Opta Analyst

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Arsenal vs Tottenham: Selected Post-Match Facts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tottenham vs Manchester United: The Key Stats

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tottenham vs Manchester United Head-to-Head

“Lads, it’s Tottenham.”

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

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

Tottenham vs Manchester United Prediction

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

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

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

Tottenham vs Manchester United Predicted Lineups

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

Head coach: Thomas Frank

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

Head coach: Ruben Amorim

Opta Power Rankings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

UK readers can relive the goal below:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Longest Goal-Ending Carries in the Champions League

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.