Football London

We asked our Tottenham reporters Alasdair Gold and Ryan Taylor to select the team they reckon Igor Tudor should select in the north London derby

Tottenham's new interim head coach Igor Tudor will take on his first north London derby on Sunday to kick off his tenure at the club.

The Croatian put pen to paper last weekend on a short-term deal until the end of the season to take over from Thomas Frank after the Dane was sacked with Spurs 16th in the table and just five points above the Premier League drop zone. Now Tudor finds himself thrown into the biggest of first games with Arsenal making the short trip across the capital looking to kickstart their stuttering title hopes.

Tudor will inherit the injury problems that dogged Frank this season, and his predecessor Ange Postecoglou before him, and the 47-year-old must pick a competitive team out of those currently available for the big derby clash at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

We asked our Spurs correspondents Alasdair Gold and Ryan Taylor to select the starting line-up they reckon the new head coach should select in the north London derby.

Alasdair Gold - Tottenham correspondent

The main choices for Tudor will come with the formation and who plays in the midfield and further up the pitch. If he goes for a back three and his favoured 3-4-2-1 formation then Archie Gray and Djed Spence are likely to be the wing-backs although there could be a case for a first Spurs start for Souza to ensure balance to the team.

Pedro Porro is also expected to be closing in on a return after his first real injury in his time at the club but it could be too early for the Spaniard to start.

If it's a back three then Joao Palhinha could step in alongside Micky van de Ven and Radu Dragusin, while Tudor's arrival brings a fresh start for Yves Bissouma, which could see the Mali international get a chance in the centre of the pitch. Up top, Randal Kolo Muani knows the Croatian well and impressed for him at Juventus so Tudor will need to decide whether to start the Frenchman or have him in reserve to ensure some firepower from the bench as the game wears on.

I'm going for a 3-4-2-1 as it's Tudor's favoured formation and it got the best out of Spurs and Xavi Simons for a while before it faltered against Manchester City and was then ditched by Frank.

Gold's XI: Vicario; Palhinha, Dragusin, Van de Ven; Gray, Bissouma, Sarr, Spence; Gallagher, Xavi; Solanke.

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Ryan Taylor - Sports reporter

Options are seemingly limited for poor Tudor. But that's not to say he can't get a result in his first ever outing as Tottenham interim boss.

The Croat usually favours a 3-4-2-1 or 3-4-1-2 system but I think his hands might be slightly tied on this occasion and he'll seek to unleash both Dominic Solanke and Randal Kolo Muani, who had joy under his tutelage last season at Juventus, in a two-man strike force.

Defensively, Spurs are light on the ground but Joao Palhinha is more than capable of slotting into the back-three. I also think there's a firm chance Yves Bissouma could start as his combative style might suit this game.

Pape Matar Sarr's energy might do also but Conor Gallagher and Archie Gray seem a suitable pair with Xavi Simons providing support behind the forwards.

A first start for Souza could make sense, even though it's a tough game to throw him into as I feel Spurs need balance on the left and Souza is of course left-footed.

Taylor's XI: Vicario; Palhinha, Dragusin, Van de Ven; Spence, Gallagher, Gray, Souza; Xavi; Solanke, Kolo Muani.

Tottenham Hotspur and the Lewis family are reportedly set to be dealt another huge blow amid the club's struggles in the Premier League

Tottenham Hotspur have reportedly lost a key sponsor in a huge blow for the Lewis family that could cost the club millions. Spurs' ongoing battle against relegation and inability to land key transfer targets mean the club are braced for a financial hit in sponsorship.

The Telegraph claims one of Spurs' long-standing key sponsors has notified the club that their sponsorship will end this summer, regardless of whether the north London club remain in the Premier League.

They claim experts are predicting the financial hit will be in the 'tens of millions' no matter what division Spurs are in next season.

The media outlet claims to know the identity of the company that will end its association next summer, but cannot name it due to contract confidentiality.

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They say the deal has been worth millions to Spurs over the years with other sponsors said to be considering their own sponsorship deals.

The report claims there are several reasons the key sponsor has walked away, including the decision to prioritise the Europa League over the Premier League last season.

Ange Postecoglou guided Spurs to their first European Trophy, but finished the 2024/25 Premier League campaign in 17th place, and are just a point above that position at the time of writing, three points above the relegation zone.

One source reportedly said: "There has been no explanation from the club or acknowledgement of the domestic performance concerns from the club.

"Instead, their messaging was focused on the Europa League, which is not the tier of competition global sponsors expect from a so-called ‘elite club’."

The report cites a lack of pulling power in reference to the club's transfer activity in recent seasons, missing out on the likes of Eberechi Eze to arch-rivals Arsenal, while Daniel Levy's departure from the club is said to have left a 'leadership vaccum' at the summit.

The atmosphere at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has also reportedly come under fire, with the number of empty seats not an attractive proposition for sponsors.

Thomas Frank was given his marching orders earlier this month following a disappointing stint in charge since his move to the club from Brentford.

Igor Tudor has been named interim head coach until the end of the season, with the former Juventus boss making his debut in the dugout against Arsenal this weekend.

The new Tottenham interim head coach will face a north London derby on Sunday as his first introduction to life in the Premier League

It will not be a gentle introduction to Premier League life for Igor Tudor as he begins his Tottenham tenure with the visit of Arsenal on Sunday.

The second north London derby of the season arrives at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this weekend and brings a new face in the home dugout in the 47-year-old Croatian. Tudor is looking to improve Spurs' fortunes and drag them up the table as he has done at clubs like Juventus, Lazio and Udinese in recent years.

Arsenal will make the short trip across the capital during a bit of a wobble in their Premier League title challenge, having won just three of their first eight matches in the competition in 2026 and giving up a 2-0 lead to draw at bottom side Wolves on Wednesday night.

So what formation will Tudor decide upon for his debut in Spurs dugout? Which of his available players will he select in the starting line-up? Will Pedro Porro and Richarlison both be back in contention as originally hoped?

Here are five different ways that Tudor might line-up his new Tottenham side against Mikel Arteta's side on Sunday afternoon.

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This has been Tudor's most used formation across his managerial career and the one that was starting to fit Spurs nicely a few weeks back before Thomas Frank seemed to get spooked when it didn't work as well in the first half of the home game against Manchester City.

Numbers are an issue for the new Tottenham boss right now and if he is to play with a back three then the Croatian will need to either use midfielder Joao Palhinha in defence or throw 17-year-old centre-back Jun'ai Byfield into a huge north London derby which would be a big ask.

Xavi Simons also revels in this formation as it keeps him more central rather than being kept out wide and therefore out of the action. The question lies in who plays on the right of the two number 10 spots with Wilson Odobert now out for much, if not all, of 2026 with his ACL injury.

Neither Mathys Tel nor Randal Kolo Muani are natural number 10s and it would be a new role really for either. The position probably suits Conor Gallagher better and he can fall back into a central three when required with Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr.

Another alternative is for Tudor to utilise a player he got plenty out of at Juventus in Kolo Muani. The Frenchman netted five times and provided one assist in 11 appearances under the new Spurs boss at the end of that season at Juventus as he and the Croatian helped push the Old Lady into the top four.

The formation would leave Xavi in the central 10 role and Gallagher would step back into the midfield duo behind the young Dutchman.

It would also provide two focal points for the wing-backs to aim crosses at in the box, which would be particularly helpful if Porro is in a position to come back in and get minutes.

A more attacking approach with the players involved would be for Tudor to play two high wingers either side of Dominic Solanke up front.

Again though that would be awkwardly pushing Xavi out into an advanced left wing role with either Tel or Kolo Muani on the other flank and that's not really Tudor's style as the width comes from the wing-backs with plenty of bodies in the centre of the pitch in his system.

Tudor spoke in his introductory club interview about adapting his system to the available personnel with so many players out of action currently.

That might mean him switching to a back four, which would favour Archie Gray at right-back more than making the 19-year-old play as a wing-back again.

He could go with an old school 4-4-2. It does leave bodies light in the midfield though and would create question marks over where Xavi would play exactly as it's not a system that particularly suits him unless he were to play off Solanke up top.

The solution to that Xavi issue is the 4-2-3-1 that Spurs were using in recent weeks anyway after Frank stepped away from the back three.

It would have either Gallagher or the Dutchman in the central number 10 role behind Solanke and leave more bodies in the midfield to battle with their Arsenal counterparts.

One fear though might be that it wasn't working in Frank's final weeks and it's therefore nothing new to get the players out of their current mindset.

The Australian has been speaking about one of the claims made about him at Tottenham Hotspur and also the big mistake he made this season

Ange Postecoglou has responded to Micky van de Ven's claims that the Tottenham players got him to change his tactics to win the Europa League and admitted that taking the job at Nottingham Forest was a mistake.

The 60-year-old led Spurs to their first trophy in 17 years with the win in Bilbao, bringing home the club's first piece of European silverware in 41 years. Postecoglou was sacked just a couple of weeks later before Tottenham embarked on what would end up being a difficult and brief seven-month tenure led by Thomas Frank.

Van de Ven claimed in an interview with The Overlap podcast this season that he and his fellow centre-back Cristian Romero went to Postecoglou and said they needed to alter their style if they were to triumph in Europe.

"At the beginning [under Postecoglou], no team was used to playing against our system. We were playing unbelievable football, but managers analyse everything and people knew what we were doing. Sometimes we didn't really have a plan B and we were getting exposed. We didn't have solutions to get out," said the Dutchman.

"At one point we walked up to the gaffer and said we need to change some things and play more defensive to make sure we win those game. He was like I agree with you but I expect you two guys to sort this on the pitch, make sure everybody knows."

Postecoglou was asked about those claims from the Spurs centre-back during his own appearance on The Overlap and smiled as he heard it.

"Yeah, it's the old adage of, you know, success has many fathers, and failure is an orphan," he said. "Everyone contributed to the Europa League, the league was all on me, by the way! That's totally on me, but the Europa League, we all contributed to that!

"So, my thought process around that was, we got to February, I think we'd just lost to Liverpool, because we had a deep run in the Carabao Cup, the second leg, and we'd won the first leg 1-0, but we were on fumes by then, so Liverpool battered us.

"So we're out of the Carabao Cup, I said okay, we're 16 points from relegation, that isn't going to happen. We've got a real narrow path to winning something, right, for this football club, which we know what that means, but also, Champions League, Champions League money, so, again, I'm obsessive about the game.

"I did a deep dive on who's won the Europa League in recent times, Unai [Emery] who's won it three times, Jose [Mourinho's] won it, Oliver Glasner's won it, I think Diego Simeone won it. There's a thread through there of the kind of football, because it's different from the Champions League, the Champions League is a bigger variance of quality, the top teams in the Champions League to the bottom, massive, and you always get the best teams winning it.

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"In the Europa, it's not that much, because the teams from the Premier League compared to the teams that finish fourth or fifth in Germany or Spain, it's quite competitive. What I saw what they were doing, well, they were playing pretty risk-free, very, you know, strong defensive organisation, and if we could somehow create that model for the Europa League with the players I had.

"Key to that was Van de Ven and Romero, and I did have discussions with the players. I mean, I was being a bit facetious about it, but I wanted them to buy into it, because it was a little bit of a departure, but they were all in for it."

He added: "I said, look, this is the kind of football that will get us through, because I know cup football anyway is different from your league football. So, we trained differently, we were prepared differently. People will say 'well, why don't you do that in the league?' Well, they were doing that in the league with Antonio [Conte] for two years, and they didn't like it.

"So, that's not what the club wanted, but this was about the process of getting to winning a competition that had a clear strategy, you could do it. So, we did. And if you look at the final. By the end of it, I put on Kevin Danso to turn the back four into a back five, then I put on Djed Spence, I think I had about seven defenders on there, and I was looking at the bench to see if there was any other defenders!

"I could hear my dad going 'what are you doing?' And, you know, we've got a line of about seven players on the edge of our box at one stage. But at the same time, I knew if we shut down Bruno [Fernandes], they weren't going to score. I just felt with United, the way they set up with Ruben [Amorim] and the kind of ways they would try to break us down if we were really solid defensively, as long as we scored, we had to get a goal. We were still aggressive with our press, that didn't change.

"But in terms of being a little bit more direct, yeah, for sure, and a lot more sort of defensively rigid, that definitely happened. But that was because I, in my mind, thought, well, what a unique opportunity."

After he was sacked by Tottenham, Postecoglou did not spend long out of the game before accepting the job at Nottingham Forest to replace Nuno Espirito Santo. He would last only eight matches under volatile owner Evangelos Marinakis without Forest managing to record a win as he attempted to rapidly shift the style of football from his predecessor's very different outlook.

"Look, I mean, there's not much to talk about the Forest thing because this programme will last longer than my tenure!" joked the former Celtic boss.

When asked whether he had had discussions with Marinakis about the change in style of football and all that involved, he shook his head.

"I look back on it and I go 'what was I thinking?', I didn't have extensive discussions with him about it and I should have," said Postecoglou. "That's what I should have done. But I've always been, you know what, get me in there and I'll show you. You'll see it. From the first day, you will see it. The players will see it. The staff will see it. You'll feel it around the place.

"They were the discussions I should have had. And it's too easy for me to say 'well, I should have more time'. It's on me. I made that decision. Full disclosure, exactly where I'm walking into, in the end, obviously I was optimistic about what I could do, but it was the worst case scenario sort of."

He added: "The whole Forest thing, that was on me. That was a bad decision by me to go in there and I've got to take ownership. There's no point in me blaming that I didn't get time or anything. I should never have gone in there. It was too soon after Tottenham. I was taking over at a time when obviously I'm going to do things differently. They were used to doing things a certain way. And I've got to cop that. That was my mistake. It's no one else's fault."

The Greek-born Australian was asked if anyone around him among his friends was warning him against taking the job.

"Yeah, everyone around me, but it was the first time I wasn't working in 20 odd years. I was lost," he said. "In the off-season, I was lost. Usually in the off-season, you go away with your family but there's transfers, there's pre-season. And I was lost.

"It was a good group of players. That's what I thought. I stripped everything back, because really, when you go into a club, most of the time that club wants change. The reality of it is I think they were reluctant to get rid of Nuno. It was only because of, I don't know what happened behind the scenes, but there was no way they would have sacked Nuno after last year. So you're not walking into an environment, a playing group where they're really looking for change.

"So from that point of view, I was thinking to myself but with that group of players, I reckon I can turn them around pretty quickly. And we had a couple of games that could have gone our way. But, strategically, I'm the worst decision maker sort of in terms of that time around for my career.

"We had four away games, my first four were away. By the time we really had our games, I think I had three at home. We just never got any traction and it's no wonder the supporters never took to me. Even the players were kind of..."

He added: "My wife's theory is that I was still too close to Tottenham. They were still seeing me as the Tottenham manager. And I think there's some merit in that. You need to leave some space for people just to process everything. But I just wanted to work, mate. Like I said, I saw a group of players and thought, you know what? They're in Europe, Europa League, we might have another crack at it.

"Yeah, that [initial momentum] is what happened at Tottenham. I mean, the first 10 games, I needed those. If I had started my season like I did the second year or like Thomas [Frank] started this year, I would have been gone. There's no way I would have survived at Tottenham. But we got off to a flyer the first 10 games and you need to, especially, like I said, when I didn't have a lot of skin in the game in terms of people saying, well, he's got a body of work that we already know. I had to prove myself."

The ex-Tottenham Hotspur boss is not a fan of something in the game that has become a big deal for a growing number of Premier League managers

Former Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou believes that long throws go against why football was created.

The long throw has become hugely popular this season in particular across more clubs in the Premier League with Mikel Arteta adding former Liverpool throw-in coach Thomas Gronnemark to his staff this season and Thomas Frank, Postecoglou's successor at Spurs, heavily utilising long throws at the club, as he did at Brentford who have used it to great effect this season under Keith Andrews.

For Postecoglou though, he feels that using long throws constantly during matches goes against the ethos of football in its purest form.

"Oh, my God. I'll tell you what I don't like, right, about the long throw and people are going to say, oh, you know, he doesn't like set pieces," he told The Overlap podcast. "It's very, very effective. But the way the game is getting officiated now with the VAR, especially, I don't think the founding fathers of our game created it so that you can score goals or take advantage by using your hands.

"In fact, they took it away. I think there's a reason they said, you know what, to take a throw in you've actually got to have both feet. You've got to put it over your head rather than just throwing it in because they wanted to limit the effectiveness of the hand. It's football, mate.

"And what we've done now, what we've created with the long throws but more the officiating. Now, people say goalkeepers were a protected species. Yes, they were for a reason in that once you create congestion in that six yard box you can't allow goalkeepers to do their job.

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"You can't. They can't do it. And it does my head when I hear referees and the head of referees saying 'oh but players are just standing their ground'. That's a foul."

He added: "So what's that going to create? That's going to create teams now saying well, let's find a long throw-in specialist. But the thing is, what kills me about it is that some people talk about it being some sort of scientific thing, it's the equivalent of throwing it into the mixer, mate.

"It's just throwing it in and what's going to happen is more and more clubs are going to just congest that area more and more. And I don't think that's what we want to see. I don't think that's football. Like I said, I don't think the game was designed that you use your hands to create an opportunity, in my opinion."

The former Tottenham Hotspur head coach has been speaking about his players and his World Cup-winning centre-back in particular

Ange Postecoglou believes Cristian Romero's angry outbursts at Tottenham come from what he sees happening with his international team-mates.

The Spurs captain, who is currently out suspended, has taken to social media on numerous occasions to air his feelings about the decisions made by the club and its hierarchy. Most recently he spoke out after the transfer window closed with Tottenham having failed to strengthen their squad by pointing to the lack of fit and available players by saying it was "unbelievable but true, and disgraceful".

In an interview with The Overlap podcast, Postecoglou spoke about the media glare around Romero and his discipline as well as those repeated outbursts about the club.

"I love him. I love him and he does play on the edge, but, mate, he'd scare people at training and I love the way he talks," he said. "I mean, would you rather have Roy [Keane] in your team or against you? I mean, we'd never have won that final without Romero.

"I mean, kick-off's about to happen and he's taking our team into Man Utd's half for the huddle because our supporters are down that end. He's not scared of anything, mate. He's a winner. I love winners.

"Now, does he cross the line? Yeah, he does. You know, he'd cross the line at training sometimes and the coaches would go, 'oh, you know', I'd go 'well, you go tell him, I'm not telling him'. But you need that mentality in a group. Now, how you control that, you need to harness that."

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On whether the players respect Romero, Postecoglou added: "Oh, they respect him, honestly. They fear him. You know, you don't want to get on his [bad side] because you've got to remember, his whole existence is not just Tottenham, he's also an Argentine. He's won a World Cup and he's mixing with players.

"And I think part of his frustration, his outburst about the club, is that he's mixing with a Fernandez or a Martinez and he's saying, well, how come they're signing players to win and we're not? Why? I want to win.

"We would never have won the Europa League without him and I think you need characters like that in your dressing room. You've got to control them although I don't think control is the right word. You try and steer them in a way where the good outweighs the bad. But you've also got to accept that there's going to be bad."

Postecoglou also spoke about Romero's centre-back partner Micky van de Ven, his strengths and what the Dutchman still needs to improve about his game.

"He's top. He can be as good as he wants to. You watch him at the World Cup, I reckon they'll play him left-back and he'll be unbelievable, mate. Once he gets going, technically he's good. His ability to cover ground, though, is just phenomenal," he said.

"A lot of teams like to go man for man now. You'd set him up against any striker in the world without any fear that he would get outmuscled. Definitely not outrun. And top mentality too, you know. I remember when we signed him, because I think Liverpool were in for him at the time as well and I met his dad.

"He was like Secret Service. I remember him saying to me 'listen, he's got options, but he's coming here to play. You'd better play him'. I was worried he'd send somebody round the house! So he's had a really good upbringing. He's not going to get carried away. Works hard in his game, and he's a winner.

"He's top, mate. He can be as good as anything in terms of the modern game and the physical characteristics, obviously important. He's improved his heading. I still think that's an area where he can get stronger, because he's a big lad, but sometimes his timing's not great. But the rest of his game, and because of the mentality, very coachable. Very coachable."

Arsenal players and Mikel Arteta are currently reeling from the two-points they dropped away to the Premier League's rock bottom side Wolverhampton Wanderers

Piers Morgan believes Mikel Arteta must send his Arsenal squad on holiday after this Sunday's north London derby against Tottenham. The Gunners endured a frustrating 2-2 draw away at Wolverhampton Wanderers, having initially led the Premier League's bottom team 2-0.

This was a humbling outcome for Arteta's men, especially after allowing a lead to slip in their 1-1 away draw with Brentford last week. Manchester City are now just five points behind Arsenal and have a crucial game in hand.

Morgan criticised his beloved Arsenal's performance against Wolves, stating only Declan Rice met their standards at the Molineux.

However, he also believes the players appear exhausted and could benefit from a brief holiday in the period between the trip to Tottenham on February 22 and the home match against Chelsea on March 1.

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Speaking on talkSPORT, Morgan said: "It's still in our hands, we can obviously beat Tottenham on Sunday. Here is my advice for Mikel. We have, unusually, in a massive season when we're in four competitions, next week, a week off. We're not playing until we play Chelsea the following Sunday.

"I want these guys on a plane, somewhere warm, until the Friday (March 27). I want them playing zero football. They look mentally frazzled and physically jaded, so let's give them a break.

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"Take the pressure off them, put them on a beach, let them play beach volleyball like they did in Top Gun before they wiped out the enemy and give these guys a break. They look like a coiled spring of tension and I think that's what I saw last night.

"We were still tense because in the three seasons we have choked the league and we fear it's happening again. We have a better squad and we have leaders, Gabriel and Rice. They've got to stand up, but they also need a break."

Morgan added: "We have a perfect chance next week for a proper reset. Let's beat Tottenham, which should not be difficult, as they're one of the worst Tottenham teams I've ever seen.

"We can push them to within, I think, two points of the relegation zone. If that's not a motivation for Arsenal players, then what is? Then we have another London derby (against Chelsea).

"Actually I can't think of two better games than a North London derby and then a derby against Chelsea. I am confident we will win both games.

"I do believe in this team and I do believe in Arteta, but I also think we, at the moment, are not mentally in the right place to finish these games and we have to get there."

Igor Tudor takes charge of his first Tottenham match on Sunday when Arsenal visit N17 in the North London Derby but how has he fared in other derbies at previous clubs? football.london has trawled through the history books to take a look

There's no bigger game than Arsenal for Igor Tudor to kickstart his tenure as Tottenham interim boss.

The Premier League leaders are seeking to complete a double over Spurs following the 4-1 massacre at the Emirates Stadium back in November when Eberechi Eze grabbed a hat-trick.

And if Tudor's derby history is anything to go by, Tottenham are facing an incredibly tough task to take any points from their arch-rivals. football.london has trawled back through Tudor's managerial history and his record in derbies is quite worrying. He's bossed 23 in total and won just four times, collecting two draws while suffering 17 loses.

Tudor is from Split and there's arguably no fiercer rivalry than the Eternal Derby in Croatia between Hajduk and Dinamo Zagreb. The new Spurs boss managed Hajduk twice but won just two of 11 matches against Dinamo.

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He lost his first ever derby 3-1 in May 2013 before being thrashed 5-1 by Dinamo in the Croatian Super Cup. The 47-year-old then collected a 2-0 home win before drawing 2-2 in the reverse fixture but things did not improve from there, losing 4-0 and 2-1 in the Croatian Cup quarter-final before suffering three consecutive league defeats (2-0, 3-2 and 3-0).

Tudor's next venture was with PAOK in Greece and while their main rivals are Aris Thessaloniki - the Derby of Thessaloniki - he did not manage against Aris as they were in the third-tier at the time.

He did, however, square off against intercity rivals Olympiacos, losing all three matches during the 2015-16 campaign (2-0, 1-0 and 3-0) without scoring a goal.

It was then time to head to Turkey with Galatasaray but he did not have much luck there, either. He lost both Istanbul derbies against Besiktas (1-0 and 3-0) before losing 1-0 and drawing 0-0 with Fenerbahce. Again from those four matches, his team did not score.

Tudor then headed back to Hajduk where he did pick up an impressive 3-2 away win at Dinamo following a 2-0 home defeat in the return fixture.

A new country then beckoned as Tudor headed to the Stade Velodrome to take charge of Marseille. He was in the dugout for three Le Classiques and lost both Ligue 1 encounters (1-0 and 3-0). He did pick up a 2-1 home win in the Coupe de France prior to his departure.

During his short time at Lazio, the former Juventus centre-back took charge of one Derby della Capitale but lost 1-0 away at Roma.

It was then onto Turin where things would improve on the derby front. While he did not face Torino in the Turin Derby, he picked up an impressive 4-3 win over Inter in the Derby d'Italia in September.

The optimists might argue that Tudor is technically heading into Sunday's North London Derby on the back of a derby win - even if his record is generally poor elsewhere.

Xavi Simons will be hoping to start for Tottenham against Arsenal, with the attacking midfielder showing his new boss exactly what he wants to see

In a period of doom and gloom for Tottenham, Xavi Simons has perhaps been one of the bright sparks.

The attacking midfielder made the move to north London from RB Leipzig in the summer in a deal worth £51million. After initially seeming to struggle to adapt to life in the Premier League, the 22-year-old's performances improved over the past few weeks and he now has three goals and six assists to his name.

His form was not enough to save Thomas Frank, however, as the Dane was sacked from his role as head coach last Wednesday after eight months in charge following a 2-1 home defeat to Newcastle, which extended the north London club’s winless top-flight run to eight matches.

Spurs were quick to appoint Igor Tudor until the end of the season and subsequently gave players five days off before they met up with the new boss at Hotspur Way on Monday. With many taking the time to relax or jet off across the world, Simons instead stayed in London and used the time to get in more training sessions.

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Simons' mindset will likely impress Tudor and supporters, with Spurs needing to show fight in the coming months with the club 16th in the Premier League. The North London Derby against Arsenal is up next for Tudor's side and Simons looks in line to start the contest at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

“First priority is to give everything the team needs in these moments," Tudor said after his arrival. "The team need, I believe, first of all, to get some confidence, to get some courage, but also, in same way, the concrete things in the pitch.

“Of course, I’m coming here knowing that situation is not easy. There is no time to find excuses. What I said from the first day here, each of us, need to give something something more, something extra.”

Tottenham have slumped to 16th place, five points above the relegation zone, and Tudor faces a tough mission in his first game in charge, against title-chasing Arsenal at home on Sunday. “The position of the club in this moment is one that nobody can accept,” Tudor said. “Every Tottenham fan cannot accept the situation. We are aware of that. But it’s not enough to just be aware of that.

“The situation is not easy because we have a lot of injured players, so we need first to find the best system to suit the players that are available in this moment. Maybe this can sound strange, but I believe that the thing that we need to be focused on is the training. So the training from today, that’s the key. The coach needs to show the path, where is the way we want to go, how we want to go, and the players need to accept this.”

Igor Tudor has a wealth of options at his disposal as the interim Tottenham Hotspur boss prepare for mission impossible

Igor Tudor could field one of the strongest starting lineups in the Premier League once everyone has returned from injury. The interim Tottenham Hotspur head coach will hope to welcome as many of the big names back from the sidelines as possible ahead of the end-of-season run-in.

Over the next month or so, Tudor will prepare a last-ditch bid for qualification to either of UEFA's three club competitions. The Croatian could get off to the perfect start in the North London Derby on Sunday afternoon before facing Fulham, Crystal Palace, Liverpool, and Nottingham Forest ahead of the March international break.

As it stands, with 12 games to spare, 15 points separate Spurs from Chelsea in fifth place. If the Lilywhites are to climb the table, while also juggling the challenges of the Champions League, the former Juventus boss will need the entire squad available to him.

So, with that being said, football.london has looked at how Tottenham could line up once everyone is fit and available for selection.

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Tudor boasts strong Tottenham backline

Tudor could build a steely backline once everybody returns from the treatment room. Despite some difficult moments this season, it goes without saying that Guglielmo Vicario remains between the sticks.

With the Croatian expected to operate a back-five, just as he did for much of his time at Juventus, Lazio, Marseille, and Hellas Verona, he could play Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, and Kevin Danso at centre-half, with Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro at left and right wing-back, respectively.

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Tudor would have a wealth of midfield options at his disposal if everyone were fit and available. Unfortunately though, with the 47-year-old partial to a back-five, Tottenham would generally be limited to a two-man pivot.

While Conor Gallagher, James Maddison, as well as even Lucas Bervall, Pape Matar Sarr, and Archie Gray, would both be good options, Tudor would likely opt for Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur, who would perhaps offer more balance in the middle of the park.

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Tudor could also build a very respectable frontline. Mathys Tel, Randal Kolo Muani, Wilson Odobert, and Richarlison have each shown glimpses of promise, but neither have done enough to warrant an undisputed place in the starting lineup.

Xavi Simons, Mohammed Kudus, and Dominic Solanke, however, have, and they would cause most teams in Europe a few problems. The former would provide the link between midfield and attack, and he could always drop a little deeper to make a three-man midfield when Tottenham have their backs against the wall.

Gallagher would do well in a similar role, but Simons offers a little more quality in the final third.

So...

A back-five, or three whichever way you look at it, could limit Tottenham when they have every player fit and available. But, that said, the best possible Spurs starting lineup under Tudor could look something like this: Vicario; Udogie, Van de Ven, Romero, Danso, Porro; Bentancur, Palhinha; Simons, Kudus; Solanke.