Cartilage Free Captain

Perhaps it is unfair to be too negative after a one-goal defeat on the road against a rival that sits in the top four, but nothing truly happens in a vacuum. Instead, Tottenham Hotspur took yet another loss this season, with Ange Postecoglou’s time in North London looking more and more likely to be over soon.

As has been stated ad nauseam, next Thursday’s Europa League resumption is infinitely more meaningful than a visit from Southampton on Sunday. However, one can imagine that what little supporter backing remains would evaporate for Postecoglou with failure against the league’s worst side, so the staff does not have the luxury of fast-forwarding ahead.

Tottenham Hotspur (t-14th, 34pts) vs. Southampton (20th, 10pts)

Date: Sunday, April 6

Time: 9:00 am ET, 2:00 pm UK

Location: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London

TV: Peacock (US)

Southampton will be back in the Championship next season. 20th in goals scored, goals allowed, goal difference, and xGD is a bleak but representative picture of where this side is, and there are just not many positives to say about a club that has lost 24 of its 30 league fixtures. Saints did manage a draw against Palace on Wednesday, but that is about as bright as it gets.

Spurs won just one of four contests against the other two sides in the bottom three, Ipswich and Leicester, but were lethal in a 5-0 drubbing at St Mary’s in December. James Maddison’s brace led the way, with Heung-Min Son, Dejan Kulusevski, and Pape Sarr all getting on the scoresheet as well. That win was Tottenham’s first in four at the time, and perhaps history will repeat itself and end the current four-match winless streak.

Dizzying

Postecoglou has preached — and typically utilized — steady rotation since getting his roster back to mostly full strength, but went with just about his best XI against Chelsea. With Eintracht Frankfurt looming Thursday, and Southampton’s struggles, it would not be crazy to expect a variety of new names in the starting lineup this weekend.

I advocated for youth to be the priority in these lame duck run-in fixtures, but I do now wonder if the manager lacks incentive to agree. It is very likely Postecoglou may not return next season, so the value in him giving prospects playing time is minimal if he will not be the one able to benefit from their development in the future. I would still like to see Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray, and Mathys Tel get some more minutes domestically this year, but that does not feel like a certainty.

Unleash

Three points will not make a difference for Tottenham in the end, and a win over last place means next to nothing, but man it feels like a convincing victory is simply needed right now. The escape against AZ Alkmaar was important, though more relieving than exhilarating, meaning the last truly impressive performance was over a month ago against Ipswich.

Southampton is terrible. The opportunity is there for a palette cleanser, giving the squad a chance to erase a bit of the negativity before the season’s (latest) biggest fixture next week. To me, that means getting the attack back on track and seeing multiple shots hit the back of the net; if that cannot happen against a team that has given up 17 goals in its past six matches then when will it ever?

The final wisps of winter have come and gone. The tides of change bring spring, which can only mean one thing.

It’s time to continue reading books. Same as I do in the winter, summer and autumn.

Your hoddler-in-chief recently finished M Train by Patti Smith, a wonderful memoir by the punk rock poet from New York. Those who are interested in her rise as a singer-songwriter should steer clear of this one (but may I recommend Just Kids?), as this focuses on Patti Smith the writer, the poet and the mother and widow.

Her writings inspired me to continue my own reading journey. Tempted as I was to begin reading Murakami, I instead went a more classical route and picked up a copy of Dracula for four dollars.

What an incredible book it is so far. It’s closing in on 100 years old, but it remains a barnstroming and terrifying read on the vampire that has inspired dozens of others.

The opening chapters detail the harrowing journey of Jonathan Harker, who stays at Count Dracula’s castle in Transylvania. But we don’t learn of Count Dracula’s beastly nature right away; instead, the tension and horror dramatically build as Jonathan realises his imprisonment.

I’m only one-third of the way into this book, but I’m finding it difficult to put down. Currently Professor Van Helsing and Dr John Seward are tending to a woman named Lucy, who is feeling very ill and has two distinct marks on her neck.

I’m looking forward to where this goes next. And I find no time to read it better during the daylight hours of spring, with its warmer weather and blossoming flowers.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Cotidiano, by Dora Sanches

And now for your links:

Telegraph: “Ange Postecoglou took on Tottenham fans and lost... this feels like the end”

Football London: “Every word Ange Postecoglou said on gesture to Tottenham fans, VAR and disappointing Chelsea goal”

The Athletic ($$): “Chelsea 1 Tottenham 0 – Maresca relief, Postecoglou pressure, and will Eintracht be concerned?”

Dan KP: “Ange Postecoglou left with egg on his face as Tottenham stars lose faith”

Filed under:

Tottenham Hotspur Match Reports

Chelsea 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur: Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh

This felt like a foregone conclusion, didn’t it?

Share this story

Share this on Reddit

Share All sharing options

Share All sharing options for: Chelsea 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur: Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh

Matches between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea, especially ones at Stamford Bridge, are rarely fun experiences. This one wasn’t either. Tottenham narrowly lost away to Chelsea thanks to a second half header from Enzo Fernandes.

Both sides had a goal ruled out — Caicedo had a hammer of a goal called back after Levi Colwill was ajudged to be (barely) offside, and Pape Sarr had a second half blast ruled out after he fouled Caicedo in the buildup to the goal. Tottenham also had a potential penalty kick after Sarr was kicked inside the box waved away by match official Craig Pawson and VAR.

The final score was 1-0, which I suppose feels right? I dunno. I hate this fixture, and losing at Stamford Bridge almost feels like a foregone conclusion. Whatever, here are my notes from the match.

Match Reactions:

Well, that match went pretty much the way I expected it to go — a Chelsea goal, some controversial VAR decisions, some fisticuffs, a bunch of yellow cards, and a narrow loss.

That opening near own-goal was scary as hell but somehow would’ve been an appropriate thing to happen in this fixture, I feel like there’s at least one insane play like this in every game at the Bridge.

Chelsea got forward so quickly in this match. Hard to tell if they really attack that fast or if it’s just because Tottenham don’t have a midfield. Probably a little of both?

We’ve been waiting a long time to see what a (nearly) full strength Tottenham would look like, and based on the first half — pretty disappointing! Huge gaps in the midfield, rusty players, and what looked like a pretty damning lack of organization. Not very encouraging stuff.

A rough start for the defense — both Cuti and Micky looked rusty and Nico Jackson kind of had his way with both of them. Fortunate not to concede in the first half hour, but they both started to settle in a bit more towards the end of the first half.

Djed Spence started on the right tonight and he looked weirdly uncomfortable in his natural position. His worst half in a long time.

On a positive, Bergvall was quite possibly Spurs’ best player on the day. Had a real bounce to his step, looked composed at the six, was getting into good positions. Promising stuff. Wish he had stayed on longer, maybe some lingering effects from the virus he had on international duty?

It’s not a Battle at the Bridge without at least one fight, and of course Cuti was involved. That said, Levi Colwill was holding onto the ball after the free kick, milked the hell out of that incident and should’ve gotten a yellow for simulation.

Enzo’s goal was just way, way too easy. Super frustrating, especially since that was Micky’s man whom he left open to go double another player.

VAR is good again — super duper close decision, but ultimately the right one. Shame it took four minutes. But still a good result because that Caicedo shot was an absolute hit.

When Pape’s shot went in I let out an audible shriek from my desk at work and then was afraid that my co-workers overheard it. Shame that he fouled Caicedo — I hate it but that was the right call. I don’t know if I like the rule about assigning yellow cards after VAR review.

Micky took a knock late and was limping a bit before being subbed off (Djed at CB?). Hopefully it’s nothing serious but, you know...

On the whole, this was a mixed bag. Spurs have certainly played WORSE, and had a few moments of genuine good play, but they weren’t good enough to win in a very hostile environment against a better team.

When it comes to Tottenham Hotspur, a large portion of the fanbase are feeling very much in the doldrums; so what better way to raise the mood after a peaceful international break than... checks notes... Oh. Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

To say Spurs don’t have the greatest of records at the Bridge would be putting it mildly, and these derbies are always full of feeling and fury. Ange Postecoglou and his squad are under huge pressure to put together something resembling a complete performance; and anything less will not be enough to take any points from the other side of London.

We know that this Spurs side will show up, in some way, shape, or form; knowing which Spurs side will show up is the harder question to answer. Will it be the team that looks listless and loose; aggressive and incisive; or disjointed and discombobulated?

Let’s see.

COYS!

Lineups

Lineups will be posted closer to kick-off.

Live Blog

How to Watch

Chelsea vs. Tottenham Hotspur

Stamford Bridge, London, UK

Thursday, April 3, 2025

Time: 3:00 p.m. ET, 8:00 p.m. UK

TV: Not televised in USA, Sky Sports Premier League (UK). Check international listings at livesoccertv.com

Streaming: Peacock

Match thread rules

The match thread rules are the same as always. To any visitors coming here for the first time, welcome! We’re glad you’re here! Wipe your feet, mind the gap, and be sure to check out the other pages at this outstanding site. While you’re here, though, we have a few rules and regulations:

Absolutely no links to illegal streams. They’re bad and they get us in trouble. Violators will be warned or banned.

We have rules against “relentless negativity.” Nobody likes a Negative Nancy. Don’t knee-jerk and post outlandish or hurtful things just because you’re frustrated.

Along those lines, outright abuse of players or match officials is also not allowed. It’s fine to say “wow, that was a really bad call,” but it’s NOT okay to direct copious amounts of abuse in the direction of said official over a call you did not like.

Treat other people in the match thread the way you would want someone else to treat your grandmother. Be nice. This is a community of fans, not an un-moderated message board.

NO SPIDERS!

Finally, while we don’t have a rule against profanity, please try and keep the naughty words in check. Also, language that is sexist, racist, transphobic, or homophobic in nature will be swiftly deleted and you will be immediately banned. This is an open, supportive community.

Have fun, and COYS!

Mercifully, it feels like forever since Tottenham Hotspur has taken the pitch, though the past two and a half weeks have seen the drama continue on as managerial rumors only get louder. With the calendar now turned to April, the decision point is rapidly approaching, although everything is on pause until at least the middle of the month when the Europa League resumes.

Until then is a pair of Premier League fixtures: Thursday’s trip to Chelsea and a visit from cellar dwellers, Southampton, over the weekend. There may not be a ton to play for in the table anymore, but trips to Stamford Bridge are never just a formality. Spurs will need to show some fight to head home happy, though it is dangerous to use that word in this derby.

Chelsea (6th, 49pts) vs. Tottenham Hotspur (t-14th, 34pts)

Date: Thursday, April 3

Time: 3:00 pm ET, 8:00 pm UK

Location: Stamford Bridge, London

TV: Peacock (US), Sky Sports Main Event (UK)

Chelsea are right in the mix for a top-four finish, with Manchester City, Newcastle, and Brighton all bunched up beneath the top three as well. Just two wins in the past five contests has not helped the cause, though, even if the losses came against respectable sides in Brighton, Villa, and Arsenal. The Blues are also favorites to win the Conference League and have a much easier path than Spurs’ Europa bracket.

December’s reverse fixture was one of the season’s most chaotic. Tottenham jumped ahead to a 2-0 lead thanks to Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski, but a second-half comeback saw Chelsea come all the way back and go ahead 4-2. Heung-Min Son’s stoppage-time effort made little difference, and the West Londoners made it three straight wins in this derby.

Building blocks

Despite his job very much hanging in the balance, Ange Postecoglou has been sticking to his philosophies, which apparently includes plenty of rotation now that he has some more options available. It feels like Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero are still good candidates to be subbed off at some point before 90 minutes, and Dejan Kulusevski remains doubtful.

Still, that leaves plenty of contenders across the midfield and attack. The final contest before the international break saw Yves Bissouma start in midfield, which clearly is not working out. However, Archie Gray put in a good shift next to him, and seeing Gray pair centrally with Lucas Bergvall would be fun. Add in Wilson Odobert up front, and maybe some minutes for Mathys Tel, and at least the youth could provide a little hope for the future.

Productivity

Chelsea’s success this year has come from the attacking end, which will pose a good test for the mostly healthy Tottenham backline. The other end of the pitch is more interesting to me, though, with the home side’s defense only grading out near the middle of the league this season. Still, the Blues have conceded just one goal over the past three domestic fixtures (and two in the past five overall), once again testing the Spurs attack.

Everything about the rest of the year has to be about the Europa League, and quarterfinal combatant Eintracht Frankfurt has been pretty strong defensively itself. Therefore, building some confidence in the league is key, and some of that is going to be from Postecoglou finding the right components. Odobert has looked promising in limited action, but Tottenham will need Son and Solanke to contribute as well, since their spots seem to be nearly guaranteed. If a heated derby cannot get the best out of these key attackers, it is hard to feel great about anything going forward.

Good morning hoddlers.

We have a short hoddle today because Tottenham Hotspur football is back!

And there’s no other club I’d rather welcome Tottenham back to the Premier League than Chelsea. Actually, that’s a lie. There’s a whole list of clubs I’d rather Tottenham play to return to PL action.

Here’s the list:

- Aston Villa

- Bournemouth

- Brentford

- Brighton (and Hove)

- Crystal Palace

- Everton

- Fulham

- Ipswich Town

- Leicester City

- Liverpool

- City

- United

- Newcastle

- Forest

- West Ham

- Wolves

It’s a large list. For those keeping track that is every club except Arsenal.

I’m not looking forward to today. I see no reason to. But Tottenham play today, and of course I’ll be paying attention to it.

My hope is a win, my expectation is a win by three goals.

COYS

Fitzie’s track of the day: Dramamine, by Middle Kids

And now for your links:

Jay Harris ($$): “How do Tottenham Hotspur get the best out of Cristian Romero?”

Football London: “What Ange Postecoglou senses from Tottenham squad as Romero and Van de Ven Chelsea start explained”

Remember the halcyon days of last week when I suggested people should stop getting too far over their skis about Fabio Paratici? There were numerous (stupid) reports in the Italian media that made it sound like Spurs had either offered a major role to Don Fabio at the conclusion of his international football ban, or were planning to. I didn’t really think that was true at the time. Now it looks like it not only wasn’t true, but he’s not going to stay at Tottenham at all.

Sky Sports’ Lyall Thomas tweeted today that the Don has “verbally agreed” to become the next director of football at AC Milan.

If you’re new to Spurs fandom or don’t remember what Fabio’s deal was, he was Tottenham’s sporting director under Antonio Conte, and a former top executive at Juventus. His extensive contacts within Italian football (and the iPhone consistently plugged into his ears) led him to some pretty good signings while at Spurs, including Rodrigo Bentancur, Cristian Romero, and Dejan Kulusevski.

But the flip side of that coin was that Paratici left Juventus under a double cloud of scandal, with reports of his involvement in both the plusvalenza (overvaluing transfer targets to cook financial books) and PRISMA (paying players illegally under the table during COVID-era financial restrictions) scandals. The end result was that he was banned from football for a period of 30 months.

That ban ends in June, and in the meantime Paratici has been “working” as an “informal advisor” to Tottenham as a way to get around the football ban. Now, if Lyall is correct, he’s getting back into football, but back in his home country of Italy.

It makes sense. Italian football is what he knows, and while a return to Juventus is obviously not likely, it does seem appropriate that a club like Milan or Inter would snatch him up. I don’t know for sure whether Tottenham actually wanted to keep him around in some role equal to or under new technical director Johan Lange; what we do know is that they never made him an offer, and now it looks like he’s moving on.

I, personally, was extremely Larry_David.gif about the idea of again covering Paratici’s helter-skelter “scattergun” approach to football transfers (as opposed to the impenetrable black box that is Johan Lange’s methodology) but I will confess that I’ll kind of miss that extremely Conte-esque era of chaos. RIP, Don Fabio and thanks for all the memes.

You might have noticed that Tottenham Hotspur are in a bit of a youth movement right now, partially out of necessity due to the massive injury crisis that precipitated playing a bunch of teenagers meaningful minutes in numerous Premier League matches at the start of the new year. But Spurs are also bringing along some promising players through the academy as well. Today one of the more promising youngsters, Callum Olusesi, signed his first professional contract with the club.

You might remember Olusesi made his club debut in the waning moments of Spurs’ 3-2 Europa League win over Hoffenheim in January. He’s a central midfielder and if you ask academy watchers who the really good players are out of this current crop of Spurs teenagers, his name is usually one of the ones that comes up. He just turned 18 and has signed a three year deal that will make him one of the highest paid academy players, though it doesn’t mean he’s going to be cracking the first team anytime soon.

Still, this is pretty exciting news. Youth development is always a crap shoot, though central midfield has been one area where Spurs have recently developed a few Premier League caliber players. Neither Harry Winks and Oliver Skipp were ultimately deemed to be at the level Spurs needed them to be, but they should both be considered “academy wins.” Olusesi could be another in that mold. Or he could be the next Tottenham academy superstar! We won’t know for a while yet.

Regardless, it’s nice that he’s been deemed good enough to earn a professional contract. That means he’s a talented player regardless of what happens to him next or what his future in the game will turn out to be. My guess is that he’ll stick around for Spurs’ preseason tour with Asia and then possibly head out on loan. That in itself is worth celebrating.

Tottenham Hotspur play a football match tomorrow, which is something that hasn’t happened in over two weeks. That’s good! But they play away to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, a place they haven’t won since 2018. That’s not so good.

Spurs are just about as healthy as they’ve been all season, with Richarlison now back in full training. That’s good! But according to the most recent team update from Ange Postecoglou, there are still two players who have yet to fully recover from recent injuries — Big Ange stated on Spurs’ social media channels that Kevin Danso and Dejan Kulusevski are still “a couple of weeks away.” That’s not so good.

Ange says that Richarlison might or might not feature tomorrow against Chelsea, saying it’s about finding the right time to bring him back on and work him into the first team setup again. That suggests that if he WERE to play tomorrow, it’s likely be as a late game substitute to get minutes into his legs.

Notably, nothing was said about Cuti Romero or Micky van de Ven’s status. I’m going to assume that’s good. Romero was able to get some international minutes with Argentina and didn’t come back injured, which is also good. Van de Ven was not called up for the Netherlands, and while he saw some reserve minutes ahead of the international break it’s still not clear what his status is, which can be construed as potentially not so good.

Playing away at Chelsea is always a “not so good” situation, but now it’s time to bring this article to a close, which if I attempt to channel the thoughts of my readers here, is good.

Welcome to Fitzie’s Film and TV Reviews, where your hoddler-in-chief reviews some things he’s seen on the telly and on the big screen. Today’s feature includes a film which he didn’t see in the cinema (RIP E Street Theatre).

——-

Traitors (US and UK): This is the reality show where some people pretend to be “traitors” and vote out members of the “faithful” while collecting a fair amount of money if they can make it to the end of the game. The US version is a bit too camp for me. I prefer the UK with your everyday folks. It’s far more endearing. Either way, it kind of drags on. The challenges feel pointless and I feel we’re coming close to a point where the contestants on the programme might know it too well.

Adolescence: A four-part miniseries that’s got a lot of people talking for its one-shot episodes. They’re all brilliantly done. Perhaps none better than the explosive first episode that showed a 13-year-old boy Jamie arrested on suspicion of murder.

In the second episode one of the detectives argues that the murdered girl will not receive the same amount of attention of her murderer. And, sadly, this is a self-fulfilling promise. We spend so much time on the intense grief of the boy’s family that we fail to properly understand how the 13-year-old got here (cyberbullying and internet culture).

And the girl who was murdered feels more of a plot device than a human being. Her character deserved much better from this show.

Laugh Out Loud UK: Your hoddler-in-chief hinted at this latest comedy show on Reba McEntire’s birthday. A group of 10 comedians are locked in a room together for six hours. They’re not allowed to laugh. Last one laughing wins.

There are some great bits in here. Joe Wilkinson’s RNLI speech, Richard Ayoade’s deadpan delivery and seemingly indestructible demeanour and Lou Sanders playing offense the whole time.

But, of course, it’s Bob Mortimer who steals the show with his brilliantly stupid humour.

I feel this show was far more for the people in the room than on their couches at home. At times it felt quite unfunny, but this was a very strong start to a series that’s bound to have more Taskmaster alum.

Wicked: I’ve seen the play in the theatre twice, and it was spectacular both times.

The remarkable thing about cinema is that it is able to capture how grand a world can be that a stage cannot. And Wicked presents the world of Oz as a massive, colourful and tumultuous place.

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are perfectly cast as Glinda and Elphaba, the two leads in the play. And the fact they sing all of their parts live is remarkable. Equally remarkable was Grande’s physical comedy, best displayed in Popular.

And the climactic Defying Gravity lived up to the scale and ambition of this film, with Erivo’s cape blanketing much of the sky surrounding her as she makes her terrific stand.

While the film is certainly long (its run-time surpasses the play itself), it moves quite quick. I’m looking forward to part two.

Severance: I have only just finished watching Season 2 tonight, and it is a brilliant programme so far. After about three episodes I was able to really dig into it. Everything is exceptionally done from the directing to cinematography, the score and all the dancing. Plus, how many characters is each actor playing?

The pacing felt a little bit off at times in the second season (hello, episode 7), but the 75-minute finale was a gripping piece of television.

We leave Season 2 with a tonne of questions. I hope the writers know where they want this to go and how they plan to end it.

Fitzie’s track of the day: One More Saturday Night, by My Morning Jacket

And now for your links:

Football London: “Van de Ven decision made, Kulusevski hope - The Tottenham team Postecoglou must pick vs Chelsea”

Jay Harris ($$): “Ange Postecoglou says Tottenham got start of season ‘wrong’: ‘We went into it really hard’”

BBC: “Almost a saviour - is makeshift striker Maguire sign of Man Utd struggles?”

The Telegraph: “Celtic child abuse: SPL club must pay millions to survivors”