Opta Analyst

Mike Penders’ calamitous own goal and a late strike from Mathys Tel saw Tottenham beat 10-man Chelsea 2-0 in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening.

Cole Palmer saw red as Tottenham Hotspur claimed a deserved 2-0 victory over a dismal Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Spurs had only won one of their last 36 league visits to Chelsea prior to Saturday’s contest, with that triumph coming in 2017-18.

But Roberto De Zerbi’s team ended that run, and claimed their second Premier League win of the campaign, thanks to a calamitous own goal from Mike Penders and Mathys Tel‘s sumptuous late strike.

Palmer’s dismissal, which came between Spurs’ goals, compounded a miserable day for Xabi Alonso, who suffered his first home defeat as Chelsea boss.

Spurs were dominant from the off, though it was not until the 29th minute that they created a clear opening, with Omar Marmoush firing at Penders from Andy Robertson’s cutback.

Penders had to smother Tel’s attempt soon after, but Jordan Henderson forced Antonin Kinsky into a save at the other end.

Pedro Neto forced Kinsky into action before the break, and Spurs were dealt a blow early in the second half as James Maddison was forced off injured.

Former Chelsea man Conor Gallagher came on in his place, and would go on to play a pivotal role, though only after Neto had drawn another stop out of Kinsky following Mateus Fernandes’ error.

But Spurs’ deserved goal arrived in the 77th minute.

Penders, who featured in the absence of Emiliano Martinez, came out to punch Fernandes’ corner, but got it all wrong and instead flapped his attempted clearance back over his own line, with Maxence Lacroix unable to hook it clear.

Chelsea’s misery was compounded when Palmer, nine minutes after he was booked for lashing out at Fernandes, received his second yellow card following a stamp on Gallagher.

Tel then capped off a superb Spurs win, charging through midfield and sending a low, crisp strike into the bottom-left corner from range.

Alonso’s Dismal Day at the Office

While De Zerbi will feel it is finally clicking for his Spurs team, this was a bad, bad day for Alonso, and it showed the work he has to do to get this Chelsea side back to where the club’s fans feel they should be.

Chelsea had just seven attempts, their fewest in a Premier League game this season and their fewest at home in the competition since January against Brentford (six). Spurs had 15 shots and created chances worth 0.74 expected goals to the Blues’ 0.43.

They failed to score at home in a Premier League London derby for just the second time in their last 17 such games, after a 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace on MD1 last season.

This also marks the first time Chelsea have been beaten by Spurs while also failing to score at Stamford Bridge since December 1986 (2-0).

Their performance was summed up by Palmer’s petulance. The playmaker led Chelsea for chances created (two) but was far from his best, and his loss of temper proved costly.

Palmer’s dismissal was the 100th red card Chelsea have been shown in the Premier League (excluding rescinded cards), with the Blues becoming the third team to reach this milestone after Everton (113) and Arsenal (110).

Penders, meanwhile, had a full Premier League debut to forget, as he became just the second Chelsea goalkeeper to score an own goal in the competition, after Petr Cech against Everton in December 2009.

The Belgian, at 21 years and 85 days, is the second-youngest goalkeeper to score an own goal in the Premier League, after Illan Meslier (20yrs 354d) for Leeds against Wolves in February 2021.

And although Penders made a howler, Chelsea are poor from set-pieces.

Chelsea have now conceded eight goals from such situations in the Premier League this season, double the amount of any other side.

Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Chelsea vs Tottenham Hotspur stats from their Premier League meeting at Stamford Bridge on Saturday 24 October 2026.

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.

Chelsea 0-2 Tottenham: Post-Match Opta Facts

Spurs gained just their second away win in 35 attempts against Chelsea in the Premier League (D11 L22) and their first since April 2018 (3-1).

Spurs have beaten Chelsea in all competitions at Stamford Bridge while keeping a clean sheet for the first time since December 1986 (also 2-0).

Chelsea have conceded eight goals from set pieces in the Premier League this season, double the amount of any other side.

Cole Palmer’s sending off was the 100th red card Chelsea have been shown in the Premier League (excluding rescinded cards), becoming the third team to reach this milestone after Everton (113) and Arsenal (110).

Chelsea had just seven attempts against Spurs, their fewest in a Premier League game this season and their fewest at home in the competition since January against Brentford (6).

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We look ahead to Saturday’s Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge with our Chelsea vs Tottenham prediction and preview. Can Roberto De Zerbi’s team get their second win of the 2026-27 campaign?

Chelsea vs Tottenham: The Key Stats

Chelsea are the Opta supercomputer’s favourites, with a 53.6% win probability.

Tottenham have lost each of their last six London derbies in the Premier League. In their entire league history, they have never lost seven derby games in a row.

Cole Palmer’s next league goal will be his 50th in the competition for Chelsea.

Tottenham finally ended their wait for a Premier League win this season on Monday, beating Coventry City 3-1 at home, and they will hope to follow that up with another positive result at Chelsea on Saturday.

James Maddison scored a stunner on his first competitive start since May 2025, Omar Marmoush netted his maiden Spurs goal and Ben Davies came off the bench to grab the contest-settling goal in stoppage time.

Dejan Kulusevski also made his long-awaited return to action to rapturous applause from the stands, having been out injured since May 2025.

It was not the most convincing of 3-1 wins, but it got the job done, as Tottenham scored more than two goals in a Premier League match for the first time in 36 games.

In fact, it was the first time they scored 3+ goals on home soil in the league since MD1 last season against Burnley (3-0).

But Roberto De Zerbi’s team are back on the road this weekend as they aim to build on that first win, heading across London to Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea also won last weekend, beating Everton 2-0 thanks to a pair of Pedro Neto goals. In doing so, they kept their first clean sheet in a Premier League match since January.

The Blues are looking to win three consecutive Premier League games for the first time since a run of four in January/February. They last recorded back-to-back shutouts in December last year.

Since the start of last season, meanwhile, Spurs have only won consecutive league matches twice (August 2025 and May 2026).

In addition, Tottenham have lost each of their last six London derbies in the Premier League. In their entire league history, they have never lost seven derby games in a row.

Spurs had not scored a league goal earlier than the 86th minute this season before Maddison struck from the edge of the box in the 14th minute against his former side Coventry.

Chelsea, on the other hand, have been one of the league’s most potent teams this term. They have scored 17 goals, which ranks behind only Manchester City (19) and Brighton & Hove Albion (23).

However, Chelsea have actually outperformed their xG (9.9) by 7.1. That is the second-highest xG overperformance of any team in the division, after Brighton (+8.1), and demonstrates the quality of attackers Xabi Alonso has at his disposal, with Morgan Rogers, João Pedro and Cole Palmer forming a formidable front three.

In fact, João Pedro (+2.0) and Rogers (+1.9) are the fourth and fifth highest xG overperformers in the competition; they do not need to be in an excellent position to come up with a moment of magic, while Neto is the sixth-highest xG overperformer (+1.8).

Rogers has been involved in six goals in six games against Spurs (four goals, two assists), all while an Aston Villa player. Since the 2024-25 season, only Eberechi Eze has been involved in more goals against Spurs in all competitions (seven).

Spurs, meanwhile, have recorded the third-lowest xG in the Premier League this term, with their 7.5 xG ahead of only Coventry (7.1) and Hull City (6.8).

Against Coventry, though, Spurs became the first side to score three goals from outside the box in a single Premier League game since Fulham vs Leicester City in May 2023.

It was the first time Spurs have scored 3+ goals from outside the box in a league game since September 2022 vs Leicester.

Tottenham have scored a higher share of their goals from outside the box than any other side in the Premier League this season (50% – 3/6). And in Maddison, they have a player adept at finishing from range.

Since making his Premier League debut in August 2018, Maddison has scored 21 goals from outside the box, at least two more than any other player (Kevin De Bruyne and James Ward-Prowse, 19 each).

Chelsea, then, must ensure they are not giving Spurs too much space to work with outside the area.

Alonso, though, will no doubt be focusing on what his team have to offer going the other way, and Palmer is likely to be influential. He has been involved in five goals in his five Premier League appearances against Spurs (two goals, two assists).

His next goal will be his 50th in the competition, and if he gets it in this match, he would become the third-fastest Chelsea player to reach that milestone (104 games).

Chelsea vs Tottenham Head-to-Head

Chelsea have only lost one of their last 16 Premier League London derbies at Stamford Bridge (W11 D4), a 2-1 reverse against Fulham on Boxing Day in 2024-25.

However, they have lost each of their last two home and away (2-1 vs Arsenal, 3-0 vs Brentford).

Spurs have won just one of their last 36 league visits to Stamford Bridge (D11 L24), a 3-1 victory in 2017-18 under Mauricio Pochettino. They have only picked up two points in eight visits since then (D2 L6).

Chelsea have won each of their last six Premier League matches against Spurs, their joint-longest ever winning league run against their London rivals (also six between January 2000 and March 2002).

Chelsea vs Tottenham Prediction

Opta’s supercomputer has run 10,000 data-led simulations, and Chelsea come out on top 55.0% of the time.

The chance of a Spurs win is rated at 21.8%.

Chelsea vs Tottenham Predicted Lineups

Chelsea: Mike Penders, Josh Acheampong, Maxence Lacroix, Levi Colwill, Jorrel Hato, Moisés Caicedo, Jordan Henderson, Pedro Neto, Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers, João Pedro

Manager: Xabi Alonso

Tottenham: Antonín Kinsky, Pedro Porro, Jan Paul van Hecke, Micky van de Ven, Andy Robertson, Sandro Tonali, Archie Gray, James Maddison, Mohammed Kudus, Omar Marmoush, Dominic Solanke

Head coach: Roberto De Zerbi

Opta Power Rankings

The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 16,000 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 Sunday in west London, here is the Opta Power Ranking for each side.

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After Spurs made their worst ever start to a Premier League season, they need an immediate and stark improvement. So, is that what we are about to see?

It can hardly get any worse than this, right?

That will be the thought – no, the hope – of Tottenham fans as their team returns to action this weekend.

Spurs have started the season miserably. With just two points and a goal difference six goals the wrong side of zero, they are bottom of the table having made their worst ever start to a Premier League campaign.

Until the 86th minute of their fifth game, at which point they were 3-0 down at home to Aston Villa, they hadn’t even scored a single goal in their previous seven hours and 26 minutes of league action this season.

It’s been a tough watch. An expensively assembled squad of very talented players who are – and very much looked – entirely unfamiliar with one another have combined to form far less than the sum of their parts. This is a brand new £300 million team almost completely incapable of finding the back of the net.

It started off with a dire display in defeat at Brentford. Then came a 2-0 loss at Newcastle, before one goalless draw that was very nearly a defeat at Nottingham Forest but for a controversial VAR intervention, and another, this time at home to Everton, that was about as uninspiring as they come. Then, last time out, they were cut through by Villa before a late rally made the scoreline even the slightest bit respectable.

The decision to disallow a would-be Neco Williams winner for Forest aside, just about everything that could have gone wrong has done. And if Spurs don’t turn their season around soon, before they know it, they will be in a third relegation battle in three years following back-to-back 17th-place finishes.

So, this three-week international break that comes without precedent must act as a turning point for Roberto De Zerbi and his team.

The fact it is without precedent is important because we have no previous experience of how teams will react to this long a break, and so it has the potential to act as the chance for a hard reset.

Spurs must turn into a positive the fact that many of their players have been underperforming so badly that only 13 members of their first-team squad were called up for international duty, and at least two of them have no chance of playing this weekend (Ben Davies and Martin Dúbravka). De Zerbi gave the rest of his players a week off initially, but since then he has had two full weeks of training with plenty of key players. There has to be a reaction to their woeful start and the threat of another season fighting it out at the bottom of the table, and an impact of having so much time training together.

De Zerbi might argue things aren’t as awful as the table suggests. Spurs ‘won’ on expected goals in three of their five games – Newcastle, Villa and Forest – and their underlying numbers are in some sense reasonably positive. They are placed far higher up Opta’s expected points table, for example.

The xPts model uses xG data from each match to calculate how games deserved to finish based on the quality and quantity of chances at each end. It simulates the number of goals each team scored in the match based on the chances they created and then simulates the match 10,000 times to work out how often the game is won, lost and drawn. Teams are then awarded between zero and three xPts based on the proportion they win, draw and lose.

Spurs headed into the international break 13th in the xPts table, suggesting they created enough chances to take enough points to be safely in mid-table.

There are a few sidenotes worth considering here, most notably that Spurs haven’t, in reality, been finishing their chances off, and that is precisely why they are bottom of the actual table. That needs to change.

Also, some of their superiority when it comes to xG is down to game state. They had more reason to attack than Newcastle after Anthony Elanga’s opener, as well as for the whole second half against Villa, having conceded on the stroke of half-time. Only three teams have been losing for a greater proportion of their Premier League matches this season than Spurs (36%), so they have been forced to chase the game more than most.

That said, there have also been periods when Spurs have dominated with the scores level. They might have won at Forest on another day, spurning a couple of very good chances, while at home to Newcastle they could and probably should have gone ahead in the first half. It was the same against Villa, when the early performance and the chances they had were even better.

Arguably their best display of the season, however, came in the EFL Cup defeat at Anfield. Though it came against a weakened Liverpool side and still ended in an early exit from one of only two competitions Spurs had any chance of winning, their display was still worthy of some praise. They created a couple of huge early chances, the type of which they simply must start putting away with even the slightest regularity. They could have been out of sight after half an hour but, as has been a theme of their season so far, they were punished ruthlessly for failing to build on a positive start.

That has become a bit of a problem, and they simply have to become more resilient, more durable, when it comes to the defensive side of things. Consecutive clean sheets against Forest and Everton were positive signs, but the ease with which Villa tore through the Spurs defence last time out was concerning.

“I am very disappointed, sad and frustrated for the performance,” De Zerbi said after that defeat. “We can’t lose the game in this way, we can’t concede the second goal.”

That goal, scored by Nicolas Jackson in the 67th minute to make it 2-0 came from a long, straight punt up the field by goalkeeper Zion Suzuki. It was such a simple one to concede, and De Zerbi said afterwards that he had prepared his team to expect that approach.

“We knew this season Aston Villa are playing 86% more long balls than last season and we spoke in many meetings about it,” the Italian said. Villa went on to double down, playing even more long balls against Spurs (51) than they had in any other game this season, yet the Tottenham defenders appeared unprepared, unable to deal with a simple long punt and passing up at least a couple of opportunities to clear it.

That should, at least, be a simple fix. It doesn’t look like a specific weakness of theirs, though they have been too easy for opponents to carve through in general, and will need to prove they can be less brittle.

Now would be a good time for an improvement on the pitch because Spurs have a few upcoming opportunities for points. According to our analysis, Spurs’ run of five fixtures between now and the next international break is the fourth easiest of all Premier League teams. Home games against Coventry and Crystal Palace are unmissable chances to win, while trips to Leeds and even Manchester United this weekend – where Spurs have had some joy in recent years – aren’t the most threatening.

They will be better off when – or if – De Zerbi can work out his best XI. As he tries to bed in new signings, he has flitted around with his team selections; no team has handed starts to more different players in the Premier League this season than Tottenham (19).

With his options in attack limited, the midfield is the main area that needs to be sorted. There have been calls for James Maddison, Spurs’ best creative player, to be given a chance, but he still isn’t up to speed after a year out with a serious knee injury, and it appears right now as though De Zerbi prefers the physicality, hard running and pressing ability of Conor Gallagher in the number 10 role.

Mateus Fernandes has also been trialled there but the £85m summer signing looks far more at home in the double pivot, where De Zerbi looks set on sticking with Rodrigo Bentancur and Sandro Tonali for the time being. However, Fernandes provides the best line-breaking passing ability from deep of all of Spurs’ midfield options, and he will be needed there if De Zerbi’s team is to reach its full potential. Perhaps when they stop conceding goals so freely, Fernandes will get more chances in his preferred position.

The most urgent need is for goals. Sávio and Omar Marmoush have been a little underwhelming since their big-money moves from Manchester City, while Dominic Solanke appears to still be suffering the after-effects of an injury-riddled 2025-26.

Spurs can be sure that every one of these players, new or old, will improve with time on the pitch together, and that means the potential ceiling for this team is high enough that they can prove a success.

But Spurs and De Zerbi don’t have time on their hands. The turnaround has to start soon; what better time for it than right now?

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Both sides need to improve in the Premier League after the international break. Look ahead to Saturday’s clash with our Man Utd vs Tottenham prediction and preview.

Manchester United vs Tottenham: The Key Stats

Manchester United overcame Tottenham in a convincing 54.1% of pre-match simulations by the Opta supercomputer.

Spurs have lost 25 away Premier League games against Man Utd; only Everton (at Arsenal) have suffered more defeats away to one opponent in the competition’s history.

Bryan Mbeumo has been involved in seven goals in his last six league appearances against Tottenham.

A pause for international football allowed Manchester United and Tottenham to assess poor Premier League starts, but they return to action on Saturday when they tussle at Old Trafford.

Spurs have had their worst five-game opening to a Premier League campaign, with two points and a goal difference of -6, eclipsing their 2008-09 struggles (two points, -3 goal difference).

Worryingly for Roberto De Zerbi, more unwanted history could await. Only in 1912-13 (first 12 games), 2008-09 (first eight) and 1955-56 (first six) have Spurs failed to win any of their opening six games of a league campaign.

Tottenham’s struggles are are hardly short-term, though. Among ever-present Premier League sides in 2026, they have accumulated the fewest points (18) after only escaping relegation on the final day of last season.

United, meanwhile, have five points from their opening five games, their joint fewest at this stage of a Premier League season (also 5 in 2014-15 under Louis van Gaal).

It could have been worse if not for a late deflected equaliser from Matheus Cunha salvaging a 1-1 draw away to Fulham. They had trailed after Lisandro Martínez’s own goal at Craven Cottage last time out.

The pressure is on Michael Carrick, considering Man Utd are winless across their past three Premier League games (D2 L1), last going four without a win in the competition in May 2025 during an eight-match stretch (D2 L6).

Carrick may suggest the underlying data points to a turnaround being on the horizon. United rank first for shots (113) and fourth for expected goals (9.89 xG) this season, but that does not tell the full story.

United’s 0.08 xG per non-penalty shot is the third-worst average in the competition, suggesting they are largely creating low-value chances. That figure is only better than Nottingham Forest and United’s next opponents, Spurs.

Bruno Fernandes has failed to deliver since his hat-trick against Ipswich Town on Matchday 2 – United’s only league win of the season. Carrick will hope goals can come from elsewhere to turn the tide, then.

Indeed, Bryan Mbeumo has been involved in seven goals in his last six Premier League appearances against Tottenham (six goals, one assist). He found the net for United both home and away against them last season.

But Spurs have attacking threats of their own to watch out for. Mohammed Kudus ranks fourth in the competition for take-on success rate (58.8% – 10/17 – 10+ take-ons), despite playing just 123 minutes this campaign.

Kudus also sits second for goal involvements per 90 for Tottenham in the league since the start of last season (0.43 – 900+ mins), but De Zerbi needs more than just the Ghanaian to get his side out of this rut. They at least scored their first two league goals in the 3-2 home defeat to Aston Villa last time out.

Their plight has not been helped over the international break. Jan Paul van Hecke and Micky van de Ven both limped off for the Netherlands, joining Pedro Porro, Xavi Simons, Wilson Odobert and Dejan Kulusevski on Spurs’ considerable injury list.

Carrick also has plenty to think about regarding fitness issues. Benjamin Sesko missed the draw with Fulham due to a recurrence of the shin injury that robbed him of a pre-season, subsequently meaning he was unable to link up with Slovenia. Kobbie Mainoo and Marcus Rashford also both withdrew from England duty, while Patrick Dorgu and Noussair Mazraoui returned early from international duty with injuries.

Amad Diallo might be back in contention having not made an appearance yet this term, while Carlos Baleba is expected to make his debut.

Of those in doubt, Mainoo would be the most significant miss if unable to feature. He leads the Premier League this season for possession won (40), forward pass completion under high pressure (85.7% – 30/35 – 30+ passes) and take-on success (76.9% – 10/13 – 10+ take-ons).

Manchester United vs Tottenham Head-to-Head

Man Utd were 2-0 winners in this fixture last season, ending a six-game winless run against Spurs in the Premier League.

Goals from Mbeumo and Fernandes did the damage after Cristian Romero’s first-half red card in early February.

Spurs’ visits to Old Trafford usually end in misery. They have lost 25 Premier League away games against Man Utd; only Everton (26 at Arsenal) have lost more on the road against one opponent.

However, De Zerbi won his only previous Premier League trip to United, beating them 3-1 in September 2023 with Brighton.

That being said, only four managers have won their first two visits to Old Trafford in the competition: Sam Allardyce, Ronald Koeman, Pep Guardiola and Andoni Iraola.

Man Utd vs Tottenham Prediction

The Opta supercomputer struggled to see past a home win as Manchester United claimed all three points in 54.1% of pre-match simulations.

Spurs hold just a 22.3% chance of a first league win this season, with the draw more likely in 23.6% of the same data-led scenarios.

Manchester United vs Tottenham Predicted Lineups

Manchester United: Senne Lammens, Diogo Dalot, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martínez, Luke Shaw, Kobbie Mainoo, Youri Tielemans, Bryan Mbeumo, Bruno Fernandes, Matheus Cunha, Joshua Zirkzee.

Head coach: Michael Carrick

Tottenham Hotspur: Antonín Kinsky, Archie Gray, Tosin Adarabioyo, Ben Davies, Andy Robertson, Rodrigo Bentancur, Sandro Tonali, Sávio, Mateus Fernandes, Omar Marmoush, Dominic Solanke.

Head coach: Roberto De Zerbi

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.

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Martin Ho has overseen a remarkable turnaround at Tottenham. From an 11th-place finish two seasons ago to one of the WSL’s most exciting and progressive teams, and just one of four unbeaten sides this season after three games. How close are Spurs to closing the gap on the division’s elite?

Tottenham Hotspur’s 7-0 victory over Crystal Palace may have been the performance that turned heads in the Women’s Super League this weekend, but the foundations for such a display have been building for some time.

Just over a year ago, Spurs were coming off an 11th-place finish and searching for a new direction. While there had been flashes of progress in earlier seasons, including fifth- and sixth place finishes in 2021-22 and 2023-24 respectively, their slide towards the bottom end of the table in 2024-25 underlined the gap that still existed to the league’s leading clubs.

Since Martin Ho’s arrival in July 2025, however, that trajectory has changed dramatically.

Tottenham collected a club-record 36 WSL points in Ho’s first season in charge, winning 11 matches and returning to fifth place. Indeed, that points tally was the most ever by an English manager in their debut season in the competition.

Since taking the reins, Ho has overseen 13 WSL victories in just 25 matches, with only Manchester City (21), Chelsea (17) and Arsenal (16) winning more games in that period.

And their start to the 2026-27 campaign suggests that progress has continued.

Spurs are one of only four unbeaten teams remaining in the division, and sit second in the table after three matches, just behind Man City.

Tottenham are currently enjoying a six-match unbeaten run in the competition, equalling the longest in the club’s WSL history, and the first since such a six-game streak between October-November 2023. The challenge now is sustaining that momentum.

They face the third-toughest fixture run in the division over their next five WSL games according to the Opta Power Rankings, coming up against London City Lionesses, Chelsea and Arsenal.

That makes their start even more intriguing.

Spurs won four of their opening five WSL games last season, before winning just seven of their remaining 17. This time around, Ho will be hoping his side can bridge that gap to the league’s elite, and, crucially, sustain their strong start across the entirety of the campaign.

The meetings with the ‘big four’ will provide a significant test, but there is growing evidence that Spurs are closer to that level than they have been before.

So, how exactly has Ho transformed them?

Vertical, Aggressive and in Control

Ho’s emphasis on brave, front-foot football combined with defensive discipline is already evident in Tottenham’s early-season performances, none more so than their 7-0 victory over Crystal Palace.

While the visitors were helped by Palace being reduced to 10 players after just seven minutes, scoring seven goals at WSL level is no simple task. After all, this was a Palace side that had drawn 0-0 against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium just a week earlier despite facing 30 shots.

The manner of Tottenham’s dominance was particularly striking. Spurs registered 42 shots, the third-highest total in WSL history, and the most ever recorded by an away side in the competition.

They also amassed 82 touches in the opposition box, the most by Tottenham in a WSL match and the joint fourth-highest total ever recorded in the league. No team had reached that figure since Chelsea managed 82 against Leicester City in December 2024.

On top of that, the game was goalless at the break, with all seven goals coming in a ruthless second half.

There were standout individual performances.Olivia Holdt became just the second Tottenham player to score a WSL hat-trick, after Martha Thomas against Aston Villa in October 2023, while Amanda Nildén‘s late goal perfectly captured the collective nature of Spurs’ attacking play.

Nildén’s 86th-minute strike came at the end of a 37-second move involving nine different Tottenham players, the most players involved in a single WSL goal this season.

The sequence featured 14 passes, with only Kirsty Hanson‘s goal against West Ham earlier this season (15) coming after a longer passing move in the competition. In fact, only one goal in Tottenham’s entire WSL history has been scored following a longer passing sequence, with Jessica Naz’s strike against Manchester United in April 2024 arriving at the end of a 16-pass move.

Those passages encapsulate what Tottenham are becoming under Ho. Possession is not being used merely to control matches. Instead, Spurs are progressing the ball quicker than they did in 2025-26 while maintaining a similar number of passes per sequence, illustrating a style built on patience but also purpose.

The aim is to move opponents, break lines and create overloads in dangerous central and half-space areas around the penalty box; an identity that has become more pronounced across the new season.

The underlying numbers show that evolution. Tottenham are one of only four unbeaten sides remaining in the WSL and currently sit second in the table. Alongside Man City, they have scored a league-high 11 goals while their 72 shots are bettered only by Chelsea (82).

Crucially, Tottenham’s attacking ambition has not come at the expense of control.

Chelsea are the only side yet to trail in a WSL match this season, but Spurs have spent 50% of their playing time in a winning game state, a figure bettered only by London City Lionesses (59%) and Chelsea (81%).

They have also conceded just two goals in their opening three matches, their strongest defensive start to a WSL campaign since 2021-22 (one goal in first three games).

Furthermore, only Chelsea (56), Arsenal (44) and Liverpool (39) have forced more high turnovers of possession – possessions that start in open play and begin 40 metres or less from the opponent’s goal – this season. Only Chelsea (13) have had more shots than Spurs (11) following this high turnovers. This reflects their desire to win the ball back quickly and sustain pressure high up the pitch rather than retreat into a defensive shape.

The sample size remains small and sterner tests await. Yet the early evidence suggests Spurs are not merely beating weaker opponents, but are doing so in a way that increasingly reflects Ho’s footballing philosophy: progressive, proactive and relentlessly attacking.

Closing the Gap

Beyond the stylistic changes, the clearest measure of Ho’s impact can be found in Tottenham’s results.

After guiding Spurs to a club-record 36 points and an immediate return to fifth place in 2025-26, Ho has continued to accelerate the club’s progress.

His 13 league victories in just 25 WSL matches match the total achieved by predecessor Robert Vilahamn in 44 games, while his points-per-game average of 1.72 is the highest of any Tottenham manager in the competition.

The improvement has been reflected across almost every attacking metric.

Spurs scored a club-record 35 goals last season, created a record 43 big chances and accumulated 510 touches in the opposition box, also a club high. Their average possession figure of 51.6% was the highest recorded by Tottenham across a completed WSL campaign, underlining the greater control Ho has sought to establish.

Just as impressive has been the resilience instilled within the squad. Tottenham won four league matches from losing positions in 2025-26, with only Chelsea in 2019-20 (five) ever recording more comeback victories in a single WSL season. Their 12 points won from behind were the most of any side in the division last term.

Individual quality has also become more evident within a stronger collective framework. For the first time in club history, Spurs had two players finish among the WSL’s top 10 goalscorers in the same season, with Holdt (eight goals) and Bethany England (seven) both featuring .

There are still hurdles to overcome nonetheless.

Ho is yet to register a league victory against any member of the WSL’s traditional top four, though the gap is narrowing.

Spurs have averaged 0.38 points per game against those opponents under Ho, almost double their return of 0.20 before his arrival, while their defeat rate has fallen from 88.9% to 62.5%.

Away from those fixtures, however, Tottenham have become considerably more ruthless. Spurs boast a 100% WSL win record under Ho against West Ham, Aston Villa, Brighton, Leicester City and Crystal Palace. Among all teams in the division during that period, only Man City have maintained a perfect record against more opponents (eight).

That progress is reflected in the broader league table since Ho took charge. Tottenham’s 43 points are the fourth-most in the WSL during that period, behind only Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal, while their 13 wins are likewise bettered by only those three clubs.

There is still ground to make up, with Arsenal sitting 13 points ahead over the same timeframe. However, Tottenham’s start to 2026-27 suggests they are moving in the right direction.

A Squad Built for Ho’s Football

If there was one decision that raised eyebrows ahead of the season, it was Tottenham allowing club-record WSL goalscorer England to join Crystal Palace. England’s 32 league goals had made her one of the defining figures of Spurs’ rise in recent years and replacing that output looked a significant challenge.

Instead, Spurs have doubled down on Ho’s longer-term vision with recruitment over the past 12 months being both aggressive and targeted.

Spurs broke their transfer record this summer to sign defender Alice Sombath from OL Lyonnes after investing heavily in Signe Gaupset in January, while Hanson, Shekiera Martinez, Caitlin Dijkstra, Victoria Pelova and Selma Panengstuen have further strengthened a squad that now looks considerably deeper than the one Ho inherited.

The club’s age profile highlights that evolution.

Last season, among players featuring for 60% or more of available WSL minutes, only one had spent less than a year at the club by the end of the campaign. This season, four players who have been at Tottenham for less than a year feature among those playing 80% or more of league minutes.

At the same time, the proportion of minutes played by players in their peak years has risen from 50% to 59%, creating a squad that is both refreshed and entering its prime.

Several of those additions over the past year have become central to Tottenham’s emergence under Ho, and no player has embodied the transformation more than Holdt.

Since Ho’s appointment, no Spurs player has recorded more shots (52), shots on target (20), final-third passes (288) or chance-ending carries (10).

She also leads the club for touches in the opposition box (78) and big chances (7) during that period. Her importance was already clear last season, when her eight league goals were worth 10 points to Tottenham, a figure matched by only Khadija Shaw across the division.

Gaupset has quickly become another key creative outlet. The Norwegian has created more chances than any Tottenham player under Ho (29), while no Spurs player has either attempted more shots (10) nor created more chances (10) than her this season. Only Drew Spence (428) has completed more successful passes in the opposition half than Gaupset’s 333 since Ho took charge.

Pelova has also made an immediate impact following her move across north London from Arsenal. Her brace against Crystal Palace opened her account for the club, while her 24 touches in the opposition’s box are the most of any Spurs player in the WSL this season.

Further back, Toko Koga has become a cornerstone of Tottenham’s build-up play. Since Ho’s arrival, no Spurs player has completed more passes than Koga (1,113), while among players to attempt at least 300 passes, only Clare Hunt (91.0%) has a higher pass completion rate than Koga’s 88.8%. Out of possession, only Amanda Nildén (117) has made more recoveries than Koga (101).

Alongside them, Spence continues to provide the connective tissue in midfield. No Tottenham player has attempted more passes ending in the final third this season (68), while her 86.8% passing accuracy is the highest among Spurs players to have played at least 50 minutes.

The result is a squad that feels increasingly aligned with its manager’s ideas, capable of executing Ho’s high-tempo, progressive style.

Looking Ahead

Whether Tottenham can sustain their impressive start remains to be seen, particularly with a challenging run of fixtures on the horizon. However, the evidence since Ho’s arrival points to a club moving in the right direction.

The style of play is clearer, the performances are more consistent, and the squad is increasingly tailored to the manager’s demands. From record-breaking attacking numbers and greater control in possession to a recruitment strategy focused on players entering their prime years, Spurs look far removed from the side that finished 11th just two seasons ago.

The toughest test will be translating that progress into victories against the WSL’s established elite. Yet with an unbeaten start to the new campaign, Tottenham appear better equipped than ever to challenge the league’s traditional hierarchy.

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Saturday’s early Premier League kick-off ended up being quite the treat. Look back on the game with our Tottenham vs Aston Villa stats page.

Tottenham finally ended their wait for a Premier League goal this season, but it meant little as they slumped to a 3-2 home defeat to Aston Villa.

Saturday’s contest at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium saw the two teams with the lowest cumulative expected goals (xG) totals in 2026-27 face off.

Although Villa did beat Coventry City 3-0 in the EFL Cup in midweek, they went into this game having only netted once in the top flight this term.

Spurs, meanwhile, lost at Liverpool in their Tuesday cup outing, and while they started brightly against Villa, Roberto De Zerbi’s team slumped to a loss that could well see them head into the international break at the bottom of the table.

Sávio forced three saves out of Zion Suzuki early on, but in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage time, Villa capitalised on Micky van de Ven having to go off temporarily after receiving treatment on a cut below his eye.

John McGinn seized on Andy Robertson’s botched clearance before teeing up Boubacar Kamara, whose scruffy shot was turned in by Johan Manzambi for his first Premier League goal.

Half-time substitute Mohammed Kudus thought he had ended Spurs’ scoreless streak just before the hour, but Robertson had strayed offside in the build-up.

Manzambi then became just the second player to both score and assist on their first Premier League start for Villa, after Kevin Phillips against Bolton Wanderers in August 2005. He flicked on for Nicolas Jackson in the 67th minute, with the former Chelsea striker beating Van de Ven and firing off a shot that Kinsky failed to keep out.

Emiliano Buendía kept up his fine record against Spurs with a 79th-minute stunner, though Conor Gallagher finally opened the hosts’ goal account when he nudged in from Kudus’ cutback.

Spurs doubled up deep in stoppage time when Robertson crossed in for Jan Paul van Hecke to head home, but that was the final act of another disappointing day for De Zerbi’s side.

Dr. Tottenham Has the Remedy for Villa

While Spurs have been under plenty of scrutiny following their transfer splurge this summer, Villa went into this game trailing their hosts in the table.

However, having withstood the early pressure, Villa really came into their own once Manzambi marked his full debut in style.

They were clinical on the counter-attack in the second half, and Spurs’ defence was found wanting for Jackson’s strike, which was his first in the Premier League since April 2025, and his fifth overall in the competition against Tottenham.

Buendía then put the icing on the cake with a sublime finish from 25 yards out, which the Argentine sent swerving into the top-left corner.

He has scored in each of his previous four games against Tottenham in all competitions, while four of his six most recent Premier League goals have been outside the box, with only Leeds United’s Anton Stach (five) scoring more from distance since the beginning of last season.

Spurs’ scoreless run may be over, but they have now lost 50 of their 141 Premier League games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, as many defeats as Arsenal have suffered in 382 top-flight matches at the Emirates Stadium.

Villa, meanwhile, have won five of their last seven Premier League away games against Spurs. This particular visit proved timely for Unai Emery.

Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Tottenham vs Aston Villa stats from Saturday’s 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: Post-Match Opta Facts

Five of Nicolas Jackson’s 25 Premier League goals have come against Tottenham Hotspur, netting more against Spurs in the competition than any other side.

Conor Gallagher’s goal ended a run of 492 Premier League minutes without scoring for Tottenham, while their first league goal of 2026-27 came with their 67th shot.

This is Spurs’ worst start to a Premier League season after five games, with two points and a goal difference of -6, eclipsing their 2008-09 start (2 points, -3 goal difference).

Only Chelsea (7) have more wins over Tottenham Hotspur at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in all competitions than Aston Villa (W6 L3), winning on each of their last three visits since the start of last season.

Tottenham have now lost 22 home league games since the start of 2024-25, just one fewer than in their previous four seasons combined (23).

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We look ahead to Saturday’s Premier League contest at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with our Tottenham vs Aston Villa prediction and preview. Both teams are looking to get their first top-flight win of the 2026-27 campaign.

Tottenham vs Aston Villa: The Key Stats

Tottenham are yet to score a Premier League goal this season, but they are the Opta supercomputer’s favourites to win this game (49.5%).

Aston Villa, like Spurs, have yet to win a league game this term. They have won four of their last six top-flight away games against Spurs (L2), more than they had in their previous 21 visits (W3 D5 L13).

None of the last 22 Premier League meetings between Spurs (15 wins) and Aston Villa (7) have been drawn.

Two teams expected to battle it out for European qualification this season find themselves, after four games, sitting at the wrong end of the Premier League.

Tottenham and Aston Villa, the last two UEFA Europa League champions, are yet to win a top-flight match this season, and only one of them can end that run when they meet at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Although, according to Opta’s expected points model, both of these teams should be better off than they are as it stands.

Villa sit 19th. They have taken just one point and scored only one goal. Unai Emery’s team did go the first four league matches of last season without scoring, however, and ultimately ended up finishing fourth and winning the Europa League.

Only in 1919-20 (first seven), 1964-65 (seven) and 2025-26 (five) have Aston Villa failed to win any of their opening five matches of a top-flight league season (D1 L3 so far).

They are going through a rebuild, given the huge amount of churn in their squad this past transfer window, so Emery will likely feel confident that once it clicks, his team will be fine.

Indeed, they started their UEFA Champions League campaign with a 3-2 victory over Club Brugge, and on Wednesday, Tammy Abraham scored twice in a 3-1 win over Coventry City to see Villa through in the EFL Cup.

Spurs, however, have spent huge money to back Roberto De Zerbi. Yet so far, those new signings, and the Italian coach, have not delivered.

De Zerbi’s team have, at least, taken two points from their last two league outings, drawing 0-0 with Nottingham Forest and Everton.

Spurs had plenty of decent openings in the first 15 minutes or so against the Toffees last week, yet they failed to make the most of them.

It has been 407 minutes since Spurs last scored in the Premier League, while they have failed to score in four successive Premier League matches for the first time since September 2006.

The Everton stalemate marked the very first goalless draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the Premier League (140th game), and the first time that Spurs have drawn 0-0 in a home game in the competition since September 2017 vs Swansea City at Wembley Stadium.

The last team to record three successive goalless draws in the Premier League is West Ham United in December 2015, with Spurs last doing so in January/February 2001 under George Graham (run of four).

Spurs’ attacking issues are evidenced further by the fact they have managed to create chances worth a higher xG total than their opponents in just one of their four matches so far (1.12 xG vs Newcastle United’s 0.69 xG on August 29).

In fact, this match sees the two teams with the lowest xG across their opening four games go head-to-head; Spurs rank 19th (3.45) and Villa 20th (3.39).

Spurs, who lost 3-1 to a much-changed Liverpool team in the EFL Cup on Tuesday, are bottom for xG per shot (0.07), and only Hull City (47) have had fewer touches in the opposition’s box than Villa (62).

If there is one player who might be able to break this game open, it is Villa’s Emiliano Buendía.

The Argentine has been involved in four Premier League goals against Tottenham (three goals, one assist), his most against a single side in the competition – he could become the third visiting player to score in three successive league trips to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, after Eberechi Eze and Bryan Mbeumo.

Tottenham vs Aston Villa Head-to-Head

Aston Villa have won four of their last six Premier League away games against Spurs (L2), more than they had in their previous 21 visits (W3 D5 L13).

None of the last 22 Premier League meetings between Spurs (15 wins) and Villa (7) have been drawn. Spurs have lost five of the last eight, more than they had in their previous 29 against the Villans (W18 D7 L4).

After winning each of his first three encounters with De Zerbi, Emery has lost each of the last two meetings, including a 2-1 reverse at Villa Park in May.

Tottenham vs Aston Villa Prediction

So, two struggling teams with many similar statistics, but which one is the Opta supercomputer backing?

Well, it’s Spurs who are predicted to come out on top, with a 49.5% win probability.

Villa, on the other hand, win this game in 25.8% of the 10,000 data-led sims.

There is a 24.7% probability of it finishing all square.

Tottenham vs Aston Villa Predicted Lineups

Tottenham Hotspur: Antonín Kinsky, Archie Gray, Jan Paul van Hecke, Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie, Rodrigo Bentancur, Lucas Bergvall, Sávio, Mateus Fernandes, Omar Marmoush, Dominic Solanke.

Head coach: Roberto De Zerbi

Aston Villa: Zion Suzuki, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Victor Lindelöf, Tyrone Mings, Matteo Ruggeri, Boubacar Kamara, João Gomes, Alysson, Emiliano Buendía, John McGinn, Nicolas Jackson.

Manager: Unai Emery

Opta Power Rankings

The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system that assigns an ability score to over 16,000 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 on Saturday, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.

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Tottenham and Everton played out an uneventful draw in north London to extend the hosts’ goalless Premier League start to 2026-27.

Tottenham’s wait for a first Premier League goal of the season will stretch into a fifth game after they played out a 0-0 draw with Everton.

A goalkeeping error at either end almost paved the way for a late winner, with Antonín Kinsky making up for a loose pass by smothering Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s strike before Jordan Pickford tipped Lucas Bergvall’s late effort wide after a loose ball of his own, but the game ultimately ended goalless.

Brennan Johnson also blazed over from a clear opening as Everton extended their unbeaten start to the season, but it was another frustrating result for Spurs, who played out their first 0-0 draw at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Spurs came flying out of the blocks to keep Everton under early pressure and could have taken a fifth-minute lead, but Jan Paul van Hecke sent Andy Robertson’s free-kick over the crossbar from close range.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles drilled wide from a half-clearance from Everton’s first corner before Mateus Fernandes wildly fired over as he tried to get Spurs on top.

The first shots on target came on either side of half-time, with Kinsky pushing James Garner’s free-kick away, while Fernandes was the first Spurs player to test Pickford, but after opening up a pocket of space outside the box, his shot was straight at the England goalkeeper.

Kinsky made himself big to block Thierno Barry’s towering header at the other end shortly after, before Tyrique George’s sweetly struck half-volley was blocked by the well-placed Rodrigo Bentancur.

Spurs Make Unwanted History as Scoreless Streak Stretches On

It has been a difficult start to the season for Spurs, with Roberto De Zerbi still tinkering with his squad to find his best team; he has already made 12 changes to their starting XI in the Premier League this season.

But another strong start petered out for the hosts, who have failed to score in the first half of 26 top-flight games since the start of last season. Only Nottingham Forest, Sunderland and Wolves (all 28) have done so in more.

Fernandes’ shot in the 47th minute was actually Spurs’ first effort on target in the Premier League since Marmoush against Newcastle United two games ago (87th minute).

For all of Spurs’ possession, they did not test Pickford on many occasions – only two of their 14 shots were on target as they accumulated 0.64 expected goals (xG) to Everton’s 1.17 xG from 12 attempts.

And Spurs have now failed to score in their opening four matches of a league season for the first time in their history, while it is the first time they have drawn a blank in four straight games since August/September 2006.

Everton, though, defended resolutely and carved out more than enough chances themselves to get back to winning ways. They could not take them, though, and they remain winless in their last seven Premier League away games.

Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Tottenham vs Everton stats from their Premier League meeting on Saturday 12 September.

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 Everton: Post-Match Opta Facts

It has been 407 minutes since Tottenham Hotspur last scored in the Premier League, while they have failed to score in four successive Premier League matches for the first time since September 2006.

This was the very first goalless draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the Premier League (140th game), and the first time that Spurs have drawn 0-0 in a home game in the competition since September 2017 vs Swansea City at Wembley Stadium.

Only Crystal Palace in 2017-18 (first 7 games) have endured a longer start to a Premier League season without scoring than Tottenham Hotspur in 2026-27 (first 4), while it’s Spurs’ longest goalscoring drought to the start of a season in the top four tiers.

Everton’s Jordan Pickford recorded his 100th clean sheet in the Premier League, becoming just the fifth English goalkeeper to do so in the competition after David James (166), David Seaman (135), Nigel Martyn (131) and Joe Hart (127).

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Look ahead to Saturday’s Premier League clash with our Tottenham vs Newcastle prediction and preview. Can Roberto De Zerbi’s side respond to their opening-day defeat?

Tottenham vs Newcastle: The Key Stats

Tottenham claimed all three points in 43.5% of pre-match simulations by the Opta supercomputer, but Newcastle still have a 31.5% chance of winning.

Spurs have won their opening home league game in each of the last five seasons by an aggregate score of 14-1.

This is the most played fixture in Premier League history to never end goalless, with at least one goal scored in all 62 meetings.

Roberto De Zerbi will be demanding an immediate response as Tottenham host Newcastle United in their first home game of the new Premier League season.

Spurs managed only three league wins at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last campaign. The third of those victories, beating Everton 1-0 on the final day, saw them avoid relegation by two points.

Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes and Jan Paul van Hecke headlined some notable summer arrivals for Tottenham’s rebuild, but they did not get off to a great start, outclassed in Saturday’s 3-0 defeat at Brentford.

Spurs conceded a staggering 3.09 expected goals (xG) from non-penalty shots in that loss, with their only consolation coming from Igor Thiago missing a second-half penalty.

But they do usually bounce back. Tottenham have not lost their opening two Premier League games to start a season since 2011-12, while they last went goalless in back-to-back opening matches in 1992-93.

They did respond with an emphatic 5-1 win over Charlton Athletic in the EFL Cup second round on Tuesday, and they’ll hope that blew off some cobwebs ahead of their first home league game of the season.

There is an encouraging record to extend for Spurs in that regard. They have won their opening home league game in each of the last five campaigns by an aggregate score of 14-1, only once managing a longer such run (11 between 1923-24 and 1933-34).

However, there is a challenging element for De Zerbi to overcome in getting his new signings to gel. One of those new arrivals, Marcos Senesi from Bournemouth, led Spurs for successful passes (75), duels won (12), and tackles (5) on Matchday 1.

Senesi’s 75 successful passes was the most by a Tottenham player on their Premier League debut on record (since 2003-04), but that did little to cover Spurs’ defensive deficiencies.

This is nothing new, though. Since the start of the 2023-24 season, only West Ham (19), Wolves (15) and Aston Villa (13) have lost more Premier League games by a margin of three or more goals than Tottenham (11).

Newcastle make the trip south after Matthias Jaissle’s first league game in charge ended in late disappointment. Lewis Hall’s clumsy foul on Victor Muñoz paved the way for Dominik Szoboszlai’s 99th-minute penalty equaliser, snatching a 2-2 draw for Liverpool.

Jaissle’s initial problem to address is clear – Newcastle have dropped more points from winning positions (29) than any other Premier League side since the start of last season. Indeed, the Magpies went 1-0 and 2-1 ahead on MD1 before drawing.

There were some positives to build on at St. James’ Park. Anthony Elanga has already scored more goals (1 from 2 shots) in the 2026-27 campaign than he managed in 2025-26 (0 from 17 shots).

A calm finish after a lung-busting run was fitting reward for Elanga, who made the most sprints of any winger across MD1 this season (23). Joe Willock also got on the scoresheet, assisted by Yoane Wissa, who passed up two great chances of his own.

Jaissle will need each of those three, and more, if he is to overturn the club’s troublesome run on the road. Newcastle have only won four of their last 22 away league matches (D6 L12), but their last two have come in London – they beat Spurs 2-1 in February and Chelsea 1-0 in March.

Newcastle will hope to have new arrival Nico González available. He was unveiled at St. James’ Park in midweek as the Magpies beat West Brom 3-2 in the EFL Cup following his £50 million move from Man City.

González’s former City teammate – Savinho – has moved to Spurs and scored on his debut in the League Cup against Charlton, while Tottenham also finalised Omar Marmoush’s arrival ahead of this game.

Tottenham vs Newcastle Head-to-Head

Archie Gray cancelled out Malick Thiaw’s opener before Jacob Ramsey’s second-half winner in the aforementioned 2-1 win for Newcastle the last time these two sides met.

In fact, Newcastle have won more Premier League away games against Spurs than at any other opponent (13). They claimed all three points on three of their last four visits to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (L1).

Tottenham have also lost six of their last eight league games against Newcastle (W1 D1) and failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last 14 meetings with them.

That helps explain why all 62 Premier League clashes between these two teams have seen at least one goal scored, making it the most played fixture in the competition never to finish goalless.

Tottenham vs Newcastle Prediction

Tottenham may have got off to a torrid start, but they beat Newcastle in 43.5% of the 10,000 pre-match simulations by the Opta supercomputer.

Newcastle did claim all three points in this fixture last season, and that happened again in 31.5% of the data-led simulations. The draw made up the other 25%.

Tottenham vs Newcastle Predicted Lineups

Tottenham: Antonín Kinsky, Archie Gray, Jan Paul van Hecke, Marcos Senesi, Andy Robertson, Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes, Conor Gallagher, Mathys Tel, Richarlison, Dominic Solanke.

Head coach: Roberto De Zerbi

Newcastle: Lukás Hornícek, Amar Dedic, Malick Thiaw, Sven Botman, Lewis Hall, Lewis Miley, Jacob Ramsey, Anthony Elanga, Harvey Barnes, Yoane Wissa, Nick Woltemade.

Head coach: Matthias Jaissle

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.

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Omar Marmoush is reportedly close to joining Tottenham on loan with an obligation to buy from Manchester City. But why have Spurs turned to the versatile Egyptian forward?

Tottenham know all about it. For years, they struggled to find anyone to play the back-up striker role. Being behind Harry Kane in the pecking order, knowing chances to play will be slim, is not the most enticing assignment for many.

Manchester City are now facing a similar problem. Being the other striker to Erling Haaland is a very difficult role to shine in. Even Julián Alvarez, now one of the most sought-after forwards on the planet, had to leave the Etihad Stadium to reach the levels he has.

Six months after selling Alvarez to Atlético Madrid, City realised they needed to replace him. They turned to Omar Marmoush.

The Egyptian had been shining brightly at Eintracht Frankfurt, recording 15 goals and nine assists in 17 Bundesliga games in the first half of the 2024-25 season, and 20 goals and 13 assists from 26 games across all competitions.

He made a solid enough start for City, too, scoring eight times in 22 appearances in his first half-season, and 18 of those had been starts thanks to his impressive form and Haaland suffering a couple of injuries.

It took Marmoush five games to record his first goal involvement for City, but in fairness it was in the form of a hat-trick against Newcastle United.

In fact, it would be in their interest if Spurs are able to get Marmoush over the line and registered in time for the weekend’s game against the Magpies. He has scored seven goals in five games against Newcastle in all competitions for City, having not scored more than two against any other opponent since arriving in England.

His first full season did not really live up to that early promise, though. A knee injury suffered in September 2025 kept him out for over a month, while he also missed another nine games around the turn of the year due to the Africa Cup of Nations.

In total, Marmoush managed eight goals and three assists in 36 games last season, just 16 of which were starts.

And now, as happened with Alvarez, the time has come for Marmoush to depart City in search of regular starts, aiming to get back to the form that captured the attention of many prior to his move to the Etihad.

Funnily enough, that has led to a move to Tottenham, who now need alternatives to Dominic Solanke and Richarlison. With the greatest of respect, that’s an easier sell than deputising for Kane.

The same summer Kane left Spurs for Bayern Munich (2023), Marmoush signed for Eintracht on a free transfer from Wolfsburg, where he didn’t exactly have a record that suggested he was going to succeed as much as he did.

He scored just six goals in 48 games (18 starts) for Wolfsburg across four seasons, though he did also have loan spells with St. Pauli in the 2. Bundesliga, scoring seven times in 21 games (19 starts) in 2020-21, and at Stuttgart in the top flight, netting three goals in 21 appearances (19 starts) in 2021-22.

He really found his feet in Frankfurt under Dino Toppmöller, though. Marmoush scored 17 goals in 41 games during his first season for Eintracht, before his stunning half-season in 2024-25 prior to his move to City.

At the time he left for the Premier League, only compatriot Mohamed Salah (39) had more than Marmoush’s 33 goal involvements across all competitions in 2024-25 among players in Europe’s top five leagues.

Will Roberto De Zerbi be able to get that version of Marmoush back? Savinho has also made the journey from City to Spurs, and he showed promise on his debut cameo against Charlton Athletic in the EFL Cup on Wednesday, recording a goal and an assist.

You can see from Marmoush’s heat maps below how much his game changed in England. He was covering plenty of the pitch from left to right in the 2024-25 campaign at Eintracht, but last season for City he had the vast majority of his touches from the left.

It will be interesting to see how De Zerbi uses him. The Egyptian is surely being signed predominantly as a striker option, but that stunning form at Eintracht came when he was playing in a front two with Hugo Ekitiké, with Marmoush in the second striker role, floating around the pitch a lot more than the ‘No. 9’ Ekitiké.

De Zerbi could potentially look to play him in a similar partnership with Solanke or Richarlison, but the Italian usually prefers a single striker setup, so would Marmoush be able to play up front on his own?

He hasn’t done so all that often at club level. Even at City, he played in plenty of different positions, but his most common position in any given formation was in a front two (15% of mins).

Signing line-breaking-pass specialist centre-backs Jan Paul van Hecke and Marcos Senesi was a clear indication De Zerbi wants Spurs to get the ball from back to front quickly this season.

We even saw goalkeeper Antonín Kinsky playing a straight ball to the feet of Richarlison at the Gtech Community Stadium in Saturday’s 3-0 opening-day defeat. The Brazilian immediately lost the ball, though, allowing Brentford to counter and score their second goal through Vitaly Janelt.

Richarlison only received 11 passes all game as Spurs struggled to build anything, but it’s notable that five of those passes came from one of Kinsky (1), Van Hecke (2) and Senesi (2).

A progressive pass is an open-play pass in the attacking two-thirds of the pitch that moves the ball at least 25% closer to the goal (excluding crosses). Marmoush received 5.9 progressive passes per 90 in the Premier League last season, the most of any Man City player, so he is good at making himself available for ambitious balls forward.

The key will then be teammates getting around him, which didn’t happen with Richarlison, who didn’t really have anyone to offload the ball to.

But what else does Marmoush offer that Richarlison and Solanke may not?

Looking at their respective data from the Premier League last season, Marmoush had higher per-90 numbers than both for goal involvements (0.77), xG from open play (0.31), expected assists (0.1), shots (3.9), chances created (1.55), progressive carries (5.67), take-ons (3.7), and touches in the opposition’s box (6.8).

That was from just under 700 minutes, though, so a small-ish sample size, and was obviously for a Man City team that finished second rather than a Spurs team that came 17th.

He’s 27, so it’s a signing for now rather than the future, but Marmoush doesn’t actually have that many games in his legs for a player of his age. Since he played his first game in one of Europe’s top five leagues in the 2019-20 season, he has only made more than 20 starts in all competitions in two campaigns (37 in 2023-24 and 42 in 2024-25).

One thing he will have to learn how to do is score in stadiums other than the Etihad. Marmoush hit 10 Premier League goals for Man City, with every single one of them coming on home soil. He is yet to score at any other ground in 18 Premier League games.

It is a curious move for Spurs, but with regular starts and a more consistent role than he’s had at Man City, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that Marmoush recaptures that late 2024 form.

Who knows? Maybe they’ll find it tricky to find a back-up to him in years to come.

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