The New York Times

Following a dispiriting period that produced just one win in six Premier League games, an FA Cup third-round tie against Aston Villa offered Tottenham Hotspur a chance to breathe new life into their campaign.

A cup run last season — all the way to glory in the Europa League — rescued a dismal 2024-25. So could they use this match to inject some impetus into Thomas Frank’s first season in charge?

Unfortunately for Spurs and their head coach, they came up against a Villa side which had won 12 of their previous 14 games in all competitions and which have designs on finishing this campaign with a trophy of their own.

Emi Buendia put the visitors ahead with a powerful drive at the end of a well-worked team move and Morgan Rogers doubled their advantage in first-half stoppage time.

That might have broken the home team, but Spurs actually dominated for long periods in the second half and showed the kind of fight that will have heartened Frank.

Wilson Odobert’s excellent low finish after 54 minutes prompted a long period of Spurs pressure but they could not find a way through against a resilient Villa side, who held on to reach the fourth round. To add to Tottenham’s problems, forward Richarlison limped off with an injury early in the first half.

Jack-Pitt Brooke, Elias Burke and Conor O’Neill analyse the key talking points from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

What happened to Spurs’ love affair with the FA Cup?

There are many different ways to show Spurs’ decline in recent years, but one of the clearest is in the FA Cup.

Tottenham used to be synonymous with this competition, but they have not won it since 1991. Under Harry Redknapp and Mauricio Pochettino, they would often reach semi-finals but then fail at the penultimate hurdle. Now they do not even do that.

Tottenham have not gone beyond the fifth round of the FA Cup since 2018, a quite remarkably poor record for one of the bigger teams in the country. But in the past seven seasons before this one, all of their exits were in the fourth or fifth round. This is the first third-round exit since 2014, when Tim Sherwood was in charge.

Spurs desperately needed a cup run this year. They are already out of the League Cup, they are going nowhere in the Premier League and the serious end of the Champions League will be beyond them. This would have been their only route to excitement, their only chance to compete for something and try to rebuild some of that much-needed unity between players, fans and coach.

Now that must wait for another year.

Jack Pitt-Brooke

Squad-depth issues? Villa’s fringe players deliver again

Villa’s squad is the thinnest of the Premier League’s three title challengers, but those on the fringes continue to make their mark.

Unai Emery showed how seriously he takes this competition, making just four changes from the side that drew 0-0 in midweek against Crystal Palace. Among those who came in, Donyell Malen and Buendia both, once again, strengthened their case to start more often.

Malen has more goals as a substitute than any other player in the league this season (three), and deputising for Ollie Watkins at centre-forward, he was lively, linking play and running the channels.

He provided a superb assist for Buendia’s opener, which came from a sweeping Villa move through the middle of the pitch. Receiving the ball at the edge of the area, Malen jinked inside and played a disguised reverse pass for Buendia to slam home.

Buendia, who has twice scored from the bench in the league, then provided an assist of his own, this time a delicate backheel for Rogers after some excellent wide play from Malen. He was unlucky not to add another goal in the second half, after Tottenham defender Pedro Porro cleared his effort off the line.

Emery will want greater depth added in January as Villa fight on three fronts, but performances like this suggest the squad is more than capable of stepping up.

Conor O’Neill

Can Spurs take hope from their second-half display?

The strange thing about watching Tottenham this season is that so many of their performances have been so bad that it is easy to get over-excited about occasional better spells. When the general level of the team is so poor, even competence looks like brilliance.

That said, the second-half fightback in this match was still one of the better halves of football Spurs have produced recently. They raised the tempo, started winning the ball back high up the pitch, created chances and got back into the game.

Odobert scored early in the second half and Spurs continued to take the initiative. Xavi Simons was excellent, helping his team to drive through the middle of the pitch. Odobert and Mathys Tel kept Villa pinned back down the sides and Randal Kolo Muani showed more presence than normal up front. Spurs, for once, looked like a competent, unified, hard-working team.

Of course, it was not enough and Spurs still lost the game. But it made for a very different second half, and a different feel at the end. This will not go down as one of the most painful, embarrassing defeats of their season. It will actually go down as one of the less bad ones.

And maybe — if you take this second half in an optimistic light — it gives a basis to build on.

Jack Pitt-Brooke

How damaging might Richarlison’s injury be for Spurs?

After missing 45 matches for club and country last season, Richarlison’s fitness record has been one of the very few bright sparks under Frank. With Dominic Solanke unavailable for most of the season and Kolo Muani still adjusting to English football, at least the Dane has had the Brazilian fit and available to rely on to lead the line.

Unfortunately, however, after Richarlison pulled up holding his hamstring inside the Villa box in the 27th minute, it appears he is set for a period on the sidelines again.

After Brennan Johnson departed for Crystal Palace on January 2, Tottenham have lost their current top goalscorer for this season and last season’s leading marksman in just over a week. Add Son Heung-min leaving for LAFC in the summer, and Frank is now without Spurs’ top goalscorers from the 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons. Solanke did make his return as a second-half substitute, offering some encouragement, but a side already short on goals can ill-afford to lose any more.

It adds to an already crowded treatment room. Mohammed Kudus has been ruled out until after the March international break after sustaining a quad injury against Sunderland last weekend. He was joined on the sidelines by Lucas Bergvall and Rodrigo Bentancur, who missed the Villa game after sustaining injuries in the 3-2 defeat by Bournemouth on Wednesday.

Tottenham were much better in the second half, with Kolo Muani helping to connect attacks from the striker position, but attacking reinforcements are desperately needed.

Elias Burke

What next for Spurs?

Saturday, January 17: West Ham (Home), Premier League, 3pm UK, 10am ET

What next for Villa?

It has been a grim week for Tottenham Hotspur, littered with unwanted setbacks and distractions, and suggesting their unhappy season could quickly descend into further misery.

Spurs squandered leads against Sunderland and Bournemouth, and lost Mohammed Kudus, Lucas Bergvall and Rodrigo Bentancur to injuries.

Kudus is set to be sidelined until March having pulled up in Sunday’s 1-1 home draw with Sunderland, two days after his understudy, Brennan Johnson, was sold to Crystal Palace.

Adding insult to injury, the 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth on Wednesday was bookended by the sight of head coach Thomas Frank drinking out of an Arsenal-branded coffee cup, and defenders Pedro Porro and Micky van de Ven testily clashing with travelling supporters. Then came club captain Cristian Romero’s quickly-edited outburst on social media, appearing to accuse the club’s hierarchy of “lies”.

On Friday, the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust (THST) released a statement, expressing frustration over “the embarrassment” in Bournemouth and the lack of leadership from senior figures at the club, who “should address these issues publicly and through direct communication with fans”.

Defeat at home to Aston Villa in the FA Cup’s third round on Saturday evening would add to the gloom and increase the apathy of hopelessness which is rapidly gripping large swathes of the fanbase.

Last winter, Spurs were eliminated from both domestic cups, including a 2-1 defeat at Villa in the FA Cup’s fourth round, in successive games four days apart in early February amid an unenviable injury list and spiralling Premier League form – but even so were considered favourites for the Europa League, which they of course went on to win.

This year, they are still in the Champions League, sitting 11th in the 36-team table with two of the eight rounds of league-phase games to play later this month, but nobody gives them a hope in hell of winning that.

Frank’s innocent mistake of sipping his pre-match brew from a cup left at the Vitality Stadium by Arsenal when they played there four days earlier was meaningless, but the incident still threatens to dog the Dane, only adding to the sense that he can do no right in the job he took last summer.

It was the kind of misstep that could only happen to an already-floundering general, akin to a hapless MP sitting on the wrong side of the House of Commons, and has been gleefully seized upon by Arsenal fans.

Frank has far bigger problems, however, and Romero’s post-match outburst on Instagram was further evidence of the defender’s emotional and unpredictable behaviour.

The post questioned why “other people” at the club were not fronting up, claiming it “has been happening for several years” and adding that they “only show up when things are going well, to tell a few lies”.

He later edited the post to remove the line about “lies”.

Frank has described Vinai Venkatesham as “one of the best communicators I’ve ever met” but supporters have heard relatively little from the club’s new chief executive, save for a series of chats with in-house media. Even then, his most recent interview with club channels was in October, lauding the return of Fabio Paratici as co-sporting director.

As for Paratici, he has now been offered a return to his homeland with Fiorentina and was conspicuous by his absence when Frank listed Spurs’ leadership team to reporters on Friday – “Johan (Lange, the other sporting director), Vinai and I are very aligned, ownership is very aligned,” he said – casting further doubt on the Italian’s future. Paratici, incidentally, regularly spoke to the media while at previous club Juventus, but has been seen rather than heard during his two spells at Tottenham.

Meanwhile, the true power at the club — majority owners the Lewis family and non-executive chairman Peter Charrington — remain shrouded in mystery, their vision and strategy for Spurs largely opaque, save for a few one-liners distributed via a third party. They are probably still inconspicuous enough to pass most supporters in the street without prompting a backward glance.

“We reiterated to the club that we believe the club leadership should address these issues publicly and through direct communication with fans,” read THST’s statement on Friday. “We stressed that fans need to hear directly from the club leadership the ambition for the football club for this season, for next season, and for the foreseeable future.”

Silence from the top was a feature under former executive chairman Daniel Levy before his shock firing in September but this was supposed to be a new, more open era, characterised by fresh ambition and accountability. Instead, the hierarchy has changed but the frustrations of the supporters, and indeed the players, remain the same.

Romero has taken aim at his paymasters before, saying in December 2024, after a defeat to Chelsea when Levy was still in office, that “it’s always the same people responsible” for the problems at Spurs.

Frank confirmed on Friday that Romero had been spoken to rather than fined and, from the outside looking in, the club are appearing to treat the Argentina international with kid gloves, perhaps wary of alienating one of their few real stars.

Frank’s command of the dressing room has already been questioned, given his side’s listless performances and the incident when he was blanked by Van de Ven and full-back Djed Spence following another defeat to Chelsea in November, and now his captain’s outburst and the club’s response to it threaten to further undermine his authority.

He alluded to Romero’s questionable suitability as skipper on Friday, describing the 27-year-old World Cup and two-time Copa America winner as a “young leader”. Romero’s Instagram post came just a couple of weeks after he was sent off late in the 2-1 home defeat against Liverpool for kicking out at Ibrahima Konate – an act of petulance which hampered Spurs’ chances of snatching a draw against meek opposition.

He will miss the cup game against Villa after admitting to an FA charge of “acting improperly by failing to leave the field of play promptly” following that dismissal, resulting in an additional one-match ban.

Frank selected Romero to wear the armband after Son Heung-min’s summer departure to Major League Soccer but might reasonably point out that he had little choice; there are few other compelling captaincy options in this squad.

It is clear that Spurs miss Son, both as a unifier in the dressing room and a conduit with fans, while the absence of Levy as a lightning-rod for supporter dissatisfaction over the past few months has also increased the scrutiny on Frank and his players, and left a hole at executive level that the club are still working to fill.

Tottenham will inevitably need time to recover from such high-profile departures, but if there is hope that their current malaise can be quickly reversed, it may come in this weekend’s opponents.

Unai Emery has transformed Villa’s fortunes since his appointment in October 2022 without dramatically overhauling the squad, taking them from the bottom three to the top three and demonstrating that a visionary coach who improves players can quickly make up for perceived shortcomings both above and below him in the chain of command.

If Frank is to prove himself to be that man for Spurs, he cannot afford too many more missteps — unfortunate or otherwise.

Tottenham Hotspur have an agreement in place to sign left-back Souza from Brazilian club Santos.

The deal is yet to be completed though the two sides have agreed a fee for the 19-year-old, who is expected to undergo a medical in the coming days.

The Athletic reported on January 4 that Tottenham had their first bid worth £8million ($10.7m) rejected by Santos.

In Souza’s Santos contract, there is a release clause worth €60m for Brazilian teams and a release clause worth €100m for overseas clubs.

Souza came through Santos’ youth ranks and made his top-flight debut in May of last year. He made 24 Brazilian Serie A appearances last season and has also made 12 appearances for Brazil’s under-17 side, including five appearances during the Under-17 World Cup in November 2023.

Tottenham have been keen to add a left-back to their squad. Since arriving at the club in 2023, Destiny Udogie — who has missed the last six games with a hamstring injury — has been the club’s first-choice left-back, with Ben Davies used more frequently as a centre-back. Djed Spence, traditionally a right-back, has often played on the left side of defence while Archie Gray and Micky van de Ven have occasionally deputised at the position.

Tottenham are next in action on Saturday when they host Aston Villa in the FA Cup third round.

The Athletic returns after the winter recess to look again at some of the emerging academy talent that may have a chance at appearing in a senior first team match near you.

Sometimes our scouting missions bear little fruit, but just before Christmas, a look at an exciting young winger at Tottenham Hotspur proved bountiful, certainly in terms of goals.

Tynan Thompson is a winger being spoken about in highly positive terms, and he certainly demonstrated why in a UEFA Youth League victory against Slavia Prague last month.

The player

Name: Tynan Thompson

Club: Tottenham Hotspur

Date of birth: April 17, 2008 (17)

Position: Winger

The back story

Born in Croydon, south London, Thompson began his footballing education with Lambeth Tigers before joining Tottenham’s under-12s.

An exciting, right-footed winger who plays off the left, Thompson has made steady progress through the ranks over the last five years to become one of the more exciting prospects emerging from Spurs’ academy.

He signed his first professional contract last summer and has been on the first-team bench twice (the Carabao Cup victory against Doncaster Rovers in September and the Champions League defeat at Paris Saint-Germain in November) but has yet to be handed his senior debut.

For the youth teams, he has come to prominence this season, with 11 goals in 16 appearances across Premier League 2, the EFL Trophy, the FA Youth Cup and the UEFA Youth League.

His club displays have attracted international attention, leading to five caps for England’s combined under-17s/18s side.

He has been especially impressive in the Youth League, an under-19 competition that mirrors the senior Champions League, scoring seven goals in six appearances and just four starts, including three in the game The Athletic watched.

What we saw

It is not often a player scores a hat-trick and is overshadowed, but it was Luca Williams-Barnett, previously profiled in The Athletic’s Prospects series, who got the headlines against Slavia Prague last month.

Williams-Barnett, playing as the No 10, scored five times in the 9-1 victory at Tottenham’s Hotspur Way training ground in Enfield, but Thompson also produced an impressive display that promises much for the future.

Already taller than 6ft (over 183cm), he looks physically powerful, despite his tender years, but his stature is accompanied by incredibly quick feet.

He was afforded plenty of space as Tottenham played most of the game at pace on the transition, and picked off the Slavia defence repeatedly when attacking fluidly, and he was always eager to pick up the ball, turn and attack the defenders.

His physical presence also made him effective defensively at set pieces and even though the game was rather one-sided, he didn’t shirk his out-of-possession duties, supporting left-back Harry Byrne.

He also pressed effectively from the front. He didn’t overcommit or dive in, but decelerated to his man, blocked off angles and forced play into Tottenham’s traps.

But it was in attack that Thompson truly shone. Although right-footed, he looked to manipulate the ball with his left to make himself less predictable when taking on players and wasn’t afraid to go on his left on the outside of defenders, as his finish for Tottenham’s first goal demonstrated.

As Tottenham broke forward down the right, he held back on the left in open space and when Callum Olusesi picked him out, he performed a right-footed stepover before picking out the opposite bottom corner with his left.

It was also clear he liked to come off the touchline when he could and often popped up into central areas to support main striker Leo Black, who was operating like a false nine to make space for such movement, especially for Williams-Barnett.

It was from such movement inside that Thompson picked up his second, using his pace to outsprint a lax Prague defence and reach a long ball from goalkeeper Dylan Thompson before coolly finishing with his right foot.

His hat-trick goal in the second half again demonstrated his finishing prowess as he was played in by Black into the left channel and opened up his body to slide a right-foot finish past the ‘keeper.

Though Williams-Barnett was the standout performer, Thompson was a close second.

It would be interesting to see how he performs against a less open, more entrenched defence and whether his decision-making and sharp passing could help Tottenham open them up. Premier League defences rarely leave you such space to run into.

There was some variety in the finishes he produced and he seemed keen to get into goalscoring areas off the flank and be involved, which shows an appetite for the game.

As always, there will be areas for improvement that determine his future as he matures, but Thompson is one of the encouraging crop of youngsters coming through at Tottenham that may stand a chance, based on this display and others in recent months.

Tottenham Hotspur head coach Thomas Frank says Mohammed Kudus and Rodrigo Bentancur are set for spells on the sidelines.

Kudus, 25, sustained a leg injury during the 1-1 draw with Sunderland on January 4. Frank said the attacking midfielder is not expected to return until the March international break, which starts in the week commencing March 23.

Bentancur, 28, was substituted towards the latter stages of the 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth on Wednesday, while fellow midfielder Lucas Bergvall had also been withdrawn earlier in the second half.

“Lucas is being assessed today,” Frank said at his press conference on Thursday ahead of their FA Cup third-round tie at Aston Villa. “We’ll know more later today with him.

“Same with Rodri (Bentancur). Rodri is a hamstring injury, looks like a bigger one, unfortunately. We don’t know the timeframe, that we also will know later.

“Kudus is, unfortunately, a bigger one to the quad. So that’s one where we expect him back after the March international break.”

The Danish coach also provided an update on attacking midfielder Dejan Kulusevski. The Sweden international is yet to feature this season after undergoing knee surgery in May 2025.

Frank had said in September that the 25-year-old had a “good chance” of returning from his injury before the end of 2025.

On Thursday, he said: “The latest on Dejan Kulusevski is that we know it’s a complicated injury. If there’s one person that can accelerate that, it’s Dejan. He’s a top pro. Got a top mentality.

“The most important thing is to remove the pain in the knee. He got an injection to help that 10 days ago. We’ll know in three to four weeks if it’s settled, and when it’s settled, hopefully, he’ll be on the grass. And from there, we’ll see what’s happening.”

Frank added Cristian Romero would not be fined by the club after he appeared to criticise the club’s hierarchy, accusing “other people” at the club of not speaking out during their poor run of form and telling a “few lies” when things were going better on the pitch.

“He’s our captain, he’s not been fined,” Frank said.

“I think there’s a lot of ways to deal with different situations. Chosen to have a good conversation with him, understand where he stands. Had that internally, and that’s everything I have to say.”

Kudus, who joined Spurs from West Ham United last summer in a deal worth around £55million ($74.7m), has scored three goals and provided six assists in 26 games for his new side this campaign.

Bentancur has been a consistent presence in Spurs’ midfield this term. He has made 28 appearances and appeared in all but one of the north London side’s Premier League games. Bergvall, 19, has made 24 appearances in all competitions for Spurs. A concussion sustained against Chelsea on November 1 ruled the Sweden international out of two games, while a groin injury ruled him out of the New Year’s Day goalless stalemate at the G-Tech Community Stadium against Brentford.

Spurs are 14th in the Premier League with just two wins in their last 12 league games.

After the Bournemouth defeat, defenders Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro were seen in an apparent discussion with members of the travelling Spurs support at the Vitality Stadium.

“I said last night, I think our away fans were very good throughout the game, they were backing us, singing, supporting, exactly as they should do, and we hope they would do,” Frank added. “Everyone will be happy when we win more games. It’s as simple as that.”

Reinforcements needed for Frank and Spurs

Analysis from Tottenham correspondent Elias Burke

This is terrible news for Frank, who is now without a natural right winger in the first-team squad. Frank experimented with natural striker Randal Kolo Muani on the right wing for the 1-1 draw against Sunderland on Sunday, and started Lucas Bergvall there in the Bournemouth defeat. Bergvall impressed in a more narrow role, essentially lining up as a right-sided central midfielder with the ball, but an injury, which appeared to be to his thigh, may keep him on the sidelines for the weekend’s game against Villa at a minimum.

In September, Frank said there was a “good chance” Kulusevski would return before the end of 2025, so news that there has been further complications in his rehabilitation from a knee injury sustained in May is a blow. There is an urgent need for the club to explore right-wing options in the transfer window, with Frank asserting that the recruitment team, headed by co-sporting directors Fabio Paratici and Johan Lange, is working “very very hard” to add to Frank’s squad.

And with a “bigger” injury to Bentancur’s hamstring, they may need to recruit in midfield, too. Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr are meeting in the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals tomorrow, representing Mali and Senegal respectively. Sarr was a shining light in the opening games of the season, and Frank is doubtless desperate to have the 23-year-old back as a midfield option. Still, owing to the long-term struggles in building possession through midfield, many believe strengthening Frank’s midfield options is a priority, even before Bentancur’s injury.

Cristian Romero has appeared to criticise the Tottenham Hotspur hierarchy, accusing “other people” at the club of not speaking out during their poor run of form and telling a “few lies” when things were going better on the pitch.

The club captain posted on social media after the north London side’s 3-2 defeat against Bournemouth on Wednesday, apologising to the fans but saying that others, who “only show up when things are going well” should be publicly facing up to the situation. The statement has since been altered and no longer mentions “lies”.

“Apologies to all fans of you who follow us everywhere, who are always there and will continue to be,” Romero said via Instagram. “We are responsible, there’s no doubt about that.

“I am the first. But we will keep facing up to it and trying to turn the situation around, for ourselves and for the club. At times like this, it should be other people coming out to speak, but they don’t as has been happening for several years now.

“They only show up when things are going well, to tell a few lies. We’ll stay here, working, sticking together and giving our all to turn things around. Especially at times like this, keeping quiet, working harder and moving forward all together, is part of football. All together, it will be easier.”

Head coach Thomas Frank is expected to address Romero’s comments in a news conference later on Thursday.

Tottenham scored after five minutes against Bournemouth on Wednesday to go ahead, but conceded three times — including an extra-time winner — as the visitors ended their 11-game winless run.

The loss means the north London club are winless in their last three games, having previously drawn to Brentford and Sunderland, and sit 14th in the Premier League, seven points away from Liverpool in fourth.

Romero signed a new four-year deal in August to keep him at Tottenham until 2029 after being awarded captaincy by Frank in the summer. The 27-year-old has been at the club since joining from Atalanta for €55million (£47.4m; $64.3m at current rates) in 2021, initially on a loan deal.

‘It speaks to the current instability at the club’

Analysis by Tottenham Hotspur correspondent Elias Burke

As club captain and Tottenham’s most accomplished and decorated player, Romero appearing to speak out against the club’s board after yesterday’s stoppage-time 3-2 defeat to Bournemouth speaks to the current instability at the club.

Romero’s mention of “other people”, outside the playing group and head coach, may refer to Vinai Venkatesham, the club’s CEO, Johan Lange and Fabio Paratici, the co-sporting directors, non-executive chairman Peter Charrington, and/or the Lewis Family.

Since Ruben Amorim’s departure as head coach at Manchester United, there has been a heightened interest in English football regarding the non-public nature of club boardrooms, and this is an example of frustration building within a Premier League dressing room.

Romero was appointed as club captain by Frank in the summer, following Son Heung-min’s departure for Major League Soccer side LAFC. In the aftermath of the defeat at the Vitality Stadium, several of his team-mates, including defenders Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro, were confronted by frustrated fans in the away end.

As Antoine Semenyo received a pass on the edge of the Tottenham Hotspur box in second-half stoppage time, opening an angle to go for goal, the rest felt inevitable. The Ghana international, who looks set to move from Bournemouth to Manchester City after rebuffing Spurs’ interest, set the ball out of his feet and fired a wicked right-footed shot into Guglielmo Vicario’s bottom left-hand corner.

Many of the travelling Tottenham supporters, who were urging their players to find a winner of their own moments earlier, headed towards the exit. The rest stayed long after the final whistle. Some applauded the team and head coach Thomas Frank after the 3-2 defeat, while a few seemed to exchange stern words with players, including Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro. It was an ugly end to a game that might have finished differently.

“I haven’t seen that situation (with the fans and players), that’s one thing,” Frank said in his post-match press conference. “I think it’s fair to say everyone in Tottenham, players, staff, fans, everyone, it’s a tough one to take today.

“I think hopefully everyone can see how hard we worked to get everything in the right direction. And I think overall the performance was good, especially in the second half, in a game where we deserved to get more. That is extremely painful to be part of, so of course people are frustrated, I’m frustrated, so that’s natural.”

The breakdown between the supporters and the coach is nothing new. An image of Frank holding a disposable cup with Arsenal branding ahead of Wednesday’s match only added fuel to the fire. When questioned about that incident after the game, Frank argued it would be “extremely stupid” to intentionally and publicly drink out of an Arsenal cup as a Spurs coach who is “not winning every single football match”, but it was a mishap which has widened the divide for some fans.

On reflection, the festive period offered an opportunity to re-energise the Frank era halfway through its first season.

It started perfectly with a win at Crystal Palace, where the players demonstrated some of the steel and nous shown on the way to the Europa League final win last May under the Dane’s predecessor Ange Postecoglou. Brentford three days later was a forgettable draw, but one, against a team in form, that could have been chalked up as a hard-fought point were it followed by better performances and results in the coming matches. But with a point against a Sunderland team affected by players being on Africa Cup of Nations duty and now defeat by Bournemouth, who were winless in 11 matches before a timely visit from Doctor Tottenham, Frank’s tenure has never felt so lifeless.

And yet, in Frank’s view, it could have been so different.

“It’s very tough to sit here right now and we haven’t got anything out of overall a good performance,” he said. “We started well, got up 1-0, conceding two goals on second-phase set pieces. Especially the second one, we needed to do much better. But I really liked the character in the team and from the players. They gave everything.”

Mathys Tel, starting in his preferred position of left-winger for the second game in a row after impressing against Sunderland, responded to Frank’s faith with a brilliant goal inside five minutes. Naturally, he tired in the second half and his influence waned, but it was the 20-year-old’s most complete and best performance in a Tottenham shirt since signing 11 months ago. His opener ended a 592-minute wait for a goal from open play, setting Spurs ahead again. But, in similar circumstances to Sunday, Frank’s side failed to control the game from a winning position.

After a spell of pressure, Bournemouth equalised through Evanilson, who headed home a Marcus Tavernier cross from the right in the 22nd minute. Fourteen minutes later, Spurs conceded in almost identical circumstances, this time with Eli Junior Kroupi getting the crucial touch.

Joao Palhinha’s 78th-minute equaliser briefly gave them hope of a positive result, only for Semenyo to score that 95th-minute winner.

The result leaves Spurs 14th in the Premier League table, six points off Brentford, Frank’s previous club, in fifth. Incidentally, that New Year’s Day draw with Tottenham is the only blot on an otherwise perfect five-game run for the west Londoners, who have picked up 12 points from the 15 available. In different circumstances, overturning a six-point deficit with 17 games to play might feel achievable, but in Spurs’ current state, where defeats come far too easily, a further slip down the table could be as likely.

Back-to-back league matches against West Ham United and Burnley, two of the bottom three, this month appear to be the final chance to push towards achieving their dwindling European ambitions, before a daunting fixture list in February and March.

So, with their Premier League season collapsing into insignificance, Tottenham’s route to revival may be through the cups.

Champions League success is a dream, but the FA Cup third-round tie at home against Aston Villa on Saturday offers a welcome change of scenery and a chance to restore pride.

Frank’s record in that competition is underwhelming, but after a hopeless festive period, cup success at the weekend appears to be the only immediate hope of bridging some of the gap between him and a furious fanbase.

Tottenham Hotspur head coach Thomas Frank described the suggestion that he had deliberately used an Arsenal-branded cup as “extremely stupid”.

Before Tottenham’s 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth on Wednesday, Frank was photographed holding a small cup with the logo of Spurs’ rivals Arsenal on it. Arsenal were the last team to play away at the Vitality Stadium.

After the image circulated online, Frank addressed the incident in his post-match press conference.

“(I) definitely (did) not notice it,” he said. “I think it’s fair to say that (I’m) not winning every single football match so it’d be absolutely, completely stupid of me to take a cup with Arsenal.

“You know, they’ve (Arsenal) been in there, the changing room, the game before us. Was normal. Take a cup, give me an espresso. I do that before every game. So I think actually, it’s a little bit sad in football that I need to be asked a question about that.

“I think we’re definitely going the wrong direction if we need to worry about me having a cup with another logo of another club where, of course, I’ll never do that. That’s extremely stupid.”

Tottenham took the lead against Bournemouth through Mathys Tel but entered half-time trailing after goals from Evanilson and Eli Junior Kroupi. Joao Palhinha equalised with an overhead kick in the 78th minute before Antoine Semenyo — playing his final game for Bournemouth before his move to Manchester City — won the game for the home side in the fifth minute of added time.

Wednesday’s defeat means that Spurs have begun 2026 without a win, having drawn their two previous games this year against Brentford and Sunderland. Frank’s side are 14th in the Premier League on 27 points and have won only twice in their last 12 league games.

Tottenham are next in action at home against Aston Villa in the FA Cup on Saturday. Their next league game sees them welcome West Ham United to north London a week later.

Bournemouth ended an 11-game winless run as they came from behind to beat Tottenham Hotspur, heaping further pressure on Thomas Frank whose side have now won just one of their last six league games.

Joao Palhinha’s brilliant overhead kick seemed to have earned a draw for Frank’s side but then, in the 95th minute, Antoine Semenyo produced an equally stunning strike from distance to win the game for his team with his 10th league goal of the season.

The hosts conceded the opening goal far too easily, with Mathys Tel cutting in from the left and arrowing his shot into the bottom-right corner in the fifth minute after being put through by a neat Xavi Simmons back heel.

But Bournemouth were ahead before the break. Marcus Tavernier was given time and space to produce a dangerous cross from the right which Evanilson magnificently headed home, leaving Guglielmo Vicario with no hope.

Another Tavernier cross from almost the same position again caused Tottenham problems, with Marcos Senesi’s cutback giving Eli Junior Kroupi a simple tap-in for his seventh goal of the season.

Referee Darren England had awarded Tottenham a penalty after the break when Micky van de Ven was brought down in the box after a marauding run from defence, but he overturned his decision after a VAR check, much to Van de Ven’s chagrin, which earned the defender a yellow card.

But minutes later Palhinha put Spurs level with a superb effort. A fingertip save from Djordje Petrovic late on prevented Van de Ven from putting the visitors ahead with a header, the save proving crucial as Semenyo, on his 26th birthday and possibly final match for Bournemouth, scored the winner.

Why do Tottenham keep conceding the same sort of goal?

What made this defeat so painful was that Tottenham fought back into the game, Palhinha’s overhead kick with 12 minutes left making it 2-2.

Spurs even had a platform to go on and win the game. But the frustrating thing about Tottenham this season is that they keep making the same mistakes week after week. And any Spurs fan will tell you that they have a terrible habit of conceding to shots taken from just outside the box. Even with so many men back, Spurs leave plenty of room for opponents to get shots off. And those opponents keep finding the bottom corner of Guglielmo Vicario’s net.

So it was again tonight at Bournemouth, when Semenyo picked up the loose ball and — before Richarlison could get over to block him — put the ball into the far-bottom corner. It was a brilliant hit from a fantastic player. But it was also punishing a mistake that Tottenham have made far too often. Which meant that their hard work in this game ended up counting for nothing.

Jack Pitt-Brooke

How did Tottenham lose control?

The most frustrating thing for Tottenham was the fact that they actually started this game far better than normal.

Spurs begun positively, moving the ball forward with purpose, taking advantage of the return to the team of Simons after three games out suspended. That industry led to their early goal, when Simons drove them forward before setting up Tel. It felt for a moment as if we might be watching a different Tottenham, more positive and purposeful. They even made chances to score a second, especially with Lucas Bergvall from distance.

But they never took advantage of those, and that made it even more frustrating how Spurs lost control of the game. They let Bournemouth — without a league win since October — back into the contest. And they switched off twice when Bournemouth scored two goals starting with crosses from the right wing before the interval.

It felt like the clearest sign of Spurs’ fragility. That even in a game like this, against a team in such poor form, and with an early lead, Spurs could still not hold onto their advantage.

Jack Pitt-Brooke

Did Tel impress again on the left?

Mathys Tel has found himself on the outside looking in for much of this season, starting just four times in the league. Before the 1-1 draw with Sunderland on Sunday, none of those had come in his preferred left-wing position. But he looked lively and threatening from the opening whistle against Sunderland and, for that, he earned a second start in a row.

Tel offers something different to the rest of Tottenham’s wide players. Unlike Wilson Odobert and Mohammed Kudus, Tel’s first instinct is to shoot whenever he’s around the opposition box. That tendency was evident inside 20 seconds against Sunderland, firing a driven shot on target. Shortly after, he bent a curling effort just wide of the post. Then, against Bournemouth, he found the net from a seemingly impossible wide angle to open the scoring.

After receiving a pass from Xavi Simons on the left touchline, Tel isolated the full-back, pushing him into the Bournemouth box, before shifting right and firing a powerful and accurate shot into the bottom-right corner. It was a brilliant goal, and Tottenham’s first from open play in 592 minutes.

While Spurs faltered under pressure as a unit, Tel continued shining in the first half. His first touch was crisp and he found solutions to dribble out of tight situations on several occasions. With Kudus out injured and Brennan Johnson now plying his trade for Crystal Palace, it appears the left-wing spot is now firmly Tel’s to lose.

Elias Burke

What did Frank say?

We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.

What next for Spurs?

Former Tottenham Hotspur and England forward Martin Chivers has died at the age of 80.

Chivers is Tottenham’s fourth-highest goalscorer of all time with 174 goals, behind Harry Kane, Jimmy Greaves and Bobby Smith and one goal ahead of Son Heung-min.

In a statement on Wednesday, Spurs said: “It is with immense sadness that we announce the passing of our legendary former striker, Martin Chivers.

“We extend our deepest sympathies to Martin’s family, friends and former team-mates at this incredibly sad time.

The club also confirmed that they would wear black armbands during their Premier League visit to Bournemouth on Wednesday.

Chivers began his professional career with Southampton in 1962 and spent just over five years with the south coast club, scoring 108 goals in 189 games. He then joined Tottenham in January 1968, where he featured alongside Greaves and Alan Gilzean in attack under legendary Spurs manager Bill Nicholson.

He scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Aston Villa in the 1971 League Cup final and also scored twice in the 1972 UEFA Cup (now known as the Europa League) final in the 3-2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers as Tottenham won the inaugural edition of the tournament. He also helped Spurs win the League Cup again the following season.

After making 367 appearances for the club over more than eight years, Chivers joined Swiss club Servette, where he spent two seasons before returning to England with Norwich City in 1978. He also played for Brighton & Hove Albion, Dorchester Town, Norwegian club FC Vard and Barnet.

He was capped 24 times by England, scoring 13 goals.