Tottenham Hotspur

Across London on 1 April 1950, goals from Les Medley and Eddie Baily gave us a 2-0 win at Loftus Road against Queens Park Rangers in a Division Two clash. As games go, it wasn’t particularly memorable, but the two points collected were highly significant as they secured our promotion back to the top flight of English football for the first time since 1935.

Manager Arthur Rowe’s side won 27 matches in 1949-50, eight more than anyone else in the division, and we won Division Two by 11 points from Sheffield Wednesday, who were promoted with us. More on the Owls later...

Rowe – born close to White Hart Lane and with over 200 appearances as a centre-half for us between 1930-38 – developed his renowned ‘push and run’ style of football which won many plaudits across the country.

His team of mostly home-grown players, including the likes of Bill Nicholson, Alf Ramsey, Les Bennett, Baily, Medley and Welsh international Ron Burgess, were expected to do well in the top flight in season 1950-51.

But an opening day 4-1 home defeat to a Blackpool side featuring Stanley Matthews and Stan Mortensen, immediately raised doubts as to whether we could cut it against better opposition. We were soon on track though, beating Bolton Wanderers by the same scoreline away from home and then drawing 2-2 in the first north London derby of the campaign at Highbury.

Victory followed against Manchester United, before we embarked on an eight-game winning run which included three impressive wins here at the Lane. Stoke City were brushed aside 6-1, league champions Portsmouth were defeated 5-1 and we thrashed FA Cup holders Newcastle United 7-0 in front of over 70,000 supporters.

The latter two wins certainly caught the eye of the public and media alike. One newspaper journalist wrote after the Pompey win: ‘On such form, Spurs simply must win the championship – and everything else for which they enter in the football world.’

The great Newcastle centre-forward, Jackie Milburn, spoke in glowing terms of our performance against his side, magnanimously saying: ‘They’re dynamite – far better than the Brazilians and I thought they were the tops.” One of the Magpies’ directors, Stanley Seymour, joined the chorus of praise, adding: “It’s tough to watch your side being beaten, but this was football at its best. I’d pick the lot for England!”

When Baily cracked home a stunning 25-yarder to give us a narrow 1-0 win over Arsenal in N17 on 23 December, 1950, we closed the gap on our local rivals who were second in the table at the time and, after Sonny Walters notched the only goal of the game against Charlton Athletic a few days later – in front of the watching Prime Minister, Clement Atlee – we were top of Division One at the start of 1951.

We lost just three of our next 14 league games, never relinquishing top spot and, by the time we welcomed Sheffield Wednesday to White Hart Lane on 28 April, 1951, we knew one more win would secure us the title.

An expectant crowd of 46,645 turned up that Saturday afternoon hoping to see us crowned champions, although Wednesday were desperate for the points too, having struggled throughout the season and finding themselves in the relegation zone when they arrived in north London.

We were much the stronger team on the day, although both sides created chances during the first half and it was down to the performances of the goalkeepers – our own Ted Ditchburn and Dave McIntosh for the Owls – that the score remained goalless.

However, just before the interval, Len Duquemin found himself free down the left and he placed a low shot past McIntosh and into the net, greeted by ‘an accompaniment of a storm of cheering that exceeded the usual ‘Tottenham roar’, according to our subsequent match programme at the time.

It proved to be the winner and, as goals at White Hart Lane go, it was one of the most significant in our famous former home's history.

We dominated the second half and had chances to extend our lead through Baily, Ramsey, Duquemin and Walters, but one goal was enough and when the final whistle blew, it signalled our first-ever League Championship success.

The trophy was presented to captain Burgess by Arthur Drewry, President of the Football League, but not that afternoon. We had to wait another week before we finally got our hands on the coveted silverware, the presentation taking place after our 3-1 win here against Liverpool.

Champions at last!

Match details

Saturday, 28 April, 1951

White Hart Lane

Division One

Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Duquemin)

Sheffield Wednesday 0

Spurs: Ditchburn, Ramsey, Willis, Nicholson, Clarke, Burgess, Walters, Murphy, Duquemin, Baily, Medley.

The rearranged clash with the Hammers comes off the back of Saturday’s 2-1 reverse at Aston Villa, a result which, coupled with Chelsea’s 5-0 home win over basement side Ipswich Town, means our youngsters can no longer finish top of the league.

Jamie Carr’s troops will be determined to return to winning ways against the Hammers, though, in order to enjoy a strong end to what has been a positive season at youth team level. We ran out 5-0 winners in the reverse fixture at West Ham earlier this term.

Tune in to SPURSPLAY just before kick-off at 12noon to watch Tuesday’s London derby live.

Making her 20th start of the campaign in the WSL, 27 in all competitions, our shot stopper was in superb form to earn us a hard-fought point at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

After a difficult past few games in England’s top flight prior to our meeting with United in north London, conceding 10 goals in two games, the Netherlands international and the backline were back to their very best, limiting Marc Skinner’s side to few clear-cut opportunities – just three on target in the 90 minutes – as we registered our sixth clean sheet of the season – the first since our win over Leicester City in January, 2026.

Enjoying 84 per cent pass success rate on the afternoon, it was her presence inside her own box that caught the eye, claiming the ball with ease from crosses on either side and corners to thwart any potential threat from United.

While it was a relatively comfortable afternoon for Lize in between the sticks, she had to be alert in the second period to push away a powerful effort from Melvine Malard on the right side of the box to ensure she preserved a clean sheet.

Picking up her third award of the season, her display has seen her named your Player of the Match for the draw with United, taking the most votes in an exclusive poll ran on tottenhamhotspur.com and our official app.

Taking 25% of the votes, Lize edged out Amanda Nilden (15 per cent) and Maika Hamano (10 per cent) to claim the crowd once again.

Player of the Match – 2025/26

Spurs 0-0 Man Utd – Lize Kop

Chelsea 2-1 Spurs – FA Cup – Eveliina Summanen

Arsenal 5-2 Spurs – Signe Gaupset

Manchester City 5-2 Spurs – Bethany England

Spurs 1-2 Everton – Signe Gaupset

London City 2-2 Spurs (9-8 win on pens) – FA Cup – Lize Kop

Aston Villa 3-7 Spurs – Signe Gaupset

Spurs 0-2 Chelsea – Olivia Holdt

West Ham 1-2 Spurs – Olivia Holdt

Liverpool 2-0 Spurs – Signe Gaupset

Spurs 3-0 Leicester City (FA Cup) – Signe Gaupset

Spurs 1-0 Leicester City – Signe Gaupset

Manchester United 3-3 Spurs – Olivia Holdt

Spurs 2-1 Aston Villa – Olivia Holdt

Bristol City 0-1 Spurs – Martha Thomas

Spurs 0-0 Arsenal – Drew Spence

London City Lionesses 4-2 Spurs – Eveliina Summanen

Spurs 2-1 Liverpool - Olivia Holdt

Spurs 3-0 Birmingham City – Olivia Holdt

Chelsea 1-0 Spurs – Amanda Nilden

Spurs 1-0 Brighton – Cathinka Tandberg

Leicester 1-2 Spurs – Olivia Holdt

Spurs 0-0 (7-6 on pens) Aston Villa - Lize Kop

Everton 0-2 Spurs – Cathinka Tandberg

Spurs 1-0 West Ham – Tōko Koga

Player of the Match awards | 2025/26

“They especially deserve this victory,” Joao told us after his close-range strike in the 82nd minute proved enough to take a much-needed victory back to N17. Joao was also quick to praise goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, whose late, late save to deny Joao Gomes’ free-kick ‘gave us the three points.

Here’s what Joao had to say afterwards…

We could see from your reaction how much that goal meant to everyone...

Joao: “Yeah, that's my opinion as well. It means much more than three points, this victory, the goal. Of course, I celebrate with the same emotion as before, but probably more with the fans and the crowd, because we're all together on this. They especially deserve this victory. Us as well. It has been a long time, really tough times to be at the club. I think we deserved it as well in the past, some victories probably more than today. We did more to win the game than today and we didn't reach those victories, but football is like that. The important thing is we took today the three points. We need to focus on the reality that we are right now and especially focus on the main goal this season, until the end of the season, which is to stay in the Premier League.”

Talk us through the game – we had good possession, how difficult was it to break through that defensive line of Wolves?

Joao: “Yeah, it was not easy. The people that think that Wolves, it's easy, because they are in the bottom three… definitely not. You have the example of Liverpool, you have the example of Arsenal, what happened here with them. The truth is it's a team that doesn't have pressure right now, so, nothing changed for them and they are playing without any kind of pressure. Sometimes, this is more hard for the teams that will come here to this place. I think in some moments of the game we did well, especially at the end, we probably felt more anxious with the ball because we were just thinking to win that game - it was all about that.”

What about Antonin Kinsky’s save at the end?

Joao: “Amazing save. I was saying on the other flash (interview) that I give the same credit to Antonin than the importance of my goal. I can give you this example, because it was such an amazing save at the end and he gave us the three points. So, it was amazing and congratulations for all the team for what we did today.”

Take us into the dressing room. What's it like in there at the moment?

Joao: “More smiles than before, much more, because as I said, this win came too late in my opinion, because I think the team deserved to win games even in the past. I think it's much more than three points today and I think this can give us an extra boost for the rest of the season. That's the main thing. All the players, all the coaches, all the supporters as well, we're all together and we need to keep it like that until the end of the season.

Roberto De Zerbi has said since he joined that one win can change everything. We've achieved that win today - can it change everything?

SPURSPLAY

The 18-year-old has been in impressive form for loan club Rangers this term, having shone in our Academy set-up in recent years.

He’s currently on six goals in 43 appearances in all competitions for the Scottish Premiership title-chasing side.

Falkirk’s Barney Stewart, Findlay Marshall of Arbroath and Dundee’s Luke Graham are also in the running for the award, with the winner due to be announced on 3 May.

Check out our feature video charting Mikey's life on loan at Rangers below...

The goalkeeper had to use every inch of his frame to reach Joao Gomes’ free-kick destined for the top corner with 98 minutes on the clock on a tense afternoon in the Black Country. He did just that, tipping the ball over and then crashing into the post mid-flight. We defended the corner, the final whistle blew and we could celebrate a big win.

Joao struck in the 82nd minute, sliding to reach Richarlison’s poke towards goal from Pedro Porro’s corner. In a game that had become increasingly scrappy, not least in the wake of losing Dominic Solanke and Xavi to injury, the players showed character to dig out the three points.

Speaking to us afterwards, Joao reflected on Antonin’s late intervention. “Amazing save,” he said. “I was saying in the other flash (interview, after the game) that I give the same credit to Antonin as the importance of my goal. I can give you this example, because it was such an amazing save at the end and he gave us the three points. So, it was amazing and congratulations for all the team for what we did today.”

Asked about the save and Antonin’s display in his post-match press conference, Roberto De Zerbi was full of praise, not least after he'd gone through such a tough time in our Champions League loss at Atletico Madrid in March.

“He deserves this day, because he played very well, especially today,” said Roberto. “He was crucial for the result. He deserves everything, because he's a good guy, he's a good goalkeeper, and especially after Madrid, he deserves a day like today.”

The Blues, who won the league phase of the season, will host the game at Kingsmeadow this Friday (1 May), with kick-off at 7pm UK.

Tickets for the match cost £4 for adults and £2 for concessions.

We saw off Leicester City 1-0 in the round of 16 on Friday night, while Chelsea won at home to Middlesbrough by the same scoreline.

Check out the highlights of our win against the Foxes below...

Blakstad: ‘We really showed up, but we need to be more ruthless’  Tottenham Hotspur

The 23-year-old suffered the injury during the second half of our Premier League fixture at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.

Xavi will undergo surgery in the coming weeks and, following that, will then begin his rehabilitation with our medical team.