Tottenham Hotspur

Last time out against PSG...

Our UEFA Champions League campaign continues on Wednesday night with a first-ever competitive trip to Paris Saint-Germain.

Here's how you can watch the clash in Paris...

What time does the match start?

The game begins at 8pm UK time.

How can I watch the game?

Supporters in the UK will be able to watch the action live on TNT Sports 3 and Discovery+.

If you’re following us from overseas, check out our Spurs on TV page to see if the game is live in your area.

One question, one answer - and Joao Palhinha said everything that needed to be said after our 4-1 loss against Arsenal at the Emirates on Sunday.

After a relatively quiet start, everything changed on 36 minutes when Leandro Trossard opened the scoring. Eberechi Eze followed up five minutes later and made it 3-0 a minute into the second half. Richarlison responded from 40 yards after Joao won possession on 56 minutes but Eze put the issue beyond doubt with his hat-trick goal 20 minutes later.

Speaking to us afterwards, Joao reflected: "It's really difficult to digest this result, but I think the result at the end, I think it's fair - we deserve to lose the game. I think we need to react much better, in my opinion, after the goals that we conceded, and especially when we scored our goal. I think we was probably on the best moment of the game and we should handle this, because if we score for 3-2, in my opinion, it makes all the difference and, to be fair, we had a lot of time after we scored the goal. It's not easy when you come from half-time and concede a goal and when we suffered the 4-1, it killed the game completely. At the end, we need to react. I don't need to say many words here, just to say sorry to our supporters who came here to support us and try to celebrate with us. The only promise I can give is that I will do my best with my team-mates to change what happened to today and give them the victory at home (against Fulham on Saturday) that they deserve. Of course, before then, of course we have another important game in the Champions League against PSG."

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the Subway Women’s League Cup quarter-final and semi-final draw.

On Tuesday (25 November), we will discover our opponents for the competition’s next two stages after progressing out of the group stage with a 1-0 win at Bristol City on Sunday afternoon.

Starting at 6pm (UK time) on Barclays Women’s Super League’s official TikTok channel, the draw will be carried out by TikTok star and podcast host, GK Barry, and her partner - Portsmouth striker Ella Rutherford.

Following the conclusion of the quarter-final draw, we’ll then find out our potential semi-final opponents, meaning we will know our route to the final.

We secured our spot in the last eight of the competition after an unbeaten run in the group stage phase, drawing to Aston Villa before winning the subsequent penalty shootout, which was later followed by victories over Birmingham City and Bristol City.

The quarter-final ties are scheduled to take place across 20 and 21 December, with the semi-finals taking place over 21 and 22 January, 2026.

The final itself will be contested on the weekend of 15 and 16 March, 2026, with details including the date, kick-off time and venue to be confirmed in due course.

Thomas Frank spoke to the media at the Emirates after our 4-1 loss against Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday.

Here's what he had to say...

What disappointed you the most about that performance?

Thomas: "Where should I start? It's hugely disappointing that we didn’t perform better in the game against Arsenal, our biggest rivals. I can only apologise to the fans for that. I was very confident on Friday when we spoke that we would be competitive today and weren't over the 90 minutes. We tried to come here and be aggressive and press high and in spells go after them. We didn’t succeed with that bit, didn’t manage to get near enough them in the situations we could. It means we got pushed back and got a little too passive. It looks like we are running after them. When we finally got on the ball, we were not good enough to get out of those situations. No matter how painful it is to admit, they are definitely six years down the line and we are four months down the line, but even with that I was still expecting much more from us today. Not that we could dominate over 90 minutes but that we could be as competitive as we were against City and PSG."

It's another game with a lack of creativity, is it concerning that it's still not clicking?

Thomas: "It is concerning, of course. We are working very hard to try to make that better but sometimes it’s not only playing out and finding a nice pass and the final pass, but also in a game like this if you see some of the situations where they won it high, Arsenal, then there was a little bit more open space. We didn’t win it enough in those situations and then create from that. For me the creativity, I know it was very low, but it was not my biggest concern today."

Did you get it wrong by setting the tone with a negative formation?

Thomas: "I’m a very big believer that no matter what system you play you can be successful. I completely understand the question and I will always take the full responsibility. The full responsibility will always be on me today when we didn’t perform. I picked a team that played 5-4-1, changed it half-time, very clever, one minute into it they scored, 3-0, the rest is history after that. What I would say is that no matter if we played another system we needed to be more aggressive and better in the duels. That doesn’t matter to the system but I take responsibility for everything today."

Was the plan with the back five to sit back and frustrate Arsenal or was that imposed on you?

Thomas: "I think the question before, I know we are working very hard on the offensive part of it, so we could be extremely defensive solid, but still be aggressive, still go after them, which we've done, which we also did, for example, against PSG. But we didn't succeed with today in the same way. So, as I say, if you have a back five, you can still be very offensive in many, many ways, but today it just didn't succeed."

In that first half, tactics aside, did you see enough fight from the team? Was that lacking?

Thomas: "I think we were 100% too far from them in these duels we wanted to create, or getting pressure, getting close. In those duels, as I talked about before, we didn't win enough of them. If that's a lack of fight, a lack of whatever it is, we just didn't do it well enough."

You said you didn't win enough duels, weren't aggressive enough - was there concern that the team just didn't believe they could win here?

Thomas: "No. That would surprise me, if I'm honest. Why shouldn't we be able to win here? I think that's two different things. Maybe it was, I think in any game, you need to get through tough spells. I don't think that. Maybe that came during the game, I don't know. That I need to ask the players about."

After Bournemouth you stressed about not having these bad performances - but you've had that one, Chelsea, today - how alarmed are you by the fact that the team is still capable of putting in these kinds of performances?

Thomas: "That, of course, will always be a concern. I would like the team to have very few bad performances. There will always be average performances, because it's football we're dealing with. That's definitely something I need to look into, because today, I felt we were fresh, I think we were ready. The Chelsea game was a little bit on the back end of a tough spell. There could be that but the performance was still bad. Today, I didn't expect us to be not competitive."

Xavi Simons has been playing better in the last few weeks, why didn't you pick him?

Thomas: "Yeah, better and better. That was a tactical decision. Wilson has done well. So it's one of him or Xavi or Wilson."

The fourth Arsenal goal starts with Tottenham buried deep in their half and there's not a player who wants the ball so it ends up back with the goalkeeper, he clears it and they get the ball and score. Is that an issue with confidence or bravery, just to want the ball in that situation?

Thomas: "I think you are 3-1 down, the 82nd minute... we always want bravery. You need to be consistent. You need to keep going. You need to do all the right things. I think I would be more concerned if that was 0-0 or 1-0."

One point for the last three league games against Arsenal, Chelsea, Man United - teams that you want to be competing against - what have you learned from those last three games and where the areas of improvement are?

Thomas: "I think it's three different games. I think the United game was a much better performance than today and the Chelsea one. I also think there's a difference in the Chelsea and the Arsenal performances, even though both of them look bad on paper. I need to watch this back as well. I think there's definitely a lot to work on still. I think it's fair to say that we are very disappointed and unhappy with the performance today. I don't want to run away from that. As I said, I apologise to the fans. I think it's also fair to say where we're coming from. We finished 17th last year. We're trying to build something, which today didn't look like we tried to build something."

You just mentioned that there are differences between this performance and the Chelsea one. Lots of people would look at the XG and the chance creation and say it's very similar. Can you just elaborate what you've noticed was different?

Thomas: "I think it's also fair to say I need to look at this game back. I have more just fresh in mind. I'm very emotional and frustrated, of course, right now. So, please ask me about that question next time we see each other."

Would you accept that maybe in lining up in a back five before the game, which you've not done in a long time, you're sending a message to the players and maybe encouraging a degree of passivity by lining up with that extra defender?

Thomas: "You can say that, but there are so many ways you can see it in that aspect. I've seen lots of teams, including my own team, playing also 3-5-2 or 3-4-3, being very aggressive, positive, forward-thinking. That was not the case today. I don't think it's about the system."

Martha Thomas’ first goal of the season was enough to secure a 1-0 win at Bristol City on Sunday afternoon and secure our spot in the quarter-finals of the Subway Women’s League Cup.

Handed her first start of the campaign at Robins High Performance Centre in one of three changes by Martin Ho, Thomas was on hand to open the scoring less than a minute into the second half as she guided home Matilda Vinberg’s cross – her first goal in Lilywhite since January, 2025.

That provided to be the difference in a cagey affair in our final game of the group phase as we withstood some late pressure from the Robins to record our third clean sheet in the competition. The result sees us end this stage at the top of the group and cement our spot in the final eight, with the draw taking place on Tuesday evening (25 November).

More to follow...

We can confirm the team news for today’s north London derby at the Emirates Stadium (4.30pm UK).

Thomas Frank has made five changes to the team that started against Manchester United in our last match before the international break.

Kevin Danso, Destiny Udogie, Rodrigo Bentancur, Mohammed Kudus – who is back from injury – and Wilson Odobert all come into the team, with Pedro Porro, Pape Matar Sarr, Xavi Simons, Brennan Johnson and Randal Kolo Muani dropping to the bench.

Archie Gray also returns to the squad after injury with a place among our substitutes.

Here’s our team in full...

Starting XI: Vicario, Danso, Palhinha, Richarlison, Udogie, Romero (c), Kudus, Spence, Odobert, Bentancur, van de Ven.

Substitutes: Kinsky, Pedro Porro, Gray, Sarr, Bergvall, Xavi, Johnson, Tel, Kolo Muani.

Arsenal line up as follows...

Starting XI: Raya, Saliba, Hincapie, Saka (c), Eze, Timber, Trossard, Merino, Calafiori, Zubimendi, Rice.

Substitutes: Kepa, Mosquera, White, Martinelli, Norgaard, Madueke, Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman.

We can confirm the starting line-ups and substitutes for our Subway Women’s League Cup visit to Bristol City this afternoon (3pm UK, live on SPURSPLAY).

Martin Ho has made three changes to the team that drew 0-0 with Arsenal in the Barclays Women’s Super League last weekend.

Martha Thomas comes in for her first start of the season, with Josefine Rybrink and Olga Ahtinen all restored to the starting XI for today’s clash with the Robins.

They come in for Jess Naz, Eveliina Summanen and Ashleigh Neville, all of whom are on the bench.

Midfielder Drew Spence will wear the captain's armband for this afternoon's clash in the southwest.

Starting XI: Kop, Nilden, Holdt, Rybrink, Vinberg, Hunt, Thomas, Tandberg, Ahtinen, Spence (c), Koga.

Substitutes: Heeps, Jackson, Bartrip, Naz, England, Graham, Gunning-Williams, Summanen, Neville.

"How do Arsenal fill the Gabriel-void, which Spurs left-back will be tasked with stopping Bukayo Saka and will Thomas Frank switch up formation at the Emirates?"

Rob Daly, official club commentator, presenter and pundit

Stopping Saka...

If Spurs are to claim a first win at the Emirates since 2018, the threat of Saka has to be nullified. Prior to the international break, he’d scored three in four – while across his last four north London derby appearances, the England winger has two goals and four assists. Saka’s form puts even more importance on the decision as to who starts at left-back. Destiny Udogie is back from injury and had an excellent impact against Manchester United, setting up the equaliser for Mathys Tel. Having not gone away with Italy, he should be fresh – as will Djed Spence who, despite a call-up, didn’t feature in either of England’s two World Cup qualifiers.

Set-piece show...

The late headed goal from Matthijs de Ligt in the 2-2 draw with Manchester United before the international break was only the second time Spurs have conceded from a set-piece this season in the Premier League. In fact, that’s the best defensive record – one that will be put to the test by Arsenal this weekend. The Gunners have scored 10 times from set-pieces, a league high, accounting for 50% of their goals. Declan Rice’s deliveries are extremely problematic, but he’s lost one of his main target men – after Gabriel picked up an injury on duty with Brazil.

The loss of Gabriel...

The numbers reinforce the idea of Gabriel’s importance to Arsenal, given he tops their defensive stats like blocks (17), shots blocked (13), clearances (65), while he’s their only outfielder to have played every league minute this season. Arsenal’s win percentage drops from 64% to 40% in the Premier League without him going back to September 2020, while at the other end he’s got two goals and three assists. Gabriel grabbed the winner at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last season – and even those back-post runs to head the ball back across goal will be a major miss for the hosts.

Who replaces him?

Riccardo Calafiori could move in from left-back, as that’s his comfortable side, but he withdrew from Italy’s squad this month – and Mikel Arteta confirmed he hadn’t trained as of Friday. The Gunners brought in two new centre-backs in the summer in Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapié, with the latter perhaps the more likely of the two to play the position after so much game time on the left-side of defence at Bayer Leverkusen. Myles Lewis-Skelly could then come in for a first league start of the season at left-back.

Will Spurs switch it up?

Mikel Arteta is aware of the potential for Spurs to switch formation – although the Super Cup is the sole match so far this season that has seen Thomas Frank start with three centre-backs. Arsenal have only had less than 50% possession in two games this season (the 1-0 win at Manchester United and the 1-0 loss at Liverpool) – so expect them to try and dominate the ball, as PSG like to do. In Pedro Porro, Destiny Udogie and Djed Spence, Spurs already have three players well accustomed to playing a wing-back role, while injured centre-backs Radu Dragusin, Ben Davies and Kota Takai have been training too. If it is 5-3-2, Kevin Danso would likely come in, which also arms the team from long-throws, and while Arsenal are strong from set-pieces, so are Spurs – ranking third in the Premier League for goals from them (6). Micky van de Ven caused David Raya problems from corners in the 1-0 friendly win over the summer – something to keep an eye out for – especially after his double at Everton last month.

Last time at the Emirates...

First-half goals from Reiss Elliott-Parris and Oliver Boast proved enough to give our Under-18s victory over Derby County and send us through as group winners in the Under-18 Premier League Cup on Saturday.

Elliott-Parris finished off a good move involving Malachi Hardy and Miracle Adewole in the opening moments at Hotspur Way, before fellow striker Boast doubled our lead just prior to the interval of what was our third and final Group H fixture in the competition.

Derby pulled one back through Charlie Smith’s free kick in a scrappy second half, but we rode the game out to secure a 2-1 win and book our place in the quarter-finals.

With only the first-placed side from each four-team section progressing to the knockout stages, we knew we needed maximum points against the Rams to advance after Reading’s high-scoring win against Burnley earlier in the day – there had been a potential scenario at the start of the weekend where we could have finished level with Derby and possibly Reading too in all metrics had our match ended all square, with the clubs’ disciplinary records called upon to decide the winners in that eventuality.

But while Israel Green threatened on a handful of occasions in the first period for Derby – Blake Irow saving everything the winger threw at him – and with a large portion of the second period played out in our half, we were able to dig in and secure the victory.

Our opening goal after four minutes was a thing of beauty as centre-back Hardy – just back from England’s Under-17 World Cup campaign – struck a fine diagonal pass out to Adewole on the left, who took a superb first touch before delivering for Elliott-Parris to convert from close range. Boast dragged a shot across goal and wide just afterwards while Armend Muslika and Elliott-Parris also threatened, but we allowed the visitors to get a foothold in the contest and Green made inroads down their left flank on a handful of occasions, firing off-target before being denied three times by Irow before the first half was out.

Thankfully for us, though, a second goal on the stroke of half-time strengthened our position, Muslika and Tye Hall combining to set up Boast, who scored with a shot-on-the-turn from inside the box on the right.

The second period was gritty and Derby’s goal in the 66th minute – a low free-kick around the wall from Smith – represented the first real action of note at either end. The Rams had tried a handful of shots from distance before that, but a few minutes later it needed a superb save from Irow diving away to his right to prevent James Ward from firing the visitors level. Our defence remained firm, though, and with the rain closing in on a gloomy day, we made it to the final whistle to win the group with seven points from a possible nine.

‘We were up against it at times’

Interim Under-18s Coach Joe Staunton admitted the Rams gave us a tough examination, but was delighted to get through to the last eight.

“We’re really pleased to have qualified from the group – it’s one of the objectives that we set for the players, so we’re really pleased over the course of the three games we’ve managed to get ourselves into a position where we can have further matches in the competition,” he told SPURSPLAY.

“We started the game really well and scored a terrific goal which was testament to the start that we had. There were periods within the first half where we had to defend the penalty box quite well to keep ourselves in a 1-0 lead and to score a second goal so close to half-time gave us the best opportunity to go and take the game forwards. We were up against it at times in the second half and we had to ride our luck at times, but all credit to the lads because we’ve headed, blocked, tackled, defended set-pieces and managed to see the game out in the end.”