expecting big things from Spurs, and an outside chance of grabbing fourth place is as much as they can hope for.

‘I don’t want to burst the Tottenham fans bubble, but I’m not convinced that it will be a great season for the club,’ Gallas told Genting Casino. ‘I don’t expect Tottenham to challenge for the Premier League title.

‘Every season, it is always the same thing. They always come up short. I’m looking at the squad, and, yes, I like the signing of [Dominic] Solanke. They have signed a couple of talented young players, but other than that, it is the same team as last season.

‘I haven’t seen anything that makes me think “this is a Tottenham team that is ready to fight for the title”. Maybe they can finish fourth. Maybe they will finish fifth again.

‘I think Tottenham’s season will be determined by how Ange Postecoglou wants to play and how well the squad deals with the rigours of playing every Thursday and Sunday with the Europa League.’

Gallas, who also played for Spurs’ London rivals Chelsea and Arsenal, feels the element of surprise that Postecoglou’s tactics produced last season will have already worn off for this campaign.

‘The objective at the club will be to improve on last season’s fifth place finish,’ he said. ‘It’s as simple as that. I’m not sure if they will be able to do that because I still have some concerns about how Ange Postecoglou sets his team up to play.

‘Last season they surprised and startled some teams with the way they played with such a high line, I’m not sure if that will be as effective this season as managers know what to expect from Tottenham.’

On the draw at Leicester, Postecoglou said: ‘Yeah, look disappointing outcome. Very dominant first half, really wasteful in front of goal. We started the second half similar, first 15-20 minutes very dominant, wasteful, but you know at 1-0 there is always an opportunity for the opposition to come back into the game.

‘That’s what happened and we lost our way for 15 or 20 minutes. We lost our composure and the crowd got behind them, but again we finished strong.

‘Just really disappointed we lacked a little cutting edge in the front third, made some poor decisions, lacked some composure and didn’t get the reward our football deserved.’

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Jamie Vardy was up to his old tricks as a spirited Leicester held Tottenham to an entertaining 1-1 draw on their return to the Premier League.

The 37-year-old striker had been widely expected to start among the substitutes but was given the nod from the start by Steve Cooper and produced a typically industrious performance to help earn the Foxes a deserved point.

Spurs started promisingly and took an 29th-minute lead through Pedro Porro, who headed home a pinpoint cross from former Leicester midfielder James Maddison to break the deadlock.

Tottenham’s marquee summer signing, Dominic Solanke, spurned several inviting opportunities across the match and the visitors were made to pay for their wayward finishing, with Leicester displaying a real doggedness in the second period.

The newly promoted side drew level just before the hour-mark as Vardy nodded Abdul Fatawu’s cross beyond Guglielmo Vicario to take the roof off the King Power Stadium.

Cooper brought off a tiring Vardy with just over ten minutes remaining and the hosts held firm to frustrate Spurs.

After taking ‘a bit of stick’, the veteran forward simply couldn’t resist taunting Tottenham’s travelling support as he made his way off the pitch, reminding them that he had won the Premier League while their wait for a title goes on.

‘Yeah, yeah. Well you take a bit of stick during the game but it’s part of football,’ Vardy told Sky Sports when quizzed on his gesture to Spurs fans.

‘So as long as they can take it when I’m giving it back then that’s all that matters.’

Vardy felt Leicester gave Tottenham ‘too much respect’ throughout the first half but were able to force a momentum shift in the second period.

‘We just had a little chat between ourselves at half-time,’ he added.

‘Obviously Tottenham are a really good team but I think we probably gave them a bit too much respect.

‘We started the second half on the front foot, getting after them, and I think that’s what changed the momentum.’

Asked whether there were raised voices in the dressing room at half-time, Vardy replied: ‘No, very calm, very calm.

‘We said when it got to around 40 minutes to make sure we go in not conceding any more.

‘You always give yourself a good chance knowing that we’re going to create chances ourselves. That’s what we’ve gone and done and we’ll take the point and move on now.’

Vardy is clearly relishing his return to the big time and plans to continue playing for as long as ‘physically possible’.

‘Do you know what? I literally see it age as just a number,’ he continued.

‘As long as I keep looking after myself and as long as my legs still feel great when I come into training in the morning, games at the weekend, then I’ll carry on for as long as physically possible.’

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Gary Neville has surprisingly predicted that Chelsea will beat Liverpool and Tottenham to finish in the Premier League top-four.

But the Manchester United legend has revealed that his prediction changed while watching Tottenham’s 1-1 draw at Leicester City on Monday night.

Spurs dominated the first-half and deservedly took the lead through Pedro Porro but the Foxes fought back well, with Jamie Vardy equalising in the 57th minute.

After the match, Neville gave his predictions for the season where he once again reiterated his belief that Arsenal would end Manchester City’s title-winning run.

But it was his top-four prediction that raised eyebrows, with the Gunners and the Citizens joined by Manchester United and Chelsea, with the latter taking the place of his original pick Tottenham.

Explaining his change of mind, he told Sky Sports: ‘I wasn’t sure [about Tottenham]. I hope Tottenham finish fourth, I think they play good football.

‘But what I would say is when the subs came on tonight, I thought that could be a problem for them in the sense of the strength in depth.

‘I think Chelsea have the better squad. Chelsea could easily be an absolute mess because they could be.’

In regards to snubbing Liverpool, Neville added: ‘The impact of Jurgen Klopp [leaving] will take its toll, just off the evidence of history. That’s it.

‘Evidence of history when a manager like that leaves… at some point I think they’ll be pain this season for Liverpool and it could cost them.’

The three clubs in question have begun the season with very mixed fortunes, with Tottenham drawing at Leicester after Liverpool beat Ipswich Town 2-0 and Chelsea lost to City by the same scoreline.

Neville had earlier slated Chelsea’s transfer policy alongside Jamie Carragher, who was left staggered by his fellow pundit’s predictions.

The Liverpool legend has instead tipped the top-four to be City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham, with Chelsea not even in his top-six.

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Tottenham star Rodrigo Bentancur appeared to be knocked unconscious before being stretchered off during the Premier League clash at Leicester City.

In worrying scenes at the King Power Stadium on Monday night, play was delayed for eight minutes while medical staff treated the stricken Bentancur.

The incident occurred in the 70th minute of the sides’ first match of the season when the midfielder collided with an opposition player in Leicester’s box, falling hard and face first.

Bentancur appeared to be knocked out cold, with players from both teams instantly flagging for the game to be stopped with medical staff running onto the pitch to treat the Uruguay star and give him oxygen.

Players, coaching staff and fans were visibly upset and concerned by the situation but eventually Bentancur was able to sit up right before being moved onto a stretcher.

As the 27-year-old left the pitch, he received applause from supporters with Archie Gray taking his place.

With the match still ongoing, Sky Sports reported that Bentancur was ‘up and talking’ in the dressing room and will continue to be monitored by Tottenham’s doctors.

Post-match, Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou confirmed this news but was unable to offer much more of an update on his player.

‘I haven’t spoken to them [the doctors],’ the manager told Sky Sports.

‘It’s a head injury and we have to be careful. The good news is he was up and talking.’

He later added in his post-match press conference: ‘Look I don’t have a lot of information but I know he is up and he’s communicating so he’s fine from that point of view.

‘But obviously a head injury and I’ll leave it in hands of medical team now. The key thing is that he’s definitely conscious and communicating.’

The injury came when the score was 1-1 after Pedro Porro opened the scoring for Spurs in a dominant first-half, before the Foxes fought back with Jamie Vardy getting a shock equaliser after the break.

The match finished that way, with both sides spurning chances to steal all three points but this is a result that will suit Leicester far more than Tottenham.

Spurs will be in action on Saturday when they take on Everton at home.

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Ian Wright has revealed he almost signed for Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham instead of his beloved Arsenal.

The legendary striker completed a £2.5m move to Arsenal in September 1991 after spending six seasons at Crystal Palace.

Wright says he was more than content at Palace – who signed him shortly before his 22nd birthday after spotting him playing for Greenwich Borough – and was not expecting to leave.

That all changed when he was summoned to speak with then-Crystal Palace manager Steve Coppell, who informed him the club had accepted a bid from Arsenal.

Wright is now synonymous with Arsenal but says there was ‘no link’ at the time and ‘didn’t expect’ to leave Selhurst Park, where he scored 118 goals in 277 appearances.

In fact, the only transfer speculation Wright was aware of at the time was links with fellow Premier League clubs Manchester United and Liverpool, and Arsenal’s fierce north London rivals Tottenham.

‘It was really strange how it came about,’ Wright recalled on Sky Bet’s The Overlap. ‘I wasn’t at any stage thinking about leaving or pushing for a move.

‘Then one day I got a call saying I needed to see Steve Coppell. I went in to see him and he was pretty solemn and sad. He just said, “we’ve accepted a bid from Arsenal”.

‘I didn’t have a clue. I never knew anything about it. There was never any link between me and Arsenal in the papers.

‘After the 1990 FA Cup final (which Crystal Palace lost to Manchester United), there was a lot of stuff with Liverpool, there was a chat about Tottenham as well and there was Man United.

‘But I didn’t expect anything to happen at that time, I was 28 by that point.’

Wright proved to be a huge success at Arsenal, scoring 185 goals in 288 games to become the club’s all-time record goalscorer, though Thierry Henry later surpassed him.

During his seven-year spell at Arsenal, Wright lifted the Premier League trophy, two FA Cups, the League Cup and the European Cup Winners’ Cup.

Discussing his love for Arsenal in a separate interview, Wright said: ‘Arsenal is the greatest, greatest football club in the world.

‘When I first got to Arsenal people were saying “What are you buying him for?” I was sitting there watching the telly [the evening after I’d signed] watching people talking about me, “He’s not good enough to play for Arsenal’, and I swear to God I sat down watching the news literally sh*tting myself about going to Arsenal.

‘I went to David Rocastle’s house that night and we stayed up till 4 in the morning talking about Arsenal, the club he loved.

‘Arsenal have got a certain class and dignity. I just want to be remembered for being a hard-working honest professional who done the best he could with the opportunity he got.’

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Tottenham have reached an agreement with Burnley over a deal to sign winger Wilson Odobert.

The 19-year-old has verbally agreed a five-year deal to run until 2029 and will take the number 28 shirt in north London.

Odobert joined Burnley from Troyes in 2023 and made 32 appearances in all competitions last term, scoring four times.

However, the Clarets were always going to struggle to keep Odobert following their relegation to the Championship.

Odobert, a France U21 international, made two appearances for his country at the 2024 Olympics on home turf as Thierry Henry’s side lost to Spain in the final.

Spurs have signed Archie Gray, Dominic Solanke and Min-hyeok Yang so far this summer, while Lucas Bergvall has joined after an agreement was reached in January.

Ange Postecoglou’s side open their Premier League campaign against Leicester City on Saturday.

Solanke is expected to be handed his debut for the club.

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Tottenham have suspended Yves Bissouma for their opening Premier League match of the season after the midfielder shared a video of himself inhaling laughing gas.

The 27-year-old uploaded a video of himself on social media on Saturday which showed him inhaling from a balloon.

Bissouma had earlier that day played 45 minutes for Spurs in their final pre-season match against Bayern Munich.

The Mali international later apologised but Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has confirmed he will not be involved on Monday night against Leicester City.

‘He won’t be available on Monday,’ Postecoglou said. ‘We’ve suspended him from Monday’s game. He needs to build that trust back with both me and the group. The door is open for him and we can help him realise the decisions he makes impact the group.’

Every time a situation like this arises I always try to look at it in a couple of different ways,’ the Tottenham boss continued.

‘One, there is a person involved and in this case it is Biss and he has made a really poor decision. You want to understand that and help him through that as a club to make sure he doesn’t make those sort of decisions in the future.

‘Within that context there are still sanctions involved which involve education and giving him a clear understanding of why he did what he did. We always want to give people the opportunity to learn from their mistakes.

‘The second part, he is also a footballer and he has responsibilities to the club, responsibilities to his teammates, responsibilities to our supporters and everyone associated with the club and he’s failed in those duties so there have to be sanctions.’

Recreational use of nitrous oxide, also known as NOS or laughing gas, was made a criminal offence in the UK last year and listed as a Class C drug.

‘I want to apologise for these videos,’ Bissouma said. ‘This was a severe lack of judgement.

‘I understand how serious this is and the health risks involved, and I also take my responsibility as a footballer and role model very seriously.’

Ian Wright has suggested Arsenal should have hijacked Tottenham’s move for England striker Dominic Solanke.

Spurs welcomed Solanke to north London last week after agreeing a deal with Bournemouth worth up to £65m.

Solanke attracted interest from some big clubs after enjoying the best season of his career to date, scoring 21 goals in 42 appearances for the Cherries.

The 26-year-old has committed to Spurs until 2030 and was presented to the club’s fans over the weekend but Wright has suggested his former club Arsenal should have hijacked the move.

Premier League runners-up Arsenal have been linked with several strikers this summer after relying on Kai Havertz up top for much of last season.

Asked how he’s feeling about Arsenal ahead of the new Premier League campaign, which starts this weekend, Wright said on The Overlap: ‘I’m really happy with how pre-season has gone and getting in [Riccardo] Calafiori.

‘I know there’s something else in the works for Arsenal, they’re going to try and do something and they have to. They need to get 90 plus points.

‘If something comes up they will do it. They need the bench to be better.’

Ex-Manchester United defender Gary Neville then asked Wright if he was surprised Arsenal did not try to sign Solanke.

The Gunners legend added: ‘You know, I wouldn’t have been too… that wouldn’t have bothered me if they went for Solanke.

‘With [Gabriel] Jesus and [Gabriel] Martinelli, they lost their place last season but we can probably get the goals from them if they get back to where we know they can be.

‘They’re better than they showed last season.’

Wright also said Solanke could be the ‘signing of the season’, tipping him to thrive at Tottenham, who finished fifth in the Premier League last season.

‘Dominic Solanke could be the signing of the season at £65m,’ Wright said.

‘I like that move for them and I think he could be a good signing with the way he plays, he doesn’t get injured, he scores goals.’

Solanke, who made his one England appearance in 2017, became Tottenham’s fourth summer signing following Yang Min-hyuk, Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray.

‘It’s a magnificent club, a huge club with ambitions that match mine, so I’m delighted to start and meet all the boys and get started,’ he said after his move from the south coast.

‘What excites me most about the club is how ambitious it is. A great manager, great players and I feel like [Spurs] will definitely suit my style of play as well so I can’t wait to get started and do my stuff on the pitch.’

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Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has an ‘uncoachable’ player in his squad for the 2024-25 season, ex-Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe has claimed.

Italian boss Maresca is set for his debut campaign in charge of the Blues after he surprisingly replaced Mauricio Pochettino at Stamford Bridge in the summer.

Maresca is likely going to have to rely heavily on Cole Palmer, who conjured up an incredible 22 goals and 11 assists across 34 Premier League games last term.

Palmer was rewarded with a fresh contract – and a new bumper salary – on Tuesday and Defoe believes you ‘cannot coach’ the player in certain aspects, although that is only because he is so technically gifted and such a top star.

Defoe is a huge fan of Palmer and has lauded him in an interview with Sky Sports as the former Spurs star said: ‘I like his temperament.He’s so calm and he gets on with business. Technically, he is gifted.

‘A lot of things he does, you cannot coach. It’s just natural. He just does it and it’s off the cuff.

‘He’s a special player, which is why he’s signed a longer contract. Of course, we’d have loved to have seen more of him at Euro 2024 [for England].

‘He’s one of those players that can create something out of nothing. He is a coach’s dream.

‘I think he can still improve. He’s still young. He’s only going to get better. When you look at his numbers last season, the amount of goals he scored, it was amazing.

‘If he can do that again, or even more, it will be great for Chelsea. What he’s shown already in such a short space of time, it has just been amazing.

‘I’m really looking forward to seeing him. He is a player you pay money to watch. He’s so exciting, give him the ball and he’ll create stuff.

‘He’s brave. He wants the ball and he takes responsibility. He’s got personality. I’m looking forward to seeing him this season.’

Palmer was named both Premier League Young Player of the Season and Chelsea Player of the Season last term.

Tottenham have officially announced the £65m signing of AFC Bournemouth striker Dominic Solanke with a brilliant anime-themed video on social media.

The Cherries are gutted to lose their top striker – who scored 19 Premier League goals last season – but they have urged their own fans not to ‘cry’ over the sale.

Solanke, 26, will look to walk in the footsteps of Harry Kane and establish himself as a world-class forward after enjoying a career resurgence on the south coast.

The ex-Chelsea and Liverpool star played 216 games for Bournemouth – conjuring up 77 goals and 31 assists – becoming a massive fan-favourite in the process.

‘Don’t cry because it’s over,’ Bournemouth posted on their X account. ‘Smile because it happened.’

Spurs, meanwhile, posted an anime-themed video to announce Solanke’s arrival in tribute to his deep love of the Japanese art form.

Solanke has frequently mentioned how much he loves anime in his interviews and has dedicated a number of goal celebrations to it.

‘We are delighted to announce the signing of Dominic Solanke from Bournemouth,’ Spurs posted on their website. ‘The 26-year-old striker has agreed a deal that will run until 2030. Dominic began his career with Chelsea and progressed through the ranks to play a key role in multiple youth team successes.

‘His impressive performances earned him his first team debut in October, 2014, against NK Maribor in the UEFA Champions League, becoming Chelsea’s youngest ever player to feature in the competition.

‘In August, 2015, he headed out on loan to Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem, where he made 26 appearances in all competitions, scoring seven times.

‘A clinical and imposing attacker, Dominic returned to Chelsea following his loan and joined Liverpool ahead of the 2017/18 campaign, making his debut for the Merseyside club the following month.

‘During his spell at Anfield, he made 27 senior appearances in all competitions and scored his first Premier League goal in May, 2018, against Brighton.

‘In January, 2019, he moved to Bournemouth and made 10 appearances across the second half of the season. Dominic featured regularly for the Cherries the following campaign and in 2020/21 he finished the season as the club’s joint top goalscorer in the Championship.

‘The 2021/22 season saw Dominic enjoy his most prolific campaign, scoring 29 goals in 46 appearances, topping the Championship’s goalscorer chart.

‘In addition to helping his side earn promotion back to the Premier League, he was also named in the 2021/22 EFL Championship Team of the Year and the PFA Championship Team of the Year.

‘During his time on the south coast, he made 216 appearances in all competitions, scoring 77 goals and last term, he featured for Bournemouth in every one of their 38 Premier League games, finishing as joint fourth highest goalscorer in the division, netting 19 goals across the campaign.

‘His impressive form continued, as he scored his first senior hat-trick against Nottingham Forest, which helped him claim the Premier League Player of the Month Award for December, 2023.

‘On the international stage, Dominic has featured for England across numerous age categories and in 2014 helped the Young Lions claim the Under-17 UEFA European Championship, finishing the tournament as joint top scorer with four goals.

‘Three years later at the Under-20 FIFA World Cup, he played a vital role in England’s success and his notable performances saw him claim the Golden Ball and named as the Player of the Tournament. Dominic made his senior England debut in November, 2017, coming on as a substitute in a friendly against Brazil at Wembley.’