Opta Analyst

João Pedro scored the only goal of the game as Chelsea beat their old Premier League rival. Check out the best facts and Opta data from the game in our Tottenham vs Chelsea stats page.

João Pedro’s first goal since August earned Chelsea all three points at Tottenham Hotspur as Enzo Maresca’s men saw out a 1-0 win on Saturday.

Superb work from Moisés Caicedo in the 34th minute at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to win the ball twice before setting up his teammate was all the Blues needed against a Spurs side who looked uninspired in the final third themselves.

Thomas Frank’s side mustered just three shots and one on target all game, the fewest they have had in any game this season.

Their xG total of 0.05 was Spurs’ lowest on record (since 2012-13) in a Premier League game, in their 504th game in the competition in that time.

Tottenham had the chance to go second with a draw or win, but remain in third place behind Bournemouth and leaders Arsenal, while Chelsea move up to fourth and go level on points with Spurs (17).

There was a blow for the home side early on when Lucas Bergvall was forced after taking a knock to the head, being replaced by Xavi Simons.

There wasn’t much action in front of goal in the early stages of the game, though, with the first non-blocked shot from either team not coming until Reece James fired well over from distance in the 19th minute.

João Pedro should have put Chelsea ahead just after the half-hour mark when Pedro Porro gave the ball away, but Guglielmo Vicario denied the Brazilian, while Mohammed Kudus fired Spurs’ first shot of the game over the bar from the edge of the Chelsea box moments later.

João Pedro would not be denied just a few minutes later, though, with Caicedo doing well to win the ball from Micky van de Ven for Chelsea on the edge of the Tottenham penalty area, before finding his teammate for a simple finish.

It was far from the first sloppy mistake made by the hosts this season; only Wolves (4) have made more errors leading to opposition goals in the Premier League in 2025-26 than Tottenham (3).

João Pedro could have had another when he got on the end of a cross from Malo Gusto, but Vicario tipped his first-time shot over the bar.

Kudus forced a save from Robert Sánchez in first-half stoppage time with what was Spurs’ only shot on target, but the hosts trailed at the break. That didn’t bode well as Tottenham had failed to win any of their previous 15 games when trailing at half time in the Premier League, losing 13 of them (D2).

On the other hand, no side have dropped more points from losing positions than Chelsea in the Premier League this season (eight, alongside Brentford), so anything was possible.

Chelsea continued to press Spurs high in the second half, with João Pedro dispossessing Kevin Danso in his own box, but Pedro Neto’s resulting shot was straight at Vicario.

Neto was denied again in the 74th minute, before James directed a shot over the bar.

Boos rang down from the stands as the hosts dallied over hitting a deep free-kick into Chelsea’s half in stoppage time, and Frank’s men almost paid for it as the visitors countered, but Jamie Gittens fired over after being set up for a glorious chance by João Pedro.

Chelsea did see out the win, though, and the most alarming thing for Spurs will be how little threat there ever was to this game being anything other than an away win.

Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Tottenham vs Chelsea 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 Chelsea Selected Post-Match Facts

Chelsea have lost just one of their last 18 games against Tottenham in all competitions (W14 D3), winning each of the last five in a row since a 2-0 loss in February 2023.

Tottenham have won just three of their last 19 home Premier League games (D4 L12), with no ever-present side winning fewer home matches during this period (since 10 November 2024 – level with West Ham).

João Pedro’s winner for Chelsea ended his goalless run of 705 minutes across all competitions, netting for the first time since August against Fulham.

We look ahead to Wednesday’s EFL Cup fourth round match at St. James’ Park with our Newcastle vs Tottenham prediction and preview. Will the Magpies progress as they seek to defend their crown?

Newcastle vs Tottenham: The Key Stats

The Opta supercomputer rates Newcastle United as having a 51.7% chance of winning the match inside 90 minutes.

The Magpies have won five of their last six games against Tottenham Hotspur in all competitions

Joelinton has scored more goals against Spurs than any other opponent for the Magpies (four).

We’ve reached the fourth round of the Carabao Cup for 2025-26, with holders Newcastle United welcoming Tottenham Hotspur for an all-Premier League clash. Eddie Howe’s side obviously have a good record in this competition, but this stage has often tripped up defending champions in recent times.

The holders of the League Cup have exited the competition in round four in three of the last four seasons. Liverpool were the exception last year when they reached the final, losing, of course, to Newcastle. The Magpies also knocked Manchester United out at this stage in 2023-24 to gain a modicum of revenge for their defeat in the final the season before.

The two prior holders (Liverpool and Manchester City) were beaten in round four on penalties, so could we be set for something similar on Wednesday evening?

If we do, it will be a break from the recent head-to-head history between these clubs. None of the last eight meetings have been drawn, with the last such match a 2-2 tie in the north east in 2021. Excluding games played behind closed doors, you must go back a decade further to find a draw between Newcastle and Spurs.

There was a League Cup tie in between, one that Newcastle would rather forget. The previous meeting in this competition ended in a 4-0 Tottenham win at White Hart Lane in 2014. The goals came from four different scorers too, with Nabil Bentaleb, Nacer Chadli, Harry Kane and Roberto Soldado all on the score sheet.

Newcastle’s form is such that you would assume this match will be considerably closer. They have scored 13 goals and conceded five in their last six games in all competitions, claiming the first goal in all but one of those matches.

Tottenham’s chances are not helped by a lengthy injury list. At the time of writing, Spurs have nine players unavailable, the most of any club in the Premier League. Their treatment room is currently housing Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison, Cristian Romero and Dominic Solanke, among others.

Thomas Frank has enjoyed relatively little success in cup competitions in England, albeit expectations will be higher with Spurs than they were at Brentford. He took the Bees to the semi-finals of this competition in 2021, where they were beaten by Tottenham, funnily enough. Any Spurs fans looking for positive omens might like to know that the Bees had knocked Newcastle out in the previous round.

Spurs have also progressed from each of their last four fourth round ties in the League Cup since losing 3-2 to West Ham in 2017-18.

There are few tougher teams to face in the League Cup than Newcastle these days, though. They have won each of their last seven matches in the competition, with Liverpool in 1995 the last side to win eight or more (11).

Howe’s side will have a few players missing, mostly in defence. Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento are out, while Sven Botman is a doubt after going off with a head injury against Fulham on Saturday, though his manager confirmed it was not a concussion. Yoane Wissa remains sidelined, so will not make his Newcastle debut against his former Brentford boss.

Newcastle will at least have their lucky charm, both for this competition and these opponents. Joelinton has been directly involved in nine goals in 18 starts in the League Cup (six goals, three assists). The Brazilian has also scored more goals against Spurs than any other opponent for the Magpies (four). The Newcastle midfielder could prove the difference in what should be an entertaining contest.

Newcastle vs Tottenham Head-to-Head

This head-to-head has largely been in favour of Newcastle in recent times after a long stretch of Tottenham dominance.

Newcastle have won five of their last six games against Spurs in all competitions (L1). This run comes after only winning four and drawing two of their 16 prior meetings with Spurs.

Newcastle won the last game between them 2-1 in north London. The Magpies came from behind thanks to goals from Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak.

Eddie Howe’s side won by the same score when the teams last met at St. James’ Park in September 2024. Isak scored the winner in that match too. Whatever happened to him?

Newcastle vs Tottenham Prediction

The home side have slightly better than coin-flip odds of winning the tie in normal time.

Newcastle United won the match after 90 minutes in 51.7% of the Opta supercomputer’s 10,000 simulations of the game.

The other possible outcomes are rated as almost equally likely. There is a 24.6% chance that the match is drawn and therefore goes to penalties, with the remaining 23.7% allotted to a Tottenham win after 90 mins.

On which side will the coin land here?

Opta Power Rankings

The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 13,000 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 Wednesday, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.

Tottenham could have gone second in the Premier League but fell short on Sunday. Re-live the action with the best facts and Opta data in our Tottenham vs Aston Villa stats page.

Tottenham’s miserable recent record at home shows little sign of improving after they were beaten 2-1 by Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday.

Spurs went into the match at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium having won just three of their previous 17 home league games – the defeat made it 11 losses from 18 top-flight matches on their own patch.

The game had started so promisingly as well; an early opener put Tottenham in charge, but they showed little to suggest they’d extend their lead before Morgan Rogers equalised exquisitely with his first goal of the season.

Villa completed the turnaround in the 77th minute through substitute Emi Buendía, ensuring Thomas Frank’s Unai Emery hoodoo continued, with the Dane still yet to win in their six Premier League meetings.

But more importantly, Spurs missed out on the chance to go second in the Premier League, while Villa firmly put their shaky start to the season behind them.

Despite the outcome, Villa appeared at sea initially. Their task quickly went up a few difficulty notches as Spurs scored their quickest Premier League goal of the season, taking the lead with four minutes and 38 seconds on the clock.

It was an unlikely combination, too. Mohammed Kudus’ deep cross from the left after Villa could only partially clear a corner was devilish and found João Palhinha at the back post, his header teeing up an easy finish for Rodrigo Bentancur.

That was in keeping with Villa’s slow starts this term, with their three goals conceded in the opening 15 minutes of matches the most in the Premier League. Simiarly, Thomas Frank’s teams have scored six goals in the opening five minutes of league games since the start of last season, more than any other manager.

But Spurs’ fast start was hardly an indicator of dominant first half for the hosts.

Neither side offered a great deal until Villa equalised almost out of nothing in the 37th minute. Rogers benefited from his misplaced pass coming back off Xavi Simons, and he subsequently sidestepped the Dutchman before firing home spectacularly from 25 yards.

The England international had come in for some stick for his club form this term, but it was a timely reminder of what he’s capable of and ended a 20-match run in all competitions without a goal.

Spurs began to show signs of exerting some control after the interval, with 56.2% of the action taking place in Villa’s defensive third in first 15 minutes of the second half.

But the only Spurs player who went anywhere close to restoring their lead was Palhinha, the defensive midfielder seeing an effort tipped around the post by Emiliano Martínez.

That Palhinha effort was the only shot on target in the 30 minutes that followed the break – the next was decisive, though.

Lucas Digne brilliantly brought down a long pass on the right flank, flicked the ball to Buendía and the Argentinian coolly placed a left-footed attempt into the bottom-left corner.

For a player who last season appeared surplus to requirements at Villa, that took him to three goals in his last four appearances for the club, as many as he managed in his prior 44 outings.

And there was little hint of Spurs battling back.

There’d been a growing sense that Spurs’ impressive start to the campaign rather flattered them, and this performance will hardly dispel such opinions.

Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Tottenham vs Aston Villa 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 Aston Villa Stats: Post-Match Facts

Aston Villa have won four of their last six Premier League away games against Tottenham Hotspur (L2), more than their previous 21 beforehand (W3 D5 L13).

In his 160 Premier League games as a manager, Aston Villa’s Unai Emery has seen his sides both score and concede in 101 of them, a ratio of 63%. This is the highest proportion of the 80 managers to take charge of 100+ Premier League matches.

With just four points in four home Premier League games this season (W1 D1 L2), this is Tottenham’s poorest home start to a league campaign since 2008-09, when they had one point from their opening four at home.

Aston Villa enjoyed their first Premier League away win after falling behind in exactly a year (since Oct 19th, 2024 v Fulham), having lost 10 of their previous 11 away league games in which they trailed before today (D1).

Since the start of last season, Tottenham Hotspur have dropped more points from winning positions at home in the Premier League (19) than any other side, losing five times after leading at home in the division in this time, also a league-high tally.

We look ahead to Sunday’s Premier League game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with our Tottenham vs Aston Villa prediction and preview. Will Thomas Frank finally beat Unai Emery?

Tottenham vs Aston Villa: The Key Stats

This match is almost too close to call for the Opta supercomputer, but Tottenham are just given the edge, winning 38.4% of the pre-match simulations.

Thomas Frank has never beaten Unai Emery’s Aston Villa in five previous attempts (D2 L3).

Villa have won four of their last six Premier League games against Spurs (L2).

Thomas Frank has not enjoyed much success against Unai Emery in the past, but Tottenham’s clash against Aston Villa this weekend is an opportunity for him to change that.

Spurs are currently third in the Premier League table after seven games, but a win against Villa could see them go top if both Arsenal and Liverpool drop points against Fulham and Manchester United, respectively.

However, getting a win against Emery is far easier said than done for Frank, who is yet to taste victory against the Spaniard in the English top flight.

Frank has never beaten Emery’s Villa side in the Premier League in five attempts (D2 L3, all with Brentford). It’s the most times he’s faced an opposing manager in the competition without ever winning.

In addition to that, Frank has only won once in his previous eight league games against Villa, his joint-lowest win percentage against a side in the competition (12.5%).

Emery, on the other hand, has lost just two of his nine Premier League games against Spurs (W5 D2), only boasting more league wins for the Villans against Fulham (6) than Tottenham (4).

And to make things even harder for Frank, Villa have rediscovered their winning form ahead of their trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The Villans won four consecutive games heading into the international break, beating Burnley and Fulham in the league while also defeating Feyenoord and Bologna to start their Europa League campaign.

After failing to win any of their opening five league games this season (D3 L2), Villa have won their last two. Since the beginning of March, only Manchester City have enjoyed more Premier League wins (11) than Emery’s team (10).

But Frank and Spurs should not be overly concerned about the challenge ahead, especially with the clinical nature of his attack.

Tottenham have scored 13 goals (including one own goal) from an expected goals (xG) tally of 7.5 in the Premier League this season, the biggest overperformance of any side (+5.5). Indeed, their shot conversion rate of 16.9% is second only to Man City (17.4%).

Their 13 goals have come from eight different scorers, a tally only bettered by Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion (9) after seven games.

Mohammed Kudus, their most recent goalscorer, has impressed for Spurs this season following his move from rivals West Ham. The Ghana international has completed 30 dribbles in the Premier League this season, with no other player completing 20 or more.

Kudus has completed 246 dribbles in his 72 Premier League appearances overall. The only player to record 250+ successful dribbles within his first 73 games on Opta’s records in the competition (from 2006-07) is Allan Saint-Maximin (250 in first 58).

Spurs have also strengthened in the set-piece department under Frank, something that could prove to be vital against their next opponents.

A quarter (25%) of Villa’s shots in the Premier League this season have been from corner situations (19/76); only West Ham (26%) have a higher ratio.

Indeed, only Arsenal (26) and Chelsea (22) have registered more efforts from corners overall than Emery’s side (19).

However, Villa’s recent upturn in results has coincided with Morgan Rogers’ positive form, a player Spurs will need to keep an eye on.

Rogers provided assists in their wins against Fulham and Burnley, while he also found the net in England’s 3-0 win against Wales during the international break.

Rogers has assisted more goals in the Premier League in 2025 (nine) than any other player, but he has never recorded one in three successive Premier League appearances before.

The 23-year-old also directly contributed to two of Villa’s three goals against Spurs in the league last season (one goal, one assist).

Both sides also boast a strong record when playing after an international break.

Since the start of the 2023-24 season, Spurs have won six of their nine Premier League games immediately following the international break (L3), including a 3-0 win against West Ham earlier this season.

Villa, meanwhile, have won eight of their last 10 league games that have come on the matchday after an international break (D2), including an away win against Spurs in November 2023.

The hosts are still without James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Yves Bissouma, Ben Davies and Dominic Solanke, who are all injured. Randal Kolo Muani could be close to his Premier League debut, though, after playing 45 minutes in a behind-closed-doors friendly last week following a dead leg he suffered in the Champions League win over Villarreal.

Villa will be relieved that the leg injury sustained by Ollie Watkins in England’s friendly win over Wales doesn’t appear to be serious, with Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel suggesting he might be available for this one.

Tottenham vs Aston Villa Head-to-Head

None of the last 20 Premier League matches between Spurs and Villa have ended in a draw (14 Spurs wins, six Villa wins) since a 1-1 stalemate in May 2012.

Only two fixtures in the competition’s history have ever had more successive games without a draw: Newcastle vs Spurs (21 from Aug 1999 to Dec 2010) and Chelsea vs Crystal Palace (26 from Sep 1997 to Feb 2024).

Villa have won four of their last six Premier League games against Spurs (L2), as many as their previous 29 beforehand (D7 L18).

Tottenham vs Aston Villa Prediction

After running 10,000 simulations of this match, the Opta supercomputer expects a tight contest between the two at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Spurs have been given a 38.4% chance of victory, while Villa have a 35.1% probability of extending their winning run in the league to three games.

A draw has been given a likelihood of 26.5%, and given Spurs’ recent home form, Villa will fancy their chances of leaving the capital with something.

Tottenham have won just three of their last 17 Premier League home games (D4 L10). Indeed, since the first game of this run (November 2024 vs Ipswich Town), no ever-present side has lost more home games (10) or picked up fewer home points (13) in the competition than Spurs.

Tottenham vs Aston Villa Predicted Lineups

Tottenham: Guglielmo Vicario, Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie, Rodrigo Bentancur, João Palhinha, Mohammed Kudus, Xavi Simons, Wilson Odobert, Mathys Tel.

Head coach: Thomas Frank

Aston Villa: Emiliano Martínez, Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres, Lucas Digne, Lamare Bogarde, Boubacar Kamara, John McGinn, Morgan Rogers, Donyell Malen, Ollie Watkins.

Head coach: Unai Emery

Opta Power Rankings

The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system that assigns an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams 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.

Tottenham defeated Leeds 2-1 thanks to goals from Mathys Tel and Mohammed Kudus to end a year-long unbeaten league home run for the Whites.

Goals from Mathys Tel and Mohammed Kudus gave Tottenham Hotspur all three points at Elland Road as they won 2-1 to condemn Leeds United to their first home league defeat in over year.

Not since a 1-0 defeat to Burnley on 15 September 2024 had Daniel Farke’s side lost in front of their own fans in league competition, but that 23-game run came to an end thanks to a goal in each half from Spurs.

Having won their last two Premier League trips to Elland Road, Spurs knew a win in this game would see them win three successive trips there in league competition for the first time in their history.

They got off to an ideal start in the 23rd minute, with Tel scoring his first goal for Tottenham since April. The Frenchman still had work to do after receiving the ball on the half-turn from Kudus, but Leeds’ high line allowed him to run into space before entering the box and firing the effort at goal. His shot – only his third touch of the game – was powerful but took a deflection off the shin of Pascal Struijk to spin past Karl Darlow.

That goal kept up Tottenham’s astonishing run without a goalless draw in the Premier League. Not since April 2022, against Thomas Frank’s Brentford side, have they drawn a match 0-0 in the competition, 126 games ago.

The lead lasted 11 minutes before Noah Okafor deservedly levelled the scores. The Whites’ summer signing from AC Milan scored his second goal in the Premier League from a couple of yards out after Guglielmo Vicario had parried Brenden Aaronson’s shot into his path.

Tel came close to adding a second goal in first half added time, with Wilson Odobert doing well wide on the left before hooking in a cross towards the 20-year-old who powered a header against the bar.

After assisting their first goal, Kudus put Spurs back in front 12 minutes into the second half with his first goal for the club after his £55 million move from West Ham in the summer. Capitalising on a mistake from Gabriel Gudmundsson, the Ghanaian came inside off the right wing to fire past Darlow from outside the box.

Much of the final half hour of the game was spent with Leeds attacking and the ball inside the Tottenham half, but the London club saw out the game without too much difficulty, bar a smart save from Vicario in added time after Joël Piroe found space to shoot.

While some doubts have been raised about how convincing Tottenham have been under Frank so far, the final whistle temporarily took them up to second place in the Premier League table with 14 points from seven games as we head into the second international break of 2025-26. Ten of those points have come in their four away games, just seven shy of their entire away points total from last season under Ange Postecoglou (17 in 19 games).

Only time will tell if this Spurs side can stake a serious claim for a top-four finish, but it’s been a promising start for their new boss.

Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Leeds vs Tottenham stats from their Premier League meeting at Elland Road.

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.

Leeds 1-2 Tottenham Post-Match Facts

Tottenham Hotspur have won three of their opening four away Premier League games this season (D1), as many as in their final 13 away league games of last season under Ange Postecoglou (W3 D1 L9).

Tottenham have recorded their first Premier League win following a game in major European competition since February last season against Brentford (2-0), ending a run of eight matches without a victory (D3 L5).

Mohammed Kudus completed all six of his dribbles against Leeds United, the best 100% rate by a Tottenham Hotspur player in a Premier League game since Tanguy Ndombélé against Aston Villa in March 2021 (also 6/6).

Since the start of 2022-23, Tottenham Hotspur’s Mathys Tel is one of six players to have scored at least 15 goals in Europe’s big five leagues while aged 20 and under, netting his first in the Premier League since April last season against Wolves, ending a run of 10 appearances in the competition without a goal.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Mohammed Kudus scored and assisted in the same Premier League game for only the second time, previously doing so in March 2024 against Newcastle United.

We look ahead to Saturday’s Premier League game at the AMEX Stadium between Brighton and Tottenham Hotspur with our prediction and preview. Can Spurs continue their momentum despite a tough fixture in midweek?

Brighton vs Tottenham: The Key Stats

Despite Tottenham’s strong start, the Opta supercomputer regards Brighton as favourites in this match, with the Seagulls coming out on top in 47.4% of simulations.

Brighton completed a Premier League double over Tottenham for the first time last season.

Only two sides have attempted more crosses in the Premier League this term than Tottenham (89), with their three goals from crosses the most of any side.

Tottenham have had a stronger start to life under new manager Thomas Frank than many fans would have expected, winning four out of five matches and conceding only one goal in all competitions since their league campaign started.

Spurs found a way to dig in and grind out results towards the end of last season under Ange Postecoglou, a switch in mentality that was key in their victorious Europa League campaign.

Frank has since taken it up a notch and the Spurs of this season feel barely recognisable to Postecoglou’s outfit, appearing more cohesive in defence than they do in attack.

This was hinted at by Frank himself in his post-match interview with SPURSPLAY after his side eked out a victory against Villarreal on Tuesday in the Champions League.

“Very happy with the win, very happy with three points, very happy with the clean sheet, very happy with how we defended throughout the game. We gave very little away,” he said.

“Obviously the offensive side of the game was not as free-flowing. It seems like we weren’t in sync, and we lost some easy balls, touches, passes.”

A trip to the AMEX Stadium to face Brighton will not be an easy task, especially having played what became an arduous encounter against Villarreal, and Frank will surely make changes, possibly introducing João Palhinha and Destiny Udogie, with Brennan Johnson also hopeful of coming back into the side.

Spurs lost both of their league games against Brighton last season, but more relevant is the fact they have won both of their away league games this season without conceding a goal. They haven’t won three consecutive league matches on their travels since November 2020 under José Mourinho.

Brighton themselves have only lost one of their last 10 home games in the Premier League, while their most recent outing at the AMEX saw them defeat Manchester City despite trailing with a third of the game to go.

The Seagulls’ high press will no doubt be a factor in this match, even more so given they are better-rested than Spurs, having a full week between this match and their last.

Brighton have the lowest PPDA in the Premier League this season (9.5), meaning they allow their opponents fewer passes than any other side for each defensive action they make.

They turn these successful pressing situations into genuinely threatening attacks too, attempting the most shots in the league this season following high turnovers (8).

Nevertheless, Brighton’s start to 2025-26 has been somewhat underwhelming, winning just one of their first four Premier League matches.

This hasn’t stopped Yankuba Minteh catching the eye on the right wing, however.

The Gambian has the highest take-on success rate among players with 10+ attempted in the Premier League this season (65% – 13/20), while only Oscar Bobb (10) has recorded more take-ons in the opposition’s box than Minteh’s six.

Brighton may be able to bring Mats Wieffer back into the fold following a knee injury, but they will still be without Jack Hinshelwood, Maxim De Cuyper and Adam Webster, with the latter expected to miss most of the season.

Yves Bissouma could be in contention for Spurs again. Dominic Solanke, Radu Dragusin and Dejan Kulusevski remain absent, while James Maddison is out for the long term.

Brighton vs Tottenham Head-to-Head

Brighton completed a Premier League double over Tottenham last season, the only time they have ever won back-to-back league meetings with Spurs.

Tottenham have lost away to Brighton in both of the last two league seasons but have never lost three successive visits before.

Spurs boss Frank lost his first two Premier League meetings with Brighton in the 2021-22 season, but he’s only lost one of his last six against the Seagulls (W2 D3), all while manager of Brentford.

Brighton vs Tottenham Prediction

In what may be a surprise to some, the Opta supercomputer frames Brighton as favourites for this match, with the Seagulls winning in 47.4% of the 10,000 simulations.

Tottenham’s chances of winning are down at 26.4%, according to our simulations, while the likelihood of a draw sits at 26.2%.

Brighton vs Tottenham Predicted Lineups

Brighton & Hove Albion: Bart Verbruggen, Joël Veltman, Jan Paul van Hecke, Lewis Dunk, Ferdi Kadioglu, Carlos Baleba, Yasin Ayari, Yankuba Minteh, Georginio Rutter, Kaoru Mitoma, Danny Welbeck.

Head coach: Fabian Hürzeler

Tottenham Hotspur: Guglielmo Vicario, Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Djed Spence, Pape Matar Sarr, João Palhinha, Lucas Bergvall, Mohammed Kudus, Mathys Tel, Xavi Simons.

Head coach: Thomas Frank

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 this weekend, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.

Can Thomas Frank win his first UEFA Champions League game? We look ahead to Tuesday’s clash with our Tottenham vs Villarreal prediction and preview.

Tottenham vs Villarreal: The Key Stats

Tottenham opened their UEFA Champions League campaign with a victory against Villarreal in 48.3% of pre-match simulations by the Opta supercomputer.

Villarreal have failed to win in all 14 of their attempts against English sides in this competition.

Spurs have only won two of their seven opening games of a European Cup/Champions League campaign.

Thomas Frank will hope to celebrate his first taste of Champions League football with a win when Tottenham host Villarreal in their opening European showdown.

Saturday’s 3-0 victory over West Ham made it three victories in four Premier League games for Frank, though Tuesday’s encounter will bring an entirely new challenge for the Spurs boss.

Frank’s only previous European experience as a manager came in Europa League qualifying with former club Brøndby IF. The Danish boss won just three of 10 matches in Europe (D4 L3) before moving to Brentford in 2018.

Spurs have not featured in the Champions League since the 2022-23 campaign. The Premier League side qualified for this edition after winning the Europa League last season under Ange Postecoglou, who was subsequently sacked.

Tottenham will need new heroes in attack. Departed duo Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, with 37 Champions League goals between them for Spurs, account for 42% of Tottenham’s 89 goals in this competition since 1992-93.

Richarlison could be one forward to step up. The Brazilian’s two Champions League goals for Tottenham make him the only current player in the squad to have scored more than once for the club in the competition.

Loanee Randal Kolo Muani may take on some of that attacking burden too as he prepares to feature for a fourth different team in the Champions League since the start of 2022-23. Having previously appeared for Eintracht Frankfurt, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus, no active Champions League player has played for as many as four different teams in this period.

The French forward’s former team, Eintracht, as well as defending champions and parent club PSG, are among what Opta’s Power Rankings classed as the easiest draw of any side in the eight-game league phase for Spurs.

Starting strong may be key to progressing, though Spurs have only won their opening game of a European Cup/Champions League campaign in two of their seven attempts (D2 L3).

However, both such victories have come in the last two campaigns when they have played their opener at home. They beat Marseille 2-0 in 2022-23 and managed a 3-1 win in 2017-18 against Borussia Dortmund, who they will again host in the 2025-26 league phase.

Villarreal, who finished fifth in last season’s La Liga, have not featured in this competition since reaching the 2021-22 semi-finals, where they lost 5-2 on aggregate against Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool.

In doing so, they became the seventh different Spanish team to reach the last four in a European Cup/Champions League campaign, after Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Barcelona, Real Sociedad, Valencia, and Deportivo de La Coruña.

Spurs will have to watch out for a familiar face, too, with Juan Foyth returning to north London in Villarreal colours. Foyth remains Tottenham’s youngest player to start a home game in this competition, having made his Champions League debut aged 19 years and 328 days against APOEL Nicosia in December 2017.

Further forward, Georges Mikautadze‘s arrival has added firepower to Marcelino’s frontline. The Georgian striker has been directly involved in seven goals in eight starts in major European competition (four goals, three assists), with all of those coming for Lyon in the Europa League last season.

Mikautadze made his debut in a 2-0 defeat to Atlético on Saturday, though fellow striker Gerard Moreno missed that La Liga clash through injury. Logan Costa, Willy Kambwala and Pau Cabanes are also sidelined.

There is no change for Spurs, who will again be without James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Radu Dragusin, Dominic Solanke and Yves Bissouma. New signing Xavi Simons marked his debut at West Ham with an assist on Saturday, and will expect another start here.

Tottenham vs Villarreal Head-to-Head

This will be the first meeting between these two sides in European competition, though Spurs have won just one of their last 13 such encounters against Spanish opposition (D5 L7).

That being said, Villarreal have faced English opponents on 14 separate occasions in European competition and are still waiting for their first victory (D6 L8).

In fact, Villarreal have lost their last seven fixtures against teams from England in this competition, and over half of their Champions League defeats have come against such opposition (57% – 8/14).

However, Marcelino’s side have managed to draw both opening games of a Champions League campaign against English sides. They shared goalless draws with Manchester United in both 2005-06 and 2008-09.

Tottenham vs Villarreal Prediction

The Opta supercomputer heavily favoured a home win as Tottenham claimed all three points in 50.0% of 10,000 pre-match simulations.

Villarreal’s victory chance was rated at 25.3%, while the draw was slightly less likely in 24.7% of data-led sims.

Tottenham vs Villarreal Predicted Lineups

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

Head Coach: Thomas Frank

Villarreal: Luiz Júnior, Santiago Mouriño, Juan Foyth, Rafa Marín, Sergi Cardona, Tajon Buchanan, Santi Comesaña, Pape Gueye, Alberto Moleiro, Nicolas Pépé, Georges Mikautadze.

Head Coach: Marcelino

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.

Tottenham stunned Manchester City once again at the Etihad, striking twice in the first half to secure a 2-0 victory and make it two wins from two under Thomas Frank. Find all the Opta data from the game with our Man City vs Tottenham stats page.

One of Thomas Frank’s greatest assets as a coach is his adaptability. Tottenham have showed it already this season, shifting from a back five in the UEFA Super Cup against PSG – where they played direct and without much of the ball – to a flat back four in their Premier League opener against Burnley, where they dominated possession and ran out 3-0 winners.

Perhaps that’s why it was a little surprising to see Frank set Spurs up with a back four away at Manchester City, but for the vast majority of the game at the Etihad, they looked supremely comfortable.

Their flexibility under Frank was summed up in their opening goal. Comfortable enough to build from the back for much of the first half, they instead went direct on this occasion. A long ball forward was flicked on by Pape Sarr into Richarlison, who squared for Brennan Johnson to slide home. Tottenham have now scored the first goal in each of their last five Premier League trips to the Etihad, winning two of the previous four (D1 L1).

Their chances of adding another victory increased dramatically on the stroke of half-time. A calamitous sequence from a City goal-kick saw James Trafford delay far too long before passing a short ball into Nico González, who was dispossessed by the ever-influential Sarr. Joao Palhinha pounced on the loose ball to fire Spurs into a two-goal lead.

In doing so, Spurs became the first side to score 2+ goals in five consecutive top-flight away games against City since Sunderland (1980–2000).

It was also only the sixth time under Pep Guardiola that City have trailed a Premier League home game by two or more goals at half-time, with Spurs now responsible for half of those occasions (3/6), including three of the last four (January 2023 and November 2024).

In a subdued first 45 minutes for City, Omar Marmoush was the one player who threatened to break the game open. Lively and direct on the left, he stood out as City’s most dangerous attacker. His best chance came in the 28th minute, when Erling Haaland powered through midfield and split the Spurs defence to release the Egyptian, only for Vicario to spread himself well to make the save. Marmoush ended the half with three of City’s four shots.

Despite City seeing much of the ball after the break, Spurs were comfortable without it. Djed Spence and Porro handled the wide threat with assurance, while Palhinha was combative in front of the back four, putting in the tackles and blocks that have quickly become his trademark. He finished with more tackles (4) and duels won (8) than any other Spurs player.

It was Tottenham, in fact, who looked the more likely to extend their lead. Richarlison remained lively in the City box, particularly from crosses, while Guardiola’s side struggled to fashion anything of note. Their second-half attacking output is summed up by the expect goals race chart: basically flat.

Not even the introduction of Rodri could spark them into life. The Spaniard’s header from a corner in the 76th minute was City’s first shot on target since Marmoush’s effort in the 28th minute. In total, Guardiola’s side managed just five efforts after the interval.

Spurs were by far the more deserving winners. Their organisation and work rate off the ball was impressive and they took their chances ruthlessly in the first half. Frank will take particular satisfaction from the control his side exerted in both phases of the game.

Spurs have now won their opening two matches of a Premier League campaign for the first time since 2021-22, which was also the last time a Spurs manager began his tenure with back-to-back victories (Nuno Espírito Santo).

For Guardiola, it was another bruising evening against a familiar foe. This was his 10th career defeat to Tottenham – the joint-most he has suffered against any opponent, level with Liverpool.

Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Man City vs Tottenham stats from their Premier League meeting at the Etihad 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.

Man City vs Tottenham: Post-Match Opta Facts

Tottenham Hotspur are only the second side to win away to a Pep Guardiola managed team in back-to-back league seasons, after Manchester United, who achieved the feat in 2019-20/2020-21.

For only the third time in his managerial career, Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola has lost his opening home league game of a season, after 2010-11 with Barcelona (v Hércules) and 2020-21 with Man City (v Leicester).

Having also won with Brentford in November 2022, Tottenham’s Thomas Frank became only the third manager to beat Pep Guardiola away from home in the league with two different clubs, after José Mourinho (Real Madrid & Man Utd) and Antonio Conte (Chelsea & Tottenham).

With six points and a goal difference of +5, this is Tottenham’s best start in their opening two games of a league season when taking both into account since 2014-15 (also 6 points and +5 GD).

Tottenham were the first side ever to score the first goal in five consecutive Premier League away games at the Etihad, and only the second to do so away to Manchester City at all in the competition, after Blackburn from 1993 to 2002.

Paris Saint-Germain stunned Tottenham with a sensational comeback to win the 2025 UEFA Super Cup, securing the title following a penalty shootout in Udine. Look back at the game and analyse the Opta data on our PSG vs Tottenham stats page.

Paris Saint-Germain sensationally sealed another piece of European silverware, following a dramatic penalty shootout win over reigning Europa League winners Tottenham Hotspur in the UEFA Super Cup.

Despite being 2-0 down with only five minutes remaining, PSG did what great sides do and found a way back into the game. After an exciting 2-2 draw in 90 minutes, the game went straight to a penalty shootout – the fourth UEFA Super Cup decided via a shootout in seven years.

Misses from Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven and Mathys Tel in that shootout handed PSG a UEFA Super Cup victory that looked incredibly unlikely heading into the final stages of the match.

PSG had been second best for the majority of the 90 minutes, with Tottenham looking set to secure another European trophy following May’s success against Manchester United in the Europa League until the final stages.

Both of Spurs’ goals came via unlikely sources, with central defensive pair Van de Ven and Cristian Romero both scoring to give Thomas Frank’s side a 2-0 led, but the Premier League club saw that advantage disappear in the final five minutes of the game thanks to goals from Lee Kang-In and Gonçalo Ramos.

It had been 80 days since Spurs last played a competitive match, while PSG’s participation in the FIFA Club World Cup, in which they reached the final, meant there were only 31 days between that 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in New Jersey and tonight. The majority of the PSG team that played against Spurs in this clash only returned to training a week ago.

Despite most of the possession, the lack of pre-season saw PSG look uncharacteristically sloppy in the opening half hour, with Spurs looking the more dangerous of the two sides – both Richarlison and Rodrigo Bentancur had decent chances to open the scoring.

It wasn’t too much of a surprise that Spurs took the lead on 39 minutes, then, with Dutchman Van de Ven sliding into the back of the net after João Palhinha’s shot was tipped onto the crossbar by PSG’s debutant goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier.

The strike saw Van de Ven score just his fourth goal for Spurs, and his first in all competitions since scoring against Burnley in May 2024.

At half-time, Spurs had managed just 29.8% of the ball but attempted more than double the number of shots (9) than the 2024-25 UCL champions (4), with the French side not attempting a single shot on target.

Spurs sensationally doubled their lead just two minutes and 24 seconds into the second half. A free-kick from Pedro Porro was floated towards the far post, where Romero had peeled away from his marker and the Argentine powered a header past Chevalier to make it 2-0 to the Premier League side.

Just like his defensive partner Van de Ven, it had been a while since Romero had scored for Spurs. This strike was his first for the club in nearly a year, since scoring in a 4-0 win over Everton on 24 August 2024.

PSG started their unlikely comeback with five minutes remaining, as Lee Kang-In scored with a terrific strike on the edge of the box. The South Korean collected the ball 20 yards from goal and sent a powerful shot low into the corner of the net across Guglielmo Vicario and his outstretched hand.

Then midway through six minutes of added time, Ousmane Dembélé’s excellent, powerful cross was headed in by Ramos to level the scores, sending the match to a penalty shootout.

PSG start their Ligue 1 defence on Sunday away at Nantes and based on their lackadaisical performance for much of this match, it could be a tricky encounter for Luis Enrique and his side.

The French side’s shootout success means that 12 of the last 13 editions of the UEFA Super Cup have seen the reigning UEFA Champions League winners end victorious, with the exception being Atlético Madrid’s 4-2 win over Real Madrid in 2018.

Under previous manager Ange Postecoglou, Spurs had suffered more competitive defeats than any other Premier League club in 2025 (16). Despite losing the shootout, this game will go down in the records as a draw. More importantly, this excellent performance against one of the best teams in the world, albeit still rusty after a busy summer, will give their fans reason to be optimistic about what the Thomas Frank era may bring.

Our Opta match centre delivers you all the PSG vs Tottenham stats from their UEFA Super Cup clash at Bluenergy Stadium, Udine.

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.

With Bayern Munich midfielder João Palhinha close to signing for Tottenham Hotspur on loan, we look at why Thomas Frank wants to bring him back to the Premier League.

It was the first ever north London derby to be played outside of England as Arsenal took on Tottenham Hotspur in Hong Kong on Thursday, with Spurs winning 1-0.

Granted, it was only a friendly, if there is such a thing between these two, but it wasn’t just notable for Thomas Frank winning what was technically his first NLD as Spurs manager. He also came up against a man who was his captain just a few weeks ago.

Christian Nørgaard played 68 minutes for his new club Arsenal, having been such an integral part of Frank’s Brentford in recent years. Only Bryan Mbeumo (11,218) played more minutes for Frank in the Premier League than Nørgaard (10,171).

Nobody won possession as many times for Brentford as Nørgaard last season in the league (193), while only centre-back Nathan Collins (63.0%) won a higher percentage of aerial duels (minimum 14 aerial duels contested) than his 61.9%.

It was therefore a little surprising Spurs didn’t try to sign Frank’s compatriot, though perhaps the lure of Arsenal would have been too much in any case. Besides, in Rodrigo Bentancur, Pape Sarr, Yves Bissouma, Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray, Frank has inherited a talented midfield.

None of them necessarily look suited to playing the way Nørgaard did for the Dane’s Brentford side, though, which may well be where João Palhinha comes in.

The Portuguese powerhouse is reportedly on his way back to England. The man who would tackle a double-decker bus if he thought there was a football on it is seemingly returning to the Premier League to join Spurs on a season-long loan from Bayern Munich.

Palhinha made a name for himself in England with his dominant performances in Fulham’s midfield across two seasons between 2022 and 2024, putting up the sort of tackle numbers that made people wonder if he was programmed to do anything else.

In his first Premier League season (2022-23), Palhinha made 148 tackles, an astonishing 48 more than any other player in the division. He also competed in the second-most duels (487), winning 59.1% of them. He won 64.3% of his 112 aerial duels, with only 11 players (100+ aerial duels) winning a greater proportion, and 10 of them were centre-backs. Rodri (68.6% of 105) was the only midfielder to boast a better record.

Palhinha recorded even more tackles the following season (152) despite playing two games fewer (33) than in 2022-23 (35), once again comfortably making the most in the Premier League, 14 more than second-placed João Gomes of Wolves. It was the most tackles tallied by a single player in a Premier League season since N’Golo Kanté’s 175 for Leicester City in 2015-16.

He also competed in the eighth-most duels (425), winning 60.9% of them, including 56.9% of his 72 aerial duels.

With great tackling comes great responsibility, though, and Palhinha had to manage himself in quite a few Fulham games due to his propensity for accruing yellow cards. He received the most yellow cards in the Premier League in 2022-23 (14), equalling the record for most yellows in a PL season, and he nearly hit that mark again in 2023-24 (13). Notably, he was not sent off once, so he was able to avoid a second yellow on all 27 occasions across both campaigns, which does at least suggest some restraint.

His performances for Fulham earned him a move to Bayern last summer for around £47 million after the same transfer collapsed in 2023. But by the time he eventually got his dream switch to Bavaria, the coach who initially wanted him – Thomas Tuchel – had been jettisoned and replaced by Vincent Kompany.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, things haven’t worked out for Palhinha in Germany. He made only six starts in the Bundesliga last season, and 17 league appearances overall.

That therefore meant he couldn’t rack up as many tackles as he had at Fulham, though with Kompany’s Bayern built to dominate the ball, it’s not as if he had all that many opportunities to do so. He still averaged 2.7 tackles per 90, only bettered by one of his teammates in Sacha Boey (3.0 – minimum 500 minutes played).

He was also unable to avoid being sent off in the Bundesliga as he so skilfully managed in England, shown a straight red card in a shock 3-2 home defeat to Bochum in March.

It was clear Kompany wasn’t entirely sold on the 30-year-old even after the club spent so much money on him, though a muscle injury that kept him out for over two months in the middle of the season also didn’t help.

Arguably the main problem for him in Bavaria is one of the same issues Spurs fans have been discussing since links emerged: is Palhinha good enough in possession?

He completed 92.9% of his passes in the Bundesliga last season, with only four Bayern players boasting a higher percentage (minimum 500 passes attempted). That included a team-high 98.4% accuracy in his own half, a respectable 88.6% in the opposition half. However, he completed just 82.2% in the final third, which was lower than 11 of his teammates.

His numbers weren’t as high at Fulham, but then they weren’t as focused on keeping the ball as Bayern. Palhinha had an 82.9% pass completion rate in the 2022-23 Premier League season with the Cottagers, which went up very slightly to 83.0% the following campaign.

You always have to take those overall numbers with a pinch of salt given completing a two-yard backwards pass and completing a 70-yard pass that opens up the entire opposition are rather different, but it also might not even be that important. Frank’s Brentford finished in the top half last season but completed just 80.7% of their passes, with only five teams completing fewer. So, the Spurs boss didn’t seem to be too concerned with completing lots of passes at his former club, caring more about making them count.

That leads us to the big question being asked about Palhinha: can he be incisive with his passing and help his team to open up their opponents?

For this, we’ll look at progressive passes – these are completed open-play passes in the attacking two-thirds of the pitch that move the ball at least 25% closer to the goal.

Only 2.7% of Palhinha’s passes in the Bundesliga last season were progressive (15 of 551); no nominal midfielder who attempted at least 200 passes in the competition in 2024-25 had a smaller proportion of their passes be classed as ‘progressive’.

Perhaps a better comparison would therefore be with Nørgaard, who made 100 progressive passes from 1,418 in the league last season (7.1%), which suggests Palhinha may need to become more adventurous in his passing under Frank, as would any current Spurs midfielder expected to play in that role. That is assuming the Dane wants his new side to play similarly to his old one, which of course we still don’t know for certain.

Where Palhinha is like Nørgaard is in progressive carries, or a lack thereof. The Portugal international averaged only 3.1 progressive carries – movements with the ball that progress play at least five metres upfield – per 90 in the Bundesliga, which was fewer than all other Bayern and Spurs midfielders, but slightly more than Nørgaard (2.7).

It does seem like a no-lose deal for Spurs. They get a player who has Premier League and Champions League experience and can help to break up the opposition’s play in a way few others can. That will likely come in handy against better opponents, having someone who can disrupt opposition attacks regularly and provide more protection to a backline that suffered often last season.

João Palhinha looks like he’s coming back to the Premier League, so you’d better get those shin pads on, lads.