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Mauricio Pochettino has dismissed the idea of a return to former club Tottenham to replace Ange Postecoglou as "not realistic".

Spurs are seeking a new head coach having sacked Postecoglou just 16 days after leading the club to Europa League glory, their first trophy in 17 years.

United States boss Pochettino ended a five-year stay at Tottenham in November 2019, having helped Spurs reach the final of the Champions League that year.

The Argentinian signed a two-year contract to become US head coach last September and is expected to lead the team into next year's home World Cup.

Speaking after his side’s 2-1 friendly defeat to Turkey in Connecticut, Pochettino told reporters: "After I left in 2019, every time that I was free, and the place of the position of the manager or head coach in Tottenham Hotspur, my name is appearing on the list.

"If you have seen the rumours, I think there are 100 coaches in the list. I think, don’t be worried about that.

"If something happened, for sure you will see, but we cannot talk about this type of thing, because I think today, it’s not real. It’s not realistic.

"Look at where I am, where we are. And the thing is, the answer is so clear, no? But we’re talking about it because it’s my club, like Newells or Espanyol."

Tottenham have exercised the 12-month option in Ben Davies’ deal to keep him at the club for another season.

Davies is Spurs’ longest serving player after he joined in the summer of 2015 – two months before the arrival of Son Heung-min.

Wales defender Davies has made 358 appearances for Tottenham and is set to work under his sixth permanent head coach at the club during the 2025-26 campaign after Postecoglou’s dismissal on Friday.

Brentford boss Thomas Frank has been installed as the bookmakers’ favourite for the vacancy, but as of Saturday, Tottenham were yet to make an official approach for the Danish coach, it is understood.

Meanwhile, Tottenham have also sacked women's first team head coach Robert Vilahamn after two years in charge.

Vilahamn led the club to an FA Cup final in his first season at the club alongside a sixth place finish but Tottenham have decided to part ways with the 42-year-old after Spurs finished second-bottom in the Women’s Super League this campaign.

The Swedish coach joined in 2023 and was handed a three-year contract extension last July but only relegated Crystal Palace conceded more goals than Vilahamn’s side in a disappointing season.

Tottenham managing director Andy Rogers said: "There have been some special moments during Robert’s tenure, including reaching the FA Cup final for the first time.

"However, results and performances this season have not been to the level we would expect and now is the right time to make a change.

"We should like to thank Robert for his professionalism and efforts over the past two seasons, and we wish him well for the future."

Chris Wood's 19th goal of the season fired Nottingham Forest back up to third in the Premier League with a 2-1 win at Tottenham.

Forest had slipped to sixth after the weekend’s results, but Nuno Espirito Santo savoured a sweet three points against old club Spurs after early goals from Elliot Anderson and Wood in the English capital.

It brought Ange Postecoglou’s team back down to earth after Thursday’s victory at Eintracht Frankfurt had sent them through to the Europa League semi-finals and, despite a late Richarlison effort, they remain 16th.

This was Nuno’s second return to Spurs since his ill-fated 17-match tenure in 2021, but this time his team had Champions League ambitions after a superb campaign.

Morgan Gibbs-White almost fired Forest ahead inside four minutes, only for Guglielmo Vicario to parry his 25-yard curler wide, yet it was a sign of things to come.

Nuno was able to celebrate the opener from the resulting corner as Tottenham failed to deal with Anthony Elanga’s delivery and the ball dropped for Anderson, who had a low effort deflected in off Rodrigo Bentancur.

Vicario might have done better and five minutes later he had to pick the ball out of his net again, but Wood’s tap-in was ruled out for offside.

It was short-lived respite for Spurs as Forest made it 2-0 after 17 minutes through Wood.

Tottenham switched off from a short free kick and Elanga again made the difference with a superb cross for Wood to head in.

Postecoglou’s side regrouped, with Wilson Odobert able to test Matz Sels for the first time before Mathys Tel and Dejan Kulusevski had efforts.

Spurs’ stand-in captain Cristian Romero was fortunate to escape punishment for a strong challenge on Anderson midway through the half before the hosts missed two gilt-edged opportunities to reduce the deficit.

First Neco Williams made a mess of Pedro Porro’s 41st-minute cross and Tel blazed wide from 10 yards with the goal at his mercy before Richarlison headed wide from a brilliant Odobert delivery.

It meant it remained 2-0 at half-time where boos followed before both head coaches made changes as Forest switched to a back three.

The visitors could have put the game to bed after 55 minutes when Wood played in Gibbs-White, but he sent his half-volley wide.

Spurs almost pulled one back when Kulusevski flicked Porro’s corner over Sels, but Harry Toffolo was on hand to produce a brilliant clearance on the line.

Williams gifted Tottenham another chance when his clearance hit team-mate Ryan Yates and went into the path of Richarlison, who was denied by a point-blank save from Sels.

Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson were introduced with 23 minutes left and Sels produced another big moment to stop a Richarlison header in the 80th minute.

Richarlison did eventually get his goal as another sumptuous Porro cross picked out the Brazilian, who steered his header into the bottom corner.

It set up a grandstand finish, but Forest survived to boost their Champions League prospects.

Southampton's survival battle ended at Tottenham Hotspur after a 3-1 defeat consigned them to relegation from the Premier League in record-breaking fashion.

Saints’ fate had felt inevitable for months, but a 2-1 victory for Wolves at bottom-three club Ipswich on Saturday opened up a 22-point gap to safety for the south coast club.

It meant Ivan Juric’s team required a draw or win in north London to mathematically stay up for at least another week but a first-half brace from Brennan Johnson set the visitors on course for an immediate return to the Sky Bet Championship.

Mateus Fernandes grabbed a late consolation before Mathys Tel struck a stoppage-time penalty for Spurs as relegation with seven fixtures left gives Southampton a new Premier League record – while Derby and Huddersfield, in 2008 and 2019 respectively, had their fate sealed in March, both had only six matches to go.

Three points for Tottenham lifts some of the gloom around Ange Postecoglou’s side ahead of Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final first leg at home to Eintracht Frankfurt.

Cole Palmer was left on the bench for almost an hour as Chelsea's winless run on the road continued with a goalless draw at Brentford.

Blues boss Enzo Maresca raised eyebrows by leaving the England forward out of his starting line-up despite his side battling for a Champions League place.

They do have a Conference League quarter-final trip to Legia Warsaw on Thursday, but Maresca’s priorities seemed a little skewed following a pretty insipid stalemate.

When Palmer was eventually introduced he was unable to help break the deadlock, firing his only opportunity over the crossbar, in what was probably the most predictable draw of the season.

With Brentford having forgotten how to win at home and Chelsea winless away in the league since December, surely something had to give at the Gtech Stadium?

However, nothing did.

Tottenham Hotspur and South Korea captain Son Heung-min injured his finger in an altercation with team mates on the eve of the country's exit from the Asian Cup.