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Tottenham Hotspur center midfielder Lucas Bergvall finally made his return to the pitch after several weeks out with another injury, and Spurs supporters can only hope that the Swedish international stays healthy with Spurs in the thick of a tough relegation fight.

Bergvall is one of the biggest gems in the Premier League, even if the mainstream has neglected how high his potential is. Even though he got injured at the end of the campaign, the young midfielder was crucial to Spurs capturing the Europa League crown last season, and he is such a fiery box to box midfielder that clubs as big as Real Madrid are watching him closely.

With Thomas Frank, who seemed to always play Bergvall in a suboptimal role, out of the way, Bergvall has a massive opportunity on his hands now that he is back from injury. And Tottenham Hotspur supporters hope that their latest Swedish star will follow in the footsteps of another young gem midfielder on the Real Madrid transfer radar.

Lucas Bergvall's time to shine now

Archie Gray has been the bigget winner of the several winners of the Igor Tudor appointment. Even when Tottenham were playing very poorly, Gray was distinguishing himself positively, and he put himself on a more mainstream radar with a dazzling display in the win over Atletico Madrid.

If that is what Gray can do away from the shackles of whatever supposed system Thomas Frank was implementing at the N17, then imagine what his No. 8 counterpart Lucas Bergvall can do in the coming games once he lands into health and form.

Gray has set down the gauntlet to Bergvall of what is capable without Frank at the helm, and so Bergvall can look to what the former Leeds Unitd man is doing as an example to follow. Tottenham fans have both the utmost confidence and the utmost faith in Bergvall, who, in the next few years, should be establishing himself as one of the top midfielders in European football.

That journey can begin now. It should have already begun this season, but, again, Frank had no real clue what to do with him. Nor did he Gray, who is beginning to show his own signs of future superstardom in the iconic Lilywhite kit. Bergvall is such a tremendous athlete with the verve to get forward and add to goals, and there is no way Tudor holds him back in favor of Conor Gallagher.

Young Mathys Tel's stock is finally on the rise. The Tottenham Hotspur left winger has been putting in some strong performances this season despite little reward, and after Thomas Frank continually snubbed him week after week, Spurs supporters were fearing the same as Igor Tudor was not regularly starting him either.

But now that Tudor seems to have settled in as the new Spurs manager, he is starting to trust Tel fully as a starter. After shining in the 1-1 draw with Liverpool with a bevy of key passes and dribbles completed as an electrifying outlet on that previously dead left hand side, Tel finally grabbed his assist with a perfect cross to Randal Kolo Muani to open the scoring in a 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid.

Tel was great all night long yet again, putting defenders on skates and creating chances for his team. But Tel should have had a second assist, squandering a great chance to square the ball for his teammates by shooting instead.

Mathy Tel can't pass up golden assist opportunities

While Tel deserves praise for being a brave young forward and always having the willingness to try something to get a goal, including shoot and even shoot from range, he will have to remember to reign it in when there are better options.

In that game, Tel took the wrong option, but it ultimately was not costly. With the margins as tight as they are in a heated Premier League relegation battle like this year's, the next selfish mistake from Mathys Tel may not be forgiven so easily by the opposition.

Tottenham Hotspur need to keep trusting in Tel, because he has the potential to be a top left winger for them in the aftermath of Son Heung-min's departure to MLS. But what Tel needs to do is remember what made Son so great on the left wing and what makes a great winger is that virtue of playing for the team and not letting even a well intentioned zeal for goals get in the way of what will ultimately help the team.

Now that Tel is starting regularly, it is time for him to tackle the next developmental milestone in his career. He needs to be more present and aware. The tools and the potential to have the understanding of a true, top class winger are there, but Tel has to put it into practice and do so consistently. That starts with not botching these obvious assist opportunities.

Thomas Frank made a myriad of unforgivable errors when he was Tottenham Hotspur manager, and part of the reason why Igor Tudor looked so terrible at the beginning of his tenure as interim manager was the fact that he inherited such a mess and a squad ingrained with bad habits from Frank.

The former Brentford coach regularly held back the team's brightest young stars, would not start the best players on the team, and set the team up in such a way that they were so negative and almost incapable of creating chances.

But for all of his actual tactical flaws, the worst thing Frank ever did as Tottenham manager was divide the locker room against the players. Instead of contructively criticizing the players, pushing for better, and using the fans to rally behind the players, he would openly criticize fans for booing and coddle the egos of some of Spurs underperforming players instead of lighting a fire under these young men to perform to the Tottenham Hotspur standard.

Igor Tudor actually respects Tottenham fans

Well already, Igor Tudor is undoing Thomas Frank's disunity. Ahead of the most crucial game of the season thus far against Nottingham Forest, Tudor decided to praise the fans and act as a unifying voice for this organization - something Frank never even attempted to do.

Here is what Tudor told reporters, as captured by Spurs Army, "Beautiful sense of the togetherness with the fans. I enjoyed the sensation of us doing well on the pitch and sharing it with the fans. We need to continue all together."

Now that is what a manager needs to say out loud in public for his fans and the players to hear. Instead of pitting people against each other, Tudor knows that the players need the fans and that everyone involved with Tottenham needs to be in it together in order for Spurs to survive this - arguably the worst crisis in their storied history.'

Maybe it's because Tudor just came from coaching Marseille and Juventus while Frank never had a big job, but Tudor clearly knows that the boos from Tottenham fans in the past were all about trying to get this team to play better; it was never personal at the players. And he knows that Tottenham fans are so good about being behind their players, using his platform as a manager at the press conference to rally the troops, with the fans being very much a part of the fight along with the players.

Johan Lange told Tottenham Hotspur fans that the reason for transfer inactivity in the winter when Spurs obviously needed reinforcements was to avoid panic buys, but, well, not only are Spurs panicking now that they are in a relegation fight, but they also DID make a major panic buy in center midfielder Conor Gallagher.

Not only did Spurs sign a player who is clearly not good enough to start for them and has already fallen off the pecking order under Igor Tudor, but they overpaid by 10 million euros in order to sign him ahead of Aston Villa after the injury to Rodrigo Bentancur - a player whose style is not even replaced by Gallagher's. And by the way, Benta is about to come back from injury, in addition to the fact that Lucas Bergvall has already returned as a much better version of what Gallagher allegedly offers.

The 40 million euro transfer fee is a problem, but the wages to Gallagher, breaking the club's wage structure for a backup level player, is the much bigger problem. And after Daniel Levy so delicately, to the point of holding back the team in the transfer market from competing with the other Big Six clubs, set a strict wage structure, Vinai Venkatesham and Johan Lange have corrupted it in the worst possible way.

Conor Gallagher's wages will have huge consequences

A recent article from The Athletic's Daniel Taylor, Oliver Kay, Gregg Evans, and Steve Madeley absolutely went IN on Tottenham Hotspur and is well, well worth the read for a deconstruction of the unbridled competence within. But the most concerning nugget in the piece may have been regarding the consequences of the Conor Gallagher contrat.

The Athletic reveals a quote from an agent who stated that if Gallagher is now the biggest earner at Tottenham, all the other stars who are better than Gallagher and want new contracts, like Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero, are going to be looking at that and feeling a bit disrespected that he is now the one making all that money.

They, in turn, are going to want more, and it is going to be even more difficult, if not impossible, for Tottenham to keep ahold of those players. Now, the wage structure needed to be broken in order for Spurs to compete, yes, but to break it by giving Conor freaking Gallagher 200,000 pounds per week is malpractice of the highest order. And the true ripple effects of this bizarre decision will be felt very soon once the storm is unleashed this summer.

Tottenham Hotspur only have an interim manager in place, and although Igor Tudor has given Spurs real signs of improvement, the bar was also beneath the earth with how poorly Thomas Frank was doing as Spurs manager. So Tottenham are almost certainly going to be in the market for a new coach, and although fans may have dreams of Mauricio Pochettino, the club cannot restrict themselves to pining for one option, especially someone who has a high profile national team job in a World Cup year.

When Tottenham ultimately hired Frank, they were also linked to a few mid table standouts in the Premier League. The most impressive of them both in the past and currently this season is Andoni Iraola, whose Bournemouth side blasted Tottenham early in the season - when Spurs were actually looking like a good team - and is currently in European contention even after selling superstar Antoine Semenyo to Manchester City.

Iraola may not be the biggest name on the Tottenham Hotspur manager wish list, as fans will be pining for not only Poch but also Xabi Alonso or even his old rival Xavi. But Iraola has overachieved for Bournemouth and was arguably even more impressive before that as the manager of Rayo Vallecano in La Liga.

Athletic Club want Andoni Iraola

But La Liga could be calling Iraola's name again with an even more desirable spot, especially for him personally. According to a new report from talkSPORT's Ben Jacobs and Alex Crook, Andoni Iraola is one of the "leading candidates" to take over for Spanish managerial icon Ernesto Valverde, who recently stepped down from Athletic Club - the place where Iraola became a star in Spanish football as one of the best right backs in all of Europe during the 2000s and early 2010s.

Per Jacobs and Crook, Iraola will soon tell Bournemouth whether or not he is going to sign a new deal to stay at the club or if he is going to pursue other job openings from clubs like Athletic and Tottenham. The Cherries manager is out of contract at the end of the 2025/26 season, but Bournemouth reportedly like their chances of keeping him after signing top young players, replacing Semenyo with another exciting forward in Rayan.

If given the choice between Athletic Club and Tottenham, it is hard to see Iraola picking against the Basque club. They have so much history with their homegrown players, and Iraola was such an icon for them in defense. Athletic Club have been disappointing this season, too, but they are an easier situation to walk into than Spurs.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Igor Tudor gave a barrage of great injury updates to the fans ahead of Sunday's must win relegation six pointer against Nottingham Forest. James Maddison's return is in view later this season and Mohammed Kudus will be back after the March international break, meaning Spurs will get the boost of two of their very best players before the 2025/26 season and relegation fight end.

But the third big star who has been out for an extended period for Tottenham - and, indeed, like Maddison, he's been out all season long with a knee injury from last season - still does not have any concrete injury updates.

Tudor said nothing about Kulusevski, and he has really said nothing about Kulusevski since taking over a manager. That is notable, because unlike predecessor Thomas Frank, Tudor has been quite open about giving fans updates on injured stars.

Dejan Kulusevski still has no injury updates

Kulusevski suffered a devastating knee injury, and the word devastating comes to mind here, because it appears to be far worse than expected. Kulu was thought to only be mising a few months, and, initially, his injury did not seem like this much of a cause for concern. And even during this season, Spurs supporters had reason to believe that he would eventually be back by now.

Yet all these months later, there is no real time table of a return for Kulusevski, and there is not even a whisper that the Swedish star will be anywhere near a return. Tottenham Hotspur fans are completely in the dark regarding one of their best players, and, at this point, it is only natural to be hugely concerned about his status.

After all, James Maddison is going to return to the fold, and he had an ACL tear. So if Maddison is going to be back significantly before Kulusevski and he had an ACL tear, then what on earth does that say about the severity of Kulusevski's injury? Is there something career threatening or career altering that Spurs are trying to keep under wraps in the hopes that they can avoid it?

Tottenham fans cannot help but wonder if there is more to the story the longer the club keeps them in the dark. If Tudor is proffering injury updates on everyone else besides Kulusevski, then all Tottenham fans can do is sit in the dark and think the worst. And with all the injuries on the wings this season and Spurs facing down relegation, Kulu has been sorely missed.

This may just be Tottenham Hotspur's biggest league game in a generation, albeit not in a way anyone hoped or envisaged. Well, at least the mood around Spurs right now is exponentially better than it was merely a week ago, even if their precarious position has not exactly improved.

Last Sunday, Richarlison's last minute equaliser at Anfield saw Igor Tudor collect his first Premier League point, pinching a share of the spoils against Liverpool. Then, on Wednesday, the Lilywhites beat Atlético Madrid 3-2 in the Champions League which, despite the fact they exited the competition 7-5 on aggregate, helped increase belief and confidence.

Nevertheless, back in the Premier League, Spurs remain 16th, just one point above both West Ham and their next opponents Nottingham Forest. The Tricky Trees will travel to North London on a high, after reaching the Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday, ousting Midtjylland via a penalty shootout in Herning. They too are embroiled in this relegation battle of course, making Sunday's clash unimaginably crucial, so here are three players Tudor must start as he seeks a priceless win.

Destiny Udogie

As Tottenham's injury crisis starts to be alleviated somewhat, the return of Destiny Udogie could be very welcome news. Djed Spence has been primarily filling in at left-back for elongated periods of this season, but, as good a defender as he is, the fact that Spence is right-footed really limits Spurs going forward, especially when another right-footer is ahead of him, which is almost always.

Udgoie, for his part, was introduced shortly after the hour mark against Atlético Madrid. This took his tally to just 1,124 minutes across all competitions this season, missing each of the last five Premier League fixtures since suffering a hamstring injury at Old Trafford. At his best, every Tottenham supporter knows how good Udogie can be, so they'll be desperate for him to enjoy a run in the side.

Xavi Simons

Further forward, with Vítor Pereira's team expected to defend in a low block, the onus will be on Spurs to create opportunities, hence why a statement performance from Xavi Simons is required. After missing out on Morgan Gibbs-White, who will be lining up for the opposition in this game, and then Eberechi Eze, most Spurs fans were pleased when the Duthcman arrived from RB Leipzig for £52m.

However, he is yet to live up to expectations, his one and only Premier League goal coming against Brentford in December. This has resulted in him being on the bench for the last two league games against Crystal Palace and Liverpool, but that surely won't be the case this time round.

That's because, on Wednesday, Simons arguably had his best performance in a Tottenham shirt. He scored twice during the spirited victory over Atlético Madrid, the first a thunderous strike from the edge of the area, before converting a spot-kick past Juan Musso in injury time. Overall, he racked up five key passes, created one big chance, had four successful dribbles, mustered four shots and touched the ball 77 times, the most of any player on the pitch. If Simons can carry this form into the Premier League, there is no way Spurs are ending up in the bottom three.

Dominic Solanke

Given that aforementioned well-documented injury crisis, Tudor has had very limited options in pretty much every position, with centre-forward the sole exceptions. Richarlison scored on Merseyside last Sunday before both Randal Kolo Muani and Mathys Tel started in the Champions League, but supporters surely want to see Dominic Solanke spearheading the attack come Sunday. He was absent in mid-week due to a hip problem, but is forecast to return.

Before this, the Englishman did not feature between 23 August and 10 January due to ankle surgery, but still has six goals to his name this season, the best scoring frequency of anyone at the club.

Solanke scored both when Spurs produced that miraculous second half comeback against Manchester City in February, before also opening the scoring against Crystal Palace on a rather less enjoyable night for those in N17. In his Premier League career, the 28 year old has scored four in five against Nottingham Forest, including a hat-trick at the City Ground in December 2023, so Spurs fans will be hoping he can replicate that.

Tottenham Hotspur are going to be in the market for a new manager this summer, and while most fans will be quick to anoint a reunion with Mauricio Pochettino as the right man to succeed Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor, Johan Lange and Vinai Venkatesham will need to conduct a thorough review of many legitimate candidates for a job that is suddenly not particularly desirable.

Spurs have run through a great deal of noteworthy managers over the years, including legends Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho. And this has led many Spurs supporters to feel even more strongly that Pochettino should have never been fired all those years ago.

As Spurs contemplate coaches who could take over for the 2026/27 season, a new name has just sprung to mind. Ernesto Valverde, via Fabrizio Romano, will be officially leaving Athletic Club as their manager at the end of the 2025/26 season, ending a fruitful reign in charge of one of the most historic clubs in European football.

Ernesto Valverde will be available in 2026

In truth, a change is needed for both Valverde and Athletic, as they have been very disappointing this season. That is not on Valverde, per se, as quite a few big names on the team, including Nico Williams, have severely underperformed. And perhaps they need more fresh ideas.

Valverde is a well known name in Spanish football. He used to coach Barcelona, and while his track record there was not necessarily the best, he was a passable manager who was scapegoated a bit too hard by some fanatical Lionel Messi fans. In total, Valverde won La Liga twice with Barca and the Copa del Rey once. He also recently won the Copa del Rey with Athletic Club in his second stint at the club, as well as winning the honor a decade before in his first stint with the club.

It says a lot about Valverde's character that he has not only led Athletic Club to great success in two different stints, but that he is also willing to step away peacefully when he realizes that things are no longer working.

While it is tough to envision Valverde stepping away from La Liga and joining the boiling English cauldron that is Tottenham Hotspur, a coach with his accomplishments, character, and acumen has to be considered on the short list of options for Spurs now that he is available. He is certainly more accomplished than Ange Postecoglou, Nuno Espirito Santo, Thomas Frank, and Igor Tudor.

After enduring the most excrutiating 17 minutes of his young professional career, Antonín Kinsky was written off.

Despite being just 23 and signing a deal last January that lasts until 2031, his performance at the Metropolitano was regarded as so disastrous that his Tottenham Hotspur career would never recover.

And, let's be frank, it was awful.

The goalkeeper fell foul of a curiously slippery surface, allowing Marcos Llorente to open the scoring. Spurs' captain on the night, Micky van de Ven, subsequently lost balance and let Antoine Griezmann through. 2-0. Kinsky's final and lowest ebb arrived almost immediately after, with his earlier mishap undoubtedly in mind as he fluffed his lines with a rather ambitious sweeping pass out to the right, which let Julian Álvarez tap into an empty net.

Just like that, Tottenham's Champions League campaign was over. Igor Tudor's gamble had backfired horribly, with the Croat opting to "preserve" his haunted shot-stopper by removing him from proceedings. Distraught, Kinsky ventured down the tunnel, consoled by his teammates. The interim manager's lack of public empathy drew criticism, with that sequence supposedly depicting the "cold" nature of a coach that's already lost a broken and vulnerable squad.

But those narratives have dissipated somewhat on the back of two positive results, including an actual win, and the footballing Gods have offered Kinsky a shot at swift redemption in north London.

Vicario injury sets the stage for Kinsky redemption

Tudor supplied a glut of positive injury news ahead of Sunday's relegation six-pointer with Nottingham Forest. We can expect to have Mohammed Kudus and Rodrigo Bentancur back next month, and there's even a chance James Maddison appears before the season draws to a close.

However, Spurs also confirmed on Friday that the man Kinsky replaced in Madrid, Guglielmo Vicario, will undergo surgery next week on a hernia. The Italian should be back within a month, and he'll also be available this weekend.

Thus, Kinsky's potential revival won't begin until after the international break, but he'll likely be between the posts for three critical Premier League outings, including trips to Sunderland and Wolves.

Since that night in Madrid, the goalkeepers' union has come to Kinsky's aid, with mainstream discourse focusing on Tudor's treatment of the young Czech as opposed to the player's error-strewn outing. A suddenly hopeful fanbase, apart from a select few folk online, have rallied around Kinsky, too.

Those two mishaps have undoubtedly done much damage to the 23-year-old's stock, but we shouldn't forget that so many of us were crying out for Kinsky to start prising minutes away from the increasingly chaotic Vicario, who's been the Premier League's worst-performing shot-stopper this season in terms of goals prevented, per Opta.

Some are lamenting more misfortune after the Italian's setback, despite his dire campaign, but this should be seen as an almost romantic opportunity for Kinsky to seize. It's a classic Hollywood comeback story, right? After sinking to the lowest of the low in the Spanish capital, Kinsky could yet be remembered as the goalkeeper who helped Tottenham retain their Premier League status.

It's a huge test of his character, no doubt, and we'll see whether Tudor's decision to protect the player pays dividends.

With the mistakes piling up and the save percentage dwindling down to the worst record among current Premier League starters, Tottenham Hotspur supporters were not at all sad to read reports that starting goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario is on the verge of a big move back to Serie A to start for expected champions Inter Milan as the Yann Sommer replacement.

The jubilation Tottenham fans thought they would feel about hearing of a Vicario exit has not exactly settled in. Beyond the mixed feelings about losing a key player and hearing about all these transfer rumors during a literal relegation fight, Spurs fans now see an alternative explanation behind how poorly Vic has been playing this season.

As Spurs themselves confirmed ahead of the game against Nottingham Forest, Guglielmo Vicario will have to undergo hernia surgery repair soon. He will be able to start against Forest and has been playing through the pain for a while now, but it will be too much for him. Vic has held out long enough and will need the surgery after the match, though there is hope he can return later this season. Antonin Kinsky will be the starter in the mean time.

Guglielmo Vicario was playing through a hernia

Now it all make sense why Vicario was playing so poorly. He must have been gritting his teeth through unbearable pain, and it is unimaginable to picture a starting Premier League goalkeeper gutting it out for potentially months with a hernia requiring surgery.

There has been a lot of criticism about Vicario's character for yelling at teammates after his own mistakes, but after hearing about his grit in playing through this hernia, it is hard not to have the fullest respect for the goalkeeper. All the questions about his dedication to Spurs have been answered, as you could not possibly be more dedicated than this.

If Spurs only sell Vicario to one of the best teams in European football for what they paid for him, which was a bargain 17 million pounds from Italian relegation level side Empoli, then that may not be such a great deal. Because if Vicario has only been this poor in large part due to the hernia, then he should be a lot better than this and worth more than what Spurs are rumored to get this summer out of Inter.

Now, Spur should be aiming for a better, younger goalkeeper like James Trafford if they can get him, but it is hard not to feel for Vicario after hearing this news and to have some second thoughts about a sale - or, at the very least, being so happy about one.