Cartilage Free Captain

After a disappointing draw against promoted Sunderland, Tottenham Hotspur are headed to Dorset to take on Bournemouth. The Cherries exposed the first set of cracks in Spurs’ armor in the reverse fixture earlier in the season, a match in which a 0-1 loss felt like a lucky escape for Spurs.

That performance was an especially poor one that has unfortunately become the norm this season. Thankfully, Bournemouth aren’t exactly flying either; although that’s largely been a function of a failing defense (as opposed to Spurs’ stuttering attack) with a number of high scoring draws the culprit for Bournemouth dropping so many points.

In that sense, this match feels very much like stoppable force vs. movable object. Let’s see which breaks first.

COYS!

Lineups

Lineups will be posted closer to kick-off.

Live Blog

How to Watch

Bournemouth vs. Tottenham Hotspur

Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth, UK

Wednesday, January 7, 2026

Time: 2:30 p.m. ET, 7:30 p.m. UK

TV: NBCSN, Sky Sports Golf (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:

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Have fun, and COYS!

A lot of Tottenham Hotspur academy graduates and young reserve players went out on loan this fall. 18-year-old Spurs midfielder Callum Olusesi was not one of them. He stuck around this fall, training with the first team and even making a few Premier League benches this year under Thomas Frank, though he has yet to make his Premier League debut. He made his club debut last season in the Champions League against Hoffenheim.

But now it seems he could be set for a loan, possibly to a Serie A club. Alfredo Pedulla writes today on his website that Torino is interested in bringing Olusesi to Turin for the second half of the season. Talks between the Serie A club and Spurs have already started, and could result in a loan with a purchase option.

There’s not much to this rumor, but a loan to a mid-table Serie A club would be a pretty good outcome for Olusesi, considered one of the better players to come out of his academy class. Pedulla makes it sound as though Olusesi is one of the options (but not the only option) for a role in Torino’s midfield so this isn’t a done deal yet, but it’s probably time for Callum to head out for first team football somewhere, especially if he’s not going to get it this season at Tottenham. Olusesi has five goals in five PL2 starts so far this season, and had 11 goals in 11 starts in 2024-25.

Tottenham have been active in the loan market so far this January and have been proactive about cancelling unproductive loans and finding new clubs for its fringe and young players, but apart from a rejected £8m bid for Brazilian left back Souza they have yet to make any moves for first team players. Thomas Frank has suggested the team wants to sign a left back, attacker, and, if possible, a central midfielder this month.

Maybe Tottenham Hotspur must accept that draws against the teams currently in seventh and eighth place are reasonable results. That would be a pretty sad reality, but what about the past 24 months suggests that is unreasonable? Spurs have won consecutive league fixtures just one time this year, back in MW1 and MW2, and are 7-6-7 through 20 fixtures. Where is any reason for optimism?

Perhaps a trip to Bournemouth Wednesday can at least halt some of the negativity. The last time the Cherries won a Premier League contest was before Halloween, landing them down in 15th place. Four of their last six have yielded draws though, including Chelsea (twice) and United, so there is a good chance this is the third straight contest Tottenham ends up in a frustrating deadlock.

Match Details

Date: Wednesday, January 7

Time: 2:30 pm ET, 7:30 pm UK

Location: Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth

TV: NBCSN/Peacock (US), Sky Sports Golf (UK)

Table: Bournemouth (15th, 23 pts), Spurs (t-13th, 27 pts)

Bournemouth is the original harbinger this season, giving Thomas Frank his first competitive loss after that pair of opening victories. The home side generated a mere 0.2 xG that day — which is somehow only the THIRD lowest output this season — despite going behind in the opening minutes and obviously needing a goal the whole match. It has been downhill for the Cherries since then, but the same could be said for Tottenham.

Two Things to Watch

(Lack of) Dominic Solanke

Solanke was injured right before the first contest against his former club and fittingly seems set to return right after the return fixture. His absence has been felt all season, but with Mohammed Kudus going off injured on Sunday and Brennan Johnson sold to Crystal Palace, the depleted/ineffective attacking corps could use the first-choice striker’s contributions now more than ever.

Whether it is Randal Kolo Muani, Mathys Tel, Wilson Odobert, or some other attacker who steps into the lineup, the opportunities should be there. Bournemouth is 17th in goals allowed and 18th in xGA, surrendering multiple goals in the past three matches and 14 over the last five. The defense is leaky and vulnerable due to Andoni Iraola’s style, which leads to scoring on both ends.

Spurs now have just three goals in their past five league contests and looked really, really tame at Brentford last week, which does bring to question the team’s remarkable road form. However, Frank must realize the urgency here and seize the opportunity against a side that will clearly allow some big chances. Missing Solanke hurts, but there are still enough pieces here to cut open this side, especially on the break.

Departure of Antoine Semenyo

Though Xavi Simons might still end up a great signing, whiffing on Antoine Semenyo, Morgan Gibbs-White, and Eberechi Eze has clearly limited the Spurs attack this season. Instead, Semenyo chose to stay at Bournemouth, but is now on his way to City, likely following Wednesday’s contest. In true Tottenham fashion, the prolific striker will not be able to be avoided despite his impending departure.

Semenyo has nine of the Cherries’ 31 goals so far, which is just three off United who sits in third place. Even in the poor recent run of form, the attack has continued to generate good looks and scored twice in both of last week’s contests (Chelsea, Arsenal). Though Spurs have stopped the bleeding defensively, expect some dicey moments on Wednesday.

Still, as frustrating as it has been to concede cheap goals and/or fail to protect leads, it is arguably worse to see setups like Frank’s against Brentford. Yes, Spurs must be cautious against ambitious sides who will challenge the defense, but lifeless football is not the appropriate counter. Even though Bournemouth are going to press and seek out opportunities, Tottenham cannot just turtle and play for a draw.

Are we already a week into the new year? Goodness, time flies. And sometimes it’s easy to forget or not commit to those new year resolutions we set for us each year.

Today’s hoddle will be just about that. I’m going to list some of my resolutions this year. Both those related to Spurs and those that are not. Let’s get to it:

Non-Spurs resolutions:

Drive my car more: I find it hard to drive in Washington DC. Everything is like 3 miles away, so why take my car when I can walk or hop on the metro? Well, that thinking could lead to some battery and engine issues for my vehicle. So I resolve to put more miles on my Subaru Crosstrek. Maybe it’ll even lead to more exploring.

Waste less food: I think this is a worthy cause to resolve. I found myself tossing food into the bin far too often last year, and every time it upset me. So this year I want to shop smarter and eat more consciously. I now happen to be out of apples, bananas, blueberries, eggs and peanut butter. So I still have to learn how to find the right balance.

Set a new personal best in the marathon: I should crush my previous time of 3:37. I set a new personal best in the half not long ago at 1:26. I usually like to double that time and add 15 minutes to get a conservative estimate on the marathon. Those maths would bring me to about 3:10, which is reasonable. It’s still too soon I think to identify a goal time, but I’d like a sub-3:10 marathon. If I can comfortably run 16 miles in 1:56, then the maths show I can do a sub-3:10 and - maybe, maybe - push towards a 3-hour marathon.

Carty-Free and Spursy resolutions:

Update the Track of the Day playlist on Spotify more often: This seriously got away from me for close to two years. I spent a tonne of time updating it for you all before Christmas. I’m trying really hard to update it as I schedule each hoddle. I don’t like adding one more responsibility for me to do every single day, but I want to do it for you all.

Go to more DC Spurs outings: My running commitments have kept me from joining the DC Spurs folks last season (and all of this season). Maybe I’ll be able to squeeze in a game before this season ends - all depends on the marathon training schedule. But I have a lot of fun at the Irish Channel (sometimes I spend too much money there).

Get a new Spurs kit: This is the lowest of the priorites because it’s really expensive. I still wear my 16-17 Walker kit every matchday. It just works ! But if I can show up to DC Spurs with a Ben Davies away kit from this season? That’d be tops.

Enjoy your Wednesdays, everyone. And be kind to each other in the match and post-match threads later today.

- fitzie

Fitzie’s track of the day: No Such Thing, by Agent Orange

And now for your links:

The Standard: “Tottenham form new transfer plan after Mohammed Kudus injury as starlet set for loan switch”

The Guardian: “West Brom sack Ryan Mason as head coach after 10th straight away defeat”

I think everyone held their collective breath when Mohammed Kudus went down injured inside the first 20 minutes of Spurs’ home draw with Sunderland on Sunday. That’s not because he was doing especially great — he wasn’t having a good match before the injury — but because Spurs literally had just sold his backup, Brennan Johnson, to Crystal Palace for £35m.

But misery loves company, so how about some more bad news? Mike McGrath at the Telegraph (£) is reporting that Kudus underwent post-injury scans that are “worse than feared” and he might now miss multiple games.

There aren’t any indications as to how long Kudus might be sidelined, which makes sense because the injury is muscular and fresh and the physios might know right now either. But regardless, it’s not great. Spurs now do not have a natural right winger in the squad. Randal Kolo Muani played as Kudus’ replacement against Sunderland, and wasn’t very good there but it’s hard to know if that was just a bad match or if he’s not especially suited to playing on that side of the pitch. Kudus’s absence could be good for Pedro Porro who might have more license to get forward if there isn’t a natural right sided player in front of him, but it also could go completely sideways.

The Telegraph goes on to say this could accelerate Spurs’ plans to sign another forward in January, and well, okay, but I’ll believe that when I see it. For now, just do what I’m doing and grimace while pretending none of this is happening. La la la la la I can’t heeeeeeear youuuuuuuuuu

Yesterday, news broke that Tottenham Hotspur had an £8m bid for 19-year-old Brazilian left back Souza rejected by Santos in the Campeoanato Brazileiro, with the club reportedly holding out for closer to £15m. That made people upset for various reasons stemming from an underbid for a player with a £100m release clause in his contract, to focusing attention on another young up-and-comer instead of an established fullback to deputize or compete with Destiny Udogie.

It’s hard to know what to make of Souza, since his stats are all based on about a year and a half of first team football in Brazil. That said, Souza profiles as an Athlete™ with some serious physical tools who is good at duels and crosses and especially adept at drawing fouls, but pretty dang raw everywhere else. That’s actually not necessarily the worst target if we’re looking for a natural left-sided fullback. Consider — Destiny is injured a lot, but it’s going to be a harder sell to spend bigger money for a more experienced left back that will be content to be a backup but might not actually fit the system Spurs have in place (or want to put in place). Consider also that spending, let’s say £12m (which is nothing in today’s market), for a young and hungry Brazilian with some upside might leave some significant funds left over with which Spurs could use to purchase, IDK, Maghnes Akliouche, or throw gobs of money at Crystal Palace for Adam Wharton. I’m not saying that will happen, but it COULD. Choose hope.

Also important to note here that while Ben Jacobs gets a lot of inside information, he tends to report whatever it is that people tell him, frequently uncritically. So take all of this with a grain of salt.

I guess I’m just looking for the upside here. Will this move the needle with jittery Spurs fans who are looking from some serious intent from Johan Lange in the January transfer window? Doubtful. But it’s not nothing.

Tottenham Hotspur’s men’s team hasn’t (yet) made any first team signings in the January transfer window but they’ve been quite active otherwise, especially on the loan front. Specifically, they’ve been great about identifying the players who are struggling or in unsuitable loan situations and getting them out of those clubs and into new loans at different clubs. To whit, the club announced today that 20-year-old midfielder George Abbott is being withdrawn from his loan at League One side Wycombe Wanderers and is returning to Spurs.

This one is a bit unfortunate. Abbott smashed it in League Two last season at Notts County and was due for a step up in competition. Wycombe seemed like a good destination club for him, but he’s only played 850 minutes in all competitions this season. That’s mostly because he’s struggled with injuries and hasn’t been able to get settled in the squad.

I don’t know what the club will do with George this Spring. It’s possible, maybe even likely, that he gets loaned out again, but if he’s still injured it’s also possible he stays at the club and goes back to U21 football until he’s able to get healthy and fit again. It’s a shame. I don’t think Abbott has a future in Spurs’ first team but he’s shown that he could be a professional footballer in the Football League and could have a very nice career. We’ll find out what Spurs’ plans are for Abbott soon.

Before the January transfer window opened there were rumors that Tottenham Hotspur’s young Korean winger Yang Min-heok could be withdrawn from his current loan at Championship side Portsmouth for another opportunity. According to Fabrizio Romano, that rumor is reality — Min-hyeok will leave Pompey, sitting near the relegation zone in the second division, for another Championship opportunity with league leaders Coventry City.

On the one hand, this is hugely exciting. While Yang isn’t moved up a division clearly he’s done enough at Pompey to make people very excited about his prospects as a top flight footballer. That he’s moving from a club near the bottom of the Championship to the team at the top of the table and the favorites to win the league is a clear statement of that excitement. Frank Lampard has Coventry flying at the moment — they’re six points ahead of Middlesbrough and look like favorites to promote to the Premier League for the first time since 2001.

But that also makes me a little worried. Coventry are a good team and they’ve done well to get to where they are. I find it a little worrisome that Yang would move to a club that already clearly has a settled and performing starting XI, which suggests he would be a rotational player only at best and might not get minutes. Portsmouth probably wasn’t the best fit for Yang’s ability due to the way they play football, but Coventry almost presents the opposite problem. That said, it’s also an opportunity — if Min-hyeok CAN find a way to feature and play well for Coventry, it probably means he’s ready for a step up in competition next season. And the step up is probably a reserve role in Tottenham Hotspur’s first team.

So… cautious optimism. This could be an excellent loan, but it could also go sideways. At any rate it’s almost certainly a good thing that Spurs think that Yang’s too good for Portsmouth, and it’s also a signifier that he could have a future at Spurs as soon as next season.

Good morning, gang.

I don’t have much for you today. It’s pretty late here and I got to get the hoddle done.

We spent a lot of time yesterday bemoaning all things Tottenham (which I don’t disagree with - if you could forgive the double negative). But we didn’t spend a whole lot of time on Ben Davies.

For me, Davies is the last remaining link between the previous generation of Tottenham and the new. He’s gone through far too many managers (Pochettino, Mourinho, Mason, Nuno, Conte, Stellini, Mason, Ange, Frank), and been a tremendous player under every single one of them.

So I was quite thrilled when he scored on Sunday, even if it was a simple deflection off Micky van de Ven’s effort.

These next five or so months could be the last we see of Davies at Tottenham. Spurs triggered a one-year extension on his contract last year, which brings his end-date to the conclusion of the 2025-26 campaign. So far there’s been no reporting on Davies’s future after this season.

Who knows what the future holds for him after his contract is up. Wherever it leads, I hope it leads him back to Tottenham (or maybe he never leaves).

Fitzie’s track of the day: Dreams, by Fleetwood Mac

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold: “The unusual thing Micky van de Ven did for Tottenham against Sunderland and mad Bentancur moment”

The Athletic ($$): “Does Thomas Frank have English football’s hardest job?”

BBC: “Tactics, transfers and turmoil - inside the fall of Amorim”

The Guardian: “Celtic’s Nancy catastrophe is another indicator of a club embroiled in turmoil”

Well, at least it appears Spurs are TRYING to sign a player. With left back a significant need and a gaping hole in the squad, over the weekend the Athletic reported that Tottenham Hotspur are in the market for a backup to the currently-injured Destiny Udogie. The report states that Spurs have had an £8m bid rejected by Santos for 19-year-old Brazilian left back Souza.

Souza is a Santos youth product and just broke through into the first team last season, and he’s a promising, if unproven player. The Athletic and other outlets state that Santos has a release clause of £100m for non-Brazilian clubs (£60m for Brazilian clubs), the fact of which was reported uncritically and without context and which made a lot of online Spurs fans very very mad at the idea Spurs were trying to bid £8m for a “£100m valued player.” The truth is a lot sillier than that — it’s very, very common for clubs in South America to put a prohibitively expensive release clause in the contracts of their promising young players to prevent clubs from the region from swooping in for them. So Souza’s VALUE is not £100m — the Athletic say that Santos is holding out for £15m which is still a lot for a 19-year-old playing in his second season of Brazilian-league football — but it’s still an underbid by Spurs which was rejected.

Is Souza any good? Brother, I have no clue, I don’t watch the Brazilian league. His Green Bars™ look pretty good but with the extremely strong caveat that this represents minutes in the Brazilian first division. He’s also a Brazil U17 international which is nothing to sneeze at. Maybe he’s good! More likely he has the POTENTIAL to be good. But I’d have a difficult time believing Spurs would be bidding £8m for a player they think could instantly compete at the Premier League level, especially when the first choice left back is currently injured.

But what do I know? I just know this is a bid that happened, was rejected, and now Spurs need to figure out if they’re going to continue to pursue this guy. If so, I’d suggest Johan Lange get on the Souza Phone (musical joke!) and figure it out. Time’s a-wasting, and we sure do need a left back.