FourFourTwo

Watch Bournemouth vs Spurs to see if Ange Postecoglou's inconsistent Tottenham side can get back to winning ways in the Premier League in their visit to the south coast today. There are live streams, a potential free loophole, and you can watch from anywhere with a VPN.

It's hard to know which version of Spurs are going to turn up in Bournemouth on Thursday night – the one that thrashed the champions Manchester City 4-0 or the one that lost to relegation contenders Ipswich the previous game. Postecoglou's men, spearheaded by the likes of James Maddison and Son Heung-min, possess the quality to come out on top but don't always put it together over 90 minutes.

Bournemouth themselves are hardly the most consistent of sides. They've had some brilliant wins and performances this campaign but also some disappointing defeats. Still, they are well clear of the relegation zone and will be confident of getting a result – a win would actually take them above Spurs.

Bournemouth vs Spurs is part of a mid-week round of Premier League fixtures from December 3-5, all 10 of which are being shown on Amazon Prime.

Watch Bournemouth vs Spurs in the UK on Amazon Prime

You can watch Bournemouth vs Spurs on Amazon Prime in the UK, with a loophole that means you might be able to do so for free.

Amazon Prime Video is showing 20 Premier League games in December 2024, broadcasting all 10 fixtures from two separate gameweeks. Tonight marks the end of the first, but there'll be another 10 games coming up on Boxing Day and December 27, all live.

Bournemouth vs Spurs is available for Amazon Prime subscribers, on a plan of £8.99 a month, or to non-Prime members on a 'Prime Video only' subscription, which drops the price to £5.99 a month for those who aren't bothered about free deliveries or the other Prime benefits.

You could, though, watch Bournemouth vs Spurs for free, given that Amazon is offering a 30-day free trial on both plans. You could even catch any of Thursday's games as well, and also the Amazon games later in the month, while still being able to cancel without incurring any charge.

If you're an Amazon Prime Video subscriber and you're not currently in the UK, you can still watch Bournemouth vs Spurs by using a VPN – more on that below.

• Who are the commentators and pundits on Amazon Prime this week?

Watch Bournemouth vs Spurs in the US

In the US, you can watch Bournemouth vs Spurs on USA Network, a television channel that comes on most cable packages.

There is no dedicated streaming platform for USA Network, so for those that want to stream the game online, you might be looking at a cord-cutting cable TV streaming service, such as Sling TV or Fubo.

USA Network is included on the Sling Blue package, which starts from $40 a month – half price for the first month – and there's no need for the Sports Extra add-on here.

Fubo, meanwhile, is a heftier investment, at $79.99 a month, discounted to $49.99 for the first month, but you do get more channels and more live sport.

USA Network can also be streamed via YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, and DirectTV Stream.

If you're currently travelling outside of the US, you can still access your streaming services by using a VPN such as NordVPN.

How to watch Bournemouth vs Spurs from anywhere

You can watch Bournemouth vs Spurs all over the world, with the Premier League product attracting a huge array of global broadcasters. We've outlined the UK and US options above but you can also watch in more than 100 countries. For more detail, check out our handy guide on how to watch Premier League live streams from anywhere in the world in 2024/25.

But what if you're away from home, and find access to your usual streaming service geo-blocked? The solution is a VPN, a piece of software that sets your devices to appear to be in any country in the world.

Assuming it complies with your broadcaster’s T&Cs, you can use a VPN to unblock the streaming services you're subscribed to, with a host of privacy and protection benefits on top – that sounds like a result.

Tottenham are enduring yet another inconsistent season, with a 4-0 away win at Manchester City sandwiched in between a home defeat and draw to Ipswich and Fulham.

Defensive problems persist with injuries to Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero, making it likely that Tottenham will enter the January transfer market for another defender.

One target has had a breakout season in Europe, too, with the potential signing set to create history if they move to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2024/25.

Tottenham chasing top Ligue 1 centre-back

According to the Telegraph, Tottenham are chasing Lens centre-back Abdukodir Khusanov, with the 20-year-old having impressed in Ligue 1 this season.

The report suggests that Spurs will face a fight with Newcastle for Khusanov's signature, as well as PSG and five other English clubs. The highly-sought after 20-year-old has two-and-a-half years remaining on his current deal in France, with Transfermarkt valuing him at less than £5m.

Having nurtured the Uzbekistan international, Lens are wanting a fee closer to £25m, with suggestions that more strong performances in the coming weeks could see that figure continue to rise.

Despite his age, Khusanov has already made 18 appearances for the Uzbekistan national team. If he does complete a move to Tottenham - or any other Premier League side - in January, he will become the first player from Uzbekistan to play in the English top flight. Right now, Uzbekistan are one of the 94 FIFA-affiliated nations to have not been represented in the Premier League, but Khusanov could soon change that.

The centre-back has started nine of Lens' 13 Ligue 1 games this term, appearing as a substitute in two others and missing the other two after picking up a red card in a 1-0 defeat to PSG. He helped keep four clean sheets in the games he has started, with Lens currently sat seventh in the French top flight.

In FourFourTwo's view, the £25m figure touted seems extremely steep considering he moved for just £100k 18 months ago, though he is showing great promise. Spurs are in need of more defenders to help bolster their backline, so if he is available for half that price it would make a lot more sense to complete a deal.

Manchester City are working on a shock move for Cristian Romero of Tottenham Hotspur.

The champions are at their lowest ebb since Pep Guardiola took over in 2016. With no win in the last seven in all competitions – and a potentially season-defining loss to Liverpool at the weekend – Manchester City could be out of the title race already, with reinforcements expected in January.

And with director Txiki Begiristain replaced by Sporting man Hugo Viana, City could be about to make bold moves off the pitch in order to arrest this slump

Cristian Romero is wanted by Manchester City

City and Tottenham, generally speaking, don't do very much business with one another.

A move for Harry Kane in 2021 stalled over a fee that couldn't be agreed between the two clubs, meaning that Kyle Walker is the only player to have moved between the Etihad and north London since Guardiola arrived in the Premier League.

Spanish outlet Fichajes are reporting, however, that the Argentine defender is a shock target for the Sky Blues, with the defender stallng over a new contract.

“Tottenham plan to start negotiations in January to make him the highest-paid player at the club, aiming to secure his stay,” the report states. “However, the chance to regularly compete in the Champions League could sway the decision towards a team like City.”

Bayern Munich and Real Madrid are also said to be interested in the star, who could replace any number of players in Guardiola's defence.

Walker is now 34 and looked a shadow of himself this season, while John Stones' injury record has been poor of late. There is the possibility, too, that Romero could play in midfield as a No.6 – or a No.5, as it is in Argentina – as he embodies the Javier Mascherano-type qualities needed to succeed there.

In FourFourTwo's opinion, this might seem like an outlandish idea but with Romero stalling on new terms with the Lilywhites, this move might well be more possible than many realise. Spurs may have no chance but to offload the defender at a reduced price over the next year or so, with City one of the most attractive propositions in world football for any star.

Dominic Solanke continues to make quite the impact for Tottenham Hotspur following his summer move from Bournemouth.

The 27-year-old has netted six goals in all competitions so far, with Solanke bidding to help prove why Tottenham parted with £65m in the summer for his services. He has managed to keep fellow forward Richarlison out of the team, starting the lion's share of Spurs' Premier League games.

But having not been involved in the 1-1 draw against Fulham at the weekend, fans and FPL nerds are all asking the same question. Will he feature against his former side on Thursday?

Is Dominic Solanke fit to play for Spurs against Bournemouth?

Manager Ange Postecoglou is expected to be asked about Solanke in his pre-match media duties but did also speak about the England international following the draw against Fulham this weekend.

It remains to be seen whether he will feature but Postecoglou did give a positive update on the matter in both his interview with Tottenham's club media and in his post-match press conference.

“Dom trained yesterday, but the illness hit him overnight, so we’ll have to see how he recovers," began Ange.

"He came to the ground and wanted to try (to make himself available), but we could tell as soon as we saw him that he wasn’t in a fit state to play, so we sent him home. I haven’t seen Archie, but he picked up a bit of a knock, we’ll have to wait and see.”

Asked about his inclusion against the Cherries, Postecoglou added: “I hope so. He trained yesterday but he came in today and didn’t look well at all, so we sent him home.

"It’s obviously an illness, not an injury, so we need to see how it settles down in the next couple of days but hopefully it’s nothing too significant.”

In FourFourTwo's view, we can safely presume Solanke should be fit to feature against Bournemouth given he was rested at the weekend against the Cottagers.

The 27-year-old will be bidding to score against his former side but whether or not he chooses to celebrate at the Vitality Stadium remains another question.

Tottenham Hotspur are looking to bring a high-profile No.9 to north London – just months after signing Dominic Solanke.

The England man joined Tottenham in a £60 million deal over the summer, as the long-awaited replacement for club-record scorer Harry Kane, who left the summer prior. But stepping into the shoes of the England captain – ranked at No.7 in FourFourTwo's list of the best Premier League strikers of all time – has been a tall task for the former Chelsea and Liverpool man.

Through little fault of Solanke's, Spurs are currently seventh in the table with their form fluctuating wildly by the week. Now, it looks as if chairman Daniel Levy could be about to bring in another striker to rectify matters.

Tottenham are chasing proven Premier League goal-getter to supplement Solanke

The Lilywhites have a wealth of attacking options with versatility across the frontline. Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner, Wilson Odobert and Dejan Kulusevki are all options out wide.

Son Heung-min, meanwhile, has functioned both as a centre-forward and a left-winger – but is out of contract in the summer.

Despite Solanke only able to function centrally and Ange Postecoglou using a lone striker, Fichajes in Spain have reported that Tottenham are interested in bringing Ivan Toney back to London.

The former Brentford striker was on the radar for several top Premier League clubs, with Tottenham mooted as an option – before his leftfield move to the Saudi Pro League.

Signing Toney would not only almost certainly spell the end of seeing Son up front, however, it would likely see Solanke's minutes heavily reduced.

In speaking to FourFourTwo exclusively last month, however, Solanke's former manager, Andoni Iraola said that he expected the target man to leave the Vitality Stadium after strong form and that he deserved the chance to play at a higher level.

“I think it was always a strong possibility that he’d leave, not after just the goals that he scored but the performances he had last season,” the Bournemouth boss said. “He was very consistent. He wasn’t called up for the Euros – and that didn’t help us much: it made it hard to convince Dom to stay.”

In FourFourTwo's opinion, it's highly unlikely that Tottenham's interest in Toney is serious. The North Londoners had the opportunity to sign him in the summer on wages much smaller than those he's currently earning, and with Solanke a similar profile – who hasn't done anything wrong so far in a white shirt – we would be shocked if Toney replaced him up front.

Rodri doesn’t like the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Nothing to do with the aesthetic (we don’t think), it’s his record there that bothers him.

In the Premier League, played four, lost three, won one. Ballon d’Or winners don’t tend to lose many games, so to post three straight defeats versus the same team in the same stadium is unusual.

“Some teams are the worst for you," Rodri explained to FourFourTwo, before Tottenham's 4-0 drubbing of City, in an exclusive one-on-one interview in Madrid where he's been rehabbing his injured knee. "Tottenham for us. When they had Harry Kane, Son and Lucas Moura, they had the perfect way to play against us.

Why can't I beat Spurs?

“I never won there – last season was the first time. I thought, ‘Why is it so tricky?’, but sometimes it’s like this.” After parading his cherished Ballon d’Or to the Manchester City crowd before their game at the weekend, the sense of deja vu must have been palpable.

“Last season was such a tough season,” Rodri says, remembering how Arsenal pushed City all the way. “If you want to win the Premier League, normally it goes to the last day, and we really played to our limit and gave everything. Maybe that’s why we didn’t perform well in the FA Cup final, because in the last two games, we left everything on the pitch.

“That showed the mentality of the team, though – we won for all these years, but we had the desire to go again until the last day. Of course, people expect us to win again this year, then again. It’s not easy, but we’ll be there, we’ll fight and the team will show character.”

They are missing their best player though, that much is true. But specifically, what is it that the team are currently missing while their midfielder recovers from an ACL injury? It makes sense to ask the man himself.

“You’re the guy who ensures everything works," he says, when asked to explain how he sees his own role on the pitch for club and country. "You don’t have a specific thing to do, you just have a lot of things to do. It’s about leadership and understanding the game.”

Rodri has played centre-back as well of course, at the 2022 World Cup, and defenders have joined him in midfield at City. So which is more difficult?

“It’s more difficult to do what John Stones has done, Joao Cancelo in the past or Manuel Akanji when he’s played that role," he says. "In midfield, we’re used to looking 360, being surrounded by players.

“Defend, attack, it’s the most complete part of the field. At centre-back, you just have players in front of you – it’s more chilled with the ball. I tell the centre-backs, ‘Your job with the ball is so easy!’ It’s demanding without the ball though – the positioning is very tricky.

“When I played there at the World Cup, I’d watch clips of centre-backs, how they behaved, everything. You have to look at the people who really know that role.”

Tottenham Hotspur were founded in 1882 and are one of England's biggest and best-supported clubs.

In 1961, Spurs became the first English club to win a League and FA Cup double in the 20th Century. And two years later, the Lilywhites were the first British team to claim a European trophy, bringing home the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

Recent times have been less successful, but Spurs have remained among the top five or six clubs in England and over the years, the north Londoners have been blessed with some great goalscorers.

Here, a look at the players who scored 100 goals for Tottenham...

Billy Minter played as an inside forward for Tottenham between 1908 and 1920 and was the first player to score 100 goals for the north London club.

Minter netted 101 in 263 appearances overall and later worked for Tottenham as a manager and an administrator until his passing in 1940. He was Spurs' leading scorer until he was overtaken by Jimmy Dimmock.

Johnny Morrison began his career in non-league football and the centre-forward joined Tottenham as a 20-year-old in 1931.

After a spell with Spurs' nursery side Northfleet Town, Morrison established himself with the first team, going on to score 102 goals in 154 appearances between 1932 and 1939.

An inside forward capped once by England, Bert Bliss scored 106 goals in 215 games for Tottenham in a decade at the club between 1912 and 1922.

Signed from Willenhall Swifts for just £10, Bliss was small in stature but highly effective and helped the north Londoners win the FA Cup in 1921.

One of Tottenham's all-time greats, Glenn Hoddle was an idol at White Hart Lane for much of the 1970s and 1980s.

The former England midfielder was blessed with wonderful technique and scored 110 goals in 490 games for Spurs, including many memorable strikes. Hoddle helped Tottenham to two FA Cups and a UEFA Cup in the early 1980s, before leaving for Monaco in 1987. He later returned as manager.

A flying left winger who scored the winning goal in the 1921 FA Cup final at the age of just 20, local lad Jimmy Dimmock was one of Tottenham's best players in the 1920s.

Dimmock, who was capped three times by England, scored 112 goals in 438 games for Spurs overall, including 100 in 400 in the league.

After a series of shorter spells at Wolves, Coventry City, Inter and Leeds United, Robbie spent six seasons at Tottenham between 2002 and 2008.

The Republic of Ireland's all-time top scorer helped Spurs win the League Cup in 2008, but moved to Liverpool that summer, eventually returning to White Hart Lane after a torrid time at Anfield. In total, he scored 122 goals in 306 games for the north London club.

Born in Wood Green close to Tottenham, Les Bennett played as an inside forward for the north London club between 1946 and 1954.

An energetic player who was a valuable member of the famous Push and Run side which won the title in 1950/51, Bennett scored 124 goals in 294 appearances for Tottenham.

Teddy Sheringham spent five years at Tottenham between 1992 and 1997, eventually leaving Spurs for Manchester United in the pursuit of trophies.

And after winning it all at Old Trafford, including a treble and three Premier League titles in total, the England striker returned to White Hart Lane for a second spell. In total, he scored 124 goals in 277 games for Spurs.

After signing from Dundee in 1964, Alan Gilzean formed successful strike partnerships with Jimmy Greaves (the pair were known as the "G-Men") and later Martin Chivers at Tottenham.

A goalscorer with great technique who could also create chances for others, Gilzean netted 133 times in 439 appearances for Spurs, winning an FA Cup, two League Cups and a UEFA Cup in his time at White Hart Lane.

Born in Guernsey, Len Duquemin spent over a decade at Tottenham in the 1940s and 1950s.

A valuable member of Arthur Rowe's famous Push and Run side, he scored the goal which sealed the First Division title for Spurs in 1950/51. In total, Duquemin netted 134 goals in 307 games for the Lilywhites between 1946 and 1957.

Born in 1910, George Hunt was an inside forward or centre-forward who spent seven years at Tottenham in the 1930s.

Hunt hit 138 goals in 198 appearances for Tottenham before briefly joining rivals Arsenal in 1937 and then moving to hometown club Bolton Wanderers later in the year. He won three caps for England, scoring once.

Jermain Defoe was a fan favourite at Tottenham in two lengthy spells in north London in the 2000s and 2010s.

Defoe left for Portsmouth in 2008 but returned to White Hart Lane the following year and scored 143 goals in 363 appearances for Tottenham overall – including five in a 9-1 win over Wigan in November 2009 and 23 strikes in European competition.

Cliff Jones joined Tottenham from Swansea in 1958 and the Welsh winger went on to spend a decade at White Hart Lane.

A valuable member of the double-winning team in 1960/61, Jones won three FA Cups in total with Spurs and a European Cup Winners' Cup in 1963. He also chipped in with plenty of goals, netting 154 times in 378 appearances for the Lilywhites.

Son Heung-min signed for Tottenham from Bayer Leverkusen in 2013 and the South Korean forward quickly became a fan favourite at the north London club.

A wide forward who can also play centrally if needed, Son has regularly scored 20 goals a season for Spurs and had netted over 160 times for the Lilywhites by November 2024.

Martin Chivers joined Tottenham from Southampton for a club record fee of £125,000 in 1968 and was a prolific scorer in eight seasons at White Hart Lane.

Chivers netted 174 goals in 367 games for Spurs, including two in the UEFA Cup final win over Wolves in 1972. Capped 24 times for England, Chivers registered 13 international goals and was Tottenham's top scorer in Europe for almost 40 years, until he was overtaken by Jermain Defoe in 2013. He was sold to Swiss side Servette in 1976.

Bobby Smith started his career at Chelsea, but is best remembered for his time at Tottenham.

A key member of the double-winning side of 1960/61, Smith is one of only three players to have scored 200 first-team goals for Spurs. The former England forward hit 208 in 317 games between 1955 and 1964.

Jimmy Greaves signed for Tottenham in December 1961 after a short spell at AC Milan for the unusual fee of £99,999, which was intended to remove added pressure on him being British football's first £100,000 player.

Greaves was a huge hit at Spurs, netting 266 goals in 379 games and impressing as Bill Nicholson's side won two FA Cups and a European Cup Winners' Cup in the 1960s. The striker, who was part of England's World Cup-winning squad in 1966, left to join West Ham in 1970.

Harry Kane came through the youth ranks at Tottenham and went on to become the club's all-time top scorer.

Before leaving Spurs to join Bayern Munich in the summer of 2023, the England striker hit 280 goals for the Lilywhites in 435 games, having moved ahead of the legendary Jimmy Greaves in January that year.

Tottenham’s 2-1 defeat to Ipswich followed by a 4-0 win over Manchester City personified Ange Postecoglou’s time as Tottenham manager. Imposing attacking displays have gone hand in hand with intriguing, and often poor, defensive high-lines.

This mix leaves them sixth in the Premier League, but they are only four points off second-placed Manchester City.

As Premier League injuries mount up, City do not look the same side as of late, but that does not take away from a stellar Spurs performance, especially as they were missing first choice centre-backs Cristian Romero and Micky Van de Ven.

Is Cristian Romero injured this weekend?

No side has scored more goals in the league this season than Spurs, and they have also conceded the joint third-least number of goals, despite only keeping three clean sheets.

Argentinian centre-back Romero is key to the way Spurs’ play, offering ball-playing ability and a serious threat at set pieces.

Romero has played 11 of Spurs’ 12 league games this season, missing the Manchester City match after suffering an injury blow while on international break. Romero had been substituted off against Aston Villa with an injury issue, but returned in time to play 90 minutes in Spurs’ 2-1 defeat to Ipswich.

This injury seems to have flared up in Argentina’s World Cup Qualifier against Paraguay, with Ange Postecoglou confirming prior to the Manchester City match that Romero would not be available.

Postecoglou, who ranked at no.36 in FourFourTwo's list of the best managers in the world right now, said: “Romero won't be right for tomorrow's game.

“We're hoping he'll be right for next week.”

Spurs face Roma in the Europa League this Thursday and it seems unlikely that Romero will return then, given Ben Davies and Radu Dragusin’s impressive performance against Manchester City.

Tottenham Hotspur may be forced to make a shock move in the January window that would not have been part of their pre-season planning.

A fairly mixed start to the Premier League season sees the north London club in sixth, but with a number of teams in touching distance above them.

Not then, perhaps, the time for any knee-jerk moves, but recent injury news means Ange Postecoglou’s side may be forced to make a headline change to their starting squad.

Tottenham may be forced to replace goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario in January

It has been revealed that Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario has just undergone surgery to repair a fractured ankle.

The Italy international was hurt in a challenge with Savinho in Spurs’ resounding 4-0 win against Manchester City at the Etihad, and was still complaining about being in pain following the final whistle. It later transpired that he had been playing for around an hour with the fracture.

It will likely leave Spurs hunting for a replacement gloveman, with Vicario out for months rather than weeks, and the club having already been considering bolstering their goalkeeping ranks in the summer, according to the Telegraph.

Postecoglou will need to rely on Fraser Forster, but thankfully the 36-year-old shouldn’t be as rusty as some back-up goalkeepers may be, having appeared three times already this season; twice in the Europa League and once in Carabao Cup against Coventry City.

The Tottenham boss will not, however, have intended to rest his entire season on the shoulders of Forster, and will likely want to enter the market in January.

In a statement on Instagram, Vicario said: “Unfortunately, there was no way around this one. I needed surgery. I’m disappointed I won’t be able to help the team for a while.”

In FourFourTwo’s opinion, Tottenham will need to go all out in January to sign a new goalkeeper, especially with their summer plans revealing they already felt light in the area.

January signings are never cheap, with the need to pay a premium to disrupt another side’s squad planning. The very public knowledge of Spurs’ quite desperate situation will only aggravate that, but we all know how much Daniel Levy loves driving a hard bargain.

The grin did not leave Tottenham Hotspur star James Maddison’s face for the entirety of his 28th birthday.

Not when intelligent movement led to him scoring goals one and two of a 4-0 battering of Manchester City. Not when he was smashed and clattered to the sodden Etihad turf ground by Kyle Walker, Manuel Akanji, Bernardo Silva or Ilkay Gundogan. Not when he was withdrawn several minutes shy of the end, surrendering the captain’s armband he had been passed a short while earlier, and receiving a warm reception from Ange Postecoglou.

And certainly not when he later stood in front of three tiers of delirious Tottenham Hotspur supporters, both fists clenched in celebration, before passing his soaked shirt to a travelling youngster.

Tottenham terrorised Manchester City, with James Maddison at the heart of it all

Where to begin? With their first home defeat in 52, Manchester City have now lost five on the spin – plenty of those present on Saturday will not have followed the club the last time that happened (2006 under Stuart Pearce). Crisis? Hmmm. A stretch. But title race? Well, even Pep Guardiola admitted that being 11 off the pace, which City could be post-Anfield next Sunday, would be too much.

But let City’s (relative) woes not distract from Tottenham. Thrash Aston Villa; hand Ipswich Town a first top-flight victory in decades. Lose at Crystal Palace; hammer City on the road. All very #Spursy right?!

Postecoglou had many a fine performer. Son Heung-min virtually gave Kyle Walker his ‘Gary Neville at the Hawthorns’ moment. Vicario was outstanding between the sticks. Dejan Kulusevski was even better from wide right, but then again, he has been since August.

It was, though, a Maddison day. But for Rodrigo Bentancur’s seven-match suspension for using a racial slur about teammate Son, Maddison may well have started on the bench – a position he has occupied for the past few weeks and a far cry from 12 months back when he was being hailed as one of the division’s finest. Spurs had temporarily topped the Premier League, and their playmaker was making them tick. A three-month injury stymied Maddison’s progress, but he still had a more than passable first campaign in north London.

To succeed as a No.10 now, though, a drop of the shoulder, a few flicks of the wand, does not suffice in the same way it did, say, a decade back. The modern way is to play more as an eight, with both lung-busting darts and defensive duties part of the package.

A few weeks back, during a victory over West Ham, Maddison was withdrawn with the scores level at half-time despite getting an assist. In Spurs’ last two league games, he has played just 16 minutes. A few judges, some with plenty of football nous, had even suggested that, as fine a footballer as Maddison is, Tottenham might be better without him moving forward. If that felt premature, that is perhaps because it was.

It was obvious almost immediately on Saturday that Maddison was in the mood. Early on, he attempted to lead Spurs’ press but turned to see no one following. His frustration was visible, as was Postecoglou’s.

And that was Maddison for the entire match. Pointing. Conducting. Asking more, and more, still of his teammates. Madison won the most fouls (five) and duels (nine) of anyone on the pitch. His first goal came from a wonderful Kulusevski cross, while the second was a deft finish after a clever loop around Son’s back.

Postecoglou: “Maddison's had a decent season… but we want more than that”

“The thing about Madders was he obviously didn't go away on international duty,” Postecoglou told reporters afterwards. “He had two weeks with us and the coaches worked really hard with him and he was working really hard at training, and I could just see and said he was ready for a big game.

“He hasn't sort of lowered his ambitions or his kind of levels of the kind of player he wants to be and it's about us giving him that platform and it wasn't just his goals today. I thought he was really important for us in the build-up because he was always looking for it in tight areas and, and defensively, he worked really hard.

“So, yeah, credit to him. Like I said, I still think he's had a decent season, but it's like us as a team, we want to be more than that, we want to be more than just a decent team.”

As for Maddison himself, what he has in excess is character and personality. His self-confidence is evident – he previously said he loves to be the main man at family Sunday roasts – but he navigates successfully around arrogance.

“I’m never happy when I don’t play but I’ve been all right,” he told Sky Sports post-match. “I’ve got a lot of self-belief and if I go through tough spells, I’m able to think, ‘I’ll show you that the team is much better with me in it.’ Not in an arrogant way, but you need that self-belief to get out of a rut. I’m really happy and proud that I bounced back today and showed my leadership.”

Saturday had been set up as an afternoon of celebration for City. There was both Guardiola’s extended contract and Rodri’s Ballon d'Or to shout about. The latter spectacle was as magnificent as it was monstrous.

Presumably having blown the budget on neon signs and a pitch-sized tarpaulin, there was nothing left to spend on someone to present the Spaniard with his golden globe. And so instead he meandered alone to the middle to lift his own trophy with the awkwardness of a scratch card winner claiming their £1 prize from the cashier. That was to be City’s last joyous moment.

Tottenham have these evenings, spells of 90 minutes when big Ange can do no wrong. But they also have another mask. Fulham, who head to the Seven Sisters Road next weekend, will doubtless be licking their lips.