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Crystal Palace 0-1 Tottenham (Gray 42’)

You have to hand it to Tottenham Hotspur, for few other teams approach every Premier League match with the reverence it deserves, entertaining each opponent as if humbly prostrating themselves before a prime Barcelona.

Perhaps it was the blaugrana of Crystal Palace shirts that caused the confusion, but winning ugly is still winning. The simplicity of Frank-ball will still have its deriders but to listen to him speak before kick-off, it all sounded so simple. Target Palace on the break and exploit their glaring weaknesses from set pieces, which after Archie Gray’s first career goal, account for six of their last nine conceded.

Should we ignore the aesthetics, it worked to a tee. The explosion of joy from Gray after heading in from Pedro Porro’s in-swinging corner was the antidote needed to stem the toxicity. Spurs’ hit rate from the dead ball is the most successfully imported weapon from Frank’s Brentford days. An even greater positive was the impact of his substitutions.

Much like the plain slice of bread which mops up the Full English, none of Joao Palhinha, Radu Dragusin, Brennan Johnson or Wilson Odobert often get the credit they deserve. They do not always add glitz but here put a gloss on what had been another underwhelming display, two disallowed Richarlison goals adding to Spurs’ frustrations.

The Odobert cameo was especially instructive. With a conventional left-winger on that side, Spurs were a different proposition to the first hour, when the role had been filled by Randal Kolo Muani. They were encumbered by the absence of the suspended Xavi Simons, their most effective (fit) creator, though it was of course entirely self-inflicted following a moment of madness against Liverpool.

It is not unusual that their first shot on target translated into a goal, not least because in many games Spurs only manage the one. Without such a ratio they might never score at all. The sparsity of chances may be looked down upon, yet how Oliver Glasner would love a conversion rate like that.

Spurs’ success required a horrorshow in front of goal from Palace as Jean-Philippe Mateta, Justin Devenny and Maxence Lacroix peppered Guglielmo Vicario’s goal to no avail. Little wonder they are the league’s lowest converters of expected goals (xG). Frank’s side cannot usually afford to be so generous.

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Until the last 20 minutes, Palace were able to control the game and it was only their profligacy that let Tottenham off the hook. That leaves two ways of interpreting a vital victory for Frank – strategic, or chaotic?

That question sums up the ambivalence towards his reign so far. Interpreting its intricacies is becoming ever more difficult for a new-look board, minus the swinging axe of Daniel Levy.

Frank was at pains this week to point out that Spurs are not really a Champions League team, and are only playing in that competition because they won the Europa League. He reiterated that they finished 17th last term. In that light, it is becomes easier to accept that even the wins should feel excruciating.

The year will be remembered for the glorious ventures in Bilbao over an appalling league record, but it ends with a toss-up of what Tottenham want to be. The Overton window of what kind of performances are acceptable shifted long before Frank’s entrance. But what matters is what works, and these are the realities of the project they have embarked on.

The first job of any new Tottenham Hotspur manager is to avoid comparisons with Juande Ramos.

Months after ending a long trophy drought, the Spurs side of 2008-09 veered into infamy by taking just two points from the opening eight games. Thomas Frank’s tally of 22 from 16 matches is now their lowest at this stage of the season since that nadir which saw Ramos sacked.

Patience is understandably wearing thin. Originally a Daniel Levy appointment, Frank’s fate now rests in the hands of a revamped board spearheaded by the Lewis family – Vivienne, brother Charles and son-in-law Nick Beucher – alongside chief executive Vinai Venkatesham and non-executive chairman Peter Charrington.

There is sympathy with Frank, who took over a side which finished 17th under Ange Postecoglou and has been derailed by injuries to James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke. It is also accepted that only Wolves players are making more individual errors leading to goals and that cannot be pinned solely on the manager.

Frank insisted after Sunday’s 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest at the City Ground that there was “no quick fix” but his job is under mounting scrutiny.

The ‘Brentford mindset’

There is often a condescension towards “midtable managers” in the Premier League, the kind which used to be reserved for David Moyes and Sean Dyche. Old-school British coaches are back in vogue; instead suspicion now abounds towards managers who have punched above their weight but have yet to work with one of the “Big Six”.

That said, Frank has given ammunition to critics who believe he is still operating with the same mindset as at Brentford, going into games believing his side will not have much of the ball. Starting the north London derby with five defenders and a double-pivot backfired spectacularly and laid bare a lack of confidence which has become ingrained. So did the substitutions at 2-0 down against Forest – rather than Brennan Johnson, Mathys Tel or Wilson Odobert, Frank turned to Ben Davies, Joao Palhinha and Lucas Bergvall.

The axis

It explains why Frank has relied on midfielders whose strengths lie out of position. Rodrigo Bentancur and Palhinha have started together nine times in the league, with Spurs winning just 33 per cent of those games. It has left the No 10 isolated – Xavi Simons the biggest victim – and has limited opportunities from open play. Nor is it reserved for trips to Manchester City and Arsenal – the same approach was taken in a 1-1 home draw with Wolves. It is hard to argue it has made them more solid either – they have conceded more goals than at the same stage last season.

The xG

Twice this season Spurs have recorded their lowest xG (expected goals) in a match since records began. Against Chelsea and Arsenal they registered 0.05 and 0.07 xG respectively, but they have managed below 1xG on 10 separate occasions. And it matters particularly because Frank himself is a stickler for the metric. In a recent Sky Sports interview, he discussed discouraging players from taking long-range, lower-quality chances.

Relations with players

There is no serious suggestion yet that Frank has lost the dressing room, but there have been exchanges belying his insistence that the group are united. Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence appeared to snub him at full-time against Chelsea, and Spence reacted angrily again to being taken off at Forest. The rest looked despairing at Ibrahim Sangare’s goal from 20 yards out – a shot he was able to take despite there being eight outfield Spurs players in and around the box.

The rotations

Only twice all season have Spurs named unchanged line-ups in the Premier League. With the exception of Yves Bissouma, who is likely to leave in January after another video of the midfielder inhaling nitrous oxide, only three fit members of the senior squad are not into double figures for league appearances. They are Gray, Randal Kolo Muani, whose campaign has been disrupted by injury, and Ben Davies.

The fans

There have been two occasions when tensions have boiled over – against Manchester United, when Frank’s decision to leave on Richarlison and take off Simons was jeered, and when he told supporters they were “not true Tottenham fans” for booing Guglielmo Vicario for his error against Fulham.

Frank spoke with similar clarity at Brentford, but has not built up the good will to enjoy the same authority with a fanbase who are yet to warm to him.

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Who isn’t playing

Despite their attacking problems, last season’s top scorer Johnson – a cult hero ever since his winner in the Europa League final – has started just six league games and is now beginning to attract interest from Crystal Palace, among others. Simons has started just over half of Spurs’ Premier League games since his arrival, often on the left rather than in his preferred role as a No 10 – that is partly a tactical choice, partly an inevitable consequence of failing to properly replace Son Heung-min.

There is still an intention behind the scenes at Tottenham to persevere with the project, but it is accepted that things have to change quickly. It is not only the number of defeats but the manner of them.

Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Brentford (Richarlison 25′, Simons 43′)

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM – “Now to watch Spurs win. It’s happening. Trust me.”

Naturally I’m happy to share a WhatsApp message I sent to a Tottenham Hotspur-supporting friend ahead of kick-off on Saturday because, for once, a hunch was correct.

In this, the stoppable force vs movable object derby, where the team with the second worst home record in the Premier League hosted the team with the joint-second worst record away, it felt as though something had to give.

And that something was Brentford giving the embattled Thomas Frank the kindest of reunion gifts, allowing this ground to go through the repertoire of hits at full-time as if it had never been their haunted home.

“Sometimes it just suddenly clicks,” Frank said after Tottenham celebrated just a second league win of the season at home.

“The team has been out of sync in some stages, but today a lot of the players were on the same page. We played with pace, penetration, and were unpredictable. It was just a complete performance.”

And a week on from booing one of their own – Vicario the subject of jeers during the loss to Fulham – this was the day where Spurs fans made amends.

There were extra-loud cheers for Spurs’ goalkeeper when his name was called out in the line-up before kick-off, a moment that made Frank feel “warm inside” after he had previously, and rightly, voiced his ire.

This reconciliation helped contribute towards a feel-good factor before a ball was even kicked, with the atmosphere boosted by Arsenal’s lunchtime loss at Aston Villa as well.

Recognising another game was a clean slate upon which a platform could be built on, Spurs’ fans and players were finally a cohesive unit.

“There was a fantastic energy between them,” Frank added, remarking that a positive atmosphere is far easier to manifest after a victory.

Now there is a real chance for momentum. Spurs welcome Son Heung-min back to this stadium on Tuesday, where the former captain will have a “proper chance to say goodbye” after leaving for Los Angeles FC in the summer while the club were on tour in South Korea.

This return will see Son take to the pitch ahead of kick-off against Slavia Prague, and the timing feels perfect in terms of maintaining this new-found positivity that simply has to last to give Spurs any chance of a deep run in Europe or a top-four push in the league.

And while Son is here, it would be wise to make the most of him. Spurs finally looked capable in his absence in attack against Brentford, but the fact this was a rarity in terms of their overall campaign so far means he can still have a role to play.

A modern great, their fourth highest goalscorer of all time, is back for some closure, and if Son has a moment with the squad, a beeline for the forwards could certainly help their cause.

In particular because right now they are on and upwards’ trajectory. Against Brentford there was plenty to enjoy, with Xavi Simons in particular shining and finally scoring his first goal.

He played like a man with a point to prove, and with Richarlison on the scoresheet too, this felt fitting in a period where Spurs will want to show they have gotten over Son’s exit for good – at the very time he waves a belated farewell.

Whatever lies at the heart of Tottenham’s problems the answer is not sacking Thomas Frank.

Certainly not in the next few weeks, whatever the run of results that follows Tuesday night’s niggly draw at St James’ Park.

A mid-season sacking might satisfy some of the bloodlust in the Spurs fanbase but it will not address the fundamental issues that are eroding the club’s ability to compete at the top of the Premier League – and it will not improve the club in the short term either.

Take one look at the managerial market right now and suggest an alternative that wipes the floor with Frank or an appointment you’d trust Tottenham’s hierarchy to pull off. Is it Andoni Iraola at Bournemouth, the high priest of high press whose reputation in the game is sky high?

Well, perhaps. But the Cherries’ recent form is hit and miss and The i Paper has been told categorically that Iraola would not walk out on Bournemouth in the middle of the season. Any move for him would need to wait until the end of the campaign, leaving Tottenham with an interim boss like Michael Carrick while they tread water.

Oliver Glasner is in a similar position. Crystal Palace probably can’t contain his ambition but does he jump ship before May? Perhaps Spurs are kidding themselves if they think their poisoned chalice is enough to entice a manager who will have options at the end of the season.

Marco Silva is keen and a new contract remains unsigned but Fulham sit in the same bracket that Brentford did. He has more of a track record of turning out attacking teams than Frank did but he would face the same credibility battle that the Dane does.

Do you go elite or overseas? Tottenham tried the former and got burned with Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, who both appeared to believe they were doing the club a favour by accepting gargantuan wages without ever threatening to repeat the success they had enjoyed elsewhere. If there is a standout manager waiting in the wings overseas, the current bookmakers’ odds do not reflect it.

So where does that leave you? Time to dig in and ride out the recent storm. Which is a fairly accurate reflection of Tottenham’s performance at Newcastle, which was a tough watch for long spells but illustrated a few things we hadn’t seen in the four game losing run.

Granted they created very little in a first half where they were clinging on. But Cristian Romero’s heroic late contribution hinted that there may be life left in a season that felt like it was unravelling fast.

We’re told the dressing room is unconvinced by aspects of Frank’s gameplan and they certainly lacked fluency for spells at Newcastle. But this was not the performance of a group of players that have lost faith in the manager. Instead it felt like a team low on confidence finding a way out of a desperate situation – and hinting that a corner may yet be turned.

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Frank can help himself, of course. He needs to cut out the constant rotation and at some point Spurs are going to have to attempt to play on the front foot consistently again. It is a month since they have had a shot on target in the first half – a damning stat that continued against Newcastle.

But there wasn’t a whole lot wrong with the defensive fundamentals and you haven’t always been able to say that about Tottenham sides at St James’ Park. They rode out the pressure where in previous seasons they have folded.

Frank needs time and Spurs need to give him it. The brutal truth is that they don’t have much choice.

Tottenham 1-2 Fulham (Kudus 59’ | Tete 4’, Wilson 6’)

At the recent Eubank-Benn fight, there was the peculiar sight of people enjoying themselves in the home areas of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Once the football took centre-stage again, supporters were reduced to booing their own goalkeeper.

The most ludicrous calamities of Angeball did not compete with the opening exchanges of the defeat to Fulham, a side not exactly known for scoring goals. It turns out they do not have that trouble when Kenny Tete is left in yards of space, or indeed when Guglielmo Vicario goes marauding and playing passes down the line to allow Harry Wilson to curl one into his empty net.

In six muddled minutes, Thomas Frank was pushed to the brink.

The toxicity that followed, Vicario’s next two touches jeered then ironically cheered for making a basic clearance, marked a new low in this tumultuous, miserable season.

Frank insisted the booing was “unacceptable” and those behind it “can’t be true Tottenham fans”. Vicario’s error was not on the manager, nor really on the defenders the goalkeeper berated for failing to get back onto the line. Micky van de Ven spared him further blushes with a last-ditch tackle when Samuel Chukwueze had rounded him. For the home crowd, they had seen this kind of display one too many times.

There are few immediate alternatives to the Italian stopper. There are reservations about deputy Antonin Kinsky’s long-term future. Brandon Austin has only ever made one senior appearance for the club, while Alfie Whiteman has quit football to become a photographer.

The strange paradox of Vicario is that he is capable of producing heroic performances like the one against Monaco in the Champions League, his eight stops from all angles earning an unlikely point. The tragicomedy at Arsenal began with a point-blank stop from Declan Rice before conceding four. Before that came the error at Brighton, the scrutiny over his positioning at Leeds.

His future had not been seen as under threat in January, when Spurs are expected to spend. That may change.

In the 29-year-old’s first season, the main question marks were over his set pieces. It was suggested he was not getting enough protection from referees. There have been fraught moments with fans before as they grew frustrated over his distribution. It never felt quite so poisonous as this and it is impossible not to wonder what it will do to his confidence.

Frank has to consider what to do next, not least because his goalkeeper seems to represent the broken spirit of a dressing room so used to these performances here that half-time and full-time torrents of abuse are routine. Fulham fans, by contrast, taunted their old Brentford nemesis with chants of “sacked in the morning” and his team, equally damningly, with “champions of Europe? You’re taking the piss”.

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Vicario is but one symptom of all this. The boos were at him and yet somehow around him, a venting of fury at a team who have won one league game at home – against Burnley – all season.

Frank’s system was again too narrow and overloaded on the right. Spurs failed to register a shot on target until Mohammed Kudus’ superb half-volley in the 59th minute – just as it was with Richarlison’s freak goal at the Emirates.

Paris Saint-Germain 4-3 Tottenham Hotspur (Vitinha 45′, 53′, 76′ pen, Ruiz 59′, Pacho, 65′, Hernandez red card 90+3′ | Richarlison 35′, Kolo Muani 50′, 72′)

PARC DES PRINCES — That’s more like it. That’s the way Tottenham Hotspur supporters want their team to play. Fledgling starlets fronting the youthful revolution.

On paper, conceding five goals in defeat is hardly the panacea to Spurs’ recent ailments. But, as has been said in many a north London pub in the past few days, there is a way to lose, and in Paris, to the vivaciousness of European champions Paris Saint-Germain, this was it.

Sunday’s defeat to Arsenal saw the side of Thomas Frank that Tottenham supporters have fervently insisted they never want to bear witness to again: death by near-zero passes.

Frank had to take a long, hard look at himself. His beliefs. His ethos he lives by – building a team in his way, from the bottom up.

Sunday had to be an aberration. Not the result, the manner of the performance. One of the myriad damning stats to emerge from Sunday’s derby disaster was that in the opening period, Spurs made the fewest number of passes in the opposition half ever recorded in the first half of a Premier League match since such records began just over 20 years ago.

Wednesday’s trip to Paris represented the most opportune platform Frank could have wished for. No better a stage to rethink the formula, wipe the slate clean.

The Champions League has been a happy hunting ground for Frank so far, with Spurs one of four sides unbeaten going into a match against the might of PSG that, given this rather tepid new Champions League format negates much jeopardy, gave the Dane what is commonly known as a free hit, licence to swing the bat.

Defeat wouldn’t end hopes of a top-eight finish, with three very winnable games to come. Victory would be memorable, if only for a few days afterwards.

A positive performance regardless of the outcome however was imperative for Frank and his managerial reputation, given the vitriol that has come his way amid some of the most turgid attacking displays the Premier League has ever seen from Spurs of late.

And, after everyone had recovered from one of those seizure-inducing light shows at the Parc des Princes, endeavour was the order of the day from a Spurs side bustling with youthful exuberance.

“It was the reaction I wanted from the players,” Frank said. “We’ve been working very hard on that, the players, the staff, me, to make sure that we responded well and bounced back because that’s crucial after a bad performance.

“Today I saw more identity of the team I want to create, we want to create. Much more character, personality, aggressiveness.”

Gone was that stifling five-man defence. In its place came the effervescence of Lucas Bergvall and the fleet of foot of Archie Gray to give the Spurs midfield some nicely balanced vibrancy.

When Spurs finally composed themselves, their quality did show through. Those two fledgling talents in midfield played a huge part in setting up Richarlison’s aesthetically pleasing opener – nothing more than the visitors deserved.

What they needed to do was to get to half-time in front. They did all they could to achieve such, but when you are facing the European champions, who possess some of the best midfielders in the world, give them an inch and they will take a mile.

Vitinha’s sumptuous strike from a quickly-taken corner caught Spurs off guard, and it could not have been better timed for the home side, right on the cusp of half-time.

The Spurs of four days ago would have gone into their shell and crumbled. But Randal Kolo Muani bulleted the visitors back in front – the striker’s first goal for Spurs, against his parent club.

Those inches were still on offer down the other end and in the blink of an eye, the result in one of Spurs’ best recent performances was taken away from them in 12 unhinged second-half minutes.

Nonetheless, a thrilling defeat suggests there is some life in Frank’s project after all.

“We all want to play entertaining football, but sometimes you might have to adapt that for certain games and we’re 100 per cent with the coaching staff and the manager,” Gray said.

“Sunday was so tough, but we can take positives into Fulham.”

It would be very, very Spurs to now go onto lose, in the limpest possible way. For his own sake, Frank cannot allow that to happen. Not after Paris.

As a maelstrom of pressure engulfs yet another Tottenham Hotspur manager, and another north London derby acts as the perfect prism for their unease, it’s worth reflecting on what the best-case scenario was on Sunday in Thomas Frank’s head. If that sounds a little sarcastic, it is intentional.

Tottenham weren’t just defensive as means to an end but emphatically one-dimensional. They had four touches in Arsenal’s penalty area – two from a central defender and two from a substitute. So what was the ideal version of this strategy working? Gutsy 0-0? Inexplicable late win thanks to a set piece against the best set-piece team?

Again hypothetically, say one of those two scenarios had implausibly played out. Would Spurs fans be heralding Frank as a defensive master? Would this joy vacuum-ball be deemed sustainable at a big club? I don’t think so.

That’s the point that now swirls around Frank. We know that he excels most as a builder of clubs, not a firefighter who saves them. But the potential upsides to Sunday’s approach were not only far less likely than the negatives; they were almost useless outside of the specific context of the match. You defended well, great – now what’s next?

Frank will not work here for long if this is the big-game strategy, even if it works occasionally. He is misguided if he believes otherwise. Supporters can accept dourness by necessity when it is successful. When it isn’t, especially against that lot, you succeed only in making the world of possibilities feel smaller while still forcing it to contain all of the pain.

And it didn’t work on Sunday. The strategy was flawed from the start and floored thereafter because the players seemed uncommitted and unsuited to it. There were lots of defenders but little structure. There were two defensive midfielders but the run of the midfield was ceded by design anyway.

The only minutes of heart and energy – and this is particularly damning – came in the aftermath of a Richarlison goal that was a freak anyway. If it takes something divergent to the plan to spark improvement, your plan was probably wrong in the first place.

Derbies do funny things to supporters. It isn’t just another game because it never has been and because everyone inside the club knows it isn’t. As such, everything within its confines becomes magnified and stretched like a blanket across your opinions.

Frank apologised afterwards; its message didn’t alter its meaninglessness. Supporters want solutions, not explanations. They have watched their team enter a high-profile London derby, be embarrassingly defensive, concede in the 34th minute and then create virtually nothing afterwards. The only difference between Chelsea and Arsenal is that Arsenal scored in the 36th minute.

The irony is that resolutely doing the same thing showed some guts. Tactical cowardice was itself an act of bravery because it was so risky for his reputation amongst supporters. But when it produces the same result for a fanbase that watched Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte and Nuno Espirito Santo unstick themselves through similar principles, courage becomes foolishness. See the empty away end before full-time for evidence.

That fanbase’s greatest gripe is the extremes in approach to produce equal underachievement. They spent the last league campaign wondering what might happen if they appointed someone a little more pragmatic. Some will spend this week wondering what might happen if they appointed someone a little less pragmatic.

Their critics will point to the table and accuse entitlement, but we have eyes. If you are known as a guy who builds something over time, you need emotional investment in the foundations or you’re in trouble.

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That middle ground is hardly out of reach. It shouldn’t look this hard. Spurs possess good central defenders who have largely stayed fit. They have attacking full-backs and central midfielders beyond the Rodrigo Bentancur-Joao Palhinha axis of slow possession. They have a multitude of attacking midfielders and attackers who were presumably not bought to be used only against weaker opponents at home when the manager dares to attack.

And there was logic to making this team more organised after what came before. But there was far less logic in defensive organisation being the whole of the law because that only amplifies the pressure upon results at a club whose modern identity is defined by an inability to cope with it.

So the questions will not get any less awkward. Either Frank thinks this is the right way and is wrong, or must change his approach, release the handbrake and compromise on what he is – presumably – trying to achieve. For some, patience is already running lower than their block on Sunday. Frank won’t get away with many more of these.

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For the first time in a while, the Premier League reverted to its norms: Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City all won, a Nuno Espirito Santo team was resilient and determined and Manchester United dropped points.

As you were at the top, then, but there was the fourth managerial change of the season within the bottom three clubs as Vitor Pereira paid the price for a pathetic start. Wolverhampton Wanderers are winless and woeful.

Here is one piece of analysis on each of the top flight clubs who played this weekend (in reverse table order)…

This weekend’s results

Brighton 3-0 Leeds

Burnley 0-2 Arsenal

Crystal Palace 2-0 Brentford

Fulham 3-0 Wolves

Nott’m Forest 2-2 Man Utd

Tottenham 0-1 Chelsea

Liverpool 2-0 Aston Villa

West Ham 3-1 Newcastle

Man City 3-1 Bournemouth

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Wolves fans are at the point of no return

The least surprising news of all on Sunday morning, when Pereira left yet another job after less than a year in charge. He may have saved Wolves from relegation last season but was quickly taking them to the Championship in 2025-26.

Questions deserve to be directed higher up the food chain, too. Wolves sold their best players in the summer, replaced them with lesser quality and less invention and supporters are at the point of no return when it comes to executive chairman Jeff Shi and those around him. It’s no exaggeration to say that their next decision will decide Wolves’ next era.

The problem? This team is short on belief and awful. The latest run of games – two promoted clubs and struggling Fulham – have produced three defeats, eight goals conceded and further proof that the squad is not fit for purpose. Is January soon enough to rectify that damage?

Forest’s set-piece struggles continue

This was much better in Sean Dyche’s first home league game in charge, particularly given that Forest didn’t collapse after falling behind (as had become the norm). Callum Hudson-Odoi was dangerous when drifting centrally, Morgan Gibbs-White was excellent in the second half and Nicolo Savona might just have found his feet in a red shirt. Ryan Yates was also transformative in central midfield.

But the set-piece issues will drag Forest down like a brick tied around the ankle. The first United goal shouldn’t have been a corner but that’s no excuse for giving Casemiro so much space eight yards out. Amad Diallo’s finish for the second was majestic, but Hudson-Odoi shouldn’t have turned his back on the shot and made himself smaller.

These are issues Dyche will – and must – look to solve if Forest are to ever move up the table. You can’t do anything when you’re conceding one or two goals a game. Forest haven’t kept a clean sheet in the league since 1 April.

West Ham finally win a home game

All it took were in-ground protests against the owners, the suggestion from some supporters that Nuno should be under pressure already for lamentable team selection and a tacit acceptance of relegation as a probability for West Ham to turn up.

Sunday was so much better. Jarrod Bowen started right but often drove down the middle. Aaron Wan-Bissaka and El Hadji Malick Diouf provided fine curled crosses on the overlap, the midfield combination made sense and no central defender committed a brainfart. Nuno finally picked a shape that made sense and players in the right roles – Callum Wilson up front as the perfect example.

This must be the standard now – this shape, roughly this team and this intensity. It’s not until a team actually performs coherently that you rediscover the quality within it.

Burnley’s best chance of survival

During Burnley’s last Premier League season, their goalkeeper situation became a bone of contention and heavily contributed to a pitiful relegation. Now, their goalkeeper may be their best chance of staying up.

No goalkeeper has conceded more goals, but none have faced more shots on target nor made more saves. Martin Dubravka is the busiest man in the Premier League and every defeat, including Saturday’s against Arsenal, would have been worse were it not for his excellence.

Now Scott Parker must try to find a way to protect him more effectively. He has “saved” Burnley three goals in 10 games according to the xG faced.

Leeds have a problem in open play

Leeds have a strategy under Daniel Farke: keep games tight, reduce xG for both teams and look to make the most of set-piece situations. In their defence, Arsenal are roughly doing the same thing at the top. The bad news: Leeds have worse defenders and are chronically bad at creating chances in open play.

There is a measure for that: open-play goal-creating actions (and you can have more than one “live pass” for each goal). So far this season, Leeds have four goal-creating actions from live passes. Not only is that half the number of the next lowest figure in the division, all of Leeds’ four live pass goal actions came in one game against Wolves. They are 0-9 in their other games.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that Leeds are bang in trouble, but it does certainly mean that – unlike against Brighton this weekend – there is huge pressure on them to defend well in open play. Next weekend’s game against Forest – not least because it comes directly before Aston Villa, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City – is absolutely massive.

Everton

Play Sunderland on Monday night.

Crisis averted at Fulham

Wolves were absolutely wretched and sacked their manager the morning after the game; we have to include that context. But Fulham blew away cobwebs and moved back towards mid-table because they were able to thoroughly punish their opponents.

That’s been far too rare here. Between December 2023 and March 2024, Fulham won four Premier League matches by three goals or more in the space of four months – 5-0, 5-0, 3-0, 3-0. Remarkably, before Saturday that was the last time they had won a league game by a margin of more than two goals. All 21 league wins were earned by a one or two-goal gap.

These wins are important because they provide what I’d call “ole minutes”, when your supporters get to enjoy the team free of any angst. These are the specific times when fans gain real comfort; they are doubly effective at distracting from any ongoing concerns about the league table or the future of the manager.

Newcastle’s away day woes continue

Sunday might just have been the worst performance of the Eddie Howe tenure at Newcastle United. His team got away with conceding and took a lead against an opponent desperately low on belief and then allowed themselves to be overpowered. At the very least we usually expect midfield energy and combatism; Newcastle even lacked that.

This is becoming a critical problem away from home, at least if Newcastle want to challenge for a Champions League place again this season. Not only are they winless in eight away league games, but they have won two on the road against current Premier League opponents in 2025.

Howe’s team either look toothless if they aim for solidity or open if they try to stretch the game.

Brentford have a hurdle to cross

Keith Andrews has taken to Premier League life with more comfort than almost everyone predicted, but one of the hardest aspects of elite management is knowing how – and when – to alter the course of matches in-game. Andrews’ substitutions and tweaks when Brentford have been leading have been pretty good.

The same is not true in the opposite situation. Brentford have fallen behind six times in the league this season and only gained a point from those matches. They have conceded first three times – Palace, Forest and Manchester City – and in the first two were unable to gain a foothold in the match.

On Saturday evening, some complaints from Brentford supporters about the timing and nature of Andrews’ substitutions. That’s probably his last point to prove to them and us.

Aston Villa’s biggest concern

Several weeks ago, I wrote a piece in which I identified six ways in which Aston Villa needed to improve. Unai Emery has pretty much solved all of those, although Emiliano Martinez’s mistakes are becoming a problem.

But in that piece, I noted that Ollie Watkins’s influence was decreasing: fewer shots, fewer percentage of Villa’s shots and fewer touches in the penalty area. And all those numbers are still down.

Maybe this is simply Watkins having to adjust his style to the new needs of the team and a new phase of his career (he turns 30 next month), but that’s not helping right now. He’s managed a total xG of 1.7 despite starting nine league games, has scored once and the movement to create his own chances appears to be lacking.

Gomez offers Brighton something different

It is extremely Brighton in 2025 to be calling for Diego Gomez to get more starts based upon his experience: he’s 22 and this is his first season in European football.

But Gomez has also played 140 senior games. Look at the age of Brighton’s used substitutes on Saturday: 18, 18, 19, 19, 20.

Not only is Gomez very direct – and in a different way to Yankuba Minteh – but he has also become a lucky charm for Brighton. They have won four and drawn one of the five league games he has started (including beating Chelsea, Newcastle and Manchester City) and he scored five goals in three Carabao Cup games. It’s time for him to get a proper run as a non-negotiable starter.

Should Crystal Palace have a Plan B?

This has been a bugbear of mine for a while: Jean-Philippe Mateta should score more headers because a) he’s massive and b) he’s really good at heading. The loop over Caoimhin Kelleher on Saturday was magnificent.

Since joining Crystal Palace in 2022, Mateta has only scored five headers in all competitions; he scored four for Mainz in 2018-19 alone. That is largely a question of service: during that Mainz season he attempted 30 headed shots and his highest total in a Premier League season is 14.

Oliver Glasner largely likes to keep the ball on the floor, using direct attacking midfielders to dribble and play the ball into feet (which Mateta is also very good at working with). But I do wonder whether using aerial crosses, rather than simply having Mateta challenging for the ball in the air outside the box, might be a very useful Plan B?

Man Utd’s ‘glue player’

During the worst of Ruben Amorim’s tenure, Casemiro looked finished as an elite-level midfielder. He was isolated, he was slow and he was forced into making rash tackles because there was little cohesion behind him and little support around him.

All that has changed and reports of Casemiro’s demise may have been exaggerated. He’s making tackles, he’s dictating the tempo, he’s playing passes from deep (three created chances on Saturday) and he’s generally making a midfield tick purely because the defence and goalkeeper behind him aren’t consumed by chaos created by their own incompetence. There is a platform in place again.

Sunderland

Play Everton on Monday night.

All hail Chelsea’s midfield king

Given his role in Chelsea’s winning goal, robbing Micky van de Ven on the edge of his own penalty area before passing to Joao Pedro, it’s worth reflecting on just how impressive Moises Caicedo’s start to the season has been.

In the Premier League, he has made more tackles and interceptions than any other player in the division. In Europe’s top five leagues, he has made more interceptions than any other player.

Caicedo’s energy and ability to read the game when out of possession is a cheat code for Chelsea and it’s making them an effective team without the creativity of Cole Palmer.

Tottenham are close to mutiny

This is really complicated. There was always going to be a necessary adjustment when Thomas Frank took over because he needed to completely overhaul Tottenham Hotspur’s defensive shape, organisation and attitude following the departure of Ange Postecoglou. Frank needed to build the foundations – Spurs are fourth in the Premier League at the time of writing and have the second best goal difference.

But you can’t ignore the warning signs. Saturday was the lowest xG that Spurs have managed in the Premier League since that data was collected (2012-13) and that is added to a pile of home performances during which Spurs have become desperately poor at creating chances and even developing attacking patterns.

For the first time this weekend, there were comparisons drawn with Nuno’s start at Tottenham. Proof that you really can take a team from 17th to fourth, have 10 league games and have your future called into question.

Bournemouth’s tactical misstep

Andoni Iraola has got most things right this season, but I don’t really understand what he was thinking with his defensive line at the Etihad. There were several occasions when the deepest Bournemouth defender was 10 yards inside the City half.

Presumably the point was to make the pitch as small as possible to aid a press that could contain City and force high turnovers, but the obvious risk lies in Erling Haaland getting clear with a single pass if that press didn’t work. Cue the first City goal and at least one other moment of self-inflicted danger.

Liverpool go back to the future

It was only one game and it was only one comfortable league win, but what I like about Liverpool’s performance on Saturday night was that it had all the hallmarks of 2024-25 Liverpool: an early goal from Mo Salah, control throughout and a game that seemed to pass at 1.5x speed because of that control.

Another point: the midfield three is so crucial. Liverpool have lost games with Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai all starting this season, but on each of those occasions at least one of three had been withdrawn when the opposition scored the winning goal.

If the energy levels are there, Arne Slot has to keep all three on the pitch and in central midfield. That was the successful formula last season; it must be again.

Cherki gives Man City the missing edge

In one way, this was an entirely predictable City win in that Haaland scored twice and they are ludicrously dependent upon his goals and him getting free from defenders regularly. There aren’t many off days.

Which is why I like the unpredictability of Rayan Cherki in this team. Too often, City can get a little tied down in their predictable patterns of attacking play – effectively what did for Jack Grealish. They need a player who drops into pockets of space, tries to take on a player and occasionally does something nobody is expecting.

Cherki has seven goals or assists in seven City starts. He’s not entirely polished and that might just be his best attribute in a City shirt this season.

Arsenal’s superb record against promoted clubs

Has there ever been an easier Premier League game to predict, both in terms of result and style?

Arsenal win and keep a clean sheet, they don’t face a shot on target or a shot of any kind until the 71st minute, they score from a corner and Viktor Gyokeres scored against a weaker league opponent. His four goals have come against Leeds, Forest and Burnley.

The simple nature of the assignment was defined by Arsenal’s superb record against promoted clubs over the last few years. Of their last 25 matches against those opponents, Arsenal have won 24 and lost one (the 1-0 defeat at Forest in May 2023). They have won their last 14. Lesser sides are now arriving to face Arsenal having been beaten psychologically before they start.

Tottenham 0-1 Chelsea (Pedro 34’)

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM — Like a cat in a tree you look at the Premier League table and wonder how on earth Tottenham Hotspur got up there.

Somehow they are third, but you wouldn’t know it when they play at home, with Chelsea the latest visitors to ignore the signs and put their shoes on the coffee table.

It’s Three Point Lane to Chelsea fans, after all. Their third straight win here. And even before full-time they were singing “Tottenham Hotspur, it’s happened again!”.

The whistle itself was met with boos from Spurs’ supporters, and while perhaps no other club could conjure such a reaction while sitting so high in the table, it is plain to see this has become a suffocating experience for all involved – and is all the more baffling given their joy on the road under Thomas Frank.

It is a wild contrast. After 10 league games under the Dane and an even split played home and away, they are top of the away table and 17th in the home table, where they sit only above the clubs currently in the relegation zone.

And against Chelsea, the most hopeless of indicators: an xG of 0.05 marking their lowest on record since this divisive statistic came to being in 2012-13.

“I would say that of course hurt massively,” Frank said. “I’ve never been in charge of a team that created that little. I’ll look into what I can do. That’s one thing. Everything is a little bit linked.”

Two moments in particular summed up Tottenham’s struggles. The first was a free-kick out wide in the 64th minute, when Pedro Porro and Mohamed Kudus played the ball between themselves before losing it instead of sending it into the box.

It was inexplicable from a side who have scored five headers in the league this season, a tally only bettered by Arsenal (six).

The second moment came in injury time, when almost every Spurs player went up after winning a free-kick near the halfway line.

It was then played short, then back to goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, who took his time, searched for a pass, and then hoofed it all the way to the arms of the grateful Robert Sanchez at the opposite end.

“That just sums Tottenham up. They’ve been awful. Listen to the boos in this stadium,” Jamie Carragher said on Sky Sports.

Frank could understand the boos, and rather then point at the table, you could sense how much this home hoodoo is hurting the head coach in the press conference afterwards.

“We all sense the frustration and the emotions,” Frank said. “That’s part of football. It’s extremely painful. You’re burning inside and you want to find solutions, watch the game back.”

Frank was keen to downplay the slightest whiff of mutiny from two Spurs players when Djed Spence and Micky van de Ven ignored their boss and headed straight for the tunnel at full-time.

“I think that is one of the small issues,” Frank added, but the fact he had stopped in his tracks, looking over his shoulder at Spence and Van de Ven, certainly made for a lasting image.

Now he must address this internally and somehow quell the burgeoning feeling that the dressing room are not entirely behind him.

That goes for the fans, too. More than 60,000 have poured into this stadium for each league game here this season, meaning the away form will only carry them so far if home continues to be where the pain is inflicted.

And just like London buses, two more home games are on the horizon. FC Copenhagen on Tuesday and Manchester United on Saturday.

Saracens are aiming to “pique” their football neighbours Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur by rebranding themselves as “the original club of north London” ahead of the new rugby union season.

In a bid to create fresh interest and fill their StoneX Stadium, which has been running at 85 per cent of its 10,000 capacity, Saracens will put their punchy new slogan on billboards and public transport around the capital, with a social-media advertisement featuring a north London rugby fan named Loraine having her arm tattooed with the club’s star-and-crescent logo.

The i Paper understands Saracens considered changing their name to include “north London” but rejected it.

But they are leaning into their location and history to actively trade on the club having been founded in 1876, whereas Tottenham came into being in 1882 and Arsenal in 1886.

Fans of the two football teams might find the comparison ludicrous, given their clubs have a global recognition built across decades of winning league and European titles and FA Cups, while Sarries were playing in front of a few hundred people on a public park before rugby turned professional in 1995.

They moved from that ground in Southgate to play in Enfield then Watford before making their current home in Mill Hill, although the players train outside the capital in St Albans.

But the new Saracens campaign aims to link them to north London’s youth and diversity, and Mike Leslie, the club’s chief growth officer, told The i Paper: “It’s about celebrating the community around the club. It’s about ‘born here, built here, still here’.

“And it’s wrapped in what we think is a pretty bold statement – ‘original club of north London’ – that is true, and no doubt going to pique some of our neighbours, which is just fine.”

The anticipated friction will be partly tongue in cheek as Saracens have an agreement with Spurs to play an annual fixture at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – the sixth of these “Showdowns” will be a double-header against Northampton Saints and Sale Sharks Women in March – and they intend to share details of the campaign with Arsenal’s commercial department.

It was conceived by Leslie, a South African who works jointly with the Durban-based Sharks, and Flo Williams, Saracens’ creative director and former fly-half.

“Hopefully we’ll win some of their [Arsenal and Spurs] fans over,” Leslie said.

“It’s deliberately a little provocative and bold, and we probably haven’t been that as much as we could be.

“It’s also about celebrating the things that make rugby special. So what you’ll see coming through is that gladiatorial nature, the cauliflower ears and the physicality and the amazing athletes that actually play the game.”

Saracens’ captain Maro Itoje will be a central figure in announcing the campaign, and the England and Lions skipper often refers to his north London upbringing and support for Arsenal.

“The original club of north London” will be on flags on the road leading into the stadium, and on the gates and the sides of the stands at the StoneX. A pictorial display in the Olympic bar under one stand will tell the club’s story. Three local schools already bear the Saracens name in a multi-academy trust.

It is part of a trend in rugby’s Premiership of clubs exploring new brands and storylines to grab attention and a younger audience.

The league changed its name to “the Prem” this summer, while Red Bull bought Newcastle Falcons – whose strapline is “True North” – and Leicester Tigers, Northampton Saints, Gloucester and Exeter Chiefs have altered their badges in recent years, and Bristol became the “Bears”.

As for Saracens’ closest geographical rivals, Harlequins have attempted to lay claim to the capital in the past, and their home shirt last season contained pictures of the London Eye and other landmarks, with a slogan: “London. Since 1866.”

Quins regularly sell out their 14,800-capacity Stoop, while both clubs have attracted big crowds to their occasional matches at Twickenham, Tottenham, Wembley and the London Stadium, and are desperate to build on that interest.

Saracens have a wealthy owner in Dominic Silvester, but a loss-making business.

Leslie said: “The sports that are growing the fastest are leaning into personality and leaning into identity. For us, that means leaning into who we are, unapologetically… planting that flag and owning that and then also providing a vision for the future.

“When the stadium is full and it’s loud and people are engaged and it’s vibrant, there’s a vibe, an amazing experience. So it’s critical we start we start filling this stadium, and we’re really only talking about 1000 or 1500 people.

“North London is not typically a very strong rugby area – and we like that. It’s gritty, it’s more diverse; it gives us differentiation. We also think North London is very aspirational. So we think this will appeal to not just young rugby fans but also older rugby fans, across the country and not even limited to the country. London being an iconic global city, we think it’s got global relevance.”