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Fire up the memes, it’s Arsenal bashing time. The latest: the conspiracy theory that 11 players have snubbed their country by faking injury in order to protect the club’s treble pursuit.

After Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka left the England camp, Thomas Tuchel said: “It looks a bit suspicious. I still have 100 per cent trust in the honesty of Bukayo and Declan. We did medical tests. I saw them.”

Rice and Saka are among 10 Arsenal players to have withdrawn from international duty. Martin Odegaard was also unable to join up with Norway’s squad.

Add in the fact that Arsenal have become the country’s vogue club to hate and you have the ingredients for an elaborate conspiracy which has spread across social medial like wildfire.

"OK now withdraw every player we sent to international duty." pic.twitter.com/dxbfoikBJB

— ARTETA'S REVENGE (@jeffrey_dalyop_) March 29, 2026

Online sleuths have taken to scrutinising footage – “Hey! Piero Hincapie jogs off!” – while Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has been compared to Sir Alex Ferguson, who took a notoriously hard stance on releasing Manchester United players for international friendlies.

Arsenal already stand accused of adopting the dark arts in pursuit of a first Premier League title since 2004 – but the majority of withdrawals have been confirmed by country federations, not by Arsenal themselves.

Assessing each injury in isolation also helps explain a lot. Odegaard has missed 11 games since the start of February and is hardly worth rushing back for two Norway friendlies. Jurrien Timber was absent for two games before pulling out of the Netherlands squad.

Eberechi Eze also missed the Carabao Cup final. Noni Madueke’s injury unfolded for all to see on England duty, the winger leaving Wembley in a brace after hobbling off in the first half against Uruguay.

Martin Zubimendi suffered a knee injury, confirmed by Spain, while Leandro Trossard returned from Belgium duty with a hip problem that kept him out of two Arsenal games earlier in March.

The French Football Federation (FFF) said William Saliba needs 10 days of rest after suffering a “recurring pain in his left ankle”. Brazil stated Gabriel needed imaging tests after a knee injury.

Even if the extent of some injuries are unclear, namely Rice and Saka, Tuchel’s mention of one four-letter word – “risk” – goes miles in explaining their withdrawals.

Arsenal injuries and possible return dates

• Martin Odegaard – Knee, two weeks
• Leandro Trossard – Hip, this weekend
• William Saliba – Ankle, this weekend
• Gabriel – Knee, one week
• Jurrien Timber – Groin, this weekend
• Eberechi Eze – Calf, four weeks
• Declan Rice – Unknown, this weekend
• Bukayo Saka – Unknown, this weekend
• Noni Madueke – Knee, unclear
• Piero Hincapie – Unknown, this weekend
• Martin Zubimendi – Knee, this weekend

“They had a medical assessment and wanted desperately to play,” Tuchel said on Monday. “Let’s get the narrative straight, they wanted desperately to be involved. But it made no sense to take this risk.

“If it would have been the last game of the season then maybe we would have kept them and tried everything, but at this moment of the season it did not make sense.”

The World Cup starts in less than three months, and any niggles are not only protecting the player from their domestic run-ins – Arsenal could have 15 games left to play – but also preserving their prospects of making the plane.

Against Southampton in the FA Cup on Saturday, Arteta has the opportunity to rest some of his biggest stars.

For now, they must continue to pursue a greater goal, whatever the conspiracies against them. And most likely, if it wasn’t Arsenal, nobody would care.

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Newcastle United need to change.

The scale, pace and size of what is coming in the summer, though? If the hints dropped by Newcastle chief executive David Hopkinson as the club unveiled their latest accounts are anything to go by, it could amount to a black and white revolution.

Twelfth in the Premier League and suffering after a second defeat to Sunderland, they deserve credit for engaging when goodwill is thin on the ground.

This felt like the not-so-soft launch of Newcastle 2.0 – and things might be about to get interesting.

In a briefing that signposted a close season of change, Hopkinson insisted the ambition to challenge for titles by 2030 remained. But he also:

• Swung the door open for the sale of key players like Sandro Tonali by admitting the days of “acquire, acquire, acquire” are over and they need to have a “player trading” strategy
• Said there is “no stance” on Eddie Howe’s future, although sources have assured The i Paper he is still viewed as “part of the solution”
• Admitted they are war gaming two different transfer strategies, one with European football and one if they miss out

The financials themselves proved revealing. Newcastle recorded a chunky £34.7m profit but only did that by selling St James’ Park and land adjacent to it to another company owned by the club’s owners for a whopping £172.1m. The club say the sale, which took six months in total and had to go through the Premier League’s fair market value tests, was to smooth the process of either redeveloping the stadium or constructing a new ground.

But it is clear, and not disputed by Newcastle, that without the sale they might have breached financial rules and faced a points deduction. So what next?

Signings to come – but player sales feel inevitable

Twelve months ago, Darren Eales said that Newcastle would be “crazy” to sell Alexander Isak or any of their top players. That bullish stance proved a mirage as Isak forced his way out of St James’ Park. Perhaps the club have learned.

“If an Isak-like scenario presents itself again, any player under contract is going to leave on our terms and we’re going to maximise the opportunity that might represent for the club,” Hopkinson said. That means extracting “maximum price”, he added.

Hopkinson was not chief executive when Isak left but said that he felt the British record transfer deal was a “good sale”. So far, so depressing for Magpies supporters. So here is the point of difference – recruitment will pivot, too.

“Going forward, our strategy is to buy well and sell well,” he said.

Buying well does not necessarily mean spending the most money. Signings will be made and getting into Europe will change things significantly. But director of football Ross Wilson will have to box smart.

Hopkinson was asked whether a “box office” signing might be made.

“We can do that, but we might not be able to do that without selling somebody,” he replied.

Howe’s future

Newcastle are not where they want to be right now, so is Howe in danger?

Hopkinson was asked directly about the manager’s future and his response felt like it left room for interpretation at the very least.

Newcastle subsequently rowed back on that but it feels like how the club end the season, and a comprehensive review of the campaign, might be significant.

“I don’t have a stance on his future,” Hopkinson said.

What I can tell you is that the derby loss hurt. We take it seriously. There’s nothing within us that thinks ‘well, it’s just three points and on we go’. It has resonated.

“I spent a couple of hours in a one-on-one lunch recently with Eddie and we talked through a multitude of things, including that.

“Eddie’s our manager. I expect to have a great run to the end of the season here and we’ll talk about the future when it’s time. Right now, we’re focused on this season’s competition.”

Read more

• Mark Douglas: Newcastle’s stance on sacking Eddie Howe after Sunderland humiliation
• Mark Douglas: Newcastle fans turned on Eddie Howe – not many come back from that

Was he leaving it open, reporters asked?

“I would not frame it that way. We are not looking to make a change at the moment,” he said.

“We are not having those conversations. We are still in the midst of the season. Right now we are focused on the seven matches we have remaining and not distracting ourselves with speculation about what we may or may not do in the summer.

“All of us have only got so much bandwidth and we are focused on this season and finishing strongly.”

What does the stadium sale mean for transfers?

Newcastle’s owners have followed Chelsea’s lead in selling off property and assets to another company owned by shareholders.

Interestingly they have taken out loans – including one from an Abu Dhabi bank – to pay for it.

And while it has prevented a PSR breach, it is not a financial fair play hack to enable big spending.

“Because of the consequence of the profit calculated on the sale, it gives us a significant amount of PSR headroom,” chief financial officer Simon Capper said.

“The ability to deploy that PSR headroom is very limited because we have to comply with Uefa rules and because the PSR regime is coming to an end, so that profit does not roll forward into squad cost.”

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If there were a league table based on PR, you suspect Tottenham Hotspur would find themselves in a similar position to the one they occupy in the actual Premier League.

The first thing to say about Roberto De Zerbi is that there is no such thing as a perfect appointment. There is no decision chief executive Vinai Venkatesham and sporting director Johan Lange can make that would not attract the most singeing scrutiny as Spurs move on to a fourth coach in a year.

Accordingly De Zerbi will step into a fanbase that is already divided and toxic. Plans to offer the Italian a five-year deal prompted a backlash before he had even given his answer, not least because of his support of Mason Greenwood during their time at Marseille.

While at Manchester United Greenwood was charged with rape, assault and coercive control, charges which were then dropped. The forward left Old Trafford having not played in over two years and joined Marseille in 2024. De Zerbi said he had paid a “heavy price” for the case, called him “a good person”, one “very different from the one portrayed in England”, and promised to treat him like a son.

Spurs fan group Women of the Lane say those remarks raise “serious questions about [the] judgement and leadership” of the club’s incoming boss, adding: “This is not an appointment Tottenham should make.” LGBT+ group Proud Lilywhites said De Zerbi had “downplayed the seriousness of what happened” with his remarks.

No to De Zerbi pic.twitter.com/7cApCu4QmB

— Women of The Lane (@WomenOfTheLane) March 27, 2026

In the muddled morality of a relegation battle, perhaps the suits in the Tottenham boardroom felt they were not in a position to be fussy. In 2021, the old regime under Daniel Levy was dissuaded from hiring Gennaro Gattuso in part because of historic comments about same-sex marriage and racial abuse; but the De Zerbi story was one step removed.

There is no such thing as a unifying candidate but it is remarkable that Spurs have found one inspiring such unpopularity before a ball has been kicked.

It is worth saying the diversity of any club’s fanbase also implies diversity of thought: there will be a spectrum of emotional responses, from outrage to total indifference. De Zerbi’s sympathisers might also suggest there were limits to what he could say about the Greenwood case publicly and professionally.

At the very least, the incident will have forced Spurs to think twice, especially as those are not the only criticisms De Zerbi will face. He has a reputation for hot-headedness and threatening to walk when he cannot get on with owners. Of his first five games at Brighton & Hove Albion, he won none – he has just seven to save Spurs from the drop and a matter of days to instil ideas.

On average, he stays in a job for 16 months and yet has talked his way into a five-year contract. In that he is in good company – Spurs managers since Mauricio Pochettino also last, on average, just 14 months, which would make De Zerbi a bona fide veteran.

The logic behind such a long deal is twofold: it has convinced the club’s No 1 target to take the job now, rather than waiting until the summer as he preferred. That may be what keeps Spurs in the Premier League and saves them a £200m relegation battle – any prospective De Zerbi payout would be small fry by comparison.

Read more

• Kat Lucas: Tottenham to offer De Zerbi bumper deal to keep them in Premier League
• Kat Lucas: The staggering incompetence of Tottenham’s board has reared its head again

And should it go well. De Zerbi is not just a stop-gap but forms part of Venkatesham and Lange’s vision for the new age, implementing a progressive style once he has had the summer to shape the squad.

What this tells us about the Tottenham Hotspur of 2026 is illuminating nonetheless. Reading the room has not been a strong point; a pre-season tour of New Zealand was announced with the door still swinging from Igor Tudor’s departure. That followed the chief revenue officer boasting about the rise of Spurs as a “global cultural brand” who were “evolving beyond football” as they hurtled towards the relegation zone.

It is impossible to overstate the capacity of the board to make fans angry. Of the many uphill battles De Zerbi will face, the main will be winning over sceptics in the stands.

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Brian Clough was typically acerbic on the subject of off-field decision-makers in football clubs and a chain of command that allows most to avoid scrutiny: “If a chairman sacks a manager then he should go too”.

Clough was from an age without middle managers. You had one bloke (and it was always a bloke) managing the budget and another – with their assistant – managing the team. The manager would tell the chairman who he wanted to buy and, in the case of Clough, it was probably best to listen. Then the manager was the club’s personality and the mouthpiece; few more spectacularly than Clough.

The layers of middle management and delegated responsibilities have increased to match football clubs’ growing size, capitalism and complexity: sporting director, technical director, director of football, head of football, chief executive etc. But the mouthpiece has not. All those above typically stay out of sight and certainly out of earshot. Managers do their pre and post-match duties, questioned about issues beyond their remit. That is the same; everything else has changed. 

These people are not untouchable; that is not the argument. At most clubs they become appropriate, eventual fall guys for failure, lack of cohesive relationships or change in structure. Edu Gaspar may well lose his job at Nottingham Forest soon. Newcastle United have cycled through a few sporting directors. Sebastian Kehl left Borussia Dortmund this month; James Ellis left Arsenal last month. 

At Tottenham Hotspur, Johan Lange and Vinai Venkatesham are in the firing line from supporters and their club is the most spectacular example of chronic leadership failings in the Premier League. Maybe the Spurs duo will fall upon their sword soon (and could have few complaints). They have at least taken the pressure off Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart at Chelsea, two architects of the great West London wastage.

But we are talking about a culture shift. These people are the kingmakers within football clubs. They guide its direction and have the closest relationship with the owners.

They make the hiring and firing calls and have strong sway in recruitment. They are the reason for nudging against financial limits. They are the reason that we are forever paying more for tickets because everybody must help out to generate revenue, apparently, and yet it always seems like supporters have to do the most.

And yet the only time we infrequently hear from them is through pre-planned – and often deeply predictable – words on the official website or manicured interviews. Even then, it is usually when things have gone south quickly and the masses must be pandered to, thus making it a face-saving protocol and entirely counterproductive because those masses are already angry. Go get the club statement.

Football supporters are not stupid. They care enough to learn about the issues facing their clubs and they care enough to seek explanations and answers. They have been told in welcoming statements the responsibilities that these people hold and they are sick of that being roughly the end of their meaningful interaction.

We are not asking for trade secrets here, nor a view deep within the mainframe and the inner sanctum. Nobody is expecting a sporting director to field questions on specific transfer targets and this need not be a witch hunt. We are not asking to wheel out the sporting director or chief executive after every match.

Read more

• Pete Hall: Booing Ben White was toxic England fans at their worst
• Kat Lucas: The staggering incompetence of Tottenham’s board has reared its head again

But supporters do have a right to detail about the processes, logic and relationships within the club, because they pay plenty enough money for them and because the club repeatedly insists, with little evidence to support it, that those fans are not merely customers. And if some of the processes or relationships are in a state that makes those questions unpleasant, they are not working anyway. Accountability thrives where communication meets transparency.

The one way you lose patience most quickly is when the people you are aiming to please or serve are met with a faceless response because it makes it seem like you do not care what they think. Even worse is forcing a rotating cast of managers – that change at least once a year – to field questions on matters that they are subjugated to and will ultimately play a role in their own downfall.

How can Igor Tudor, in the Spurs job 30-odd days at the time, be questioned about the vague culture of the club and the mood behind the scenes? It is the people who appointed him, his predecessor, signed the players and handed out the contracts who should front up. Anything else is cowardice, anti-leadership.

More than anything, it is just dim PR. You create a vacuum into which frustration is only ever going to rush. In the absence of other information, supporters will hypothesise and castigate those who they believe are most responsible and least visible. If those hypotheses are incorrect, it damages relations. If they are correct, only accountability can force change.

Football clubs are too complex, and there is now too much money at stake, to hide behind a wall of silence. Otherwise the risk is too great: a “Trust us, bro” culture while everybody can increasingly see how obvious it is that we should not. 

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Some familiar faces are back in the fold for Tuesday’s friendly against Japan after Thomas Tuchel’s experimental England back-up team drew to Uruguay on Friday.

And it is that dispiriting 1-1, coupled with the fact Japan are England’s third-last opponents before the World Cup, which should prompt Tuchel into fielding as strong an XI as possible this week.

The Wembley crowd are an expectant and restless bunch after all, making paper aeroplanes before booing Ben White on Friday night, and they will hope to see Tuchel’s main World Cup characters after several extras including Phil Foden failed their audition.

That includes a return for captain Harry Kane, although Tuchel has been dealt a blow after Arsenal duo Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka were among eight withdrawals on Saturday.

With some tough decisions to make particularly at full-back and left wing, here is how he might line-up his England side should he go big from the start…

Goalkeeper

James Trafford faced Uruguay while Dean Henderson was one of the 11 players rested, but Tuchel would be wise to hand the gloves back to Jordan Pickford, England’s undisputed No 1.

The 32-year-old is primed to appear at a third World Cup as first choice, and every minute spent on the pitch in front of Tuchel’s favoured centre-back pairing is valuable time spent for all.

Defence

Marc Guehi and Ezri Konsa both return to face Japan, and as Tuchel’s most probable starting centre-back partnership for the World Cup, the pair need time to gel despite Harry Maguire strengthening his case against Uruguay.

Elsewhere, Tuchel’s two biggest unknowns are at full-back. Reece James’s injury has opened the door for other right-back candidates, and after Tino Livramento faced Uruguay, it could be that Djed Spence showcases his versatility by switching sides.

Spence was one of the brighter notes at left-back against Uruguay, linking up well with Marcus Rashford, and having already played twice on the right under Tuchel last year that move would leave the England manager choosing between Lewis Hall and Nico O’Reilly at left-back.

O’Reilly returns to the scene of his Carabao Cup final heroics, and he could ride that wave all the way to a World Cup starting place should he get the chance at Wembley on Tuesday, but for many Hall is more worthy of the nod. Honestly? It’s a coin toss, but maybe Hall just edges it.

Midfield

It would have been a simple choice in defensive midfield, Rice and Elliot Anderson, before the former withdrew. Now Tuchel could turn to Kobbie Mainoo after the Manchester United star only featured briefly on Friday.

Having impressed Tuchel in the autumn, Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers will hope to start at No 10.

Cole Palmer also made a strong case off the bench on Friday, enjoying a free role when the game was a little more stretched, but despite strengthening his chances of making the plane he could well remain Tuchel’s go-to gamechanger off the bench for the World Cup.

One option to play Rogers as well as Palmer or Jude Bellingham would be moving Rogers out to left wing, where he has played at times for Villa this season, but that could mean entering dangerous territory – last seen at England level when Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard played (and yet could not play) together.

Expect that debate to be renewed should Palmer, Bellingham and Rogers all make Tuchel’s final World Cup squad.

Forwards

In reality Tuchel will be expected to choose between Anthony Gordon and Rashford on left wing.

Though not fully convinced by either – and therein lies the reason this position is Tuchel’s most problematic – it would be fair to start Gordon against Japan given Rashford faced Uruguay.

That said, if the Croatia game (England’s World Cup opener) was tomorrow, then Rashford is my pick. He troubles full-backs in a way Gordon can’t, and if Operation Get The Ball To Kane kicks into gear at the World Cup – which is a must given his Bayern Munich form – then it is Rashford’s pace I would want down the left wing.

Beyond that, Kane at No 9 is the easiest pick, and with Saka out West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen will hope to strengthen his case on right wing. Palmer is another option here, and arguably the more exciting pick, but may miss out here as well.

My predicted England XI to face Japan

• 4-2-3-1: Pickford, Spence, Guehi, Konsa, Hall, Anderson, Mainoo, Rogers, Bowen, Kane, Rashford.

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Igor Tudor will go down as one of the most catastrophic managerial appointments of all time.

And yet in the rogues’ gallery of Tottenham Hotspur’s wretched season, the part the Croatian played was ultimately minimal – 43 days, seven games, one Champions League exit, 20 goals conceded and a microdose of false hope.  

Tudor will be remembered then as an odd stooge in the melodrama but never the real villain. He was a symptom rather than the cause of Spurs’ staggering incompetence, which now has the chance to manifest itself again.

Why should anybody believe that the current board are capable of choosing a third head coach of the season? The majority-owning Lewis family will once more put their trust in chief executive Vinai Venkatesham and sporting director Johan Lange to make a decision, less than six weeks after getting the last one so horrifically wrong.

The names up for consideration say much about the coherence with which the board are operating. There is Adi Hutter, who like Tudor has no experience of the Premier League. There is Roberto De Zerbi, who would be a divisive choice; some fan groups are organising a “No to De Zerbi” campaign, roused by his support for Mason Greenwood at Marseille. And there is Sean Dyche, polar opposite to De Zerbi stylistically but with a decent record of keeping teams up.

None of this suggests a lucidity of mind which ought to inspire any confidence. The second problem for Spurs’ next boss is that the inheritance has not materially changed. If anything, it has got worse – the injuries, the poor recruitment, the playing squad bereft of confidence.

Tudor tried to find various ways to stop the rot but none of them worked. His three at the back was unshakeable and the only players who came out of his five league games in charge with any real credit were Archie Gray and Kevin Danso.

The line-ups for the defeats to Arsenal, Fulham and Nottingham Forest he got hopelessly wrong, moving Conor Gallagher to the right, Joao Palhinha to centre-back and Pedro Porro onto the wing. Nevertheless it showed some innovation and an acknowledgement that standing still was getting Tottenham nowhere.

The only positive results came in the draw with an abject Liverpool side and in the home win over Atletico Madrid, when the tie was already dead. Players were left bewildered by his handling of Antonin Kinsky in the Champions League last-16 first leg, substituting the young goalkeeper after 15 howler-strewn minutes.

It was never entirely clear why Spurs believed Tudor was the right man in the first place. The move had all the hallmarks of one last Fabio Paratici powerplay before his departure to Fiorentina, given Tudor’s own history at Paratici’s old home of Juventus. It is a mystery why Tottenham should be governed by the whims of people who no longer work for them – but it is indicative of a board who now operate with too many cooks.

Whatever the downsides of Daniel Levy’s reign, the club was essentially run on a one-man, one-vote system – he called the shots. The malaise started on his watch and still his successors have pioneered new ways to fail and embarrass the club.

Without Levy, nobody could decide whether to keep Thomas Frank or not, or what the plan should be when he was eventually sacked. Tudor’s new manager bounce was subsequently wasted on a catastrophic 4-1 defeat to Arsenal.

The new incoming coach will have 10 days left of the international break to work with the players, Tudor having rightly been given a few days’ space as he mourned the death of his father.

His was the fourth shortest managerial reign in Premier League history but it is no coincidence that one of the few to surpass that record was another Spurs interim coach in Cristian Stellini. Throughout Enic’s quarter of a century at the helm, there has been a common theme of bungling and panicking which has led them to the brink of relegation.

If Spurs get this next one wrong, they are down. There will be nowhere to hide for Venkatesham and Lange if that happens.

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Tottenham Hotspur have sacked interim head coach Igor Tudor with the club just one point above the Premier League relegation zone.

Tottenham have taken drastic action with seven league games to go after picking up one point from five league games under the Croatian’s watch.

Tudor was only appointed on 14 February after Spurs dismissed Thomas Frank, and his short 43-day reign – which also included a Champions League exit to Atletico Madrid – ends a week after they lost to relegation rivals Nottingham Forest 3-0 at home.

West Ham are currently 18th one point below Tottenham, who were last relegated from the top tier in 1977.

A statement said: “We can confirm that it has been mutually agreed for head coach Igor Tudor to leave the club with immediate effect.

“Tomislav Rogic and Riccardo Ragnacci have also left their respective roles of goalkeeping coach and physical Coach.

“We thank Igor, Tomislav and Riccardo for their efforts during the past six weeks, in which they worked tirelessly.

“We also acknowledge the bereavement that Igor has recently suffered and send our support to him and his family at this difficult time.

“An update on a new head coach will be provided in due course.”

To-do list

Spurs do not play again until 12 April when they travel to Sunderland.

Here, The i Paper looks at the to-do list of the next head coach in place in N17.

Raise morale

Confidence was already an issue when Tudor arrived after a poor run of form, but belief will presumably be at an all-time low after a recent club-record six-match losing streak and a winless run in the Premier League which now stands at 13 fixtures.

The sight of Tottenham players collapsing to the floor at full-time has been all too frequent in recent months and Tudor’s harsh appraisal that they lacked in attack, midfield and defence at the start of March will not have helped matters.

Spurs will only get out of their precarious situation with renewed belief, and an arm-around-the-shoulder of certain key players could help boost morale.

No more square pegs in round holes

A particular issue during Tudor’s reign was his tendency to put players out of position in an effort to stick to his favoured three-at-the-back formation.

Joao Palhinha and Pedro Porro were both used as centre-backs, while Conor Gallagher, Xavi Simons and Lucas Bergvall have all had stints as wide midfielders when they are better suited centrally.

Poor Archie Gray played as a right wing-back and left-back before he finally got the chance in central midfield where he has unsurprisingly flourished. Even Dominic Solanke was deployed as an attacking midfielder. For the next seven games, Spurs’ players need simplicity and to play in their correct positions.

Win at home

Most teams which survive a relegation battle can rely on picking points up at home and turning their ground into a fortress, but Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has been the opposite.

Spurs have won only two home league games all season and managed only two in the second half of the 2024-25 campaign too. Even though European nights have produced memorable occasions, domestically they are without a win at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium since 6 December.

There are a multitude of reasons why Tottenham have struggled at home, but one area where a quick win would be possible is to instruct the team to start on the front-foot and not be passive. On too many occasions under Thomas Frank and Tudor, the hosts have sat off opponents and struggled to claw back momentum.

Read more

• Kat Lucas: The strange case of Tottenham’s forgotten man
• Kat Lucas: Richarlison’s fight should embarrass the Tottenham board

Achieve safety

Two wins may be enough or even a tally of eight points, but if that sounds simple, it is not for a team hopelessly out of form.

Tottenham have won only two of their last 22 league fixtures and taken a grand total of one point from their last seven games. If they are to stay up and avoid a seismic relegation, that tally must improve significantly.

With big-money forwards in Richarlison and Solanke along with talented young players like Gray, Xavi and Lucas Bergvall plus Europa League-winning centre-backs Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, Spurs should have the required quality to avoid the bottom three, but they need to remember how to win in the Premier League and fast.

Additional reporting by Press Association

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