The New York Times

Welcome to week two of the Premier League performance table — the sort of ranking system that the Crystal Palace head coach Pierre Sage refuses to take any comfort from.

In case you missed week one, this isn’t the official Premier League table, where results are the be-all and end-all.

In our performance table, there’s a clean slate at the start of each gameweek, which means you can go from top to bottom (and vice versa) in the space of seven days, with the 1-20 rankings based purely on how well each team played in their last match.

How do we decide that? By watching every Premier League game in full across the last four days, dissecting where it went right and wrong, and arguing with a teenage son at the end of it all about the reason for Brentford being above Chelsea.

If there was angst last week about Fulham deserving to be higher after an entertaining 3-2 defeat against Chelsea, there’s no such concern on the back of their miserable display at Sunderland.

Other teams in this gameweek were far trickier to judge, in particular Brighton, who were part of a wild seven-goal thriller at Stamford Bridge.

If nothing else, the summaries below provide you with a weekly snapshot of each team’s performance in the 2026-27 Premier League. And, naturally, you’ll be in full agreement with each and every word, given that it’s a totally subjective process.

Crystal Palace 1-4 Manchester City

T​wo ​trademark goals for Erling Haaland, two for Rayan Cherki, and two assists for Phil Foden. This was City playing with confidence, control and, in the case of Cherki, swagger.

If Cherki was poor before the interval (the Frenchman chose a different word, which requires asterisks, to describe his first-half performance), he was sensational after the break, especially with his Ricky Villa-esque solo goal.

Elsewhere, Elliot Anderson did what Elliot Anderson does — passed smartly and walked away with the out-of-possession man-of-the-match award — Nico O’Reilly played with a mix of brains and brawn (hope Anan Khalaili is OK after bouncing off the City midfielder in the first half; likewise Daichi Kamada after the nutmeg), Marc Guehi reverted to type (a class centre-back) after his brief stint as a No 6, and it was good to see Foden smiling again — even if his manager Enzo Maresca confirmed what we said last week: he’s not a right-winger.

Manchester United 5-2 Ipswich Town

For the first 40 minutes or so, Ipswich made United look distinctly ordinary. But then Michael Carrick’s side cut loose after the break, laying siege to their opponents’ goal and turning this game into a sponsored shotathon. United ended up registering 33 shots — their most in a Premier League game for a decade.

There was an impressive flow to United’s play in the final half an hour in particular (that Harry Maguire handball decision just before, by the way, is highly questionable). Bruno Fernandes understandably got the headlines for his hat-trick (what an assist for Bryan Mbeumo, too) but Kobbie Mainoo more than played his part.

The fact that Ipswich were so open in the second half (in stark contrast to Hull last week) made it easier for Matheus Cunha to link play, and Marcus Rashford’s performance also offered encouragement, including the sight of him dispossessing Abdul Fatawu late on. Luke Shaw would have appreciated that as much as anyone – Fatawu gave him a tough time.

Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Newcastle United

After being a lot of fun to watch in that chaotic 2-2 draw against Liverpool in the opening gameweek, Newcastle got serious against Spurs.

This was a thoroughly professional away display as Anthony Elanga and Yoane Wissa took another step on Tyneside’s road to redemption. Written off as flops last season, Elanga and Wissa are shining under the management of Matthias Jaissle, scoring a goal apiece against Spurs on an evening when Newcastle’s tactical approach was spot on.

The opening goal was a brilliantly executed passage of play: Nico Gonzalez’s raking diagonal exploiting space behind Andy Robertson for Amar Dedic to nod across to Elanga, who had intelligently drifted inside. Elanga’s finish was beautiful.

Signed from Benfica just under a fortnight ago, Dedic also played a part in Elanga’s opener against Liverpool and is already looking like a smart piece of business. A word also for Lewis Hall, the full-back playing on the other side to Dedic — a defensive masterclass.

Leeds United 1-1 Brentford

“Brentford with this excellent performance deserves a lot.”

That was Daniel Farke, the Leeds manager, speaking after a game that Brentford totally dominated for the opening 45 minutes.

We’re going to try not to talk about Mamadou Sangare every week — but we can’t make any promises. There were less than 30 seconds on the clock when Sangare made a superb sliding challenge to win the ball from Anton Stach, and in the blink of an eye Kevin Schade was close to giving Brentford the lead.

Forty minutes later, Schade did score — and it was a goal of the highest quality too, flicked exquisitely with his right boot after a spell of sustained pressure (40 minutes of sustained pressure, pretty much).

Leeds, to their credit, found a way back into the game but Brentford will play a lot worse this season and win.

“I really like us at the moment,” their head coach Keith Andrews said.

So do we, Keith, and that’s why your performance in this draw ranks so highly.

Chelsea 4-3 Brighton

Where to start?

Chelsea, playing at home, had only 26 per cent possession but registered 17 shots, scored four goals and finished with an xG that was twice as high as Brighton, yet their goalkeeper Emi Martinez made four times as many saves as Bart Verbruggen. Make of that lot what you will.

Last week we highlighted how Chelsea’s front three are so good that they’ll regularly compensate for their weaknesses elsewhere. Copy and paste.

That’s not to say that we didn’t learn something new: changing the goalkeeper doesn’t make Chelsea more solid defensively.

Three-nil up after 32 minutes, with Joao Pedro enjoying himself and Pedro Neto running riot on the right, the game was over. Except it wasn’t, because Chelsea, as we saw at Fulham, can’t control matches. Perhaps adapting to a new formation plays a part in that. Maybe Moises Caicedo’s absence in midfield (subbed on against Brighton, then subbed off injured) doesn’t help either. Or is this just how Chelsea play now?

What is clear is that Chelsea’s best form of defence is attack.

Liverpool 2-2 Nottingham Forest

This felt much more Oliver Glasner-like. Forest were difficult to open up in their out-of-possession 5-4-1 shape, but also carried a genuine goal threat, especially in the first half.

It was a measure of how well Forest started that Dan Ndoye’s 24th-minute goal was coming (well, not for Ndoye himself, given he’d gone 377 days without scoring for the club).

Remember we said in gameweek one about Igor Jesus always being denied — it happened again, this time the crossbar preventing him from doubling Forest’s lead. He’s cursed, that man.

In other news, James McAtee’s audition for a regular starting berth as a deep-lying midfielder could hardly be going much better; it’s easy to understand why Steven Gerrard thinks Liverpool should have kept hold of Neco Williams, and we like the look of Jair Cunha, Forest’s 21-year-old Brazilian right centre-back.

All in all, an impressive away display.

Aston Villa 0-1 Arsenal

For 45 minutes nothing happened. In fact, the bloke wearing the hard hat and high-vis jacket on the building site behind the goal must have thought that his decision to offer to work late on Monday wasn’t so smart after all.

Without the ball, Arsenal were Arsenal — rock solid. With the ball, there was no fluidity. Christos Tzolis had a tough time up against Matty Cash and was withdrawn — a wise decision on Mikel Arteta’s part. On a yellow card, Tzolis was ineffective and rattled.

Eberechi Eze, Tzolis’ replacement, had a hand in the goal, feeding a pass into the path of the brilliant Riccardo Calafiori, who is more of an old-fashioned inside left than a left back. Underlapping, Calafiori slid the ball across the face for Bukayo Saka, who was razor sharp with his movement and full of desire.

Saka’s finish wasn’t pretty, but it was hugely effective — and that describes this Arsenal performance. They’re champions for a reason.

Sunderland 1-0 Fulham

Sunderland could be punching here. The worry is that Wilson Isidor’s goal, tucked away after a similar chance had hit the post four minutes earlier, has elevated Regis Le Bris’ team more than it should. That said, it’s hard to get too excited about the performance of anyone below them in the table.

What is clear is that the versatile Nordi Mukiele was superb against Fulham, making up a lot of ground for a crucial block after it looked like Gonzalo Garcia had escaped, and also playing a part in the goal with the measured pass that released Habib Diarra to cross for Isidor.

Otherwise, Sunderland were solid without the ball but unspectacular with it. Granit Xhaka hit some nice switches of play (a lovely pass set Enzo Le Fee free for that earlier Isidor opportunity), but ultimately it was the impact of two substitutes that tipped the balance in a drab game.

Coventry 0-1 Hull City

“We’re gonna win the league.”

That may turn out to be so, but you’re not top of the performance league for a second successive week, Hull supporters.

The last action of the game felt fitting. Remember those ‘Ave it!’ John Smith’s bitter TV commercials years ago, when the comedian Peter Kay booted the ball into the air? Well, that’s what Semi Ajayi did to repel one final Coventry attack, the centre-back’s clearance sailing into the opposition half.

Coaches sometimes put on drills where they station players about 30 yards from goal in various positions and ask them to lump balls into the area for the defenders to clear. Coventry did that for 90 minutes on Saturday, and Ajayi and his team-mates loved it.

Hull had 31.5 per cent possession, which was up 3.2 per cent on the Manchester United game. Their game plan worked perfectly: low block, 5-4-1, try to break us down, get frustrated, and we’ll hit you on the counter.

Two games, two victories, two clean sheets. Good on you, Hull.

Bournemouth 1-1 Everton

The first thing to say is that Alex Scott was the best player on the pitch.

Maybe — just maybe — Bournemouth wouldn’t have conceded a stoppage-time equaliser if the midfielder hadn’t been withdrawn with three minutes remaining, bearing in mind that his replacement, Ryan Christie, was one of two players who challenged for the same ball prior to James Tarkowski equalising. “A slapstick goal,” lamented Marco Rose, Bournemouth’s head coach.

Two weeks running, Bournemouth have surrendered points at the death after being punished on corners, which is a shame because there’s a lot to like about what they’re trying to do in open play. A second goal could, and should, have arrived — but Jordan Pickford and some last-ditch Everton defending intervened… and, well, use that right foot, Rayan!

In fairness, the Brazilian used his left to good effect for Bournemouth’s opener, releasing Evanilson in the right channel after doubling up on Tyrique George and stealing possession. Scott did the rest, and it should have been the matchwinner.

Bournemouth 1-1 Everton

“Disappointed with the performance,” David Moyes, Everton’s manager, said, which is helpful for our summary.

That said, Thierno Barry, who responded to our assertion that he’s not the long-term solution up top for Everton by sticking two fingers up with a midweek hat-trick against Preston, had three good chances at Bournemouth. Unfortunately, Barry couldn’t take any of them, which kind of brings us back to the original argument, even if we still love his smile.

Everton were better in the first half, when Bournemouth’s goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic made an outstanding save to keep out Jarrad Branthwaite’s glancing header.

The visitors were actually enjoying their best spell when they conceded — Tarkowski’s lack of pace was exposed as Bournemouth profited on a counter-attack.

A positive for Everton is that Harrison Armstrong played with great maturity once again and, in terms of the transfer window, is going nowhere. Who says fans don’t have a voice these days, eh?

Liverpool 2-2 Nottingham Forest

Thirty crosses sounds great. Five completed isn’t so clever. Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez registered 0/6 successful crosses. In the space of 37 seconds in the second half, Frimpong inexplicably hit the first man (cue load groans inside Anfield) and Kerkez passed the ball straight out of play. Upgrades needed, folks.

You can’t pin it all on the starting full-backs, though — Cody Gakpo’s excellent centre for Alexander Isak was the only one of the five that he delivered that found a team-mate; two went out for a throw-in on the far side.

More generally, Liverpool’s creativity and attacking quality simply wasn’t good enough. Sure, there was an improvement in the second half (there had to be) when Florian Wirtz was involved in both goals, including an assist for the industrious Victor Munoz. But Liverpool never played with enough intent or conviction, and they’ve still got major problems without the ball.

Leeds 1-1 Brentford

Let’s cut to the chase: Leeds got away with one here. They were comprehensively outplayed in the first half and grateful to get to half-time only one goal behind.

So you’re saying Leeds were awful? No. Brentford were excellent, controlling midfield and pinning Leeds back in a way that few teams manage to do at Elland Road. It was, essentially, one-way traffic for 45 minutes.

“We forced them into changing the system,” Keith Andrews, Brentford’s head coach, said.

And not just once, either. Daniel Farke, the Leeds manager, deserves credit in that respect, with his tactical changes — the back three was discarded and later restored — eventually paying off as the substitute Lukas Nmecha came off the bench to set up Dominic Calvert-Lewin for the equaliser.

A point gained in the circumstances – and a reminder that Leeds are tough to beat even on an off day.

Chelsea 4-3 Brighton

Three-nil down early on, Fabian Hurzeler’s injury-ravaged team were getting a taste of their own medicine after dismantling Aston Villa last week. The big difference, though, is that Brighton, totally unlike Villa, responded.

On his first Premier League start, Malick Yalcouye did as much as anyone to inspire the turnaround, scoring an excellent volley and playing a lovely pass in the lead-up to Brighton’s second. Aged 20, Yalcouye could turn out to be Carlos Baleba’s replacement. Just like Baleba was Caicedo’s replacement. Tell us how you do it, Brighton.

Brighton were very good for an hour at Chelsea, but you can’t ignore the calamitous first 30 minutes and the fact that the word ‘performance’ takes in a dying art called defending. Ferdi Kadioglu, last season’s player of the year at Brighton, will have nightmares about Pedro Neto, and Mats Wieffer, the other full-back, wasn’t much better.

Still, full marks for the attempted fightback.

Aston Villa 0-1 Arsenal

A big improvement on last week’s humiliation at Brighton.

Admittedly, that’s not saying much, and we also can’t overlook the fact that for a second successive game Villa failed to register a shot on target. But there were still positives to take for a team that is going through considerable change and missing key personnel.

Nobody could question Villa’s effort on a night when the home crowd got right behind the team and Unai Emery’s players responded by competing for every ball as if their life depended on it.

Up front, Nicolas Jackson was a willing runner, Alysson came off the bench and delivered a lively cameo, and the new Villa goalkeeper Zion Suzuki showed that his distribution could be a real asset.

Ultimately, though, Villa never really looked like hurting Arsenal.

Manchester United 5-2 Ipswich Town

What happened? It was all going so well and then Marcelino Nunez slipped over, Bruno Fernandes scampered clear to equalise, the heavens opened and Ipswich were swept away in a deluge of second-half goals.

Poor old Jacob Greaves endured a torrid afternoon. The centre-back scored an own goal and also gave away a penalty as Ipswich, after a bright start, totally lost their way.

If there was an element of misfortune about the first two goals Ipswich conceded, there was no disputing the gulf in class thereafter. Ipswich didn’t help themselves during that final half hour, when they were far too open — Gary O’Neil, their manager, talked about the importance of showing “emotional discipline” after falling behind — and United took full advantage.

Still, let’s end on a high: Julio Enciso.

Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Newcastle United

“You can’t buy mentality in the transfer market,” the Tottenham head coach Roberto De Zerbi said afterwards.

You also can’t play Mathys Tel on one wing and Pedro Porro on the other and hope to win football matches.

Spurs were nice: nice to watch playing out, but also nice to play against. Their fragile confidence was exposed in the way they reacted to Elanga opening the scoring after Newcastle capitalised on a mixture of poor defending (the underwhelming Sandro Tonali was part of that) and a lack of pressure on the ball. It was certainly no surprise to see Wissa add a second 10 minutes later.

If we’re looking for some silver linings, Jan Paul van Hecke’s passes in build-up play would be one and Andy Robertson got into some promising attacking positions in the first half. But Tottenham fans — and the rest of us for that matter — are entitled to expect a lot more after this summer’s outlay.

They need to improve, fast.

Crystal Palace 1-4 Manchester City

“It’s not a ranking of style, it’s a ranking of efficiency,” Pierre Sage said after the Manchester City defeat, with the Palace head coach sounding like a man who hasn’t bought into our performance table.

Sage was responding to a television reporter’s dubious suggestion that Palace played better against City than they did at Goodison Park (this column isn’t sure about that).

Palace positives against City? Adam Wharton’s first-half display. Wharton was so good that you felt sorry for him because of the inadequacies of those around him, a bit like when a smart kid is put in the wrong set at school. Jorgen Strand Larsen, Eddie Nketiah and Yeremy Pino… how could you keep undoing all his good work?

That trio all came off. But Palace, passive in defence and toothless up front, got worse. “You cannot replace the fatigue with less energy,” Sage said, rather damningly.

Coventry City 0-1 Hull City

Back to the classroom.

“There are some serious lessons to learn,” Frank Lampard, the Coventry head coach, said after a deeply worrying performance.

Coventry’s slow, prosaic style of football played into the hands of Hull’s 5-4-1 low block and a team that loves old-school defending.

The clues were there for Coventry the week before. Manchester United delivered 39 crosses against Hull and failed to score. Coventry tried more of the same — 34 crosses in their case. In the space of 45 first-half seconds that we’ll never get back, Loum Tchaouna, Ephron Mason-Clark, Jay Dasilva and Bobby Thomas all delivered aimless balls into the Hull penalty area that were headed clear.

Try something different, lads — but not a centre-back shooting from 35 yards, Aurele Amenda.

To cap it all, Coventry got away with giving Liam Millar one golden chance to break away and score but then handed him another. Asking Matt Grimes to hold the fort in that scenario really isn’t it.

Sunderland 1-0 Fulham

Right now, Fulham are as low as Calvin Bassey’s shorts — sagging, the kids call it, apparently.

Not that this is a time for jokes, especially bad ones.

“It was a terrible game from my team,” Alvaro Arbeloa, Fulham’s head coach, said. “We didn’t fight. We didn’t run. Poor technical level. We didn’t win any duels. No second balls.”

On top of that, Fulham also didn’t have a shot on target and conceded a dreadful goal, when Joachim Andersen’s lack of pace (we said last week that a right-footed centre-back is needed), together with the goalkeeper Bernd Leno’s bizarre decision to come out feet first, enabled Wilson Isidor to score.

One passage of play summed Fulham up. Two minutes before the break, Josh King screamed for a forward pass from Sander Berge. Back to goal with his arms outstretched, King was totally free. Berge looked. Looked again. And looked a third time. Then passed square to Oscar Bobb, who meekly surrendered possession.

Tottenham Hotspur have agreed a deal to sign Tosin Adarabioyo on a permanent basis from Chelsea.

Personal terms have been agreed with the defender and he has been granted permission to undergo a medical.

The centre-back would be Tottenham’s ninth signing of the summer, with Spurs also making an enquiry for Tosin’s Chelsea team-mate Mykhailo Mudryk. A loan deal has been agreed for the Ukrainian but terms still need to be finalised with the forward.

A deal would represent the first time since 2009 that a first team player has moved directly in a transfer between the two clubs.

Tottenham’s move for Tosin comes after centre-back Kevin Danso expressed a desire to find a move away according to head coach Roberto De Zerbi, with Richarlison and Pape Matar Sarr also asking to leave.

The Athletic reported earlier this month that Tosin, 28, was lined up to be sold to a club in England or abroad. The former Fulham defender has not been included in any of Xabi Alonso’s first three matchday squads.

As of the beginning of August, Chelsea had 10 centre backs on their books, following the £30million departure of Trevoh Chalobah to Como. Benoit Badiashile has since departed to Napoli on loan with an option to buy, while Mamadou Sarr and Axel Disasi have joined Real Sociedad and Crystal Palace on loan respectively.

Tosin started eight Premier League matches for Chelsea last season, with four of those coming in the opening month of the campaign. He initially lost his place in the starting line-up as a result of a calf injury, and struggled to nail down a regular spot thereafter.

The defender had played more regularly in the previous campaign, and featured in 10 of Chelsea’s 13 Conference League matches en route to lifting the trophy.

Tosin signed a four-year deal at Stamford Bridge upon joining the club on a free transfer from Fulham in June 2024. Newcastle had been tracking him and were hopeful of completing a move before he joined Chelsea, while West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur had bids rejected for the defender in the summer of 2023.

He came through Manchester City’s academy and made eight first-team appearances, three of which in the Champions League.

Newcastle’s 2-0 win away to Tottenham Hotspur confirmed more than just Matthias Jaissle’s first victory as head coach.

Three weeks after replacing Eddie Howe, this performance and result showed that Jaissle’s side have a clearer and better tactical identity than Spurs under Roberto De Zerbi — who is nearly five months into his tenure.

Newcastle were not box office, but they were organised and effective. Inside a minute they showed their game plan, when No 6 Nico Gonzalez hit a diagonal ball from deep to advancing right-back Amar Dedic. The narrow positioning of winger Anthony Elanga, who occupied Spurs left-back Andy Robertson, created an overload.

Dedic nodded the ball down to Elanga. His hooked pass to the back post led to nothing, but it should have been a warning shot.

The synchronicity of those rotations — the No 6 dropping between the centre-backs and the winger moving inside for the full-back to overlap — was something Spurs could not match.

Pedro Porro, club captain and nominal right-back, struggled at right wing. He completed one cross and had one notable shooting opportunity, when Newcastle defenders crowded him out in the box. On the other flank, Mathys Tel did little to combine with Robertson, who kept offering runs ahead of the ball.

The decisive goal on 62 minutes came from the very pattern that Newcastle worked throughout the first half. Nico, only signed from Manchester City last week, found Dedic, who headed another knockdown to Elanga.

“He used to play in that system with that approach,” Jaissle said of Dedic, whom he coached at Red Bull Salzburg in Austria. “That forward-defending behaviour, (being) brave in possession. We allow him to be offensive.”

Fittingly, Elanga escaped Sandro Tonali as he swivelled and fired in the opener off the post. Tonali, signed by Spurs from Newcastle for £100m in July, encapsulates their issues: a plethora of top-level players who cost big money, but cohesion and identity cannot be bought.

Elanga, having not scored for Newcastle in the Premier League last season following his big move from Nottingham Forest, has two goals in as many matches this term. Give him direct balls, big spaces to run into and a supporting full-back, and nobody matches his speed.

“It’s important that we are versatile, otherwise it would be too easy for our opponents to read what we are doing,” the Newcastle head coach said. Whereas De Zerbi is tactically strict and steadfast in his belief in pattern-based passing, Jaissle is fitting his system to the players.

The performance of the game came from Lewis Hall, a left-back with outstanding technical quality but obvious defensive weak spots, who struggled towards the end of 2025-26 when Newcastle leaked goals. The 4-5-1 mid-block that former coach Howe persisted with often left Hall exposed.

Here, he defended flawlessly against Porro’s forward runs and headed away deep crosses, making 14 defensive contributions. In the dying stages, Hall made a goalline clearance to keep out Dominic Solanke’s backheel from a low cross, ensuring Newcastle kept a first clean sheet since March.

Collectively, Jaissle’s side nailed their out-of-possession plan. He told reporters: “If you are playing against Tottenham, especially with De Zerbi as the coach, you need to be clear. If you go in the high press, you need to be fully committed; you shouldn’t hesitate.

“You need to be aggressive on the man and if you win these duels you can challenge them on their goal. If you lose them or if you’re a little bit in doubt, then you need to (drop deep and) defend your own box. This was the message.”

Newcastle’s 4-4-2 matched up to the 4-box-2 shape that De Zerbi likes, where the No 9 and No 10 drop deeper to attract opposition centre-backs, while the wingers stay high and look for diagonal runs to exploit the space. Goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky only tried to release Porro once in the first half, and Hall read these passes when they increased in frequency after the break.

Jaissle’s point about commitment in the press was shown by academy graduate Lewis Miley aggressively marking Rodrigo Bentancur. This helped to stifle Spurs’ build-up, and it’s why Tonali kept rotating out to the left to receive passes.

Compare Miley’s attentiveness to one sequence midway through the first half, when Matheus Fernandes pushed up so that Spurs could press with a narrow front three. Lukas Hornicek, the Newcastle goalkeeper, spotted Fernandes checking his shoulder, and broke the line with a pass into Miley.

Spurs’ problems are mounting: injuries, new signings to embed, a churned squad and, most worryingly, a lack of resolve. They last won a Premier League game from 1-0 down in November 2024. Since then they have lost 28 matches and drawn eight times after conceding first. Newcastle put the game to bed with two goals in 10 minutes, as Spurs conceded from an in-swinging corner for a second straight game.

De Zerbi’s three wins last season were all by a marginal goal, featuring precious few of those incisive passing moves that brought him success at Brighton & Hove Albion. His seven games at the end of 2025-26 should be viewed as being part of a relegation battle.

But he’s had a pre-season now and, tactically, the early signs are worrying.

Brentford dominated Spurs physically on the opening weekend and pressed them into all sorts of problems. His squad selections have also been curious: academy graduate Mikey Moore and right-back Porro as his right-wing starters; Fernandes and Conor Gallagher at No 10, despite being very different profiles; Richarlison (who may yet leave) and Omar Marmoush both struggling in the back-to-goal role that is needed for these tactics to work.

“Winners celebrate, losers explain, and I’m explaining,” the head coach said post-match. It’s the 21st Premier League home defeat for Spurs since August 2024, the joint-most along with Wolverhampton Wanderers, who were relegated last term.

Newcastle are rebuilding after the departures of Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon, Bruno Guimaraes and Tonali over the past 12 months, before Howe went too. Spurs, treading water by comparison, are doing little to disprove the idea that consecutive 17th-place finishes were anomalies.

Tottenham Hotspur have reached an agreement in principle to sign Iliman Ndiaye from Everton, with Richarlison heading back to the Merseyside club.

Sources at both clubs, speaking anonymously as they were not authorised to do so publicly, say the moves for Ndiaye and Richarlison are separate and not linked. The deals are subject to personal terms and medicals.

The Athletic reported on Thursday that Manchester City had shown interest in Ndiaye, with Everton keen on a deal which would see a return for Jack Grealish, who spent last season on loan at Hill Dickinson Stadium.

City, though, are now in talks to sign Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo, with the Netherlands international expressing his desire to join Enzo Maresca’s side.

Tottenham had also been interested in a move for Gakpo this summer as they sought to strengthen their forward line, but the 27-year-old opted against a move to north London in favour of City.

Ndiaye declined multiple new contract offers last season with three years left on his existing Everton terms, and The Athletic reported on June 2 that the club were facing a fight to keep hold of the player with expected interest over the summer.

Club sources maintain that Ndiaye has behaved professionally throughout the summer. The Senegal international started Everton’s first three matches of the season, and recorded an assist in the season-opening 2-0 win against Crystal Palace.

Ndiaye joined Everton from Marseille in 2024 for a fee of £15million (€17.7m, $19m). He has scored 17 goals and provided four assists in 73 games for the club.

Richarlison, meanwhile, joined Tottenham from Everton in the summer of 2022 in a deal worth up to £60m. The 29-year-old Brazilian has scored 32 goals in 134 appearances for Tottenham, having previously registered 53 goals in 152 games for Everton.

Tottenham head coach Roberto De Zerbi said after his side’s 2-0 loss against Newcastle United on Saturday that Richarlison, as well as Kevin Danso and Pape Matar Sarr, had been left of the matchday squad because he had asked to leave in the final days of this transfer window. Richarlison was Spurs’ top scorer in the Premier League last term with 11 goals and had started the opening-day defeat at Brentford.

Ndiaye arrival would complete Spurs’ attacking overhaul

Analysis by Tottenham correspondent Jay Harris

Spurs deserve credit for pivoting to Ndiaye so quickly after missing out on Gakpo. He would be the ninth signing of a wild summer spending spree.

Mathys Tel has been Tottenham’s first-choice left winger under De Zerbi. The 20-year-old has shown flashes of brilliance but is inconsistent. Tel has only scored seven times in 61 appearances for Spurs since he joined them, initially on loan before the deal was made permanent, from Bayern Munich in January 2025. At the beginning of last season, Tel competed for the role with his France Under-21 international team-mate Wilson Odobert. The latter suffered an ACL injury in February and is unlikely to play anytime soon.

Ndiaye’s arrival would complete the overhaul of Tottenham’s front line and their entire starting XI. In their opening game against Brentford, Spurs looked lightweight upfront but they are about to have a wealth of attacking options, including Dominic Solanke and Mohammed Kudus, who have both recently returned from injury.

Ndiaye could line up at Spurs alongside fellow new signings Omar Marmoush and Savio in De Zerbi’s preferred 4-2-3-1 system. The Senegalese would provide proven quality out wide and has the potential to become even better. Ndiaye scored 15 times in 67 top-flight appearances for Everton.

Richarlison will go down as a cult hero for Spurs who never lived up to expectations. The Brazilian’s four-year spell in north London was wrecked by injuries. He started playing alongside Harry Kane and was then, unfairly, given the burden of replacing Tottenham’s all-time top goalscorer. De Zerbi stated on multiple occasions that Richarlison wants to leave and it looks like he is finally going to get his wish and return to the club where he produced the best form of his career.

Everton gambling on Richarlison

Analysis by football writer Jacob Whitehead

It would be an emotional return for Richarlison and Everton — but as Ndiaye completes his move to Tottenham, it initially appears unlikely that the club have improved in the short term.

Ndiaye is Everton’s key creative outlet — a player with the ability to win one-vs-one battles, create chances, and turn a game from nothing. His chemistry with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall last campaign was a major part of the club’s early season success.

Everton, however, have been bracing themselves for the Senegalese winger’s exit for much of the summer, Ndiaye having declined multiple contract offers to remain at the club. The recruitment of Tyrique George on the left wing, whose ability in one-vs-one duels may replace some of Ndiaye’s load, could prove significant.

There is an irony that Ndiaye effectively replaced Richarlison as the scorer of the most significant goals in Everton’s recent history — the final goal at Goodison Park, the first at the Hill Dickinson — only for the pair to once again swap places.

As the player that largely saved Everton from relegation in 2021-22, whose big-hearted affection for the club left him face down, pounding on the turf after their 3-2 win over Crystal Palace that season in his final game for the club, Richarlison has enormous cachet with supporters. The Brazilian’s return will be popular, despite his up-and-down form for Tottenham over the last four years, much of that period heavily affected by injuries.

His role, however, is much less certain. Thierno Barry has begun the season well as Everton’s starting striker, with the club keen to continue investing in the 23-year-old’s development.

Richarlison has generally played through the middle for Spurs, but Ndiaye’s departure leaves a hole on the right wing, with David Moyes seemingly unwilling to furnish Tyler Dibling, signed last summer from Southampton in a £42m deal, with regular starting minutes.

Everton need to replace Ndiaye’s goal contributions from somewhere, however — they are gambling that the emotional heft of Richarlison’s return will see him rediscover his career-best form.

Tottenham’s last home league game now feels like something from another era.

It was only three months ago when the entire Spurs community filled the streets of N17 to welcome the team coach before their final game of the season, against Everton, needing a win to guarantee Premier League survival. Fans climbed onto bus stops, clambered up lampposts; children sat on their parents’ shoulders — all trying to get a glimpse of the team coach through the blue and white smoke.

It was one of the most memorable occasions in Tottenham’s modern history, as Roberto De Zerbi’s side ground out a 1-0 win that kept them up at West Ham United’s expense. The relief at the end was palpable. As was the gratitude and love directed from the crowd towards De Zerbi, the man who had jumped aboard the sinking ship and steered them away from disaster. The sense of unity, of every single part of the Tottenham Hotspur universe pulling in the same direction for once, was palpable.

The big question, almost 14 weeks on, is whether that unique magic is at all replicable in Spurs’ home form this season. No one is expecting them to be in anything like that situation this year, playing for their Premier League status. Playing, as De Zerbi memorably put it before the Everton game, for the “dignity” of the club. But they must hope that they can still build on something like that, harnessing the power of a unified, supportive fanbase again.

Because one of the most important tests of Tottenham this season, the only way they can start to become truly competitive again, is by fully resuscitating their home form in the league. One of the reasons why that Everton win was so significant is that Spurs had been so utterly miserable at home all year, as they had been for most of the season before that. There were certainly times last season when it felt as if playing at home was a burden rather than a benefit to Tottenham, and that they would have been better off playing all 38 league games on the road.

Tottenham won only three of their 19 home league games last season. Only relegated Burnley — with two — won fewer.

Over last season and the season before (2024-25), of the 17 teams to be in the Premier League both seasons, no single side won fewer than Spurs’ nine out of 38 home league games. Wolves, with 35 points, took one fewer than Spurs’ 36. Even West Ham (11 home wins, 42 points) had a better home record over that timespan.

We could spend all day digging through the knotty weeds of this record and reminiscing over the worst home moments of last season.

Was it the Chelsea game, when Spurs’ only real attack was Rodrigo Bentancur not quite connecting with a long throw? Was it the Fulham game, when the south stand jeered Guglielmo Vicario’s kicking, prompting Thomas Frank to hit back, doing fatal damage to his standing with the crowd? Was it the West Ham game, when Spurs could have opened up a gap over Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, and instead became the springboard for a claret-and-blue comeback that nearly sent them down?

Or maybe it was Nottingham Forest, when Spurs started fast, lost their footing and were then picked off?

Thankfully all of that has now been consigned to history. This season is a chance to start afresh.

For much of the past two years there has been a chicken-and-egg debate about why exactly the home form is so poor. Is the record bad because the atmosphere is flat? Or is the atmosphere flat because the team is bad? The latter is probably truer than the former, although the club has also been working to directly address the atmosphere. Various things were tried last season, some of which worked well (working with a fan group to make ‘tifos’ in the south stand), others less so (pitchside pyrotechnic machines).

But the story of the final weeks of last season was that the crowd did show up to back the team, even when the team was on its knees. The atmosphere for the final few home games of last season — Forest, Brighton, Leeds, Everton — was supportive, unified, loud, positive. Even though it took until that memorable final day for Spurs to win their first home league game for more than five months.

There was an early sign of sorts on Wednesday evening. Spurs played their first competitive home game of the season against Charlton Athletic in the second round of the Carabao Cup. And — admittedly against a Charlton side that made 10 changes and suffered injuries — they were excellent. After a slow start, Spurs dominated, monopolising the ball, creating chances, cheered on by the crowd, and won 5-1. The challenge will be to replicate that every other week against stronger opposition.

Because ultimately the onus — both practically and morally — is on the team and on De Zerbi to deliver. It helps that De Zerbi already has so much credit in the bank with the crowd after the events of last season. He is the man who kept Spurs up and that alone buys him a lot of good grace. It also helps that De Zerbi has an instinctive understanding of how to carry yourself as the manager of a big club. He fills the stage. And that moment at the end of the Everton game when the Italian stood in front of the south stand and looked overwhelmed by emotion was one of profound communion.

What De Zerbi offers — not that the conditions existed to see this last season — is a positive, innovative vision for the game, one that fans feed off. Part of the issue with Thomas Frank was that his minimalistic, over-optimised game was far more suited to picking off clever away wins than it was to playing at home. Fans want to see more of a show, a Tottenham team proactively taking control of the game. As they did on Wednesday night.

But even debates about style feel slightly beside the point in a world where simply winning games has become so unfamiliar. Take a step back from all the personnel changes and politics — the single worst thing to happen to Tottenham has been the complete collapse of any sort of winning habit. Especially at home, where those habits have to be built. Spurs have won just 21 of their previous 77 league games and, quite incredibly, nine of their past 38 at home. For too long, the very act of winning league games, the whole point of the enterprise, has felt like trying to push water uphill.

And, if there is one thing that will determine the success or failure of this season, this era, and justify the outlay of the summer, it is the rebuilding of that simple winning habit. Showing up to a home game, dominating, winning, and then doing it again as if it were routine.

De Zerbi knows this better than anyone. Which is why on Wednesday night, after the Charlton win, he talked about the importance of having “to win games in a row, three, four, five, six”, and the need for a “change in mentality” to bring this about.

What has become rare and unusual must become normal and habitual again. Continuing with Newcastle United on Saturday evening.

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Talented young Brazilian wingers rarely come cheap, but the £85million ($116m) package Tottenham Hotspur agreed with Manchester City to sign Savio (formerly known as Savinho) feels overinflated.

The 22-year-old dazzled in his first few appearances after joining City from French side Troyes in 2024 (having impressed on loan at Girona in 2023-24), but then faded fast, recording just two goals across 53 league appearances for the club.

It was obvious to anyone watching Spurs’ 3-0 opening-day demolition away to Brentford that they were in dire need of attacking reinforcements, but given Savio’s meagre output, has that desperation allowed the market to take advantage?

Even as recently as yesterday evening, eyebrows were raised when Nottingham Forest agreed a club-record transfer to bring Liam Delap (Premier League goals last season: one) from Stamford Bridge to Chelsea.

Whether Spurs have overpaid for Savio is a tricky question to answer, given there is no clear consensus on exactly how footballers should be valued. It is an intractable equation combining factors such as a player’s age, current contract length, past performance, potential (which Spurs are clearly placing greater weight on) and marketability.

Not that the complexity has put people off trying to solve the unsolvable. German website Transfermarkt is the best-known resource for wide-scale estimates of players’ “market values”. Using these estimates, The Athletic compared the market value of every Premier League transfer since 2012 with the fee paid to get a broad-brush sense of which deals represented the biggest overpayments.

Note that, for scalability, we used the fees listed by Transfermarkt rather than those reported by The Athletic. Transfermarkt lists Savio’s purchase price as £75.4million, similar to the initial £75million upfront fee reported by The Athletic, but short of the potential overall £85million package.

On that basis, Savio’s fee represents a £45.3million premium on his estimated market value of £30.1million, the fifth-largest amount above market value in the dataset. The table below lists the top 20, and like any transfer table, it is a mixed bag of successes and failures.

Enzo Fernandez sits top of the pile, with Transfermarkt estimating that Chelsea coughed up almost £60million more than he was worth when they signed him from Benfica in early 2023. In hindsight, Chelsea appear to have valued the Argentine correctly and would expect to recoup their investment if he leaves before the window shuts, with Manchester City strongly linked with a move.

The two names below Fernandez, though, Kepa Arrizabalaga and Antony, are perhaps the biggest examples of Premier League transfer extravagance. Both flopped — at Chelsea and Manchester United — with their fees widely viewed as excessive even at the time.

Savio is joined on the list by two other deals from this summer’s window: new team-mate Mateus Fernandes, signed from West Ham for £85.1million, and Morgan Rogers, who Chelsea bought from Aston Villa for £118.7million. Chelsea and Tottenham top the overall Premier League spending this summer, at £342million and £305million respectively, although Transfermarkt believes Spurs have registered the bigger overspend at £135million compared with Chelsea’s £85million.

In defence of Spurs’ apparent overspending, Transfermarkt’s market values rely on crowdsourced guesstimates rather than any sophisticated modelling.

That said, transfer economics, with its spiralling inflation and state-owned clubs, defies rational logic anyway, and Transfermarkt’s back-of-the-envelope approach is surprisingly accurate. Its estimates tend to err on the side of caution: roughly two-thirds of the transfer fees examined were completed above the recorded market value, but the histogram below shows that the estimates generally sit fairly close to these fees.

Another point of mitigation for Spurs is that a deal that looks like good value when it’s completed is no guarantee of success. Below is the flip side of our earlier chart: the top 20 transfers based on how much the fee fell below market value. Erling Haaland leads the way, but the Norwegian is something of an exception: the forward had a release clause at Borussia Dortmund that sat far below what everyone knew the fearsome striker was worth, allowing City to prise away a player valued at £129million for considerably less.

Outside of Haaland, the list contains few unqualified successes, despite the deep discounts they appeared to represent at the point of purchase. Savio is the only player to appear on both lists, embodying the unreliable nature of transfer valuations. He had been considered a steal when City signed him from Troyes for £21.5million, now his move to Spurs ranks among the most exorbitant.

Ultimately, the value of a transfer is in the eye of the beholder. To a neutral onlooker, Savio’s fee, when weighed against his limited impact in the Premier League, is among the more puzzling in recent memory.

But scouts, coaches and executives perform deep due diligence before sanctioning such outlays, and there will be harder-to-measure factors at play here: whether that is his natural fit for De Zerbi’s style or underlying data that suggests there is a far more devastating player waiting to be unleashed.

Manchester City’s Omar Marmoush is set to undergo a medical at Tottenham Hotspur after the two sides agreed a loan deal for the forward that includes an obligation to buy.

The obligation will be worth a guaranteed £50million with £10m due in add-ons, £5m of which are guaranteed. The Egypt international is set to sign a four-year contract in north London with the option of an additional season. There is no sell-on fee due to Marmoush’s former side Eintracht Frankfurt.

The Athletic reported on Wednesday that Spurs were working on a double deal for Marmoush and his City team-mate Savio. Tottenham have since signed Savio in an £85m package, who was the subject of talks between the clubs last summer.

The move for Marmoush is a new pursuit, with The Athletic previously reporting that the Egypt international could leave the Etihad Stadium this summer, despite only joining City in January 2025.

Marmoush scored eight goals in 36 appearances across all competitions last season, though only made eight starts in the Premier League, featuring a further 13 times off the bench. He was part of the squad for the 3-0 Community Shield defeat against Arsenal on August 16, coming on as a substitute for Erling Haaland in the second half.

The 27-year-old signed for City in January last year in a deal worth in the region of €70m (£59m) to €75m (£63m) from Frankfurt, after an impressive start to the 2024-25 season in which he scored 20 goals in 26 appearances for the German side.

Marmoush made an impact after his arrival, scoring seven times in 16 games, but fell down the pecking order last season as his minutes were reduced.

The proposed move to north London would be the latest deal in what has been a busy summer for Spurs, who have already spent in excess of £300m on Savio, Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes and Jan Paul van Hecke. Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi and Martin Dubravka have also arrived as free agents.

What will City duo bring to Spurs?

Analysis by Tottenham correspondent Jack Pitt-Brooke

It has been a long wait for Tottenham fans in recent weeks, holding on for the club to complete their summer business with the addition of new attacking players.

The way Spurs have handled this summer, starting with the defence, then moving onto the midfield, left a strange situation where the front line was clearly the weakest part of the team. Especially given how many of their attackers are still out injured.

That has finally started to change. Savio’s arrival and Marmoush’s impending move from City mean that Tottenham are now set to have the big-name forwards to go with the improvements they have made elsewhere in the team. And those two signings fit neatly alongside the other additions from this summer, particularly given they are already established in the Premier League.

Savio has two seasons at City behind him, and while last year was quiet for the 22-year-old Brazilian, he knows the league and will not need an adjustment period. He was one of the most exciting young talents in Europe when City signed him two years ago, and will offer speed and directness that Spurs have lacked.

Marmoush has been at City for 18 months and was never the first-choice No 9 simply because of Haaland. But he has shown that he has energy, mobility and an eye for goal. This has been a problem position for Tottenham for some time, given the struggles for consistency and fitness for Richarlison and Dominic Solanke. Marmoush will immediately elevate the team. Which is exactly what De Zerbi was hoping for.

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder James Maddison has fractured his shoulder and is set to be out for up to two weeks.

The injury occurred from a fall during their Premier League-opening 3-0 loss to Brentford, and a subsequent MRI scan showed a slight break.

Maddison trained on Monday and though the scans showed minor damage, there is optimism that the issue is not serious.

Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Spurs head coach Roberto De Zerbi said Maddison had sustained a “small injury” to his shoulder during his substitute appearance.

Maddison had limited involvement in Tottenham’s pre-season schedule after what De Zerbi described as a “small problem” in the summer.

The 29-year-old missed almost the entirety of the 2025-26 season with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), and returned in May as a substitute in the 1-1 draw against Leeds, making two further appearances from the bench at the end of the campaign.

That injury had seen Maddison sidelined from competitive action for 12 months. The midfielder said he suffered a partial tear of the ACL during the Europa League semi-final first leg against Bodo/Glimt in May 2025, before attempting to return in a pre-season fixture against Newcastle United three months later, where he sustained a full rupture.

Maddison also suffered a significant ankle injury which kept him out for around two months in his debut season at Spurs, after signing from Leicester City in June 2023 in a deal worth over £40million ($54.6m). He has made a total of 79 appearances since joining the club.

Injuries have been a recurring theme for Spurs in recent seasons and De Zerbi is still contending with a number of key absences in his squad. Xavi Simons and Wilson Odobert are out long-term with ACL injuries alongside Dejan Kulusevski, who missed the entire 2025-26 season.

Mohammed Kudus has been out since he suffered a quad injury in January, but has returned to training, while Micky van de Ven and Pape Matar Sarr missed the Brentford opener.

Pedro Porro was also absent, as a result of a shortened pre-season following his involvement with Spain in their World Cup success.

This piece was originally published on August 21 and has been updated to reflect the completion of Savio’s transfer to Tottenham Hotspur

For the second summer transfer window in a row, Tottenham Hotspur have been in the market to sign a winger.

The departure of Brennan Johnson in January and long-term injuries to Mohammed Kudus and Wilson Odobert limited Spurs’ wide options entering the 2026-27 season.

Mathys Tel can operate on the left, but the absences of Kudus and Odobert mean that Roberto De Zerbi’s side lacked a dribbler to complement the French forward’s profile.

So it was not surprising that Spurs continued their pursuit of Manchester City’s Savio, known as Savinho during his time at the Etihad. This was a saga that started last summer and is concluded after Spurs finalised an £85million deal on Tuesday.

Savio is a creative dribbler and his ability to operate on either flank makes him a valuable option even after Kudus and Odobert return.

The 22-year-old Brazilian can play down the left when Kudus is on the right, while his left-footedness offers different crossing angles from Odobert on that side.

Savio’s dribbling ability — in small and large areas — is his strongest asset, which is useful in quick build-ups, transitional situations and against low blocks.

He can bypass opponents in tight spaces and close to the byline due to his trickery and short bursts of acceleration, which is visible by the location of his take-ons during the 2024-25 Premier League season (the 821 minutes Savio played with City in 2025-26 is a relatively small sample size to analyse).

The proactiveness of Savio’s dribbling is evident in the volume of his take-ons. His rate of 6.3 take-ons per 90 minutes was the 11th-highest in Europe’s top five leagues in 2024-25 when compared with fellow wingers who played at least 900 minutes.

As illustrated in the carry map below, Savio mainly dribbles on the outside of the opponent’s full-backs, which is an area for improvement as he needs to diversify his actions to create different shooting and crossing angles. However, there were encouraging signs from the 2024-25 season that this aspect can be developed.

Savio’s trait of going on the outside is complemented by his ability to cross with either foot, which means he doesn’t need to adjust his body shape to cross with his dominant left.

In this example, from City’s 2-1 defeat against Spurs in October 2024, Savio is facing Destiny Udogie down the right wing.

The Brazilian fakes a dribble with his left, and immediately pushes the ball into space with his right.

Savio’s acceleration gives him an advantage, but it’s his ability to cross with his right foot that allows him to capitalise on the small crossing angle that opens up before Udogie closes him down.

The City winger puts the ball towards the back post, and Matheus Nunes finishes the move.

Savio’s comfort on either foot allows him to dribble with one and cross with the other, limiting the time for the opposition to react.

Add in his acceleration, and you get an idea about how Savio can create chances from the tightest of spaces down the flanks and in dangerous zones in the final third.

Since arriving in the Premier League in 2024, nearly half (46 per cent) of Savio’s chances created from open play have come in the half-space zones in the penalty area.

Savio’s creative output was on show in his first season at City, providing eight assists in the Premier League and three in the other competitions.

Meanwhile, his open-play expected assists (xA) per 90 (0.34) was the third-highest among players who played at least 900 minutes in the 2024-25 Premier League campaign — only Kevin De Bruyne (0.36) and Mohamed Salah (0.37) had a higher rate.

“He is a player with incredible potential,” City’s previous manager, Pep Guardiola, said during the 2025 Club World Cup. “We can’t forget he is so young. He needs to be more decisive in the final third in (certain) aspects.

“The moment he will make this step — in a natural way it will come because he has incredible individual quality — he will become an extraordinary player. He can play on both sides, right or left, is so fast, and he understands tactically the movements he has to do.”

One of the areas where Savio is yet to reach his potential is his finishing. Across his two Premier League seasons with City, he underperformed in front of goal, only scoring twice from 7.4 non-penalty expected goals (xG).

The main area of improvement is Savio’s tendency to shoot straight at the goalkeeper instead of finding the near or far corners of the goal, as seen in the examples below.

Coincidentally, his only Premier League goal last season came when he slotted the ball into the far corner in City’s 3-0 victory against Crystal Palace in May.

This type of finish and blasted shots into the top of the near post are the types of efforts Savio needs to work on to improve his goalscoring rate.

There are other aspects of Savio’s profile that may translate better to a more vertical De Zerbi side compared to Guardiola’s City.

In the last two seasons, the winger showed glimpses of his off-ball runs behind the opponent’s defence, an ability to control the ball comfortably with either foot and use his first touch to attack the space.

These characteristics can be more dangerous in a more direct role down the wings. In addition, Savio’s pace with and without the ball makes him a threat in transitional situations.

It remains to be seen how Savio’s move to Spurs will play out, but the 22-year-old should instantly upgrade the team’s attack, while also having room for significant improvement.