Cartilage Free Captain

Tottenham Hotspur Women drew 0-0 against Manchester United on Sunday. The game was much more even than previous renditions of the matchup, and Spurs were unlucky to come out of it with only one point.

There were a couple surprises in the lineup. Bethany England missed out on the squad due to a knock, and Eveliina Summanen was on the bench. Ella Morris came in for Hanna Wijk (who missed out due to an MCL injury), a big call considering Ella had only played 15 competitive minutes since her ACL injury last year. Otherwise, injuries late in the season have left Martin Ho with a squad that basically selected itself.

Spurs started with a solid spell of possession that failed to turn into more. A flurry of shots leading in the 13th minute ended with the ball rolling wide on a deflection. After a winter of disorganization, Ho’s cobbled-together defense finally looked organized tidying up after United’s spells of attack. United only registered one off-target shot in the first half. Spurs had a spell of (largely set piece) activity in United’s box toward the end of the half but couldn’t capitalize on that, either.

The second half was similar. Spurs were solid in possession but wasteful in the final third. Signe Gaupset rolled one slightly wide in the 65th minute after Spurs took a dangerous free kick, and minutes later, Drew Spence put a shot wide of the back post. Ho only made two substitutions in the match. Lenna Gunning-Williams came on for Tinka Tandberg in the 81st minute, and Eveliina Summanen replaced Olivia Holdt (who looked to be suffering with what I hope was just a calf cramp) in the 90th minute.

Thoughts

It was good to see the team clicking again, albeit against an exhausted-looking United side who have had to balance the Champions League on top of all the other games teams normally play. Spurs outshot United 22(5) - 10(3). It was a shame so few of those were on target, but it is promising to see Spurs string together a performance in which they possessed the ball and created chances while also limiting the opponent.

Ella Morris was incredible against United. I was a bit worried seeing her in the starting lineup since she didn’t look herself in her short cameo against Chelsea, but I think it’s safe to say she’s back. She dominated up and down the right wing in both attack and defense, and she looked lively and explosive. At one point I even saw her nutmeg United’s Rolfö (and worth noting Olivia Holdt got in her cheeky nutmeg on Rolfö as well). I’m absolutely thrilled about this. Ella was one of the only bright points in that abysmal 24/25 season, and I loved watching her. Now we just need to make sure she stays healthy and on the pitch!

Looking Ahead

There are two matches left in the season – London City Lionesses and Brighton. Our squad is somewhat depleted, and both our opponents have been flying high (Brighton in particular beat Manchester City over the weekend, not many teams get to say that). Winning both games may be tough, but I’ll be looking for Spurs to continue some of the positive patterns we’ve seen before hopefully strengthening over the summer.

Good morning everyone! It isn’t May yet, but I can’t help but look towards it. I’m sure we all are anyways.

It’s the run-in until the end of the season and, in just a few weeks, we’ll learn whether or not Tottenham Hotspur will be in the Premier League next season.

This time I want to do things a little different and see how Tottenham’s run-in compares to West Ham. Regardless of how you view it, one thing is for certain: Spurs have very few attacking options.

Dominic Solanke and Xavi Simons are both now out for the season. What options does that leave us with? Richarlison and Mathys Tel, which is a lot to ask for.

Spurs currently sit two points back of West Ham and both play against Leeds. Could that really be the determining factor?

Then it seems as if both will lose their respective matches to Chelsea and Arsenal. That leaves a pair of wildcard matches in Aston Villa and Everton, and Brentford and Newcastle. Both pairs feature to faltering clubs (Villa and Newcastle) and two who are inconsistent yet fighting for European places (Everton and Brentford).

It’s a strange profile of a run-in, but that’s where I feel we are with both.

Tottenham Hotspur men’s schedule: at Aston Villa (3 May); Leeds (11 May); at Chelsea (17 May); Everton (24 May)

West Ham men’s schedule: at Brentford (2 May); Arsenal (10 May); at Newcastle (17 May); Leeds (24 May)

I still don’t want us to forget about the women’s squad, whose season is also coming to a close. It’s been a much more successful season for Spurs women. They’ll clinch fifth place with a point in their remaining two games against London City and Brighton. But I think it’ll be a good test regardless to see how Spurs perform against the sixth- and seventh-placed teams in the league right now.

Tottenham Hotspur women’s schedule: London City (3 May); at Brighton (16 May)

Fitzie’s track of the day: No Springtime, by Allison Russell

And now for your links:

Matt Law: “Tottenham’s survival hopes could be hit by Solanke injury”

Football London: “Dominic Solanke injury update sees Tottenham nightmare go from bad to worse”

BBC: “Why Mourinho could be Real’s ‘ultimate wildcard’”

The Independent: “Brighton unveil plans for Europe’s first purpose-built women’s football stadium”

Here’s a smidgen of good news in what’s otherwise been a pretty crappy day in Tottenham Hotspur-land. Oxford United might have been relegated from the Championship back to League One, but young Tottenham striker Will “BIG WILLY LANKS” Lankshear has had a pretty phenomenal year for them on loan. He’s earned the club’s Golden Boot award, and was named Oxford Young Player of the Year.

Oxford (obviously) were not a very good team. They played terrorist defensive football before sacking their manager midseason. They weren’t especially great after that either, but Lankshear was one of the bright spots in their season. The 21-year-old Lankshear scored a team-high 11 league goals for Oxford from an xG of 10.64, five more goals than the next closest player, and had two assists, good enough for fifth on the team. 10 of his 11 goals came from inside the box, and he proved himself adept at finding space and opportunities inside the opposition area despite Oxford being 22nd in the Championship in goals scored and 19th in xG.

Lankshear is an intelligent box striker, adept at movement, excellent at timing his runs, and pretty clinical with his finishing for a young player without any top flight experience. Oxford may have gone down while he was there, but this was a very encouraging loan for Lankshear, and it would not at all surprise me if he locks down a reserve place in Tottenham’s first team next season whether or not Spurs are relegated. But Spurs will need to invest in a couple of midfielders who know how to pass the ball first, or like Richarlison, he’ll struggle to make an impact.

You ever feel like you’re cursed? Try being a Tottenham Hotspur supporter. There’s a new report in the Telegraph from our GOOD BUDDY MATT LAW that states Tottenham striker Dom Solanke, who was withdrawn from this weekend’s win over Wolves after picking up what looked like a knock, might instead have suffered a grade 2 hamstring tear, which could rule him out for the rest of the season.

So if you’re keeping score, that’s 10 current injuries in the first team, and four in the past two matches — Xavi Simons joins Solanke on the physio table vs. Wolves, and Spurs lost Cuti Romero and Destiny Udogie as well the week prior. Guglielmo Vicario is still recovering from surgery, Pape Matar Sarr has a muscle injury, Ben Davies, Mohammed Kudus, and Wilson Odobert are all probably out the rest of the season as well, and we didn’t even mention James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski who both haven’t kicked a ball in a year.

I mean, I just don’t know what to say anymore. This has been the absolute most cursed season I’ve been a part of, and it’s likely to mean we’ll end up playing in the Championship next season. There are a lot of really stupid conspiracy theories floating around as to why Spurs keep picking up injuries, but the REAL answer is probably pretty simple — it’s a combination of too much football and too few players, which leads to a injury spiral where fewer players are forced to play more minutes which leads to more injuries — and also a streak of absolutely legendary misfortune. I know nobody wants to blame bad luck when they COULD blame Spurs’ physios because… reasons, but honestly — it’s too much football and bad luck, with a whole bunch of side factors that play a small role in the above.

The nature of the domestic cup competitions is such that it often necessitates moving matches off of weekends and to weekdays in order to accommodate the schedules of the participating teams. This year, that means that due to Chelsea making the FA Cup finals against Manchester City, the Premier League needs to move their previously scheduled home match against Tottenham Hotspur, which was originally set for Sunday, May 17. It has now been moved to Tuesday, May 19.

So on the one hand this is kind of a good thing for Spurs — it’s never easy to play away at Stamford Bridge, and even though Chelsea have had a rough go of it under (now former) manager Liam Rosenoir, they’re still a much better football side that Spurs. That said, making them play an important league match three days after the FA Cup final feels like something of an opportunity for Tottenham to maybe, just maybe, nick a result. That’s a much bigger ask for Chelsea than it is for Spurs.

On the other hand, that’s the penultimate match of the season, and it leaves Spurs with a short week to get ready for the final match, home to Everton. There’s a real chance that Spurs may need a result against the Toffees to secure survival, and not having a full week to prepare isn’t ideal.

However, if the end result is a win over Chelsea, I don’t think many will mind all that much. So make sure you update your calendars and pre-schedule a “conference call” at work for 3:15 p.m. ET — there’s a match on.

Good morning everyone! We’re just about to the end of the month and, in this case, almost the end of the season. That means we need to have a rundown of the lower leagues in the English football pyramid.

EFL League One:

We know a few things already: Lincoln and Cardiff are going up, and Rotherham, Port Vale and Northampton are going down.

The playoff race is very exciting. There are six teams competing for four places. The big question is whether or not Luton Town can find their way in the top six after spending most of this season midtable (a disaster after having already faced back-to-back relegations). Your hoddler-in-chief will also be keeping a close eye on Bradford City, who seem to be a little inconsistent in their results.

And don’t forget about Leyton Orient on the other side. A year ago they were pushing for the Championship. Today it’s about survival.

Top eight:

Lincoln City (100 Pts) (C)

Cardiff (91 Pts) (P)

Bolton Wanderers (75 Pts) (X)

Stockport (74 Pts)

Bradford City (74 Pts)

Steveneage (72 Pts)

Luton Town (71 Pts)

Plymouth (70 Pts)

Bottom six:

Peterborough (52 Pts)

Leyton Orient (51 Pts)

Exeter City (49 Pts)

Rotherham (41 Pts) (R)

Port Vale (39 Pts) (R)

Northampton (35 Pts) (R)

League Two:

Can Harrogate Town complete the great escape? They’ve won their last two straight games to bring themselves on level with Crawley Town and just one point back of Newport County and Tranmere. Remember: Only the bottom two sides are relegated to the National League.

They’ve got a hell of a game to close out the season though. They’ll be hosting Barnet, who are still within a shot of the playoffs. Crawley Town also have a tough one against Salford who are playing for an easier playoff route. Who knows, maybe relegation will come down to goal differential.

Top nine:

MK Dons (85 Pts) (P)

Bromley (84 Pts) (P)

Cambridge United (81 Pts) (X)

Salford (80 Pts) (X)

Notts County (79 Pts) (X)

Grimsby Town (77 Pts)

Chesterfield (76 Pts)

Swindon Town (75 Pts)

Barnet (73 Pts)

Bottom five:

Tranmere (40 Pts)

Newport County (40 Pts)

Crawley Town (39 Pts)

Harrogate Town (39 Pts)

Barrow (36 Pts)

National League:

It was heartbreak for Rochdale last weekend, who thought they were going up with a goal in the 90+5th minute against York City. Well, after some pandemonium, York City scored the promotion-clinching goal in the 90+12th minute.

So now Rochdale, who are second place at 106 points, now have to go through the playoffs to gain promotion to League Two. That seems pretty cruel, especially when you look at some of the teams in the league above this one. We have this conversation every year about expanding the promotion/relegation between League Two and the National League, but it isn’t happening.

Otherwise another fun story is Scunthorpe, who dropped out of the Football League a couple years ago.

Champions: York City (108 Pts)

Playoffs:

Rochdale vs TBD

Carlisle United vs TBD

Scunthorpe United vs. 6 Southend

Boreham Wodd vs. 7 Forest Green

Fitzie’s track of the day: Dancing in the Club (MJ Lenderman Version), by This Is Lorelei

And now for your links:

The Ringer: “Tottenham’s Relegation Would Be Shocking. It Now Seems Inevitable.”

Alasdair Gold: “What Bentancur did to Kinsky and Xavi Simons’ crucial conversation with De Zerbi after his injury”

BBC: “Spurs’ Simons to miss rest of season and World Cup”

The Telegraph: “FA claims ‘no proof’ that heading causes long-term brain damage”

Good morning, dear hoddlers.

At the risk of doing one running post too many, I’d like to draw your attention to the London Marathon where a new world record was set.

On Sunday, Sabastian Sawe became the first person in history to run a sub-2 hour marathon in race conditions, crossing the finish line in 1:59.30. Here are what his splits look like:

That’s an unfathomable kind of speed, and he wasn’t even the only one to break a sub-2 hour marathon.

Yomif Kejelcha, making his marathon debut, also finished in under two hours, finishing in 1:59.41. And it’s incredible to think that kind of time was only good enough for second place on Sunday.

It’s also incredible that this happened in London and not one of the faster majors like Berlin or Chicago, which leads me to wonder how long this current record will stand. Just what kind of a new era in running are we?

Anyways - that’s your running hoddle. Maybe it’ll be your last one for a few weeks to give you all (and myself) a break.

Fitzie’s track of the day: A Day In The Life, by Neil Young (featuring Paul McCartney)

And now for your links:

Jay Harris ($$): “De Zerbi surprised Spurs have the ‘right spirit’ to survive. But do they have enough fit players?”

Alasdair Gold: “What Bentancur did to Kinsky and Xavi Simons’ crucial conversation with De Zerbi after his injury”

The Standard: “Three things we learned from Tottenham win as Roberto De Zerbi reaction sends message”

This sucks, y’all. Tottenham Hotspur are already without a majority of their best players, including Cuti Romero, James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Dominic Solanke, and Mohammed Kudus. Now add Xavi Simons to that list. Simons suffered what looked like a significant injury to his knee that resulted in his substitution in Spurs’ win over Wolves on Saturday. He tried to run off the injury but ended up being stretchered off.

While we still don’t know the extent of the injury, we now know it’s severe. Simons posted on Instagram that he will not only miss the rest of the season, but he will also miss the World Cup for Netherlands as well.

God. This just SUCKS. I’ve said this before, but put aside all of the stuff that has led to Tottenham Hotspur being in the position they are — 18th place with 4 matches to play, and with a very, very real chance of relegation. Yes, there’s lots of compounding reasons why Spurs are here, including poor squad management, bad managers, and terrible recruitment, but one underrated factor that doesn’t get talked about enough is the sheer, incredible amount of bad luck Spurs have had for going on two years straight. It feels like, as Ange once said, every light at the end of the tunnel turns out to be an oncoming train.

If you’re keeping score, that’s three Spurs ACL injuries in a single season: James Maddison, Wilson Odobert, and Xavi. Four, if you include Dejan Kulusevsi, who still hasn’t returned from his injured patella. God. What other club has gone through anything even remotely close to this?

So Spurs will now need to find a way to escape the drop at West Ham’s expense without their best creative player and passer. I feel bad for Tottenham, but I feel even worse for Xavi. In one stroke his season hopes and his World Cup hopes are dashed. He doesn’t deserve this, but injuries happen. They just seem to happen more often to Tottenham players than to pretty much any other club.

After several weeks hiatus for interationals and, well, other stuff, Tottenham Hotspur Women are back in action again, and it’s a BIG match. Spurs host Manchester United, their old rivals, and a team they’ve only beaten once in 15 appearances. United are in fourth, nine points ahead of Spurs in fifth, but Tottenham are eying a surge up the table, and while the odds seem slim Spurs still want to qualify for the Champions League this season. But to do that they’ll have to beat the big teams and United always seem to have Spurs’ number.

But like the Spurs men, the Women are dealing with a few significant injuries, with Clare Hunt, Luana Buhler, Amy James-Turner, Jessica Naz, Maite Oroz, and Maika Hamano all out injured.

Even so, this is an exciting team under Martin Ho. Let’s see if they can pull a home upset.

Tottenham Women vs. Manchester United Women

Brisbane Road, London, UK

TV: Not televised (USA), Sky Sports Premier League (UK)

Stream: ESPN Select (formerly ESPN+)

It wasn’t pretty. It was almost disastrous. But Tottenham Hotspur finally, FINALLY picked up their first league win in the calendar year of 2026, gutting out a 1-0 win away at Wolverhampton Wanderers thanks to a late tap-in goal from Joao Palhinha. Spurs frantically held on from a late Wolves charge to hang on for a win that, while significant for obvious reasons, merely allowed them to keep pace in the relegation fight.

It’s impossible to talk about this match without talking about the OTHER match that took place concurrently — West Ham hosted Everton, and after Kiernan Dewsberry-Hall leveled the score late in that match Spurs ever so briefly escaped the relegation zone. But West Ham scored the winner in extra time, so despite the win, Spurs remain in 18th place, two points behind the Hammers with four games to play.

The Spurs match was ugly, and very nearly went off the rails. Antonin Kinsky made a gargantuan leaping save off a Wolves free kick late in the game to preserve the win and the clean sheet, and Tottenham had two players — Dominic Solanke and Xavi Simons — subbed off with injuries. Of the two, Xavi’s looked the most significant as he appeared to do his knee, and I’d be shocked if he plays again this season. Dom’s status is unknown.

This was an aggravating and horrible game to watch, but a win is a win. Spurs haven’t gotten many of them this season, so it’s important to celebrate it.

Here are my (quick) match reactions.

Match Reactions

God, what an awful match. Apart from the goal, Spurs barely mustered any chances despite 11 shots. This against the worst team in the league that had already been relegated. It was not pretty.

Roberto De Zerbi has a style of play that he wants to play, but right now he does not have the players to implement it. The front line was near catastrophically poor today.

Randal Kolo Muani had some bright moments early in the first half where he appeared to be successfully doing wingery things on the wing, but he fell off sharply late and was rightfully hooked at halftime. Mathys Tel, his replacement, was scrappy if ineffective. I’d like to see Tel get more minutes in what matches we have left.

It’s weird, but Rodrigo Bentancur and Yves Bissouma are clearly our best midfield pairing under RDZ, and both of those guys I wanted Spurs to sell this past summer. (I still think we should sell both of them this summer and get players who can pass.)

I was flabbergasted by the decision to replace Xavi with Joao Palhinha in a match where Spurs needed a goal. I’m sorry, Joao — I was unfamiliar with your game.

Once again, Anthony Taylor put in a horrific officiating performance that was biased against Tottenham. There was a penalty against Richarlison that was not given (and instead was given as a foul BY Richy) and the Gomes tackle on Bissouma not being given as a red card was egregious. If that were a Spurs player making that tackle, it’s a red card all day.. How does this keep happening to us? (But at least it’s not as bad as the uncalled handball in the box in the WHU-Everton match)

Was pleased with Richarlison’s performance after he came on. Didn’t get a lot of service but he pressed like crazy and was chasing down every ball. Would’ve had a goal too if not for Matt Doherty’s glancing header late in the second half.

This is a team that seemingly has forgotten how to win games, so winning this one, ugly as it was, was hugely significant. We do need another team to beat West Ham and do us a solid (or two) and the win is tempered by the fact that we only kept pace with the Hammers, but it’s important to take what small pleasures we can from this season. It’s okay to celebrate this win.

Spurs’ run-in: @Villa, vs. Leeds, @Chelsea, vs. Everton. West Ham’s run-in: @Brentford, vs. Arsenal, @Newcastle, vs. Leeds. This one could go down to the wire, potentially. Or maybe we get put out of our misery soon. We’ll see.