Cartilage Free Captain

There were so many comments in the hoddle that I don’t feel it’s worth adding my quiet voice to such a booming chorus.

We shouldn’t let that drown out the reception Dele got during halftime, though.

I’m not sure if any of us watching the game were able to watch his halftime address or presentation (they certainly didn’t show it on Telemundo), so we have to rely on social media and some Tottenham journos to do the check for us. Here’s Alasdair Gold:

“I hope you’ve missed me as much as I’ve missed you.”

I have, Dele, I have.

And here’s Matt Law, who believes that Dele’s speech showed he hasn’t quite given up yet on his professional football career:

Dele is 29 years old now? Can you believe that.

It’s been a long time Dele’s made a professional appearance. Como gave him a chance early last year on an 18-month contract, where he made just one appearance before he was released in September. There are no indications he’s anywhere near joining another club, but I hope he finds a new home soon where he can jump-start his career.

His appearance on Sunday makes two recent iconic players making half-time appearances at Tottenham Hotspur home matches lately, with the other being Jan Vertonghen. It’s a shame they had to be such ugly affairs.

And the the timing couldn’t be any worse. While I love these players so much, it makes it hurt even more knowing that era is gone while Spurs remain dangerously close to relegation.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Peggy’s Blue Skylight, by Charles Mingus

And now for your links:

BBC: “‘They were attacking from every angle in the end’ - why Spurs couldn’t keep Arsenal out”

The Independent: “Arsenal’s derby dominance jolts their title bid to life – and makes Tottenham’s relegation danger feel very real”

The Athletic ($$): “Tottenham 1 Arsenal 4 – Gyokeres and Eze spare Rice’s blushes to get title charge back on track”

Alasdair Gold: “Every word Igor Tudor said on what he told Tottenham stars after Arsenal defeat with two set to return”

Matt Law: “Tottenham’s plight is the result of years of transfer mismanagement”

It’s gonna hurt, but someone’s got to do it so it might as well be you. Tottenham Hotspur fell, again, to Arsenal in the North London Derby in Igor Tudor’s first match in charge as interim head coach. It was always going to be tough, but this one hurts as the four goals came from Eberechi Eze and Victor Gyokeres, two Arsenal players who have struggled against most other teams not named “Tottenham Hotspur” this season. Spurs showed some extra intent, but it’s hard to overcome the best team in the Premier League with a team that’s basically down to 13 players and that has been hamstrung by poor squad construction.

Rate the players from 1⁄2 to 5 stars. If the player doesn’t deserve a rating due to minutes played, DO NOT RANK. I will round the stars up/down to the nearest half-star for the player ratings later this week.

If you’re on mobile or found this via AMP and the survey isn’t appearing below, here’s a direct link.

There was, for a brief glorious moment, hope ahead of today’s home North London Derby between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. In what was Igor Tudor’s debut match in charge as interim head coach, and with Dele Alli as a special halftime guest, there was just the slightest glimmer of optimism that maybe, just maybe, Spurs could save their season and ruin Arsenal’s at the same time.

Alas, it was not to be. Arsenal ended up winners thanks to braces from two of Arsenal’s most maligned players this season, Eberechi Eze, a player who spurned major Tottenham interest in order to sign for their arch rivals and misfiring Swedish striker Victor Gyokeres. Randal Kolo Muani leveled the score in the first half two minutes after Eze’s opener and had another equalizing goal controversially waved off by the match official after a slight push (and obvious subsequent dive) by Gabriel Magalhaes. Second half substitute Richarlison nearly cut the lead to one goal with a flicked effort that was somehow prevented from crossing the line by Arsenal keeper David Raya, but Gyokeres fired in a late goal past Vicario in extra time and the visitors took all three points by a final score of 4-1.

In truth Arsenal dominated the ball and the stats and were clearly the better side on the day, but it’s still a difficult pill to swallow for Spurs supporters who are mired in a true relegation fight and will need every point they can from now until the end of the season. It always hurts to lose to your rivals, and this one hurt a little more than most.

Tudor, in his first match in charge, set Spurs up in his preferred back three formation, but with Joao Palhinha and Radu Dragusin alongside Micky van de Ven, with Cristian Romero suspended and Kevin Danso injured. In truth, Spurs didn’t play much different football than they have for much of this season under Thomas Frank, but they did come out with a little extra spring in their step and and an intent that has been decidedly missing from the squad over the past couple of months.

A hard match to watch. Here are my takeaways.

Match reactions

It’s not exactly surprising to see Tudor set Spurs up in a back three — it’s his preferred formation. I was a little surprised, however, to see him actually do it considering the players we have available. Palhinha-Dragusin-Van de Ven, with Gray and Spence wide is certainly a choice, but one that represents the reality of this island of misfit COYS.

Interesting to see Spurs commit to the high press early on. That’s another Tudor tendency, but it didn’t last long. Spurs seemed to back off on the high press after the lengthy technical delay.

I know it’s not Spurs’ primary (or even secondary) defense back there but it was notable how easily they allowed players like Timber to make runs to the back post in the early goings, despite defending in a 5-3-2 without the ball.

You can’t say that Arsenal didn’t deserve the win, but it’s very hard to take that two of the goals came from Eze, who has been dogshit for Arsenal except when he plays against us.

But that’s okay because RANDY KILO MIAMI WITH THE EQUALIZER WOOOOOOOOOOOO

Spurs spent much of the first half playing like a bad team with a new head coach who has only had five days to train, but it was notable that they were, at minimum, playing like a bad team with INTENT. Seems pretty clear to me that these guys had completely given up on Frank by the end.

Xavi Simons had a rough match. A few dumb giveaways in possession, a few busted presses, and a few dumb fouls. Not his best performance, despite a good whack of a shot early in the 2nd half.

After that Gyokeres blast, it’s helpful to remind ourselves just how screwed we are by injuries. Palhinha should’ve done better there to close him down, but, like, he’s not a central defender. And of course, Romero is suspended, he probably doesn’t let that shot happen.

Disallowing that second RKM goal was an absolute horseshit call. Just garbage by the official, it was a clear dive by Gabriel in Arsenal’s own box, I’m so mad by that decision.

God, I wanted that goal for Richarlison and Raya somehow managing to keep that from crossing the line was super annoying. Honestly it feels like Spurs opting to sign Vicario over Raya a few years ago is a real sliding doors moment.

Look, at the end of the day the story of this match is that Arsenal are a very good (if extremely annoying) team, and Tottenham are a not very good team that is appallingly constructed and also down to the dregs of the squad due to injury. Yes, complain about match official Peter Bankes (who was very bad). Yes, complain about how Arsenal time-waste and dive and cheat. But we need to confront that reality. This was always going to be a tough match under the circumstances, and there’s no magic manager who will rescue Tottenham. It’s going to have to come from the players. Survival is still the goal and this loss doesn’t change the task ahead.

Ultimately, though, what I’m saying is that this loss is Johan Lange’s fault and I’ll die on that hill. Sack him tomorrow.

I’m still mad, though.

It’s been nice having a break from watching Tottenham Hotspur over the last (almost) two weeks; but I am ready to get hurt again.

That’s in part because we will (hopefully) get a new look Spurs today, as Igor Tudor starts his reign as Tottenham Hotspur Head Coach. From a certain point of view, there couldn’t be a better match to get things started, either. With Arsenal as the opponent in a North London Derby, he can go full throttle without any concerns: if he wins, he writes his name in Spurs folklore; if he loses, well, it’s a freebie in a match he wasn’t expected to win.

It’s both a terrible and fantastic time for this fixture. Unfortunately, the injury situation hasn’t improved much at Spurs, and captain Cristian Romero is still suspended, giving Tudor a limited squad from which to choose. The counter to that, though, is that the Lilywhites do come up against Arsenal at potentially the best possible time, as the pressure is heaped upon the league leaders after winning only two of their last six league fixtures as Manchester City closes the gap at the top (mind that, by the way).

Can Spurs take the advantage against a shaky Arsenal team in a fixture that has huge ramifications for both sides’ season?

COYS!

Lineups

Lineups will be posted closer to kick-off.

Live Blog

How to Watch

Tottenham Hotspur vs. Arsenal

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, UK

Sunday, February 22, 2026

Time: 11:30 a.m. ET, 4:30 p.m. UK

TV: USA Network, Sky Sports Premier League (UK). Check international listings at livesoccertv.com

Streaming: Unavailable

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!

“I don’t know [why I get fast results]. I do my job. Nothing special. I do the things I believe is important. Nothing more, nothing less. Each coach has his own style to achieve the results. I have my style which I believe is the best. It’s never the same because there are always different characteristics, different clubs and different culture. Not even of the league but the club. Some clubs like this kind of football, some like this. You need to resolve the problems. Everywhere the problems, if you go to the best clubs in the world you believe there are not problems there but there are problems there like in the third division. It’s all about how you resolve the problems in a very quick time. Not easy but it’s okay.”

“Probably no [injured players back], Solanke has some problem with his throat but he made two days training. All the others, some are next week.

“[It’s a] very particular moment as you know this very rare situation that you find with 10 players injured, with big injuries also. We made training with 13 players. It is how it is. It is not fantastic [or] beautiful but in this case it’s an even bigger challenge to succeed and come out of this situation.

“Thirteen [players] we will have for sure and it’s quite enough to achieve what we want on Sunday. And the first goal of course I understand the importance of this game, this is a derby, a north London derby. Everybody expects the three points from us. We are aware of this.

“But what was my goal in this first sessions we made is that we became a team. That we became a team with a really right way of going to war, a team who want to suffer, we need to suffer. To fight, to run, to have the right mentality. Also, this is the start. I was working on a lot of things, not everything because it’s not only football, it’s not only about that, it’s about clear idea of what we want to do. Very specific things we want to do with the ball, without the ball, when we are pressing, when we are low. We work a lot but the start is always about mentality because the people come before the football player.”

Igor Tudor is here to stop the bleeding. Both mathematically and logically, Tottenham Hotspur does not need to do much to avoid relegation, even if the current threat is far closer than this club should ever be. In fact, an ambitious manager might actually see the task to be making a run in the Champions League or sneaking into the European places, not just surviving near the bottom of the table.

No one expects a win on Sunday, but doing so would make those more positive alternatives much more realistic. Arsenal are quite a bit higher in the table than Spurs (only because of an extra match played, right??) but did just drop points to Wolves on Wednesday — imagine the type of club who does that. Maybe the vibes are starting to swap across this North London Derby, making this the perfect spot for an amazing result.

Match Details

Date: Sunday, February 22

Time: 11:30 am ET, 4:30 pm UK

Location: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London

TV: USA Network (US), Sky Sports Main Event (UK)

Table: Spurs (16th, 29 pts), Arsenal (1st, 58 pts)

Not much to say here, as surely everyone is aware that Arsenal has won four straight in this rivalry. We can sit back and remember Heung-Min Son’s equalizer in 2023/24 once again, however. Though a lot of season transpired after that September draw, City ended up winning the title by exactly two points, which is what Arsenal dropped that day thanks to Son’s brace.

Two Things to Watch

Pressure mounting/release

As is the case with most North London Derbies, the biggest talking points are far from the tactics boards. After Arsenal’s midweek stumble, the dichotomy of atmosphere between these two sides could not be more different, despite their objective positions. On one hand, Mikel Arteta’s squad is still in first place by five points and remains the betting favorite to win the league. City has looked a step off all season, and it was not that long ago the race seemed nearly over.

However, City now controls its own destiny again while Arsenal has won just two of its past seven in the league. A slip against Spurs would elevate pressure on Arteta substantially. Accordingly, this is a freebee for Tudor. First match in charge, falling short against the league leaders — even bitter rivals — is not going to dictate his perception for the next three months.

All of that being said, these two recent events suddenly make this match feel heavier for Tottenham. With Thomas Frank, this was a guaranteed loss; now, the home side has hope. Likewise, Arsenal is in disarray, but a convincing road won over its rivals could help stop the bleeding and right the ship heading into the stretch run. Spurs certainly do not want to help out in this way at all.

Limited options

History suggests Tudor would like to implement a 3-4-2-1, though it is questionable if the available personnel would allow for it. Regardless, it seems like Spurs should expect some defensive solidity with an aggressive press to help set up some better scoring opportunities. This feels like a welcome shift from whatever Frank was supposedly trying to implement, and any change at this point is worthwhile.

Arsenal killed Spurs on both ends last fall. Despite the poor recent run of form, Arteta’s squad has still scored 12 goals over the past five matches while Tottenham allowed exactly two goals in each match during that span. Like the previous manager (heh), Tudor’s first priority will be fixing the defense, which is not an easy task given the lack of options, but certainly one he seems capable of doing.

The need is just as large in the attack. Arsenal has only allowed three goals in the past four matches while Frank’s final two contests in charge saw one total goal scored. Again, a lack of options might limit what the interim leader can actually do, but I am curious to see if the Tottenham attackers shows more directness and motivation under new leadership. One can dream!

Good morning everybody and welcome to the 1,000th TRACK OF THE DAY!!

You read that right - THE ONE THOUSANDTH TRACK OF THE DAY!

The hoddle has been doing some celebrating this month, first with fitzie celebrating his four-year anniversary at the helm of this wonderful daily blog.

When I took over the hoddle I jumbled down dozens of different notes in my notepad of all the things I wanted to do. I asked myself how I would introduce the links, how to write the hoddle in my own voice while also honouring the tenor set by my predecessor.

Probably the first idea I came up with was a daily song to feature, although I didn’t know what to call it, so I stole the name. And, one morning after listening to “Nick Harcourt’s Fresh Squeezed Track of the Day” on 88.5FM The SoCal Sound, we had our name: “Fitzie’s track of the day”.

I thought it would be fun to feature a different song every day. My goal was to have a unique song every day. With maybe five exceptions, I stuck to that (so 1,000 unique songs is pretty astounding!).

I also wanted to give you all the chance to have something to look forward to and listen to if you didn’t like the hoddle, if there was a putrid Spurs performance, if there was a result to celebrate, or if I felt there was a particular song that could give a little boost to a hoddler who might’ve had a rough day before.

Whether it was Charles Mingus, the Grateful Dead, Warren Zevon, Haim or Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, I wanted to share a lot of the music that I enjoyed. I also wanted to use the TOTD as an opportunity to seek out different music myself and artists I might not have ever heard of before.

These were artists like Rosalia, Charli xcx, Haruomi Hasono or JD McPherson. I also have greatly enjoyed receiving your recommendations on artists or genres even though I do occasionally forget (and in some cases, such as Creed, ignore - although I’ve been close!) to include them. So please keep sending them to me.

After the first calendar year in which I took over the hoddle I decided to put together a playlist of every single TOTD to share with you all so you can access it whenever you please. And while I love that we have this playlist, I still recommend supporting your local radio station and favourite artists.

Now, I know what you’re asking: Fitzie, how do I access the Track of the Day? Well, here’s the embed link you silly goose:

Now, let’s get to some of the stats from the Track of the day playlist You might find this isn’t that much different from when we last checked in on it in December, but let me share it again:

Total songs: 1,000 !!!!

Playlist length: 74 hours, 48 minutes

Songs longer than 10 minutes: 35

Longest songs: Fables of Faubus (29:42) , Joan in the Garden (19:21), Help > Slip! > Franklin (18:58)

Songs shorter than two minutes: 9

Shortest songs: Fragile (1:18), Three Girl Rhumba (1:24), Mystery Dance (1:36)

Most featured artists: Charles Mingus (39), Grateful Dead (32), Queen (20), Fleetwood Mac (15) Haim (15), Tom Petty (13)

Considering how the top five most artists played on this list comprise of just 13.4% of the 1,000 songs featured over the last four years, I have to say I am quite proud of how varied the TOTD is.

——

And now we look on to the next one thousand tracks of the day! You might think I’m running out of ideas, but I’m really not. For example, can you believe we’ve never featured The Cars?

Plus, there are so many more songs to discover that are out there. And so many more that are going to come out in the months and years ahead. This gives us more than enough fodder to keep the track of the day going for as long as possible.

Wherever you go, always take the Track of the Day with you!

Fitzie’s track of the day: It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me, by Billy Joel

And now for your links:

Jack P-B ($$): “The Lewis family owns Tottenham. Why haven’t any of them taken the Premier League’s OADT?”

Matt Law: “Tottenham lose key sponsor at cost of millions”

The Overlap (via Youtube): “Ange Postecoglou: Breaking Silence on Forest Exit & Spurs Job Drama”

Good morning everyone.

It’s hard to believe we’re nearly at the end of the Winter Olympics. Wednesday’s action brought to dramatic hockey games in which both Canada and the US survived in overtime.

But the big story of the Games so far has to be the dominance of Norwegian cross country skier Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo.

The Norwegian on Wednesday won his fifth gold medal of this year’s games and his 10th overall, a new record for the Winter Olympics.

Klaebo went what the kids would call “viral” earlier in the Games with that insane climb in the men’s individual spring last week. Just look at this:

He used that immense power again on Wednesday to push Norway to gold in the men’s team sprint, beating out the Americans in the process.

Norwegians actually make up four of the five athletes on the all-time Winter Olympic medal list, with three of them being cross country skiers.

There is now one more men’s cross country skiing race left in the Olympics: the 50km mass start casual on Saturday. Will Klaebo make it a sixth gold?

Fitzie’s track of the day: Love, by Lambrini Girls

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold: “The four Tottenham players Igor Tudor had already worked with before arriving at the club”

Jay Harris ($$): “Reunion with Igor Tudor could help Randal Kolo Muani finally find form at Spurs”

CommBank Matildas: “CommBank Matildas unveil final squad for AFC Women’s Asian Cup Australia 2026”

BBC: “‘Bottle word will be used’ for Arsenal - is title ‘in Man City’s hands’?”

It’s a pretty slow news day if you’re a Tottenham Hotspur fan, but there’s some good news that just dropped courtesy of Seb Stafford-Bloor in The Athletic — according to reports, Tottenham Hotspur are expected to freeze season ticket prices for the 2026-27 season.

The decision was made after consultation with the Fan Advisory Board, the new(ish) committee formed to serve as a liason between match-going fans and the Tottenham Hotspur board and executive leadership. Spurs will freeze next season’s season ticket prices at this season’s current levels, which is a welcome change, but doesn’t change the fact that Spurs season tickets are still the most expensive in the league. It should be noted that Spurs also froze season ticket prices THIS season as well, meaning prices are expected to stay the same as the 2024-25 season. Spurs have come under criticism recently for removing some ticket allocations for seniors this season.

Well, I say this is welcome news, and it is, but only if Spurs manage to save themselves from relegation with what’s left of this season. That still seems like a very good bet to make — even if we haven’t seen Spurs play under Igor Tudor he realistically only needs 12 points, and possibly less, to ensure Spurs stay up. If they don’t, then that’s the start of what would be a pretty catastrophic financial disaster for Tottenham; I can’t see much of an argument for fans paying the most expensive Premier League season ticket to watch Spurs play in the Championship.

But that’s a tomorrow problem. For now, if you’re a season ticket holder this should be very good news, assuming you want to continue to pay the money for your stadium seat.

Good morning everyone. Today’s hoddle is the second in a short series on your hoddler-in-chief’s journey to run his fourth marathon in April. As I said last week, I decided to document my journey while out on an “angry” run following a Spurs defeat to Newcastle.

That anger wasn’t just from the defeat, but also from several weeks of the most brutal winter I’ve endured since living in Washington DC.

But after that period I am hopeful that what I see is the light at the end of the tunnel, and not an oncoming train. The temperatures are hospitable, but snow is forecast for Sunday. Who knows. I’ll get out there regardless.

(Catch up on Week 9)

I’m only doing this to document my own journey and to find some sort of outlet for the thousands of thoughts that run through my mind through every run. Some of them are good. Some of them are bad. I run through it all. Regardless the distance, the biggest struggle is carrying the dialogue and fears with you.

Week 10

I only have a few more weeks of serious running to go. This Sunday will mark my third 20-mile run. After that it’s a short break until I do my 22-miler before the taper. Now that the weather is getting warmer I’m wondering how much I should push myself. I’m trying really hard to take it one run at a time. Sometimes it’s difficult. It’s always difficult, actually.

Last week I was feeling pretty negative. The doldrum of winter really got to me. I was exhausted. Somehow I got through it. But the thing with running is you get through some hard times, and there are still more miles ahead of you. So I just have to confront those miles. I feel like I’m so close I’m going crazy. Steady eddie, fitzie.

Sunday run: 16 miles (8 miles easy, 8 miles slightly faster than target pace)

I was pretty happy with this. The roads were clear, the temps were warm enough that I didn’t have to wear gloves, and I finally got to really push the pace. The last eight miles were done at a 6:49/mi pace, slightly faster than my target pace. But here’s the deal: I DON’T KNOW MY TARGET PACE.

Part of the struggle with this winter is what do I trust? My half marathon time from November? My Garmin watch race predictor (which says a 3:01 marathon)? My last few months of icy running? My general pace?

All that said, 6:49/mi is probably pushing it a little too much knowing I’ll still have 10 miles to go on race day. That’s a lot, and it hurts. Even though I felt pretty dang good after my run, I knew I didn’t feel good enough to go another 10 miles like that. But can I do it at 6:52 or 6:55/mi? Maybe!

I do a lot of visualising when I’m out there on my long runs. When I’m on the Capital Crescent Trail I like to imagine myself in the final stretch of the marathon, totally alone and in significant pain, doing everything I can to push through those final moments. I know how much it hurts, which is kind of scary.

All of this is building to my run this coming Sunday, which will be my third 20-miler. The tentative plan is to take the first 16 miles at a comfortable pace and push myself the final four. I think my half marathon pace is a lot better than it was in November. If I can run the final eight miles of a 16-miler at a 6:49/mi pace rather comfortably, then I can probably get close to a a sub-6:30/mi half marathon pace. That’d be about six seconds faster than my current best.

Monday: Rest day

I cannot remember the last time I slept til 9am. It felt incredible. Sleep, coffee, oatmeal. Then some light stretching, more coffee, and eating whatever the heck I wanted. It’s not easy to eat on Sundays because my appetite feels so suppressed from the long runs, so I try to make up some of the calories the following day.

Tuesday: 7 mile recovery

An easy 7 mile run at a 7:50/mi pace. It’s probably still too “fast” for what a recovery should look like, but I mostly run by feel and not pace. I rarely look at my watch, actually. So this felt very good and I rewarded myself with some good stretching, lots of pasta, a whole carton of cookies and some wine later in the evening.

Wednesday: Track night treadmile

This isn’t totally set yet. I’ll probably aim for roughly 6 mile intervals. I like to go with what the track club posts and then modify it to make it a little bit longer. This’ll likely be a one mile warmup and one mile cooldown, with four miles worth of work in between.

Thursday: 10 miles easy

More time on the feet. It’s getting warmer and the sun’s out longer, but not that long. So let’s put on the LED lights and make sure I get home safely. This is still my least favourite workout. I hate how long it takes to actually get done. It’s after 5pm, the workout will take at least 72 minutes not including a cooldown or stretch. By the time I sit down for supper it might be time to watch The Traitors. But I can’t complain. There are far worse Thursdays than mine.

Friday: Gym

Deadlifts, some kind of chest press and split squat, plus three more exercises at a light enough weight to challenge myself but not push it. Again, this is all about injury prevention, flexibility and stability.

Saturday: 8 miles easy

Another easy 8 mile run to prepare myself for Sunday. Get out an enjoy the sunshine. Here comes the warmth. Here comes the sun.

(The forecast actually calls for snow.)

Expected total weekly miles: 47

Fitzie’s track of the day: Love Comes to Everyone, by George Harrison

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold: “The one word Igor Tudor deliberately avoided while speaking about Tottenham and it’s not relegation”

BBC: “Real Madrid tie halted over Vinicius racism allegation”

Independent: “Five big names return to Lionesses squad as Poppy Pattinson earns first call-up”