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Tottenham Hotspur striker Dominic Solanke faced real pressure this summer transfer window, but despite the fan speculation that he could be sacrificed in order to bring in other forwards, Roberto De Zerbi and the club never really seriously entertained the idea of selling the former Liverpool and Chelsea prospect this year.

In fact, everything relayed by De Zerbi on Solanke has been positive, as the Italian manager sounds excited to work with the experienced striker after a full offseason and with, hopefully, a clean bill of health throughout the 2026/27 season after a surprisingly injury plagued 2025/26 campaign.

Even though Richarlison is the striker Tottenham are trying to pawn off - and he remains in transfer talks for an exit despite two deals falling apart at deadlines - Solanke is still under immense pressure and has to see the 2026/27 Premier League season as very much do or die for his Tottenham Hotspur career.

Troy Parrott is making waves for Real Betis

Not only is Will Lankshear scoring goal after goal for Middlesborough in the EFL Championship, but another former Tottenham striker has been white hot facing an even higher level of competition. After netting the winner against Real Madrid in La Liga, Troy Parrott picked up another huge scalp, scoring a decisive goal to help Real Betis beat Lille and Davide Ancelotti in the first game of the 2026/27 Champions League "League Phase".

Parrott showed real streaks of fire last season, and now, somehow, the Irish international has been even better for the Verdiblancos. The 24 year old is really enjoying his football with likes of Antony and Pablo Fornals at Betis, one of the biggest clubs in Spanish football.

In addition to his two goals in four combined Champions League and La Liga games, Parrott's all around play has been quality, too. He has been creating chances at a high rate in both competitions and drew two fouls in that 3-2 win over Les Dogues in the Champions League.

Troy Parrott is younger than Dominic Solanke and currently producing the goods at a top level of competition in the Champions League and La Liga. Solanke had a nice start in the League Cup against Charlton Athletic, but he was not more impressive than Will Lankshear against the same level of second tier opposition within English football.

Tottenham need more out of Solanke, and Parrott playing as well as he is for Real Betis should serve as a real motivator for the Spurs No. 9 to step it up in the 2026/27 season.

Ten corners against Nottingham Forest produced exactly one chance – an awkward, close-range Micky van de Ven header he couldn’t even direct on target. That’s the trade-off, in miniature, of Roberto De Zerbi’s rebuild: more territory, more control, and precious little to show for it in either box.

The pattern started early. Brentford beat Tottenham 3-0 on the opening weekend, with the final goal arriving from a corner, and De Zerbi dismissed it afterwards as a quirk of facing what he called one of the league’s best set-piece sides. A week later Newcastle won 2-0 at home, their second goal again from a corner, Spurs again failing to win the first contact before the ball was headed across the box to an unmarked finisher. The 0-0 at Forest was progress in the standings but not in either penalty area, per The Athletic.

More corners, no end product

Ten corners at the City Ground is a total Tottenham managed only four times in the league last season before De Zerbi’s late-March appointment. The fifth and final occasion was May’s draw with Leeds. It reflects a genuine improvement in sustaining pressure in the opposition half. It just hasn’t translated into chances created, which is the whole point of winning a corner in the first place.

The physical profiles are gone

Of the ten players signed this summer, none carries a strong aerial reputation, including 6ft 5in Tosin Adarabioyo and 6ft 2in Jan Paul van Hecke. More tellingly, look at who’s left. Cristian Romero, dominant in both boxes, is at Atletico Madrid. Joao Palhinha, five Premier League goals during his loan year including the winner against Everton, is now at Benfica. Richarlison, 11 league goals and Spurs’ usual first point of contact at defensive corners, is left out of De Zerbi’s official squad entirely. Kevin Danso, once praised for enjoying the physical side of the game, joined Sunderland on deadline day. Those four were arguably Tottenham’s most dominant physical presences last season, and all four are unavailable.

The numbers have flipped

Last season Tottenham scored 19 of 48 league goals from set pieces – 39.6 per cent, the highest share in the division – and conceded just nine, second only to Arsenal. This season, against both Brentford and Newcastle, they’ve failed to win first contact from deep corners and been punished for it. Height isn’t the whole story either: Tottenham fielded the fifth-shortest starting XI in the league at Forest, but De Zerbi’s own selection, picking Conor Gallagher over £85million signing Mateus Fernandes for his duel-winning instincts, suggests he knows spirit and structure matter as much as inches. Rodrigo Bentancur, outstanding at Forest, is now probably Tottenham’s best header of the ball by default.

Verdict

The technical upgrade is real; so is the cost. Set pieces kept last season’s Tottenham above the relegation places when little else worked, and De Zerbi now has to find a way to raise the ceiling without knocking out the floor. Whether that means recruiting differently in January or simply coaching harder with what’s left, the current squad can’t keep losing duels at both ends and calling it a rebuild.

Tottenham Hotspur attacking midfielder James Maddison has not started a game since tearing his ACL at the end of the 2024/25 season, even though he returned at the end of the 2025/26 Premier League campaign to help Roberto De Zerbi and Spurs survive the drop.

But even with a full offseason, Maddison has not been in the starting XI, and although he made it onto the pitch on Matchday 1 against Brentford, Madders literally suffered a new injury in the match, going down in the second half after being subbed on due to suffering a dislocated shoulder.

Now that he has missed the Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest fixtures, in which Tottenham failed to score a goal in both, Spurs fans are hoping that he can be back this weekend against the same Everton side that Spurs beat on Matchday 38 of the 2025/26 season to confirm their own Premier League survival.

James Maddison is needed at Tottenham

Not only has James Maddison returned to practice with his teammates on Tuesday, but Oli Gent of The Standard reports that Madders is set to return and be available for selection for the Lilywhite squad this weekend.

Barring an unforeseen setback, it sounds like Maddison will be back in the squad for Tottenham Hotspur vs. Everton, and whlie he won't be a starter, once again, in his first game back from another multi game injury absence, the fact that Maddison is set to only miss two games is a real positive. Plus, the shoulder injury has nothing to do with his knee recovery, other than missing out on more in game sharpness, so Maddison is still even closer to being 100 percent from a lower body stand point.

As the 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest showed, Tottenham are suffering greatly without a true No. 10. Even though Maddison isn't actually the starting attacking midfielder when everyone is healthy - that would be Xavi Simons - he is still a huge upgrade on what they have otherwise, as Conor Gallagher was terrible as the 10 with the attack consisting of Omar Marmoush, Mohammed Kudus, and Mathys Tel mostly starved for service.

Maddison will be dying to get back out there, and Spurs fans are waiting to see the best version of the former Leicester City man. Because Maddison, despite his clear quality, still has a lot to prove to Roberto De Zerbi about what he can do for him in his system.

Today's best reads

Sandro Tonali misses James Maddison more than anyone else

Roberto De Zerbi's blind spot is costing Tottenham

Dejan Kulusevski is the Xavi Simons replacement Tottenham didn't know they needed

Tottenham are missing James Maddison even more than they thought

Roberto De Zerbi has a big Omar Marmoush decision to make

Which new players have made the biggest impact in the Premier League this season and what would it look like if we put them all in one team?

To construct our XI, we’ve used average ratings from WhoScored and fit them into a formation to include the best players possible.

That means a 3-4-2-1 formation for now but we’ll be keeping this fluid as the season progresses…

GK: Konstantinos Tzolakis (Hull City) – 7.57 Hull City have made a far better start to the season than any of us imagined. There were some shouts that they could rival Derby’s record for the lowest number of points in a Premier League season; in reality, they’re more than halfway to making a mockery of those predictions after just three games.

The fact they seem to have unearthed a goalkeeper they can depend upon has certainly helped. A £20m signing from Olympiacos, Tzolakis has kept clean sheets in each of his first three Premier League games – and two of those were against sides in the Champions League this season.

CB: Maxence Lacroix (Chelsea) – 7.06 After years of focusing too heavily on youth, Chelsea wised up to their need for more experience this summer, taking it to unexpected extremes with the signings of Jordan Henderson and Danny Welbeck but finding a sensible middle ground with Lacroix.

The 26-year-old has become an instant starter at Chelsea and even marked his debut with an assist against Fulham.

CB: Tarik Muharemovic (Leeds United) – 7.38 Leeds spent big on Muharemovic this summer and the imposing left-footed centre-back has been ever-present for them so far.

He made the third-most clearances in Serie A last season with Sassuolo and has continued doing what he does best in the Premier League, also currently ranking third for clearances this season.

CB: Nobel Mendy (Hull City) – 7.43 Another Hull representative and the second left-footer in our back three, Mendy became the Tigers’ record signing when he joined from Rayo Vallecano.

He was brought in for his defensive ability, but enjoyed a dream debut at the other end by scoring against Manchester United.

RB: Anan Khalaili (Crystal Palace) – 7.33 Crystal Palace’s new wing-back leads the early running for most tackles in the Premier League this season with 17 so far – at least five more than anyone else.

He has relatively big boots to fill after Daniel Munoz’s exit and has only been on the winning side once so far, but has made an encouraging start.

CM: Elliot Anderson (Manchester City) – 7.25 You’d hope so for all that money.

In fairness, Anderson isn’t doing a bad job of silencing those of us who predicted he’d be a massive flop. And there were lots of us.

He ranks highly for passes, touches and interceptions this season after starting all three of Manchester City’s Premier League games so far.

He now faces that age-old challenge of having to add goals and assists to his game to truly win over the naysayers. Work in progress.

CM: Mamadou Sangare (Brentford) – 7.15 We’re not sure Sangare passes off as a shrewd signing given he cost more than anyone Brentford have ever bought before, but boy, he looks a find.

The £39m-or-so man (reports vary on the actual size of the fee) has started all three of Brentford’s games so far, taking just 12 minutes to make an assist on his debut against Spurs.

He’s also one of the top interceptors in the Premier League this season.

LB: Andy Robertson (Tottenham Hotspur) – 6.54 Bit of a curveball here and the lowest-rated player fitting into our XI. Nobody was exactly screaming about Robertson as a signing of the season contender when Tottenham picked him up on a free transfer after his Liverpool exit.

But it was a sensible enough move to add some experience into a squad bereft of genuine leaders.

Spurs are struggling again so far this season, with Robertson starting their first two games and coming on in their third.

AM: Morgan Rogers (Chelsea) – 7.58 You’d hope so for all that money.

Currently the highest-rated new signing of them all, Rogers has been involved in a goal in each of his three Premier League appearances for Chelsea so far.

Goals against Fulham and Arsenal have bookended his assist against Brighton. A bright start, then, for the most expensive English player in football history. Yes it still sounds weird.

AM: Christos Tzolis (Arsenal) – 7.00 In a summer of extortionate spending, the parameters for a bargain became blurry. But a £34m investment in Tzolis looks to be paying off already for Arsenal.

After his impactful debut in the Community Shield, it took until his third Premier League appearance for his next goal contribution, an assist against Chelsea.

Arsenal sold Gabriel Martinelli for a lot more money than they paid for Tzolis, but they may have made an upgrade.

CF: Gonzalo Garcia (Fulham) – 6.97 Big striker moves were few and far between in the Premier League this summer, unlike last year with your Alexander Isaks, your Benjamin Seskos, your Viktor Gyokereseseses.

Garcia following Alvaro Arbeloa to a dysfunctional Fulham from Real Madrid would have been small noise last summer, but was a fairly big deal in the year it actually happened.

Garcia headed in his first Fulham goal on his Premier League debut against Chelsea, but it is his goal only so far.

Roberto De Zerbi was not the one who signed Conor Gallagher for 40 million pounds from Atletico Madrid last winter transfer window - that would have been Thomas Frank, who pretty much demanded the player for his veteran presence - but the Italian manager has been equally happy to have the England international at Tottenham Hotspur in a key role.

While Gallagher helped Spurs get out of the relegation zone with some solid performances as a pressing No. 10 or box to box No. 8 under De Zerbi, he was horrendous before that and has already started the 2026/27 Premier League season just as poorly as he played before De Zerbi's arrival in the spring.

Gallagher was completely run over by Brentford, and he was so woeful in the No. 10 role that many Tottenham fans figured the club would finally stop playing him there going forward. But with James Maddison injured, the new No. 10 is Mateus Fernandes, who should be playing deeper every week for his own development.

Conor Gallagher just doesn't fit what Tottenham want to be

Almost inexplicably, De Zerbi actually decided to pass over Fernandes as a starter against Nottingham Forest, perhaps, quietly, because he was worried the goons in the oppoisition side would chop down and injure their precious Redwood defensive midfielder.

So Conor Gallagher drew the start against Forest, and he actually played respectably in the 0-0 draw. He did his usual stuff, pressing, harrying, recovering the ball, and generally doing a good job of not giving it up. But a big reason why Tottenham Hotspur failed to score and dropped more points was because they totally lacked creativity in turning possession into chances for the front three, as Rodrigo Bentancur had more creative output than Gallagher in an attacking midfield role.

Though the performance was an improvement from the former Chelsea and Crystal Palace man, it was also a sobering reminder to the Tottenham faithful - and hopefully to Roberto De Zerbi himself - that the veteran midfielder is no playmaker.

Even when he plays his best for Tottenham, including in the relegation battle last year, he does not look like a player who is good enough to get significant minutes for a team that wants to be in the top five. And looking at Pape Matar Sarr's best displays for Tottenham last season, you have to feel like signing Gallagher only to lose Sarr a season later was a net downgrade.

Tottenham Hotspur are still waiting for several key players to return to fitness, in addition to integrating their new signings. So Spurs are very much a work in progress, and anyone can see through their first three games of the 2026/27 Premier League season, which have yielded just a solitary point, that Roberto De Zerbi's side is still very disjointed.

But Tottenham and their new manager are rapidly learning things about the new look squad, and one key lesson to take away from the first three games is that Destiny Udogie, once more, makes a big difference in the squad when he is out there.

Tottenham signed Andy Robertson from Liverpool as a free agent this summer after already flirting with interest in the winter transfer window, and with Udogie still not 100 percent fit, the Scottish international actually started the first two fixtures of the campaign - both losses to Brentford and Newcastle United.

Destiny Udogie always makes Tottenham better offensively

While Robbo is not the worst backup to have around, it was clear, even for only 60 minutes against Nottingham Forest, that Udogie is the better option. Last season, Tottenham Hotspur tried to open a competition under Thomas Frank between Udogie and Djed Spence, who is now at Inter Milan, for the left back job. And while Spence can lock down anyone defensively, Udogie won that battle pretty handily because Spurs were just so much better offensively with him there.

It's become clear that Tottenham can't start Andy Robertson over Destiny Udogie in the 2026/27 season. Even though Spurs still failed to score against Nottingham Forest and did pretty much nothing as an offense, you could see a clear difference in the support Udogie provided Mathys Tel compared to Robertson, as well as superior progression and overall quality on the ball.

Robertson has great crosses, but Udogie is actually a crisper passer and auxillary midfield type. He is also more athletic, younger, and better on the overlap and even underlap for a left winger. While Robertson can still have a role to play for Tottenham, it is really no surprise that Udogie is the superior option, as the former Udinese man is both favored by Roberto De Zerbi and already showed last season that he has quality when he is fit.

Getting and keeping Udogie fit will be the big key for De Zerbi and Spurs this season, and more of the offense should open up as Udogie gets healthier and can play more than just the 60 minutes vs. Forest.

Tottenham Hotspur have defintely started the 2026/27 Premier League season poorly, and there is no denying - and certainly not even from their most diehard supporters- that they have woefully underperformed with just one point in three games.

But it is always interesting to see how much certain things are cherry picked in the media to make Tottenham look worse. Yes, Spurs spent nearly 400 million pounds on new players this past summer transfer window, but how many of them have actually started games so far? And how many times have the likes of Savio, Omar Marmoush, Mohammed Kudus, Mateus Fernandes, and James Maddison all started together?

Whereas other clubs would get time and the benefit of the doubt or another manager in Roberto De Zerbi's position would get more reminders about what he did to save Spurs from relegation, the media is already after Tottenham and saying that they are doomed or laughing at their misery, already proclaminig their first real summer of spending as an organization to be a failure.

Aston Villa are in the same boat as Tottenham

And yes, Tottenham sit 17th in the Premier League table again after three games, but because that was the same place they were in the last two seasons, are they really more disappointing thatn an Aston Villa side also in 17th? An Aston Villa with the same negative goal difference that got totally lambasted by Brighton on Matchday 1 even worse than Tottenham Hotspur's flailing vs. Brentford at the Gtech Stadium.

Meanwhile, Manchester United were in the Champions League places last season but sit in 11th. They got destroyed by Hull on Matchday 1, and their only win of the season is a 5-2 victory over another newly promoted club in Ipswich Town, which is honestly a similar result to Tottenham spanking Charlton Athletic 5-1 in the League Cup.

Man United and Aston Villa are able to get the calls for patience from the media and reasonable takes, and there is nothing wrong with that. Unai Emery and Michael Carrick should not be dragged across the coals. But look, neither should Roberto De Zerbi, who saved Tottenham from relegation last season and merely has Spurs in the same place they were with a club that has far more new pieces, moving parts, and recovering injuries than either Villa or United. The double standards continue to be alarming to Spurs fans.

Today's best reads

Roberto De Zerbi's blind spot is costing Tottenham

Roberto De Zerbi has a big Omar Marmoush decision to make

Mohammed Kudus's Tottenham return is beyond massive for Omar Marmoush and Savio

Roberto De Zerbi made a James Maddison injury admission Tottenham fans were already feeling

Savio has an unsaid advantage over Mohammed Kudus

Tottenham Hotspur fans were disappointed with how the summer transfer window ended as the club were unable to bag either Cody Gakpo or Iliman Ndiaye to complete their attack, but they still made two massive upgrades in Manchester City forwards Savio and Omar Marmoush.

The latter is the new starting No. 9 for Spurs, and Tottenham have reason to legitimately believe that he can lead this line as the difference maker they were missing. Because for those who were paying attention to the Egyptian international, he was already that caliber of a player at Eintracht Frankfurt before making his move to Manchester City in 2024.

After a promising start to his career for both Stuttgart and Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, Marmoush first started to explode in Europe's financial capital with 12 goals and 6 assists in the 2023/24 season. And then in 2024/25, Marmoush exploded and was one of the best forwards in Europe, single handedly winning points for his team against the mighty Bayern Munich.

Omar Marmoush has had the big numbers before

At the time of his transfer to Manchester City, Marmoush had scored an incredible 15 goals with 9 assists in 17 matches for the Eagles. Extrapolated to a full 34 game Bundesliga season, Marmoush would have had 30 goals and 18 assists on a team that usually finishes outside the top four in the Bundesliga, which is beyond insane production.

The Premier League is a different beast, sure, but it really isn't that different. A pace of 30 goals and 18 assists in any league is beyond insane, and Tottenham Hotspur also have to think that with Marmoush now being 27 years old, he is in his prime as a footballer.

Manchester City are a massive club, but sometimes moving to a club that size can hurt a player if they are not given the same freedom or enough of a share of the ball to put up those kinds of numbers. At Tottenham, Marmoush is going to be the unquestioned top dog, just as he was at Eintracht Frankfurt, and the supporting cast of players like Mohammed Kudus, Savio, James Maddison, and even Xavi Simons have more of a supporting skill set than rather being players who would take the shine away from Marmoush.

He is bound to have a great season in 2026/27 for Spurs, and the fact that he already put up monster numbers before is reason enough to believe he can do the same for Spurs next season.

Richarlison is out of Tottenham’s squad and his future is more open than ever.

Richarlison has an agreement with Trabzonspor on personal terms. I’m told that the salary Trabzonspor want to pay is three times what he’s earning now at Tottenham Hotspur.

So, Richarlison wants to go. He already spoke with some of the Brazilian players at Trabzonspor, including Fabinho.

Tottenham reject offers for Richarlison

So, he wants the move, and the next step depends on Tottenham. They already said no to £15m and £20m proposals. They want more, so let’s see how the conversations are going to go.

But for sure Richarlison is expected to leave Tottenham, and this is expected to be the final chapter for him with the north London club.

Also Roberto De Zerbi was clear in his press conference by saying he wants to leave, he wants to go, so that’s the reality.

Spurs head to Nottingham Forest bottom after defeats to Brentford and Newcastle. Roberto De Zerbi insists Tottenham will avoid another relegation battle despite the poor start.

Nottingham Forest expect Ibrahim Sangare to be available against Spurs. Daniel Munoz is also fit, while Nicolo Savona has returned to partial training before Saturday's game.

Tottenham's signing of Mykhailo Mudryk is portrayed as a gamble, with the move raising questions over whether Spurs' summer rebuild has truly delivered an elite forward line.

Mudryk's loan has drawn debate, but the focus is Dejan Kulusevski's return to full training after a serious knee injury, with Spurs hopeful the Swede can boost their attack soon.

Tottenham's failure to land Iliman Ndiaye may not matter, with the piece arguing Spurs have already brought in a better attacking option during a busy window.

De Zerbi believes he can revive loanee Mykhailo Mudryk at Spurs, drawing on their Shakhtar link and seeing him as part of the 'hope' for Tottenham's forward line.

Pape Matar Sarr's move to Juventus is framed as a warning for Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray - Tottenham now need clear progress from both young midfielders.

Richarlison has been left out of Tottenham's Premier League squad after a move back to Everton collapsed. He is not in Spurs' plans and could still leave for Turkey or Saudi Arabia.