Spurs Web

Tottenham Hotspur have received a major blow in their rumoured pursuit of a Premier League midfielder, with Manchester City now deemed the most likely destination for the player this summer.

Most Spurs fans will agree that reinforcements in the middle of the park have to be one of the club’s priorities this summer, with Yves Bissouma expected to leave Tottenham after what has been a disappointing campaign for the Mali international.

Over recent weeks, various outlets have said that Tottenham had set their sights on an ambitious move for Morgan Gibbs-White, who is expected to be available for around £50m this summer if Nottingham Forest fail to tie him down to a new contract.

However, last week, it emerged that Man City had entered the race for Gibbs-White, and there has now been an update on the Premier League champions’ efforts to take the Forest man to the Etihad Stadium.

Man City now leading the race to sign Morgan Gibbs-White

The Daily Mail have now become the latest outlet to report on Man City’s interest in Gibbs-White, with the report claiming that Pep Guardiola’s men are now favourites to land the midfielder.

The report says that City have identified the 25-year-old as a potential replacement for Kevin De Bruyne, who will depart the Etihad Stadium this summer.

While Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz is City’s dream acquisition, the Germany international is also wanted by Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, making the pursuit complicated.

MORE SPURS STORIES

The Premier League giants are thus expected to push ahead with a move for Gibbs-White, who is also said to be on the wishlist of both Liverpool and Man Utd, thus further complicating Tottenham Hotspur’s pursuit.

Do Spurs have a chance of attracting Morgan Gibbs-White?

Gibbs-White is undoubtedly the calibre of player that Tottenham need to be competing for if they are to close the gap with the top sides in the Premier League.

Many will wonder why the Englishman will swap the City Ground for N17 this summer, given the trajectory of the two clubs, but Spurs may just have an outside chance of persuading him.

If Forest fail to finish in the top five and secure Champions League qualification while Tottenham win entry into the tournament via the Europa League, they just might be able to turn the midfielder’s head.

However, it will not be easy as Gibbs-White is seemingly not short of options to choose from.

Kyle Walker has revealed that the North London derby against Arsenal was not the most passionate fixture during his Tottenham days – and it wasn’t Chelsea either.

During the course of a 38-game league season, Tottenham Hotspur have a fair few big games to look forward to.

The London derbies are just a few of those, to say the least. In fact, because of the number of London clubs in the Premier League, Spurs are bound to play a handful of derbies each campaign.

The sworn enemy has always been Arsenal, but one former Tottenham player believes that the clash against another London rival was even fiercer.

Kyle Walker says Tottenham vs West Ham was fiercer than Arsenal

Kyle Walker, who spent eight seasons at Tottenham before moving to Manchester City, where he’s since won everything there is to win in club football, has been speaking about his time at Spurs.

The full-back has revealed that Tottenham vs West Ham felt like a bigger derby to him than the more traditional Tottenham vs Arsenal showdown.

Speaking on BBC Sports, he said: “As daft as it sounds, I felt like Tottenham vs West Ham felt more passionate than Tottenham vs Arsenal for me when I was playing. It just felt more.”

MORE SPURS STORIES

Tottenham have already locked horns with West Ham this season, and the Lilywhites came out on top with a 4-1 win – a clash that saw tensions rise as Mohammed Kudus saw red for raising his hands to both Micky van de Ven and Pape Matar Sarr.

Spurs and West Ham set for fiery London derby clash

Currently, this season, the two London-based clubs have endured disappointing campaigns. At the moment, West Ham find themselves in 17th place, just a point behind Spurs, who are 16th.

With the reverse fixture still to come at the London Stadium, there’s every reason to expect another fierce contest, especially with West Ham desperate to pick up points and get one over their rivals.

Thomas Soucek also sent a warning to Spurs months ago ahead of the upcoming clash on 4 May 2025.

The midfielder said: “We know that the season is tough, but we want to finish as high as possible. We know we can challenge some big teams.

“Manchester United and Tottenham are around us. Even for West Ham fans, it is a big derby with Tottenham, so we want to be better than them.”

Tottenham Hotspur will be confident of overcoming Bodo/Glimt and progressing to the Europa League semifinal, but their opponents have just been handed a boost ahead of their showdown with the Premier League side.

Spurs fans were delighted to learn that the club will be facing Bodo/Glimt in the semifinal after a hard-fought win over one of the tournament favourites, Eintracht Frankfurt, in the quarterfinal.

While Tottenham Hotspur go into the semifinal clash as massive favourites, they certainly cannot take their opponents lightly, given the major scalps they have had in the tournament so far.

Bodo/Glimt beat both Porto and Braga in the league phase to finish ninth in the table before eliminating FC Twente, Olympiacos and Lazio in the knockout stage to set up a semi-final showdown against the Premier League side.

Bodo/Glimt handed fixture boost ahead of Tottenham clash

Football.London have now revealed that the Norwegian side have had a fixture rearranged in their Eliteserien schedule, thus ensuring they have sufficient time to prepare thoroughly for the Tottenham clash.

Bodo/Glimt’s away game at Fredrikstad, which was due to be played on Thursday, May 1, has now been moved to Wednesday, July 16.

That means that Tottenham’s opponents will have a full week to prepare ahead of their second leg at home against Spurs, which is scheduled to be played on May 8.

MORE SPURS STORIES

The outcome of the second leg could be crucial in deciding the tie and Bodo/Glimt boast of an excellent record at home in the Europa League, thus making matters complicated for Ange Postecoglou’s side.

What does Tottenham’s schedule look like?

In stark contrast, Spurs have an unforgiving schedule and will be involved in some high-intensity games in the days preceding and following their two semifinal clashes.

Tottenham travel to Anfield just a few days before their first leg against Bodo/Glimt and they also have a derby against West Ham at the London Stadium sandwiched between the two semifinal clashes.

Spurs are also scheduled to play Crystal Palace just a day after the second leg, and one would expect Postecoglou to rest all of his key men for those Premier League clashes.

Tottenham Hotspur have just been handed a major blow in their pursuit of Kingsley Coman, with a report claiming that Arsenal are likely to beat their North London rivals to the player’s signature.

Given the business that the Lilywhites and Bayern Munich have done over the last couple of years, there was some optimism among Spurs fans when it was first reported that Tottenham are plotting a move to sign Kingsley Coman.

However, despite the relationship that the Premier League side have with the Bundesliga giants, it appears that they are not the favourites to land the Frenchman.

It emerged last week that Arsenal have shown the most serious interest in Coman, and now a fresh update has suggested that Ange Postecoglou’s men have their work cut out to win the race for the winger.

Tottenham are unlikely to beat Arsenal to Kingsley Coman

Football Insider have now revealed that while Tottenham have indeed expressed an interest in Coman, Arsenal are currently ahead of their local rivals in the race for the Bayern man.

It is explained that the Gunners weighed up a move for the winger in January and have retained their interest in the player ahead of the summer window.

The report says that Spurs are now ‘unlikely’ to beat their arch-rivals to Coman, who is expected to opt for a move to the Emirates over the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this summer.

MORE SPURS STORIES

The outlet adds that an exit from the Allianz Arena now looks inevitable for the 28-year-old, with Arsenal ‘well-paced to sign him’.

Two factors may prevent Spurs from landing Coman

Coman would understandably feel that he has a much better chance of competing for major honours at Arsenal than Spurs.

Tottenham would likely have to win the Europa League and secure Champions League qualification to stand any chance of turning the Bayern man’s head.

Guglielmo Vicario has reflected on the various things that have gone wrong at Tottenham this season and admitted that he is very proud of the adversities that he and his teammates have overcome to get to a European semifinal.

Leading up to the second leg in Eintracht Frankfurt, the script had seemingly been written for yet another away loss for Tottenham Hotspur and the subsequent dismantling of the coaching setup.

It had been reported that Ange Postecoglou could have been sacked by Friday if Spurs had been knocked out of the Europa League.

What we instead saw was a performance full of grit and character by the players, who were evidently still playing for their manager, and they are now a two-legged semifinal with Bodo/Glimt away from reaching a European final.

Guglielmo Vicario is proud but admits the job is not yet done

One could see from the celebration of the players and the coaching staff after the final whistle at the Deutsche Bank Park just what the result meant to everyone at Tottenham.

Vicario, who was at the thick of those celebrations, admitted that his belief in Postecoglou has never wavered and remarked that reaching a semifinal is particularly special after the struggles that everyone at Hotspur Way has been through this season.

However, the Italian is not merely content with reaching the final four and is very much dreaming of getting his hands on the trophy in Bilbao.

MORE SPURS STORIES

Vicario told Spurs Play after the 2-1 aggregate win over Frankfurt: “I really believe in this football club, I really believe in this manager, in the way we want to play.

“Everyone suffered a lot this season. It has been a very tough one, but we are still alive and want to fight for something special. It is an important achievement. The job is not done but it’s a big win for Tottenham Hotspur, for everyone, for the boss, for us players, for the staff, for the fans. We are very proud.

“We know what we are capable of when we are really tuned in, when we work hard as a team like we showed. The achievement over two legs was deserved. We showed resilience and a desire to fight.

“We got the job done and deserved to be in the semi-final of a big European competition. It was an amazing night for us. The job is not done. Now we go to the semi-final. We face another tough opponent. But we will fight for sure.”

Could Tottenham’s name be written on the trophy?

Given that everything that can go wrong has gone wrong for Tottenham this season, reaching the semifinals of the Europa League is not an achievement that can be scoffed at.

The Spurs players may start believing their name is written on the trophy, and the performance they delivered in Frankfurt will give them confidence that they can beat anyone on their day.

Ange Postecoglou revealed that the players never stopped believing this season, even amidst extreme adversity, and the Australian now has an opportunity to make his critics eat their words by delivering the trophy he promised in his second season.

Nuno Espirito Santo has given a classy response when asked about getting one back on Tottenham Hotspur, who unceremoniously sacked him back in 2021.

Nuno Espirito Santo lasted just four months in the Spurs hot seat after taking over in the summer of 2021.

The Portuguese coach was hounded out in a way, with Tottenham fans turning on Nuno quickly by booing his substitutions and making his position untenable.

However, since then, the former Wolves boss has proven his managerial credentials at the City Ground, with Nottingham Forest now on course to qualify for the Champions League while Spurs are rooted to 15th place in the table.

Nuno Espirito Santo reacts to getting one over Tottenham

Espirito Santo’s men completed the double over Ange Postecoglou’s side with their 2-1 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The result would have undoubtedly been satisfying for the 51-year-old, given the way he was treated by some of those home fans during his short stint at N17.

MORE SPURS STORIES

However, Nuno refused to make the result about himself, insisting that it was an honour to manage a club as big as Spurs.

When asked if it was particularly sweet to prove his former employers wrong, the Forest boss said after his side’s win: “I am not that kind of person. I was honoured to be managing Tottenham. A huge, big club. I wish them the best.”

Nuno admits Spurs were unfortunate on the night

The Forest boss admitted that the home side put his team under a lot of pressure through the 90 minutes and that it was back-to-the-walls stuff for his players.

Nuno even confessed that the Midlands side were fortunate to leave the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with all three points.

Reflecting on the win, he added: “Tottenham put us against the ropes, so it is about defending and holding on to the result. Credit to Tottenham. They created so many chances against us, and we were fortunate to get away with the result.”

Tottenham Hotspur suffer their 15th one-goal defeat in the Premier League this season, falling short once again as Nottingham Forest leave north London with a 2-1 victory.

Another league game, more costly errors, and once again, Tottenham pay the price. First-half strikes from Elliot Anderson and Chris Wood were enough to seal it for the visitors, despite a late Richarlison header that gave the hosts hope.

Ange Postecoglou made five changes to the side that started the second leg against Eintracht Frankfurt. Wilson Odobert, Richarlison, Pape Matar Sarr, Dejan Kulusevski, and Djed Spence all returned to the XI. Some fans hoped for a more youthful lineup and a rest for Micky van de Ven, but Ange had other ideas.

Let’s get into the Tottenham 1-2 Nottingham Forest match report.

First half: Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Nottingham Forest

Confidence was flowing after progressing to the European semi-finals, and that showed early on from Tottenham. However, Forest had the first effort in the 3rd minute when Morgan Gibbs-White tested Guglielmo Vicario from distance.

Inside five minutes, came the sucker punch. A half-cleared Forest corner was flicked by Dominguez to Anderson, whose half-volley took a heavy deflection off Rodrigo Bentancur and flew past Guglielmo Vicario. 0-1

Just minutes later, Chris Wood thought he had doubled the lead as he volleyed in from an Anderson cross, having ghosted past Van de Ven. But the new VAR system intervened and ruled him offside by a shoulder.

MORE SPURS STORIES

Forest didn’t need to wait long for a second, though. From a well-worked free-kick, Anthony Elanga sent in a cross which tempted Vicario off his line, but the Italian misjudged it completely. Wood rose ahead of him and nodded into an open net. 0-2.

Despite the deficit, both Tottenham wingers looked lively. Wilson Odobert first troubled Sels with a sharp low effort, followed by another from 20 yards out that the Belgian parried away.

Mathys Tel sent in several dangerous balls from the left and later missed a good headed chance set up by Pedro Porro. Kulusevski also had a go from outside the box but could only hit it straight at the keeper.

Odobert then made a surging run down the right, cutting the ball across the face of goal, but there wasn’t Brennan Johnson to tap it home at the far post.

Tel had another golden chance from a loose Williams clearance but dragged his first-time effort wayward.

Odobert then once again delivered a cross to the back post, with both Sarr and Richarlison unmarked and Sels stranded, but somehow they got in each other’s way, and the chance was gone. Not long after, Richarlison’s another header bounced inches wide.

Half-time came with Spurs trailing 2-0. Despite an xG advantage of 1.34 to Forest’s 0.33.

Second half: Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Nottingham Forest

Ange stuck to a pre-planned change, bringing on Ben Davies and Kevin Danso for Romero and Van de Ven.

The second half started brightly again for Spurs. Tel burst through the left after linking with Spence, but lost the ball just as he was about to shoot.

Danso quickly filled in Romero’s boots and showed almost no difference in his direct forward passes. One such ball found Pape Sarr in the box, but his touch let him down. Sarr later tried a Giroud-Esque scorpion kick from a Porro cross but missed the target.

Forest’s only clear chance of the half came when Wood set up Gibbs-White on a counter, but he fired wide with just Vicario to beat.

Then came a flurry of chances and it was all Tottenham. Kulusevski’s header from a Porro corner was inch-perfect and had Sels beaten, only for Toffolo to clear it off the line acrobatically.

Moments later, Richarlison found himself 1v1 after a poor Forest clearance fell his way, but Sels closed him down superbly.

Even Danso let one fly from range but was just wide. With 10 minutes to go, Richarlison then rose for yet another Porro cross. Despite his header connecting incredibly well, Sels was somehow better, clawing it away full stretched.

Forest players themselves then, tried helping Tottenham after their struggles upfront. Johnson’s low cross left Williams with no other option but to almost turn the ball into his own net.

It took a good 87 minutes of building up pressure for it to finally pay off. Porro once again picked out Richarlison, and this time, the Brazilian made no mistake, heading in at the far post. 2-1.

In the dying moments, Tel had a shot blocked before Ben Davies unleashed a thunderbolt from distance; one that might’ve broken the net if it hadn’t flown over.

Despite five minutes of stoppage time and some gamesmanship from Forest, Spurs couldn’t find the equaliser.

FT: Spurs 1-2 Nottingham Forest

What’s next for Spurs?

It was a really good footballing performance from Spurs when you consider the build-up against a deep and stubborn Forest setup. If you look back at some of Spurs’ previous games against sides that play a low block, they often looked completely clueless in possession. In some cases, they couldn’t even create a single chance or register a shot on target.

It would be unfair to pin this one on Ange; the goals conceded were unfortunate or due to individual errors, and Matz Sels played for his life. On another day, a few of those chances go in, and Spurs are walking away with three points.

Special mention to Pedro Porro. Seven chances created on his 100th appearance. From positioning to his pace and, of course, his endless stream of pinpoint crosses. Had it not been for the wastefulness upfront, he’d have had 3 or 4 assists.

We predicted a 2-1 scoreline but got the teams wrong. At least we got Richarlison and Chris Wood as scorers right.

The result leaves Spurs 16th in the league with 18 losses. They could’ve jumped to 13th with a win.

Next up: Liverpool away at Anfield on Sunday. (Gulp)

Tottenham Hotspur followed up on their impressive Europa League quarter-final victory over Eintracht Frankfurt with a flat 2-1 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest on Monday night.

Let’s take a look at the five things we learned from Tottenham 1-2 Nottingham Forest:

Tottenham are going through the motions

Tottenham Hotspur look like a side who are dead and buried in the Premier League with a European semi-final on the horizon. It’s not uncommon to see this kind of thing from players towards the end of the season. A lot of them will have one eye on the semi against Bodo/Glimt and won’t want to put their bodies on the line for mere Premier League points over the next few weeks.

That would be all well and good if it weren’t for two key details. One – Tottenham have been like this for six months. Two – If Spurs have ambitions to become a big club, future seasons will involve fighting in all competitions until the very end of the campaign. This year, fans won’t complain as long as the Lilywhites make the Europa League final, but it’s not a great habit to get into.

Boos from the Tottenham Hotspur fans

Spurs supporters were flying high after their Europa League quarter-final win over Eintracht Frankfurt. However, it doesn’t take much to lose momentum and bring things crashing back down to Earth. After all, even for dead-rubber games like tonight, fans are still paying big money to be there. They want to be entertained at the very least!

With Spurs going into the half-time break, boos were ringing around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It should serve as a reminder to Ange Postecoglou, the Spurs squad, and Daniel Levy that supporters set very high standards in N17. There is one consistent theme in football at all levels and in all scenarios – the fans at least want to feel like everyone at the club is giving 100 per cent. That simply didn’t feel like the case this evening. Remember – there is another Tottenham Hotspur protest planned soon, Mr Levy.

MORE SPURS STORIES

Spurs need to defend better against Bodo/Glimt

You would think that Tottenham’s back four would want to get into a good rhythm going into the semi-final – maybe a couple of clean sheets under their belt to keep confidence high. After all, four of that back five (including the goalkeeper) will definitely start against Bodo/Glimt in May. Not to mention the fact that Cristian Romero was wearing the captain’s armband this evening. Have a little pride!

The first goal was excusable. Yes, Pedro Porro’s headed clearance could have been better, but it was a cruel deflection that directly led to the goal. A few minutes later, Forest had a third with some poor marking in the box, with the offside flag coming to Tottenham’s rescue. A wake-up call, right? Nope. Nuno Espirito Santo’s men had the ball in the back of the net a third time shortly after, with Guglielmo Vicario doing his best Superman impression into no-man’s land while Romero and Micky Van de Ven played Guess Who in the box. The standard simply have to be so, so much higher.

Ange Postecoglou is trying to find the fitness sweet spot

Of course, Postecoglou will want his players to keep grinding out wins in the Premier League over the coming weeks, but you also get the sense he is using it as Europa League pre-season. You know what, it’s hard to blame him either. If it results in a European trophy, within the context of this Premier League season, it is definitely worth a few more losses. Postecoglou made five changes to his starting XI against Nottingham Forest, and also made sure all four centre-backs got 45 minutes each.

The Spurs boss clearly wants to get more minutes into the legs of Kulusevski and Richarlison to build their form, while looking after important players like Lucas Bergvall and James Maddison. If everything goes as planned, Tottenham will arrive in the semi-final not only with a strong starting XI, but also a bench full of fit and firing stars too. Let’s see how that plan shakes out.

Wingers were the bright spark for Tottenham

Fortunately, there was a positive to take away from the events at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Both Mathys Tel and Wilson Odobert were real livewires for the Lilywhites. For large parts of this season, the likes of Heung-min Son and Brennan Johnson have been blunt instruments when it comes to carrying the ball and taking on their full-back opponents. Most of Johnson’s devastating work has come from arriving late at the back post, while Sonny has lived off the odd spark when drifting infield.

This evening, both Tel and Odobert took on their men for fun, showing consistent direct and dangerous wingplay. The simple fact is that you need that from at least one of your wingers on the pitch at all times – and Spurs haven’t been able to say that much this season. Had Richarlison and some of the Spurs midfielders been a little sharper, we could have been talking about a fair few assists out there for the two France U21 internationals.

The referee has blown the full-time whistle at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, meaning it’s time for our Tottenham Hotspur vs Nottingham Forest player ratings.

It was a 2-1 defeat in the Premier League against Nuno’s men for Tottenham Hotspur, who have now suffered their 18th defeat of the season.

Over the course of the last ninety minutes, we examined each player’s individual performance, rating them on a scale of 1-10. Let’s take a look at how they got on.

Tottenham’s player ratings vs Nottingham Forest

Guglielmo Vicario: Another error to his name after misjudging yet another cross for Forest’s second. From that point on, Nuno’s side sat back and offered little going forward, meaning Vicario had very little to do. 4.

Pedro Porro: More of the same in the second half – Porro tried to create from deep and occasionally found himself in the right-half space when inverting. One of his deliveries from deep did find Richarlison, who put his header past Sels to make the score respectable for Tottenham. 7.

Cristian Romero: After playing the opening first half, Postecoglou opted to change things up in the second and brought in Kevin Danso. 5.

Micky Van de Ven: The same applied to Micky van de Ven, who Postecoglou took off at half-time, with Ben Davies replacing the Dutchman. 5.

MORE SPURS STORIES

Djed Spence: Played on the left and was tasked with overlapping Mathys Tel. Tried to link up with the Frenchman, but nothing came off. A willing runner but lacked end product. 4.

Rodrigo Bentancur: Aside from the deflection for Forest’s opener, Bentancur had a decent outing. Kept things ticking over and did his job well in the Tottenham midfield. 5.

Pape Matar Sarr: After a quiet first half, Sarr improved after the break. He regularly looked to get into the box for crosses and played with a bit more attacking intent. 5.

Dejan Kulusevski: Kulusevski had Spurs’ best chance of the second half, meeting Porro’s corner at the near post only to see Toffolo clear off the line. He always looked to make something happen, was taken off for Solanke in the 67th minute. 6.

Wilson Odobert: His brightest moments came in the first half. Looked really bright at times off the Tottenham right flank with his direct attacking. Faded after the break and was replaced by Brennan Johnson in the 67th minute. 6.

Richarlison: It was a lively showing from the Brazilian, who had several golden opportunities against Nuno’s side. One fell his way after a defensive mix-up, but he fluffed his lines. He later had another big chance to pull one back with a free header, only for Sels to deny him. Persistence paid off though, as Richarlison eventually found the net by getting on the end of Porro’s cross. 8.

Mathys Tel: Less electric than he was in the first half, perhaps due to Forest shifting to a back five. Still looked to take on his man and remained a threat when running at defenders. 6.

Substitutes:

Ben Davies: Came on for van de Ven and did a solid job in the second half. Managed to keep Chris Wood relatively quiet. 6.

Kevin Danso: On at the break and got some much-needed minutes under his belt after a spell on the sidelines. Dealt with aerial balls well and helped see out a clean second half. 6.5.

Brennan Johnson: Johnson came on for Odobert and didn’t have that much of an impact. N/A

Dominic Solanke: Postecoglou had Solanke and Richarlison on the pitch at the same time in the second half, but the Englishman didn’t make any notable contribution. N/A.

The half-time whistle has sounded in north London, signalling the end of the opening forty-five minutes in tonight’s clash between Tottenham and Nottingham Forest – and it’s now time for our first-half player ratings.

Ange Postecoglou has bought himself some extra time in the Spurs dugout with a crucial win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League quarter-finals.

Tottenham Hotspur’s focus now shifts back to the Premier League, where they’re set to face Nuno Espirito Santo’s Nottingham Forest side.

Forest currently sit sixth and are firmly in the hunt for a Champions League spot, while Tottenham, down in 16th, will need to dig deep if they’re to get anything from this one.

Throughout the first half, we analysed each player’s individual performance, rating them on a scale of 1-10. Let’s take a look at our Tottenham player ratings…

Tottenham’s first-half player ratings vs Nottingham Forest

Guglielmo Vicario: Back in the Premier League and Vicario’s picked up where he left off – still struggling to command his box. After his blunder against Wolves, questions remain about his ability to deal with crosses. He was called into action early here and did well to deny Morgan Gibbs-White, but the resulting corner led to a goal after Anderson’s deflected strike. 3.

Pedro Porro: Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham system has the full-back playing high and wide in this one, with Porro occasionally inverting too. However, he’s had little influence on either end of the pitch. A couple of crosses into the box, but not much more. 5.

MORE SPURS STORIES

Cristian Romero: Romero was nowhere to be seen when Chris Wood rose highest to nod in Forest’s second. Alongside van de Ven, he’s looked suspect when defending crosses, and very average overall. That said, he’s chipped in with a few solid tackles. 4.

Micky Van de Ven: One of the few quick enough to live with Elanga’s pace, and he’s done well to match him stride for stride at times. Still, like Romero, he’s struggled to contain Wood’s aerial threat. 4.

Djed Spence: Spence has shown intent with some surging runs forward. Forest haven’t targeted Tottenham’s left flank much, so he’s not been tested defensively, but he’s worked hard when pushing up. 4.

Rodrigo Bentancur: The opener took a nick off Bentancur, and you could argue he should’ve closed down the shot quicker. A quiet half otherwise. 3.5.

Pape Matar Sarr: Sarr had a quiet half – he’s tried to press and did make one late run into the box to meet Odobert’s cross, but failed to connect with the ball. 4.

Dejan Kulusevski: Operating as the ten with the licence to roam, Kulusevski’s been everywhere trying to spark something. One of Spurs’ more lively figures, though it hasn’t quite come off yet. 5.5.

Wilson Odobert: Odobert looked sharp in the opening forty-five. The wide man forced a fine save from Sels and consistently looked to take on Forest’s defenders when cutting in from the left. He might’ve had an assist to his name if one of the Spurs forwards had gambled on his driven cross. 7.

Richarlison: A first start in a long time for Richarlison, and at least he’s come through the half unscathed. That aside, he’s struggled to get involved, but has had a few half-chances here and there and should have done better with his header, which he put wide. 4.