Opta Analyst

We look ahead to Saturday’s Premier League game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with our Tottenham vs Liverpool prediction and preview.

Tottenham vs Liverpool: The Key Stats

Liverpool are the favourites with the Opta supercomputer, with their chances of a win over Tottenham rated at 42.3%.

Tottenham have won just twice in their previous 25 Premier League meetings with Liverpool.

Spurs forward Richarlison has been involved in more Premier League goals against the Reds than against any other team.

It wasn’t long ago that Arne Slot was the manager most under pressure in the Premier League. This dishonour has since passed to Thomas Frank, so there’s a lot riding on Tottenham’s match with Liverpool on Saturday.

While this is Frank’s first meeting with Liverpool since becoming Spurs boss, they do not have a good record against the champions. Slot’s men won both Premier League meetings last season by 6-3 and 5-1 scorelines. Only the Reds themselves have scored 5+ goals in three consecutive games against an opponent in the competition, doing so against Norwich between September 2012 and December 2013.

Even if they don’t go crazy this time around, Liverpool rarely fail to score in this fixture. They found the net in 25 of their previous 26 Premier League games against Spurs, including the last 19 in a row. Only against Arsenal (a current run of 20) have they had a longer scoring streak in the competition.

It’s little wonder then that Liverpool versus Tottenham is the top scoring fixture in Premier League history, with 206 goals. The last three league meetings saw 21 goals, with at least three scored in 14 of the previous 16 clashes.

This trend looks likely to continue, too. Among ever present teams in the last two Premier League seasons, only Bournemouth (16) have conceded two or more goals in more away games than Liverpool (15). In their last 17 on the road, the Reds either kept a clean sheet (6) or conceded 2+ goals (11).

While Tottenham kept Brentford out in their last league game at home, their defensive record is also a concern. They have lost four Premier League games by 3+ goals in 2025, including a 3-0 loss at Nottingham Forest last time out. Only in 1997 (5) and 2014 (6) have they lost more matches by 3+ goals in a calendar year in the competition.

Three of those four heavy losses occurring on the road makes it less likely Liverpool will win so handsomely here. Equally, Spurs have lost 10 home league games in 2025, their joint most in a year along with 1994 and 2003.

Much will depend on the teams Frank and Slot can select, as both are dealing with depleted squads. Spurs look to be without eight players, the most notable of which include Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison, Dominic Solanke and Destiny Udogie. While they are all injured, Pape Sarr is now on AFCON duty.

The same can be said for Mohamed Salah, though that may be a blessing in disguise for Slot given the recent distractions around the Egyptian. The Liverpool head coach’s options remain limited though. Conor Bradley is back from suspension, which is well timed given Joe Gomez will miss some games with a hamstring issue. Wataru Endo and Cody Gakpo are also out, though Dominik Szoboszlai could be available despite limping off with an ankle problem in the win over Brighton last weekend. Jeremie Frimpong is close to a return, but this game will likely come too soon for him.

As much as Alexander Isak has a great record against Tottenham, with six goals in his last four appearances against them, Hugo Ekitiké should retain his place up front for Liverpool. He netted braces against Leeds and Brighton in his last two Premier League matches; only Luis Suárez has scored multiple goals in three consecutive Premier League games for Liverpool (four in December 2013). His run included goals in a 5-0 win at White Hart Lane.

If Tottenham are to win, their hopes may rest with Richarlison. The Brazilian has been involved in seven Premier League goals against Liverpool (four goals, three assists), more than against any other opponent. A potential fly in the ointment is that his goals have all been at Anfield, but against a Liverpool side that concedes plenty on the road, the former Everton man will be confident of making an impact.

It promises to be a fascinating game, with Frank hoping for a win to ease the building pressure on his head, while Slot will be eager to make it three wins in a row in all competitions and maintain some much-needed momentum for his team.

Tottenham vs Liverpool Head-to-Head

There won’t be many matchups between big clubs in top leagues that have been as one-sided as this one in recent times.

Tottenham have won just two of their last 25 Premier League games against Liverpool (losing 17), picking up home wins in October 2017 (4-1) and September 2023 (2-1). The latter of those victories needed a wrongly-disallowed Luis Díaz goal, red cards for Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota plus a stoppage time own goal winner from Joel Matip.

Across their two Premier League meetings last season, Liverpool scored 11 goals and were able to fire away 49 shots as they enjoyed 6-3 and 5-1 victories against a porous Tottenham defence.

One positive for Spurs is their 1-0 win in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg when these teams last met in north London in January. But the other three meetings in 2024-25 ended 6-3, 4-0 and 5-1 to the Reds.

Tottenham vs Liverpool Prediction

The Opta supercomputer predicts Liverpool will continue their excellent record against Tottenham with a win.

Arne Slot’s side were victorious in 42.3% of the 10,000 simulations of the match. That makes it 10 percentage points more likely than a Spurs win (32.3%), with a draw taking up the 25.4% that remains.

No other Premier League match this weekend has teams with a probability of victory this close to each other though, so it could go either way.

Tottenham vs Liverpool Predicted Lineups

Tottenham Hotspur: Guglielmo Vicario, Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Djed Spence, Rodrigo Bentancur, Archie Gray, Mohammed Kudus, Xavi Simons, Randal Kolo Muani, Richarlison.

Head Coach: Thomas Frank

Liverpool: Alisson Becker, Conor Bradley, Ibrahima Konaté, Virgil van Dijk, Milos Kerkez, Ryan Gravenberch, Curtis Jones, Alexis Mac Allister, Federico Chiesa, Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitiké.

Head Coach: Arne Slot

Opta Power Rankings

The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 15,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.

Ahead of kick-off this weekend, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.

Can Spurs continue to shine on home soil in the UEFA Champions League? We look ahead to Tuesday’s clash at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with our Tottenham vs Slavia Prague prediction and preview.

Tottenham vs Slavia Prague: The Key Stats

Tottenham are unbeaten in their last 22 UEFA club competition matches at home (W18 D4) and are the Opta supercomputer’s favourites to extend that with victory here (63%).

Spurs have avoided defeat in their last seven European matches against Czech opponents (W5 D2).

Slavia Prague are winless in their last 16 matches in the Champions League proper (D7 L9), and 12 without victory in major European competitions (D4 L10).

Tottenham and home comforts are two things that have not gone hand in hand in 2025, as far as the Premier League is concerned anyway.

Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Brentford – secured by first-half strikes from Richarlison and Xavi Simons – was just their fourth success in 17 home league games in 2025 (D3), during which they have registered 10 defeats, a joint-high for the club in a calendar year (also recording that tally in 1994 and 2003).

Yet, it has been a different story on the continent, with Thomas Frank’s side winning both their Champions League home games this season ahead of hosting Slavia Prague on Tuesday, scoring five goals without reply in beating Villarreal (1-0) and Copenhagen (4-0).

That has stretched the Europa League champions’ unbeaten streak in UEFA competition to 22 home matches (W18 D4), while they are now looking to register clean sheets in four successive European Cup/Champions League home games for the first time.

The omens are positive for Spurs, who are unbeaten in all four of their previous meetings with Slavia Prague (W3 D1) and have avoided defeat in their last seven matches against Czech opposition stretching back to 1962.

Despite coming out on the wrong end of an eight-goal thriller with Paris Saint-Germain last time out in the Champions League – suffering their first defeat in the league phase – Tottenham are just two points shy of the top eight in 16th place.

Standing in their way on Tuesday are a side still looking for their first European win of this term. Slavia are at least flying in the Czech First League, with a run of five straight wins moving them five points clear at the summit.

Their 3-0 defeat at home to Arsenal on Matchday 4 represents their only loss in 12 matches in all competitions. Jindrich Trpisovsky’s side have been unable to transfer their domestic form onto the European stage, though, occupying 31st place in the league phase with just three points on the board from five games.

Following their goalless draw with Athletic Club on MD5, Slavia are without a victory in their last 16 matches in the Champions League proper (D7 L9) since beating FCSB 2-1 in September 2007.

Slavia are also winless in their last 12 major European matches (D5 L7), and have won just two of their previous 16 games against English opposition (D4 L10).

They are looking to avoid becoming the first team not to score in five straight Champions League matches since Milan in October 2023, though their attack could be weakened by Tomás Chory’s potential absence through illness. However, Mojmír Chytil is likely to play, fresh from scoring braces in successive league games, including Friday’s 2-1 win over Teplice, while winger Ivan Schranz recently returned from injury.

Meanwhile, Spurs have Brennan Johnson available after suspension following his red card against Copenhagen. Destiny Udogie was a late withdrawal ahead of Spurs’ win over Brentford, so the left-back is unlikely to be risked here. Randal Kolo Muani was seen limping after the weekend win and is a doubt.

Tottenham vs Slavia Prague Head-to-Head

Tottenham are unbeaten in their four previous meetings with Slavia Prague in UEFA club competitions (W3 D1), all of which were played in the UEFA Cup between 2006 and 2008.

Spurs have also avoided defeat in each of their last seven matches against Czech opponents (W5 D2), since a 1-0 reverse against Dukla Prague in the first leg of their European Cup quarter-final tie in February 1962.

Meanwhile, Slavia have won only two of their 16 previous European games against English teams (D4 L10). Both of those victories came in the UEFA Cup/Europa League, beating Leeds United 2-1 in 2000 and Leicester City in 2021.

Tottenham vs Slavia Prague Prediction

The Opta supercomputer favours a home win, with Tottenham victorious in 63% of their 10,000 pre-match simulations.

Slavia Prague’s chances of claiming victory are rated at just 17%, with a draw at 20%.

Tottenham vs Slavia Prague Predicted Lineups

Tottenham: Guglielmo Vicario, Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Djed Spence, Rodrigo Bentancur, Pape Sarr, Lucas Bergvall, Mohammed Kudus, Brennan Johnson, Richarlison.

Head coach: Thomas Frank

Slavia Prague: Jindrich Stanek, Tomás Holes, David Zima, Stepán Chaloupek, Christos Zafeiris, Michal Sadílek, David Doudera, Jan Boril, Mojmír Chytil, Lukás Provod, Erik Prekop.

Head coach: Jindrich Trpisovsky

Opta Power Rankings

The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 10,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.

Ahead of kick-off on Tuesday, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.

Will Eddie Howe’s side keep the good times rolling? We look ahead to Tuesday’s Premier League clash with our Newcastle vs Tottenham prediction and preview.

Newcastle vs Tottenham: The Key Stats

Newcastle United are the favourites for this clash, defeating Tottenham Hotspur in 54.7% of pre-match simulations by the Opta supercomputer.

Tottenham are unbeaten in all four of their Premier League games outside of London this season.

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has won six of his eight top-flight matches against Spurs manager Thomas Frank.

Eddie Howe will hope Newcastle United can further build on their recent momentum when they host out-of-form Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night.

Newcastle ended a nine-game winless run on the road with a thumping 4-1 victory over Everton in Saturday’s Premier League clash. Malick Thiaw headed home twice, along with goals for Lewis Miley and Nick Woltemade at Hill Dickinson Stadium.

A first away win of the season in the league for Newcastle made it back-to-back victories after an impressive 2-1 triumph over Manchester City last time out at St. James’ Park. Harvey Barnes‘ double proved the difference in that clash, though Howe’s side suffered a 2-1 defeat against Marseille in the UEFA Champions League in between their domestic triumphs.

Howe will head into this one full of confidence, too, given Newcastle have won 11 of their 16 home Premier League matches in 2025 (69%). That return marks their fifth-best home win ratio in a calendar year in the competition, with two of the club’s top five coming under Howe (also 70% in 2023, won 14/20).

The Newcastle boss has also won six of his eight top-flight matches against Spurs manager Thomas Frank (D1 L1), who is facing increasing pressure after a turgid run of form. All of Howe’s victories came against Brentford before Frank swapped west London for north in the capital.

Bruno Guimarães may be central to any hope of Newcastle making it three league wins on the spin. The Brazilian has been involved in 11 goals in his last 19 home Premier League games (7 goals, 4 assists).

Guimarães has either scored (2) or assisted (1) in each of his last three at St James’ Park, his best ever run in the competition. Newcastle may need to watch out for another Brazilian at the other end of the pitch, though.

Richarlison has been involved in six goals in 10 Premier League appearances against Newcastle (4 goals, 2 assists), only managing more against Liverpool (4 goals, 3 assists). The Spurs striker scored twice in a 4-1 win in December 2023 in his last game against the Magpies.

Shortly after Newcastle’s win on Merseyside, Fulham took an early two-goal lead at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Harry Wilson’s strike coming from a Guglielmo Vicario error. Mohammed Kudus pulled one back with a stunning second-half volley, but that could not stop Spurs from a 2-1 defeat, leaving them with just one victory in six league games.

Frank’s side have still impressed away from home, claiming 13 of 18 top-flight points available. They are also unbeaten in all four Premier League away games outside of London this season (W3 D1), last enjoying a longer such run between March and October 2022 (6 matches).

Spurs’ midweek record makes for more concerning reading, however. They have won just one of their last 13 league games (D2 L10) played on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, and have lost their last seven such fixtures, scoring only once.

The pair’s midweek returns could not be further apart, though these two sides are almost inseparable in the table. Goal difference has 12th-place Spurs just one position above Newcastle, though it will be the Magpies who fancy their chances here.

In terms of team news, Howe will hope that Sven Botman can shake off a back issue that kept him out of the Everton win. Yoane Wissa is back in training but not expected to return for this clash, while Kieran Trippier and Emil Krafth remain out.

Cristian Romero will expect to come back from his one-match suspension to start on Tyneside for Spurs, though Dominic Solanke, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski are still sidelined. Questions may also be asked over first-choice goalkeeper Vicario after his Fulham error, with Antonín Kinsky waiting in the wings.

Newcastle vs Tottenham Head-to-Head

Tottenham have lost their last three Premier League games against Newcastle, last suffering more consecutive defeats against the Magpies between April 2006 and December 2008 (6).

In fact, Newcastle have won five of their last six league fixtures against Spurs (L1), as many as they had in their previous 17 (D2 L10).

Howe’s side have also won their last three home league games against Spurs by an aggregate score of 12-2, having previously managed just two wins in 11 head-to-head meetings before (D3 L6).

Barnes and Alexander Isak were on target, either side of Dan Burn’s own goal, in a 2-1 victory for Newcastle the last time these two sides met in the league at St. James’ Park in September 2024.

Newcastle vs Tottenham Prediction

The Opta supercomputer favours a home win as Newcastle triumphed in 54.7% of 10,000 pre-match simulations.

Frank desperately needs a result but Spurs only managed a rare win over Newcastle in 22% of the sims, with a draw rated more likely at 23.3%.

Newcastle vs Tottenham Predicted Lineups

Newcastle United: Nick Pope, Tino Livramento, Malick Thiaw, Fabian Schär, Lewis Hall, Bruno Guimarães, Sandro Tonali, Joelinton, Jacob Murphy, Harvey Barnes, Nick Woltemade.

Head coach: Eddie Howe

Tottenham Hotspur: Guglielmo Vicario, Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Djed Spence, Rodrigo Bentancur, João Palhinha, Mohammed Kudus, Xavi Simons, Randal Kolo Muani, Richarlison.

Head coach: Thomas Frank

Opta Power Rankings

The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 15,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.

Ahead of kick-off on Tuesday night, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.

An enthralling London derby ended with an away win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Look back with the best facts and Opta data in our Tottenham vs Fulham stats page.

Tottenham suffered their 10th Premier League home defeat of 2025 on Saturday as they were beaten 2-1 by Fulham, their woes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium showing no sign of stopping.

Spurs went into the game having already fallen to more home league losses in 2025 than any other team who were ever-presents across this season and last, and Saturday’s defeat saw them reach double figures in their own stadium in a calendar year for the first time since 2003.

And it wasn’t as if Saturday’s visitors had a good away record either – Fulham’s one point on the road this term was the joint worst in the division going into Matchday 13.

But the Cottagers stunned Tottenham with two early goals that were ultimately decisive despite Spurs improving somewhat in the second half.

What they mustered wasn’t enough, however, with the intense boos at full-time illustrative of the pressure Thomas Frank is starting to come under.

Fulham couldn’t have hoped for a much better start as they raced into a two-goal lead by the sixth minute.

Samuel Chukwueze inspired the fourth-minute opener, his cut-back towards the edge of the box catching Spurs out and finding Kenny Tete, whose shot took a slight deflection off Destiny Udogie on its way past Guglielmo Vicario.

Spurs’ goalkeeper was then culpable less than two minutes later, when he rushed out of his area and cleared the ball straight to Josh King, the young midfielder shifting possession on to Harry Wilson for a shot into the empty net from out wide on the right.

It was the earliest (5 minutes, 43 seconds) in Premier League history that Spurs found themselves trailing 2-0 at home, and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was in shock.

Things could’ve got even worse when Chukwueze struck the post in the 11th minute, while the Nigerian was denied a certain goal by a desperate last-ditch tackle from Micky van de Ven after skipping past Vicario.

Spurs did appear to get a bit more of a handle on Fulham’s devastating transitions but offered precious little genuine threat themselves, reaching half-time having had just two shots equating to 0.07 expected goals (xG).

That may not have been especially shocking given Tottenham have had the fewest shots (44) and shots on target (14) and third-lowest xG (4.68) in the first half of Premier League games this season, though that’ll have been no comfort to despondent Spurs fans who booed them off at the break.

Such frustration reflected a sense of hopelessness at the situation; after all, Tottenham hadn’t won any of their previous 39 Premier League games when trailing by 2+ goals at half time (D2 L37) since a 3-2 win at Arsenal back in November 2010.

There was a modest improvement after the break, though, and Spurs were back to within one goal of their visitors by the hour after Mohammed Kudus chested down Lucas Bergvall’s pass and unleashed an unstoppable strike into the top-right corner from a relatively acute angle.

Something of an onslaught followed, during which Bergvall saw a header cleared off the line by Raúl Jiménez. But Fulham survived unscathed and found a foothold in the game once again following a flurry of substitutions.

Spurs never really found their groove again and Fulham held onto their first away win of the 2025-26 Premier League season.

Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Tottenham vs Fulham stats from their Premier League meeting at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.

Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.

Tottenham vs Fulham Stats: Post-Match Facts

Tottenham are averaging just 9.5 shots and 3.2 shots on target per game in the Premier League this season; both of which are their lowest averages on record in a single campaign (since 2003-04). Meanwhile, only Burnley (9) have posted an xG total lower than one in more Premier League games than Tottenham (8) in 2025-26.

Fulham picked up just their second away win against Tottenham in the Premier League within the last two decades, with this their first since a 1-0 victory in March 2013 under Martin Jol.

Tottenham have lost four consecutive home London derbies for the first time in the Premier League (v Chelsea x2, Crystal Palace and Fulham).

Tottenham suffered their 10th home defeat of 2025 in the Premier League, with this now their joint-most home league defeats in a single calendar year in club history (also 10 in 1994 and 2003).

We look ahead to Saturday’s Premier League game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium between Spurs and Fulham with our prediction and preview.

Tottenham vs Fulham: The Key Stats

Though they have won just one home league game this season, the Opta supercomputer considers Spurs to be strong favourites for this match against Fulham, winning 53.2% of simulations.

No side have earned fewer away points than Fulham in the Premier League this season (1), while only Wolves (1) have earned fewer at home than Spurs (5).

Richarlison has scored 16 goals in his last 22 Premier League starts for Spurs, netting in his last two against Man Utd and Arsenal.

It would be fair to say that Thomas Frank has not lived up to expectations so far as coach of Tottenham Hotspur. The club sit ninth in the Premier League table – albeit in a clustered set of standings where a win could catapult them into the European spots – but it’s the more performances that are of concern.

The near-defeat of Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup, followed by win-to-nil victories over Burnley and Manchester City, suggested that Frank may be able to use the momentum of their Europa League triumph to turn them into a force to be reckoned with once more.

Instead, his team has appeared poorer and poorer as the campaign has progressed, and early-season promise has given way to the realisation that there is a great deal of work to be done if they are to become competitive at the top of the table.

They have overperformed their expected goals more than any other side in the Premier League this season, netting almost nine goals more than their xG suggests (20 goals, 11.2 xG).

You cannot hide from xG forever, and the results have fallen off a cliff of late.

Spurs have won just two of their last nine games in all competitions, and this run includes some of their worst performances in recent times – a 1-0 defeat at home to Chelsea in which they recorded 0.10 expected goals, and a 4-1 defeat away to Arsenal where their xG figure was 0.07.

They are the two worst performances for xG across the entire Premier League this season and are more becoming of a side destined for relegation.

Even in defence, there has been a great deal of slippage. Spurs have conceded seven goals in their three Premier League games in November, as many as they had in their nine games across August, September and October combined.

There was a spark of life in midweek when they led twice away to PSG in the Champions League, but they ultimately fell to a 5-3 defeat, and it would be dishonest to take too many positives from a game in which they conceded five goals in a 31-minute window.

You would think that a home match against a 15th-placed Fulham would be a perfect fixture to course-correct their season, but the truth is that you will find few Spurs fans who are confident of a win, and they have good reason to doubt their side at home.

Spurs would be second bottom, ahead of just Wolverhampton Wanderers, in a table accounting only for results on home soil this season, with five points from six games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Of the 17 ever-present sides across the last two seasons, none have won fewer home games (3), lost more home games (9), or earned fewer home points (12) in 2025 than Spurs. They haven’t lost 10 home league games in a single calendar year since 2003 (10).

The good news for Spurs fans is that Fulham are as poor away as Spurs are at home.

Marco Silva’s side have earned just one point on their travels this season, the joint-lowest total in the Premier League this season (Wolves, again).

Indeed, the Cottagers have lost their last five on the road in the Premier League, last having a longer run between January and April 2019 (7).

Even though Fulham are as poor as they have ever been under Silva, they have still won two of their last three league matches – important contests against Wolves and Sunderland – and they have a habit of avoiding ever truly being in danger of relegation under the Portuguese coach.

Fulham have had problems with injuries this season, but their squad is starting to shape again. Their only expected absences for this game are Rodrigo Muniz and Antonee Robinson.

Spurs meanwhile will be without the suspended Cristian Romero, while the likes of Dejan Kulusevski, Dominic Solanke and James Maddison remain out.

Tottenham vs Fulham Head-to-Head

The last meeting between these sides saw Fulham beat Spurs 2-0 at Craven Cottage in March of this year, with a tight affair altered in the 78th minute when Muniz scored from the bench, before former Spurs man Ryan Sessegnon added a second late on.

After winning eight of their nine Premier League games against Fulham between 2013 and 2023 (D1), Spurs are now winless in their last three against the Cottagers (D1 L2).

Fulham have won two of their last three Premier League games against Spurs (D1), as many as they had in their previous 23 against them (D6 L15).

Tottenham have lost 1-0 against Chelsea and 4-1 against Arsenal in their last two league London derbies. They’ve not lost three in a row in the same campaign since September/October 2021 (a run of four).

Tottenham vs Fulham Prediction

Spurs were victorious in 53.2% of the Opta supercomputer’s simulations. A draw was the second most likely outcome, occurring in 24% of simulations, while Fulham came out on top in 22.8% of sims.

Tottenham vs Fulham Predicted Lineups

Tottenham Hotspur: Guglielmo Vicario, Pedro Porro, Kevin Danso, Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie, Rodrigo Bentancur, João Palhinha, Mohammed Kudus, Xavi Simons, Wilson Odobert, Richarlison.

Head coach: Thomas Frank

Fulham: Bernd Leno, Kenny Tete, Joachim Andersen, Calvin Bassey, Ryan Sessegnon, Sander Berge, Alex Iwobi, Harry Wilson, Josh King, Kevin, Raúl Jiménez.

Head coach: Marco Silva

Opta Power Rankings

The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 15,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.

Ahead of kick-off this weekend, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.

A treble from Eberechi Eze helped Arsenal go six points clear at the top of the Premier League. Check out the best facts and Opta data with our Arsenal vs Tottenham stats page.

Eberechi Eze rubbed salt into Tottenham wounds as he scored a hat-trick in a dominant 4-1 win for Arsenal in the north London derby at the Emirates Stadium.

The England international came close to signing for Spurs in the summer before instead joining Arsenal, and his treble helped the Gunners extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to six points on Sunday.

Leandro Trossard gave Arsenal the lead in the 36th minute as Mikel Arteta’s men broke down Thomas Frank’s three-at-the-back formation, before Eze doubled the advantage a few minutes later. He added another just seconds into the second half, before Richarlison pulled one back with a stunning goal from distance.

Eze put things to bed with his third in the 76th minute on a day that the former Crystal Palace man, and all Arsenal fans, will remember for a long time.

The league leaders were without the injured Gabriel Magalhães, with Piero Hincapié making his first league start for Arsenal. The Colombian didn’t have much to do, though, as the hosts dominated their local rivals.

Spurs arrived in excellent away form, the only team in England’s top four divisions yet to be beaten on the road prior to the game, but they ultimately never looked like taking anything back across north London with them here against a strong home side playing with extreme confidence.

Arsenal had the first chance of the game as Eze lifted a clever ball over the Spurs defence for Declan Rice to volley at goal, though Guglielmo Vicario kept it out, and the subsequent deflection back off Kevin Danso rolled just wide.

Much of the first half hour was tentative and slow, with Arsenal fans unironically booing as Spurs took time over set-pieces, but the deadlock was broken in the 36th minute.

It was created with a sublime pass from Mikel Merino, who was given too much time to pick a straight ball into the well-timed run of Trossard, and the Belgian turned back onto his left foot before guiding his shot just inside the post.

Tottenham’s tactics were only ever likely to work if they could stay level or get ahead, and once they went behind it already felt like game over.

It arguably was when Eze made it 2-0 in the 41st minute, able to find space on the edge of the box – which would be a recurring theme – before riding some weak Spurs challenges and firing past Vicario.

Tottenham failed to register a single shot in the first half. Having done the same in their home loss to Bournemouth in August, it made Spurs the only side in the Premier League this season to attempt zero shots in two separate first halves, the same amount as across their previous 205 matches in the competition combined.

Frank changed to a back four at half-time as he brought Xavi Simons on for Danso, but it didn’t have much of an impact initially. In fact, it took Arsenal just 35 seconds to find a third goal. Eze again received the ball in space on the edge of the box after some determined work from Jurriën Timber, before placing a left-footed shot low to Vicario’s right.

It took until the 55th minute for Spurs to have a shot, but it was arguably worth the wait. Martín Zubimendi dawdled on the ball on the halfway line and was tackled by João Palhinha, with the ball rolling to Richarlison, and the former Everton man lobbed David Raya from distance with an inch-perfect effort to reduce the deficit.

While it felt like a consolation, it did dampen the atmosphere and Spurs visibly gained some confidence from it as they finally had some of the ball in Arsenal territory.

It didn’t do much good, though, with Eze sealing his hat-trick with 14 minutes remaining, once again finding himself in plenty of space on the edge of the box after being set up by Trossard before bending his shot in, this time to Vicario’s left.

It was only the fourth ever hat-trick in competitive meetings between Arsenal and Spurs, after Ted Drake (Arsenal, October 1934), Terry Dyson (Spurs, August 1961) and Alan Sunderland (Arsenal, December 1978).

Eze could and possibly should have had another moments later, once more in a central area, but this time Vicario was equal to his shot.

The ‘ole’s’ rang out as Arsenal passed it around in stoppage time and victory was secured, giving them a six-point lead ahead of Chelsea in second, whom they travel to next weekend.

Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Arsenal vs Tottenham stats from their Premier League meeting at the Emirates Stadium.

The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.

Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.

Arsenal vs Tottenham: Selected Post-Match Facts

Arsenal have won each of their last four league games against Tottenham Hotspur, only enjoying longer runs in August 1980 (6 wins) and January 1989 (5 wins).

Tottenham Hotspur have recorded the two lowest expected goals totals in a Premier League game this season, 0.07 against Arsenal and 0.1 against Chelsea at the start of November.

In 2025, only Erling Haaland (25), Mohamed Salah (23), Bryan Mbeumo (21) and Antoine Semenyo (18) have been involved in more Premier League goals than Arsenal’s Eberechi Eze (18 – 10 goals, 8 assists).

Troy Parrott secured a World Cup play-off place for the Republic of Ireland on Sunday and, in doing so, hinted at finally fulfilling the vast potential he showed at Tottenham.

For many, Troy Parrott taking centre stage has been a long time coming.

The centre-forward was the Republic of Ireland’s hero over the international break, as he followed up a match-winning brace against Portugal in their penultimate World Cup qualifier with a sensational hat-trick in a 3-2 win over Hungary on Sunday night. His goals sent his country into a play-off for a spot at next summer’s tournament, meaning they are within touching distance of a first appearance at football’s showpiece event in 24 years.

The Republic of Ireland had needed nothing less than a win in Budapest, but they went behind twice on the night and trailed as late as the 80th minute. Up against a Hungary team who were also chasing a play-off spot, had home advantage, have qualified for the last three European Championships, and boast stars such as Liverpool duo Dominik Szoboszlai and Milos Kerkez, Ireland’s hopes were slim.

Then, with 10 minutes to go, Parrott, who earlier put away a highly pressured penalty, chipped in an equaliser and, at the death, poked home a dramatic winner to send the Irish fans, his teammates, and himself into delirium.

“It’s really a fairytale,” Parrott said afterwards while fighting back the tears. “You can’t even dream about [doing] something like that.”

This is the level that the 23-year-old had once been highly tipped to reach. He moved to Tottenham Hotspur at 15, and is a fairly well-known name in England simply because there were once such high hopes for him. Nonetheless, he may still be considered an unlikely hero on the international stage given he ultimately couldn’t make a success of his time at Spurs.

He was handed his debut aged 17, way back in September 2019, and a couple of months later made a first appearance in the Premier League, but despite relentless fan clamour for him to play, he never really looked cut out for that standard of football. “Don’t think that Parrott is the second Harry Kane because he’s just a young kid that needs to work,” then-Spurs manager José Mourinho warned at the time. Parrott would only go on to make one more Premier League appearance for the club.

He spent much of his time at Spurs out on loan, and without much fanfare in four spells at Millwall, Ipswich, MK Dons and Preston. Questions about his attitude persisted as he appeared not to be developing as quickly as the fans hoped he would.

Years earlier, Mourinho had voiced concerns about him, claiming Parrott, still a teenager at the time, appeared to consider himself above playing with the youth team.

“Every time he was playing with the kids, he was playing with the mentality of, ‘I shouldn’t be here, I am too good to be here, it’s not here that I want to play,’” Mourinho said. Whether that was the reason or not, he did not fulfill his potential in England.

Parrott enjoyed a better time on loan at Excelsior in the Netherlands, where he scored at least four more goals (10) in the league than any other teammate despite playing fewer than half of the available minutes, but there was still a side to him that needed curbing. After a 4-0 win, in which he had scored, provided an assist and been substituted, he ran onto the pitch to join in a full-time melee and petulantly flicked the ear of an opponent. He received a straight red card for his troubles and missed the next game, banned.

However, the move away from England appeared to do him good. He has since said that the media pressure “used to get to me a bit” at Spurs. Stepping away has proved a positive move.

His year at Excelsior was a positive one despite their relegation from the Dutch top flight, and Parrott did enough to earn a permanent switch to AZ Alkmaar in the summer of 2024. He has found a happy home in the Eredivisie, and the chance to develop into something like the player he was always expected to become.

He has always been the kind of striker who stays high up the pitch and focuses on scoring goals, and his movement and anticipation close to goal both appear to have improved during his time with AZ.

Only two players scored more than Parrott’s 14 Eredivisie goals in 2024-25, and he added four more in AZ’s run to the Europa League last 16, where they were eliminated by Tottenham.

He didn’t rely on exceptional finishing to get those goals, underperforming compared to his expected goals slightly and instead scoring consistently thanks to his ability to get into good positions – something he showed with significant results with his injury-time winner against Hungary.

His non-penalty xG total of 14.0 was bettered by only one player in the Eredivisie last season, and the graphic below shows just how concentrated his shots were around the edge of the six-yard box. His average of 0.20 xG per non-penalty shot (statistically a one-in-five chance of a goal) was among the highest in the Eredivisie.

Parrott’s job at AZ is to provide the focal point to the attack and look to stretch the opposition. He constantly makes runs looking to get in behind, and does a lot of thankless work without seeing a great deal of the ball. He averaged just 33.3 touches of the ball per 90 last season, but still remained a real threat. He had just 11.5 touches for every shot he attempted – the second lowest rate of anyone to play more than 2,000 minutes.

This season, he has become even more single-minded in his goal threat. He is having almost four more touches of the ball per 90 (37.1), and a big chunk of those extra touches are coming either in or very close to the penalty area. So far in 2025-26, he is having a shot every 8.9 touches of the ball.

The result is even more goals. He is averaging 1.04 goals per 90 in the Eredivisie this term, though that is helped by the two penalties he has scored. That said, even when discounting penalties, his 0.69 goals per 90 is still the best of his senior career, and that is made all the more impressive by the fact he has missed two months of the season with injury. In his first start after returning, he scored in a 2-0 win at Ajax, and followed that up with a brace in a 4-1 win over Utrecht.

He is now doing what the best forwards do, outperforming his xG while also regularly getting into dangerous positions to score. To prove he is capable of becoming an elite forward, Parrott needs to carry on finishing chances off at a rate like this for more than just the start of a season.

Those numbers also don’t include scoring all five of the Republic of Ireland’s goals in their two crucial World Cup qualifiers, which could provide a springboard for Parrott to take his game to the next level – the level at which he has always so clearly had the talent to reach but has been unable to as of yet.

AZ are third in the Eredivisie and should be competitive in the UEFA Conference League, too, while the Republic of Ireland are into the World Cup play-offs with Parrott spearheading their fight to be playing in next summer’s tournament. That will be played in part in the USA, which was of course the host of one of the three World Cups that Ireland have played in (1994). It’s all shaping up to be a massive 12 months for him and his career.

When Parrott left Spurs, it felt like it could have been the end for his chances of making it at the top, but this week has proved he isn’t giving up on his chances of playing on the biggest stage just yet. For the first time in a long time, there is reason for optimism that the former Tottenham man is heading for the top.

We look ahead to Saturday’s Premier League game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with our Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester United prediction and preview. Will United get revenge for the UEFA Europa League final?

Tottenham vs Manchester United: The Key Stats

The Opta supercomputer has declared Tottenham Hotspur as the favourites, with the London club winning 47.5% of its pre-match simulations.

Manchester United are winless in their last seven matches against Spurs.

Bruno Fernandes is looking to assist in a third consecutive away appearance for the first time since November 2020.

Tottenham and Manchester United have near-identical Premier League records this season. They have both won five and lost three of their 10 matches while scoring 17 goals. As Spurs have conceded half as many goals (eight versus 16) will that make the difference in this match?

It might if the game were being played at Old Trafford. Tottenham start the weekend at the top of the Premier League table for away matches while being 17th in the corresponding home standings.

Their poor form in north London extends beyond 2025-26, too. No side has lost more home Premier League matches in 2025 than Tottenham Hotspur (nine). Only in 1994 and 2003 (10 in each) have Spurs reached double figures for home defeats in a year in their league history.

While much of the current run rests with Ange Postecoglou, Thomas Frank has a poor record in front of his own fans, too. Across spells with Brentford and Spurs, the Dane has suffered nine defeats in his last 16 home Premier League matches, winning just three. Before this run, his Brentford side won seven of their previous eight home games, so he has overseen quite the dip.

Frank will hope both he and Tottenham hit rock bottom last weekend when it comes to bad performances on home turf. Spurs registered an xG of just 0.1 in their 1-0 defeat to Chelsea, the lowest by a team in a Premier League match so far this season. They are averaging just 9.7 shots per game in 2025-26, their lowest average in a Premier League campaign on record since 1997-98.

A much-improved midweek win over FC Copenhagen in the UEFA Champions League should improve confidence in the Spurs’ camp, but their cause in this match is not aided by two factors.

Firstly, they have the longest injury list in the Premier League at the time of writing, with 10 players out of action. Mohammed Kudus may be able to return, but Lucas Bergvall, Yves Bissouma, Dominic Solanke, Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison are among the potential starters who will not be involved.

The other issue for Spurs is the potency of United’s attack. Only Liverpool (156) have had more shots in the Premier League this season than Manchester United (153) and no side has had more shots on target than they have (54).

His squad will be close to full strength here too, with Lisandro Martínez the only reported absentee for United. Two players who should be looking forward to this game are Bryan Mbeumo and Bruno Fernandes.

Only against Southampton and Brighton (five) has Mbeumo scored more Premier League goals than he has against Spurs, with three of his four against them coming at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. As for Fernandes, he has 53 Premier League assists – since his debut in February 2020, only Mohamed Salah (64) and Kevin De Bruyne (58) have more. He’s assisted in his last two away games and is looking to do so in three away appearances in a row for the first time since November 2020. Perhaps Mbeumo can help him achieve that?

Manchester United are unbeaten in their last four Premier League games (W3 D1), their joint best run under Amorim. They last had a longer run without losing in January/February 2024 (five games), which was also the last time they netted two or more goals in five in a row. But Tottenham completed the Premier League double over them last season and have a great recent record in this head-to-head. As such, it’s hard to know which way this game will go.

Tottenham vs Manchester United Head-to-Head

“Lads, it’s Tottenham.”

Sir Alex Ferguson’s famous line to his players that he used to downplay the threat of Spurs no longer applies. Manchester United are winless in their last seven meetings with Tottenham in all competitions, losing five, including each of the last four – the last team to win five in a row against the Red Devils were Liverpool between 2000 and 2002.

Spurs remarkably beat United four times last season alone, most notably in the UEFA Europa League final. They won 1-0 on home turf in the Premier League, also winning 4-3 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the Carabao Cup.

Tottenham vs Manchester United Prediction

The home side are favourites to win but not to the point that it is more likely than not.

The Opta supercomputer ran 10,000 simulations of the match, with Tottenham getting a victory in 47.5% of them. The other two potential outcomes have almost equal probabilities.

A Man Utd win (26.4%) has a slight edge over the chances of a draw (26.2%), though not by a significant amount. The visitors will need to overcome their recent history against Spurs and the supercomputer if they are to collect three points here.

Tottenham vs Manchester United Predicted Lineups

Tottenham Hotspur: Guglielmo Vicario, Pedro Porro, Kevin Danso, Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie, João Palhinha, Rodrigo Bentancur, Mohammed Kudus, Pape Matar Sarr, Wilson Odobert, Randal Kolo Muani.

Head coach: Thomas Frank

Manchester United: Senne Lammens, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, Luke Shaw, Amad Diallo, Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Dalot, Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha, Benjamin Sesko.

Head coach: Ruben Amorim

Opta Power Rankings

The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 15,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.

Ahead of kick-off this weekend, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.

Micky van de Ven ran the length of the pitch to score one of the great Champions League goals this week, but where does it rank among the competition’s longest such runs?

On Tuesday night at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, something extraordinary happened.

No, we’re not just talking about Tottenham winning a match at home, although they did record their biggest margin of victory under Thomas Frank, scored all four goals in open play and did so despite the fact they’d had a man sent off with the score at 2-0 and more than a third of the game remaining.

“It was a game we completely controlled from minute one,” Frank said afterwards, which isn’t something he has been able to say very much at his new club.

But Spurs doubling their lead with 10 men to win a Champions League encounter with FC Copenhagen 4-0 on home soil, where they have struggled for good results and performances of late, wasn’t the most remarkable element of this game.

Instead, it was a single moment when the clock read 63:38. Spurs were two goals to the good but a man down, and Copenhagen were looking for a way back into the game. João Palhinha nudged former Southampton forward Mohamed Elyounoussi off the ball and laid it off a single yard to centre-back Micky van de Ven on the edge of his own penalty area.

Everything about the game at that point screamed for Van de Ven to play it safe. His team had a two-goal lead that could easily be made to feel quite brittle given they were also a man down, and Spurs needed to prioritise protecting their lead. A simple pass to left-back Destiny Udogie (top right of the below image) was very much on.

But Van de Ven got his head down and charged forward, fully confident in his ability to run his way out of trouble. He recorded the highest top speed of any player in the Premier League last season (37.1 km/h), and he is also pretty strong. Once he gets going, he can be difficult to stop, as Copenhagen would soon find out.

A few seconds later, he was well clear of danger, but he was surrounded by five opponents and he had only one teammate – striker Randal Kolo Muani – ahead of him.

Then, with a quick shift of his feet, he skipped past the one remaining obstacle between him and the Copenhagen goalkeeper, and he was away.

It’s important to note the role of Kolo Muani, who didn’t even get close to touching the ball at any point, but without him, the goal may well not have happened.

That’s because Copenhagen centre-back Pantelis Hatzidiakos wasn’t able to engage Van de Ven as he would have left Kolo Muani a clear run at goal. Udogie (top left of the below image), meanwhile, had his hands on his head in disbelief at what he was witnessing.

Hatzidiakos may have known about what Van de Ven has done before, so he could have foreseen the Netherlands international looking for a pass.

In August and September 2024, Van de Ven recorded two of the top five longest assist-ending carries on record (since 2015-16) in a Premier League game. On those occasions, he ran 60.4 metres to set up Son Heung-min against Everton and 56.1m to tee up Brennan Johnson against Manchester United.

Whatever the reason, Hatzidiakos hesitated, and by the time he’d changed his mind, it was too late. Elyounoussi had tracked Van de Ven all the way, desperate to make up for giving the ball away, but despite doing pretty well to keep up, he couldn’t stop him.

Van de Ven charged into the Copenhagen box and finished like a seasoned centre-forward (he is Tottenham’s top scorer this season, so maybe that was to be expected) to score one of the great Champions League goals.

UK readers can relive the goal below:

In the 10 seconds between taking his first touch and scoring, Van de Ven ran 67.7m with the ball. It is the longest goal-ending carry by any player in Opta’s record books in a Champions League game (since 2015-16), overtaking Vinícius Júnior’s 64.9m run to score for Real Madrid against Borussia Dortmund in October 2024.

Comparisons have naturally been made with an astoundingly similar goal scored at the same ground, in the same goal, almost six years ago by the now-departed Spurs legend Son. The two players picked up the ball in incredibly similar positions before running the length of the pitch to score.

Son’s goal, scored against Burnley on 7 December 2019 and the winner of that year’s Puskás Award, required a run of 72.3m with the ball before he scored.

That is almost five metres longer than Van de Ven’s goal, in part because it was a more winding run – and Van de Ven’s was more direct – but also because Son ran closer to goal before finishing.

Son’s remains the third-longest carry ending in a goal recorded (since 2015-16) in a Premier League game.

The longest goal-ending carry ever recorded in the Premier League was scored by former Spurs man Andros Townsend for Crystal Palace against West Brom, when he ran an incredible 78.9m with the ball before scoring in March 2017. Townsend didn’t even have the energy to celebrate his goal, instead just collapsing to the floor.

Van de Ven has written his name into the Champions League history books, but given he has previous when it comes to running the length of the pitch with the ball, this might not be the last time we see him do something like this.

The Longest Goal-Ending Carries in the Champions League

*since 2015-16; data as of 5 November 2025

Micky van de Ven – 67.7m, Tottenham vs FC Copenhagen, November 2025

Vinícius Júnior – 64.9m, Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund, October 2024

Rafael Leão – 62.6m, Milan vs Dinamo Zagreb, October 2022

Karim Adeyemi – 62.1m, Borussia Dortmund vs Chelsea, February 2023

Marco Asensio – 60.8m, Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich, April 2017

Loïs Openda – 57.8m, RB Leipzig vs Manchester City, November 2023

Brais Méndez – 55.4m, Real Sociedad vs Red Bull Salzburg, October 2023

Davide Zappacosta – 55.3m, Chelsea vs Qarabag, September 2017

Ousmane Dembélé – 51.5m, Barcelona vs Tottenham, December 2018

José Izquierdo – 47.1m, Club Brugge vs Leicester, November 2016

Against Chelsea this weekend, Tottenham posted one of the lowest expected goals totals in Opta’s Premier League record books. Is there any excuse for this performance?

On Saturday evening in north London, Tottenham Hotspur put in a historically bad attacking performance.

Playing at home against Chelsea, one of their biggest rivals and for many of their fans, in one of the biggest games of the season, Spurs put in one of the most blunt, inept, and ineffective displays in their modern history.

It was the lowest xG total by any team in a Premier League game this season. It was also the second lowest by Tottenham in any Premier League match in Opta’s record books, which for this particular metric stretch back to 2012-13.

The only game in which Spurs have posted a lower xG was a defeat to Crystal Palace in September 2021 (0.06 xG) during Nuno Espírito Santo’s short and, perhaps ominously, ill-fated reign. That day, Spurs played away from home and did so with 10 men for more than a third of the match, making this weekend’s xG tally their lowest on record in a home game or without having a man sent off.

“That hurts massively,” manager Thomas Frank said after Saturday’s defeat. “I have never been in charge of a team that has created that little in one game.”

xG isn’t for everyone. Interim Celtic manager Martin O’Neill recently called it “total nonsense.” The main criticism of xG appears to be that there is nothing to learn from it. “Some people just use these words to try to sound clever,” O’Neill continued.

Being data people, we’re never going to agree with the Celtic boss, and what’s more, on this occasion as much as ever, we believe there is an awful lot to glean from the numbers. So, with the aim of both sounding (very) clever and analysing just how bad Tottenham were on Saturday, here we are asking what Tottenham’s xG of 0.10 tells us.

The headline fact is that if Spurs finished their chances in line with xG – at the average rate at which goals are scored in the competitions on which the xG model is based – Spurs could have played out this exact performance against Chelsea 10 times before they created enough chances to score a goal. In other words, if they’d carried on playing exactly as they were, they would have needed 900 minutes to find the net. That’s 15 hours of football. Or just under two-thirds of a day.

Chelsea, meanwhile, racked up chances worth 3.68 xG, meaning they needed just 24 minutes and 27 seconds to create chances worth 1.00 xG – or a goal’s worth of chances. In reality, they needed just over 33 minutes to actually score what turned out to be the winning goal, and Spurs had goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, who made eight saves, to thank for the final score being even the slightest bit respectable.

No team have managed to create as little in a Premier League game this season as Spurs did on Saturday. Their 0.1 xG is lower than newly promoted teams Leeds and Burnley created against Arsenal, who could break the Premier League record for fewest goals conceded in a season. It’s lower than Sunderland managed in either half against Aston Villa and they were reduced to 10 men after half an hour.

Looking further back in the history books, it doesn’t get much better for Spurs or Frank.

There have been 5,039 Premier League matches played since the start of the 2012-13 season (the time for which xG data is available). That gives 10,078 team totals in games (each match has two teams) in that 13-year period. Only 37 – or 0.004% – have produced less than 0.1 xG.

Of those 37, 27 were away from home, and the vast majority were teams who had either just been promoted or would go on to be relegated that season. Many of the others were facing peak Pep-Guardiola-era Manchester City.

It’s true that Tottenham haven’t created freely under Frank all season, particularly in open play, and so far, other than creating a bit of disgruntlement among the fans, it hasn’t really hurt them very much. Even after this dreadful performance, they are still fifth in the table, just two points off City in second.

They have overperformed compared to their xG more than any other team in the Premier League this season, scoring 6.8 more goals (17) than their xG (10.2).

But given they can no longer rely on the world-class finishing of players like Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, and are instead creating chances for the likes of Mohammed Kudus, Richarlison and João Palhinha – the Spurs players with the most shots this season. Doing so was never going to be sustainable. Against Chelsea, that lack of creativity was exposed brutally, and with grim results.

There are some counterpoints that are worth considering, including some of the limitations of xG models. xG doesn’t take into account periods of sustained possession deep in opposition territory or good moves that get close to goal but don’t actually end in a shot. A ball fizzed across the face of goal that a striker misses by an inch gets no xG value, for example. It doesn’t always tell the full story.

But anyone who watched Tottenham play Chelsea could tell you that the stats didn’t lie. Spurs were awful. Even at set-pieces, from which Spurs have been pretty reliable under Frank, they carried almost no threat. They couldn’t make any of their six corners count. Not one of them led to a single opening or even a moment where a goal looked at all possible.

However, it is worth mentioning the mitigating factors that Spurs and Frank can point to.

He is new to the club, and everyone there is still getting used to each other. Since becoming manager, Frank has – quite understandably – prioritised fixing Spurs’ leaky defence, which was such a huge problem under predecessor Ange Postecoglou, and the result has been some level of compromise at the other end of the pitch.

Spurs aren’t scoring goals or creating chances anything like as reliably as last season, but they are also much, much more solid at the back. They have the third best defensive record in the Premier League this season, and have lost 30% of their Premier League games, compared to 57.9% last season.

There is also a lengthy injury list. Many of those who are fit and available are either new to the club or to regular first-team football there, while many of the injured players would walk straight into the team. Nine players are confirmed as absent for Tuesday’s Champions League tie with FC Copenhagen, and two more are doubtful with knocks.

All that said, there is no excusing how bad Spurs were. Three shots, all from Kudus, all from positions where he was extremely unlikely to score, is a damning state of affairs, whatever the circumstances.

It’s not quite, as we stated in this week’s knee-jerk reactions column, time to rip everything up and get rid of Frank, but this terrible display needs to be left in the past. Spurs must do much, much better than this, or there’ll be little defending Frank.