The Telegraph

Ange Postecoglou may have cut a calm and down-to-earth figure after the game, but deep down he will have been relieved to have left Coventry with one of his routes to silverware still intact.

The Tottenham Hotspur manager praised his side’s “character and spirit − that hasn’t been there this season” – against a Sky Blues side that deserved better than this.

But the truth is that the Australian coach got away with one here. Pre-match comments that he always wins a trophy in his second year at at a club looked, for 88 minutes, as though they would come back to haunt him. His decision to make eight changes from the weekend, after speaking of the importance of bringing silverware to the club, also raised eyebrows.

When Brandon Thomas-Asante, a £2 million summer signing from West Bromwich Albion, swept in Norman Bassette’s 63rd-minute cross to give the Championship side a richly deserved lead, Tottenham were looking at being on the wrong end of a cup shock. It would have been no surprise if Coventry had extended that lead as well. The performance had shades of their FA Cup run from last season, when they beat Wolverhampton Wanderers and were a wafer-thin VAR decision away from beating Manchester United in the semi-finals.

But the real positive for Postecoglou was that Spurs did not fade in the closing stages. Goals from two of his substiutes, Djed Spence − his first for Tottenham – and Brennan Johnson’s stoppage-time strike spared the manager’s blushes. For Johnson, it was the ideal response after he had been forced to delete his social media accounts following online abuse after Sunday.

But the Coventry manager, Mark Robins, called it correctly, the arrival of James Maddison as a second-half substitute allowed Tottenham to finally look like a Premier League side. Sections of the club’s travelling support also showed signs of turning on Postecoglou. There were jeers at half-time, and boos rang out when midfielder Lucas Bergvall was taken off. Postecoglou admitted that his side “‘hung in there”.

“We wanted to stay in the game, and at the end we showed some spirit and character which is probably what’s been missing over the first four games,” he said. “In the last ten minutes, we got some real belief in that moving forwards. It wasn’t an easy night, credit to Coventry who were outstanding. But we gave players some significant game time.”

Postecoglou also had encouraging words for Johnson, who scored his first goal of the season after collecting a Rodrigo Bentancur pass after coming on as an 18th-minute substitute for the injured Wilson Odobert.

“With Brennan, he comes in and works hard at this game, attackers always get measured against certain things, I told him that if he can come through this spell he can make a significant contribution.”

When asked about the fans’ reaction to taking Bergvall off, Postecoglou added: “I don’t make substitutions by poll, mate. I’m sure the fans have their own opinions. But that’s his first game for a while, I didn’t want to us pushing guys over the edge. I took Destiny [Udogie] off the at half-time as well. They’re going to play a lot of football for us.”

Postecoglou addressed the fact he made eight changes. “I’ve always done what I think is the right thing for us in terms of what we’re trying to achieve. There are no guarantees in whatever you do in critical times, but I’ve always backed my decisions. If it doesn’t work out, I can live with that. I’m not going to jeopardise what we’ve got here by doing something that makes me look like I’m in a safer position. But I don’t think there are any quick fixes or easy turnarounds. If we can add relentlessness and drive to win games, then it’ll certainly help us.”

There was no way back for Coventry as soon as Spence latched on to a Dejan Kulusevski ball and rolled home the equaliser.

“Coventry played without fear,” added Postecoglou. “They were excellent, you can see why they had a big cup run last year. We had to dig deep to stay in the game, we didn’t dominate it.”

That was scant consolation for Robins, whose opening remark afterwards was ‘I’m trying not to swear’. He added: “Life presents you with chances, and we don’t seem to be able to take those chances. You can say the same about the Manchester United game last season.

“The game was there for us, and there’s the disappointment. If you’re Tottenham, you’re probably relieved to go through at our expense. The comeback shouldn’t have happened, it was a mix of poor decision-making and tiredness.

“But Ange is a good manager with top players, I like the way he plays football. They drag you out. But people want things yesterday, and it’s ridiculous really. We have to remember we’ve come from League Two – so that puts a bit of perspective on it.”

There are not many football clubs at which the ‘t-word’ triggers such an avalanche of emotion, opinion and debate, but Ange Postecoglou is happy to set trophies as the bar by which he and others will judge his work at Tottenham.

No wonder Daniel Levy told the Cambridge Union last year that winning trophies is “easier said than done”, given Tottenham have lifted only the 2008 League Cup during his 23 years as chairman.

Previous managers have run a mile from talk of silverware at Tottenham, instead using European qualification and a cup run as the barometer for success.

Postecoglou briefly worried that this reporter’s question about “the t-word” was in reference to a swear word. It may as well have been, given the panic that talking openly about Tottenham’s need to win a trophy can prompt in some.

“It’s why I came here,” Postecoglou said. “I came here to try to win things for the club. That should be our measure and, if we fall short of that, then we need to improve. That’s up to me to try to achieve that. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with embracing that.”

Manager: I believed I failed last season

The Australian was mystified why a television interview, in which he underlined his record of winning a trophy in his second season in previous jobs, caused such a fuss after the derby defeat by Arsenal.

He tackled the subject again head-on ahead of Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup trip to Coventry City. When it was put to Postecoglou that it was a high bar to set for himself, he replied: “Yeah it is, but that’s all I’ve got.” Asked if, in his mind, he would have failed if he does not win a trophy this season, the 59-year-old added: “Yes. I failed last year in my head because that’s how I’m geared. I’ve made it pretty clear what my expectations are.

“But that doesn’t mean that I stop. That just fuels the fire of ‘why didn’t I do it?’ ‘Why didn’t we achieve last year, why didn’t we win something?’ That gets me going for this year and this year it’s about progress. That’s been my whole career, that’s my foundation.”

He accepts, then, that it is also fair for others to measure his performance as head coach against whether Tottenham win a trophy.

“I’ve never tried to steer it another way,” Postecoglou said. “Have I downplayed anything since I’ve been here? So I’m willing to be measured against that – that means that I’m fair game.

“Now, how you come to your summary at the end, that’s as much on you as it is me. You can make your assessment on just one thing or many things. But I’m happy to be judged against that standard because that’s my standard.

“That’s what I’ve done in the past and I don’t want to dilute that because then I miss the opportunity to continue on the road I’ve been on. I have no problems with people using that as a yardstick.

“If I said, ‘This is going to take three or four years, then yeah, it would relieve pressure. But I don’t want to wait three or four years. This year’s an opportunity and then, if we do well this year, next year’s an opportunity. That’s the way I think about it.”

Timing is everything in football and Postecoglou’s willingness to talk about trophies will be particularly arresting to some, given Tottenham’s start to the season, taking four points from their first four Premier League games.

But it is not just his second-season record that gives Postecoglou encouragement. He recalls facing even earlier difficulties at the start of his first season in charge of Celtic, which ended with a title and League Cup double.

“We’re four games into a new season, it’s pretty early,” he said. “I realised in Scotland, they’d rule me out after two games. They said it was all over in the year we won the double. I’m just going to say these things the way I always have and I’m not going to change.”

Who knows whether or not Albert Einstein really said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, but there is no doubt that Tottenham Hotspur fans are being driven mad by their team making the same old mistakes.

Debate over head coach Ange Postecoglou’s refusal to hire a specialist set-piece coach will rage on after his Tottenham Hotspur team lost the north London derby from a corner that was headed into the net by Gabriel.

Postecoglou was ready for the question when it arrived following Sunday’s defeat, insisting he does take set pieces seriously. But the evidence would suggest the issue is more significant than he is prepared to publicly admit.

“I know, I know, for some reason people think I don’t care about set pieces and it’s a narrative that you can keep going on for ages and ages. I understand that,” said Postecoglou.

“Like I said, we work on them all the time like we do for every other team. You know that they’re (Arsenal) a threat. For the most part, we handled them really well, but we switched off for one and we paid a price, and you learn from that and you move on.

“But it is what it is, you know, it’s my burden to carry and I’m happy to do that. Like I’ve always said, for me, there’s a bigger picture that’s at play here that’s much more important than the finer details of us getting to where we want to. For us, the way forward is to try to turn the football we’re playing now into something meaningful.”

It was only in May that Postecoglou was last quizzed on the preoccupation around Tottenham’s set-piece record, when he said: “I’m not interested. Never have been. Not in the least.” He added: “Eventually I will create a team that has success and it won’t be because of working on set-pieces.” Spurs fans are still waiting.

Asked if Jover is the best in his field, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta replied: “In his field, in other fields, as a person. The relationship that we have, that’s why I made the decision to bring him to City when I was there and then to Arsenal. Him and the staff have injected a belief to the players that there are many ways to win football matches. This is a really powerful one. It’s given us a lot, so a big compliment to all of them.”

Tottenham won one more corner (seven) than Arsenal on Sunday, but never looked like scoring, while there was a nervous hush among the home fans each time the visitors lined up a delivery into the penalty area.

Corners were Tottenham’s Achilles heel under Postecoglou last season and the early evidence would suggest that they will be again. Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario does not like coming for them and Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven do not like defending them.

Last season, Ben White put off Vicario by trying to undo his gloves before Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg headed into his own net from a corner. This time, White took a step in front of the Spurs goalkeeper just as Gabriel subtly nudged Romero and headed Bukayo Saka’s delivery over the line.

Speaking on Sky, former Tottenham midfielder Jamie Redknapp said: “Because people have seen Vicario’s weakness, they stick loads of players in front of him.

“Tottenham, they have gone for man-to-man so they are all obsessed with their player and it is a little bit selfish. Yes, Romero is good at kicking people, but when it comes to stuff like that he has got to do better.”

As easy on the eye as Tottenham are under Postecoglou, they have now lost to Arsenal twice, Newcastle United twice, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City since April. In 2024, their only real victory of note so far came against Aston Villa, who qualified for the Champions League ahead of them.

Spurs have progressed under Postecoglou and it is far too early to start writing off their top-four chances. But if they are not careful, the Australian’s team will get cast as flat-track bullies who get picked off when the big boys come to town.

“We are a team that is progressing in many areas, with all that progress there are always new challenges and things you need to overcome,” said Postecoglou.

“When I look at the four games in isolation this year, the football is probably more consistent and compelling than our first four games last year, but, obviously, our results don’t reflect that. So I think we have made progress in certain areas but there are other areas we need to improve on and that’s my job to fill those gaps as quickly as possible.”

On his best memories of the north London derby: “Probably afterwards, especially when you win at home and you celebrate with your supporters and you know how much it means. It’s something special and we have so many huge Arsenal supporters since the day that they were born and looking at our staff, we have some good examples around the first team as well. They come in after the game and you can see the emotion and what it means for them. It’s a privilege to have the power to contribute to making someone really happy.”

On Raheem Sterling and if he could be involved against Tottenham: “He looks great! First of all, because he’s got a big smile on his face, a lot of energy. He’s at it and wants to prove a point. When someone has got that in their belly, you sense it straight away. Obviously, I don’t need to discover anything about his quality and what he can bring to the team.”

On the respect he has for Ange Postecoglou: “I admire him. I respect him. I think he’s been an inspirational coach because he’s done things in his own way in various contexts and in various countries. He has a really unique way of thinking about the game and his philosophy, and I love it. He stands by it and I think he represents himself and the club in a really good way.”

So to perhaps the most consistently entertaining Premier League fixtures of the past two decades.

Unlike other derbies which boast a similar historic pedigree, Spurs vs Arsenal always seems to deliver on the pre-match hype, at least of late.

And this year, again, there feels to be more riding it on than just partisan loyalties.

Arsenal, chasing a first Premier League title under Mikel Arteta, will be five points off Man City if they lose today with a trip to the Etihad upcoming next Sunday.

Add to that mix the absences of midfield linchpins Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice and you have a storm brewing that Mikel Arteta will be eager to assuage.

“I want to have the energy, the enthusiasm for the next day, the next game and prepare that in the best possible way and that’s what we’re going to do,” Arteta said.

“ We’re going to go to Spurs with unbelievable energy and believe that we’re going to go there to be ourselves and try to win the game.”

For Spurs, this has had the feeling of a season that has not really gotten going. Despite being on top for large swathes of their three games, they have only four points to show for their efforts.

A 2-1 loss to Newcastle before the international break stung and despite the undoubted confidence the club has in Ange Postecoglou, a loss here would turn up the pressure gauge that bit more.

“It’s a great measure but it’s not just about winning. You can win a game like this and walk away knowing they played us off the park in reality,” Postecoglou said.

“ I’ve always said to go out there against the best and perform, that’s the best measure.

“Then hopefully you will win the game as well, because ultimately that’s what you want to do.

“If we go out on Sunday, dominate this game, create more chances, really nullify them, then I think, irrespective of the result, the players will walk off thinking ‘okay next time we’ll have another crack at it’.”

This is not to dismiss the challenge of Liverpool, level on points with City and yet to concede a goal, but rather to lay out the challenge Arsenal face in the coming week to stay in the title race.

Even as early as mid-September they are effectively facing must-win and must-not-lose games. And this with Arsenal having already won away to a Champions League team, Aston Villa, with a mature performance, having lost there last season. Plus Arsenal drew at home to a rampant Brighton & Hove Albion with 10 men after Rice was sent off. It is hardly a crisis.

But there is so little room for error. It was Mourinho, when he arrived at Chelsea in 2004, who smashed the concept – established by Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United – that title winners could play themselves into a season, almost like running on the shoulder of a pace-setter in a middle-distance race before hitting the front.

Mourinho’s Chelsea hit the ground running and did not stop. Two Premier League titles later and the opposition were still catching their breath. It was to Ferguson’s credit that he regrouped, reorganised and changed his approach.

Since then being a front-runner has almost been an advantage. Especially for a coach such as Guardiola, who rather than buckle under pressure, absorbs it and, as his record shows, posts astonishing numbers.

In four of Guardiola’s six Premier League title-winning seasons, City have achieved at least 90 points. Before he arrived in England, the 90-point mark had only ever been reached on five occasions, once in a 42-game campaign.

Guardiola turns pressure to his advantage

Under Guardiola, City have sometimes started slowly. In 2022-23 they drew two of their opening six games and won the league. The previous season they lost one and drew two of their first seven fixtures and still won the league. But no one took advantage.

Scarily, they have again hit the front early this season – along with Liverpool – even though arguably City’s most influential player, Rodri, is yet to play a minute (likewise the now-injured Nathan Ake) and with player of the year Phil Foden, John Stones and Kyle Walker only making only one substitute appearance each, as they are also eased back after the European Championship.

The relentless pressure City exert is such that, when Mikel Arteta was asked in pre-season what was needed to finish ahead of them, he said: “One hundred and 14 points! If we do that, we win the league for sure.” That means winning all 38 league games.

Arsenal look stretched at critical juncture

Arsenal have given us a title race in the past two seasons when, such was City’s dominance, it might otherwise have been a procession. In fact it appears, at times, that City have not just beaten the opposition but broken them. Returning to the analogy, it has been like runners stepping off the track in the face of an unbeatable opponent.

Arsenal have benefitted from a near-perfect injury record up until now, which means Arteta, fresh from signing a deserved three-year contract, has not been forced to test the strength of his squad. Now, with new signings Mikel Merino and Riccardo Calafiori also out, they are stretched.

For Arsenal, the danger this season is potentially how quickly City can establish a daunting advantage. It may even feel that the fixture list has conspired against Arteta’s side. Their next league games are at home against Leicester City and Southampton, two promoted teams. They will fully expect to win both but by then, as ridiculous as it sounds, the damage might already have been done.

Ange Postecoglou has declared that only “small teams” want to win some games more than others and insisted that will never be his approach at Tottenham Hotspur.

Ahead of the north London derby against bitter rivals Arsenal on Sunday, the Tottenham head coach explained that he disliked the notion that the fixture held greater importance.

“Teams that win things win all the time, they don’t pick and choose,” Postecoglou said. “You can’t pick and choose. Small teams do because that’s where the only true victory lies because they think they can’t win the competition but can get a couple of big scalps.

“I was with Australia [as head coach of the national team] for a long time and that was the mentality: ‘Let’s knock off a big gun because we can’t win a World Cup.’ I don’t subscribe to that. Winners go, ‘right, who’s in front of us? Let’s win’ and that’s the way I am and the way I think. I don’t think one win is bigger or more significant than any other.”

Postecoglou expressed his frustration last May when some Spurs fans appeared to celebrate the 2-0 defeat by Manchester City which may have ended their slender hopes of qualifying for the Champions League but also severely damaged Arsenal’s Premier League title hopes.

Afterwards Postecoglou talked about how the build-up to the game and the strange atmosphere during had shown that “the foundations are fairly fragile” at Spurs. “I probably misread the situation as to what I think is important in your endeavour to become a winning team,” he added that night.

Asked whether what he said made it even more vital to beat Arsenal – having drawn with them away and lost to them at home last season and with Spurs losing both games the previous campaign – Postecoglou insisted: “I hate to think, I really would hate to think there are players in the dressing room who want to win this game more than any others or prepare differently or try harder in this game than any other. Because that’s not the way forward. Irrespective.

“We understand the significance of it because if we do win our supporters will be over the moon. I understand that. If we don’t win they are going to be devastated. If we prepare for this game differently than any other then I’m disappointed because I want to win every time. That’s the only way you can be successful. I make no apologies for that… if you beat your rivals in a big derby game then everyone gets excited and everyone feels great. But I want more than that. It’s not what I am after.”

Spurs fans, of course, will concur but maybe will also place greater emphasis on the need to beat Arsenal.

‘I’m as optimistic and bullish as I’ve ever been’

“I have said a million times – fans can feel the way they want to. It’s their club. They can be as happy or as disenchanted or as optimistic or as pessimistic as they want,” Postecoglou said.

“My role is to try and give them a team that gives them hope, belief and joy. That’s it. But I am not going to tell them how to feel. If they want to win this game more than any other game then good on them. But it’s not me; it’s not who I am.”

After a draw, a win and a defeat in Spurs’s opening three league games they could do with claiming all three points to maintain their Champions League ambitions – especially as the last “big” team they beat was, arguably, Aston Villa in March. Since then Spurs have lost to Newcastle United (twice), Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and City.

Despite Postecoglou’s belief, does he, therefore, require a “big” win to help restore faith in his attacking methods? “If people have lost faith in what we’re doing I cannot let that be my guide to what we’re doing,” he said.

“My guide is what I see on a daily basis, the way we play our football, the way the team is growing and I’m as optimistic and as bullish as I’ve ever been. Is it important to win big games? Absolutely yes, I want to win big games. But we won big games early last season [against Manchester United and Liverpool]. It doesn’t mean it’s going to get you to where you want to get to. There’s got to be a consistency in approach.

“There’s nothing I’ve seen that made me waver in my belief about what we’re doing. Whether that externally is reflected by people’s faith or belief again there’s only one way to change that if people have lost faith in what we’re doing here and that is to perform and win.”

In many ways, the story of James Maddison’s Tottenham Hotspur career can be told through the two north London derbies of last season. At the time of the first, in September, he was a midfield playmaker at the top of his game, looking for all the world like one of the Premier League’s best creative talents. In an impressive performance, he assisted two goals in a 2-2 draw.

That dip in form in the second half of the campaign, following an ankle injury that ruled him out for almost three months, effectively cost Maddison a place in England’s European Championship squad. It has also raised some wider questions about a footballer who has so much talent, but is now running out of time to fully establish himself as a top-tier player in the Premier League.

Can Maddison, who turns 28 in November, find the consistency that is required to elevate himself into that top bracket of midfielder? Can he sustain, across a full campaign, the physical levels that made him so impressive at the start of last season? Can he be a reference point and a leader for Spurs? Now in his peak years, the moment has come for definitive answers.

This time last year, following his £40 million move from Leicester City, Maddison was in the midst of a sensational start to his Spurs career. He had been named vice-captain after just a few weeks at the club and was involved in eight goals (three goals and five assists) in his first 11 league games. He was sharp, strong and thriving in an exciting team that was taking the Premier League by storm.

The ankle injury in November proved to be the turning point. It was a setback from which Maddison never truly recovered. Following his return, he was involved in five goals (one goal, four assists) in 17 league games. In other words: pre-injury, Maddison was delivering what Spurs expected of him, if not more. Post-injury, he was not.

It did not help Maddison’s cause that his ankle was still presenting problems after his comeback. He was back in the team from late January, but that is not to say he was fully fit from that point. Indeed, Postecoglou said recently that Maddison “never reached” the physical levels he showed at the start of the season.

Postecoglou’s view is that Maddison’s game flows from his physical condition, even if few observers would say that the midfielder’s style of play is built on running power or muscular strength. Maddison has always been more of a thinker and a schemer than a runner, but in Postecolgou’s system there is a need for both the aesthetic and athletic qualities.

Arsenal injuries offer midfielder golden chance

Burned by his England omission — which has continued under Lee Carsley, whom Maddison knows from his time at Coventry — Maddison has started this season with a renewed resolve.

At Spurs they have seen a sense of determination and drive in their playmaker, who has assisted two goals in his first three games of the campaign. So far this season, only two midfielders (Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne and Southampton’s Flynn Downes) have taken more touches in the Premier League.

Arsenal are a formidable opponent but this weekend’s meeting presents an opportunity for a player of Maddison’s skill set. Arsenal are without Martin Odegaard, their best pressing midfielder and chief creative force, and also are missing the suspended Declan Rice, who is usually so dominant in central areas. For Maddison, there could be space in which to move.

Maddison has always had the personality required for these occasions. He is a great talker, open and honest in his interviews, and he has matured since becoming a father three years ago. At Spurs he is regarded as a senior figure, who happily flits between the different social groups in the squad, and he has not lost his cheek: last season he clashed in person (and then sparred on social media) with Brentford wind-up merchant Neal Maupay.

That squabble was good fun for the watching world and an easy win for the media, but the task for Maddison now is to generate headlines for his ability. A return of seven England caps feels low for a player of his technique and vision, and he is now battling a younger group of up-and-comers, such as Morgan Gibbs-White and Angel Gomes, for international game-time.

The rise of these players furthers the sense that Maddison’s window is beginning to close. A starring performance against Arsenal this weekend, in the biggest game of his club’s season, would be the perfect way to throw it back open.

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur has been charged by the Football Association with aiming a racist slur at captain Son Heung-min after suggesting South Koreans “all look the same”.

Bentancur faces punishment after being alleged to have “used abusive and/or insulting words and/or brought the game into disrepute” in comments referencing Son’s “nationality and/or race and/or ethnic origin”.

He was given until next Thursday to respond.

The Uruguay international apologised back in June for remarks made on his country’s Canal 10 show Por La Camiseta when he was asked for a Spurs player’s shirt.

“Sonny’s?” he replied at the time. “It could be Sonny’s cousin too as they all look the same.”

Following an inevitable backlash from those who watched the clip, Bentancur posted on social media that he had not intended to insult Son.

“Sonny, brother! I apologise to you for what happened, it was just a very bad joke,” Bentancur said. “You know that I love you and I would never disrespect you or hurt you or anyone else! I love you, brother!”

Spurs and Son subsequently released statements of their own, with the South Korea skipper insisting he and Bentancur remained “brothers” and that “nothing has changed” in their relationship.

“I have spoken with Lolo,” Son said. “He made a mistake, he knows this and has apologised. Lolo would not mean to ever intentionally say something offensive. We are brothers and nothing has changed at all. We’re past this, we’re united, and we will be back together in pre-season to fight for our club as one.”

Spurs said they “fully support” Son in feeling that he could “draw a line” under the incident.

“Following a comment from Rodrigo Bentancur in an interview video clip and the player’s subsequent public apology, the club has been providing assistance in ensuring a positive outcome on the matter,” Spurs said in a statement.

“This will include further education for all players in line with our diversity, equality and inclusion objectives. We fully support that our captain Sonny feels that he can draw a line under the incident and that the team can focus on the new season ahead.

“We are extremely proud of our diverse, global fanbase and playing squads. Discrimination of any kind has no place at our Club, within our game or within wider society.”

Son has previously spoken emotionally about the racism and stereotyping he had to endure during his career, especially as a youngster trying to establish himself in the professional game. Two years ago, he told Korean TV about his experiences.

“I moved to Germany when I was young and went through so many really difficult, unimaginable moments,” he said.

“I faced a lot of racism. And while going through such a really difficult time, I had a lot of thoughts on my mind [that] I should get my revenge one day.”

In 2021, 12 men from across England and Wales were arrested or interviewed under caution “on suspicion of using words or behaviour, or displaying written material with intent to stir up racial hatred” against Son. The online abuse was directed at him during a Premier League fixture with Manchester United that year.

The FA has a long-standing policy of punishing those found to have used language deemed racist, with some high-profile players charged under different circumstances following incidents on and off the pitch.

Five years ago, Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva was fined £50,000 and banned for one match after a social media post about Benjamin Mendy which perpetuated a racial stereotype.

Most notoriously, another Uruguayan, Luis Suarez, was fined £40,000 and banned for eight matches for racially abusing Patrice Evra during a 2011 fixture between Liverpool and Manchester United.

John Textor, the Crystal Palace shareholder and latest bidder for Everton, has made the remarkable claim that Tottenham Hotspur’s £1 billion stadium is “too nice”.

Spurs’ arena is widely recognised as one of the most impressive modern Premier League venues, but in an interview with Sky Sports News, the American businessman said he was unimpressed.

“I don’t like Tottenham. I go into that stadium, and I think it’s too nice,” said Textor.

“I remember the first couple of games I went there and the people I was with were in this banquet hall, and I thought ‘this isn’t football’ and I really believe that.

“It’s way too nice a stadium for football.”

Textor’s remarks follow his claim that he is close to selling his shares in Palace to pursue a deal with Everton’s majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri.

Moshiri is engaged in a prolonged sales process and has previously granted exclusivity to bidders 777 partners and the Friedkin Group, owners of AS Roma. Neither party was able to conclude a deal.

Textor claims he is now engaging in exclusivity talks.

Moshiri’s financial situation has deteriorated in a large part because of the huge investment in the club’s new stadium which, at a conservative estimate, will cost £500 million. The team will relocate to an impressive venue on Liverpool’s docks at the start of next season and the venue is being regarded as a beacon of hope during a turbulent period on and off the pitch.

‘I would stay at Goodison forever’

Textor, however, says that given the choice he would rather Everton stayed at Goodison Park, referencing the match in which the team fought off relegation under Frank Lampard with a comeback win over Palace in May 2022.

“I remember as an owner of Crystal Palace watching them have one of the best games they’ve had in a long time under Patrick Vieira against Everton,” said Textor.

“We were 2-0 up but then Everton came out and turned it around.

“People were running all over the stadium and I was sat just above the dugout. I was thinking, ‘what a weird stadium, what a weird layout... but what a beautiful stadium’. It’s like going to Fenway Park where you have a big pole in front of you. You can’t see the field but it’s what’s beautiful about it.

“For me, I would still be interested in Everton if they were playing on a pitch next to Goodison Park. I would stay at Goodison forever, but investors are clearly supportive because when we talk about the capital that I have to buy the club, I do believe I can take this squad well beyond its current level of competitiveness alone.

“But let’s face it, we don’t want Everton to be bouncing around eighth place forever. We want to win a title, and so to do that you need serious capital. I’ve always been very good at accessing it in my life and the stadium is huge in that respect.”

Martin Odegaard looks likely to miss Arsenal’s upcoming matches against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City after the Norwegian national team doctor suggested the midfielder could be out for “at least three weeks”.

Odegaard is due to have further tests at Arsenal on Wednesday after he rolled his ankle in Monday’s international match against Austria. Odegaard was visibly distraught after the incident and was in significant pain after the match.

The injury to arguably their best player comes at a terrible time for Arsenal, who have matches away to Spurs, Atalanta (in the Champions League) and Man City next week.

The more encouraging news, according to national team doctor Ola Sand, is that Odegaard has “probably” not suffered an ankle fracture. A fracture would have ruled the 25-year-old out of action for at least six weeks.

Speaking to Norwegian outlet VG, Sand said: “Such ankle injuries often take at least three weeks. Anything other than that is just a bonus. And then it can take longer.

‘There is probably no fracture’

“Ankle injuries are very painful right away. With Martin, it was extremely painful. He became very worried.

“What we have so far obtained from the MRI examination in London is that there is probably no fracture in the ankle.”

Sand added that Norway have not ruled out the possibility of Odegaard being available for the next set of international fixtures, which are taking place in a month.

“We have to wait and see both what the MRI images show and how quickly he responds to treatment,” said Sand.

Odegaard was seen boarding a private jet on Tuesday to return to London on crutches and without a shoe on his affected left foot in an apparent effort to manage any swelling.

Timing could hardly be worse

These are unfortunate times to be an Arsenal midfielder. Firstly, new signing Mikel Merino suffered a serious shoulder injury in his first training session after joining the club for around £30 million.

Secondly, Declan Rice was shown a bizarre red card in Arsenal’s last match, against Brighton, which means he is suspended for Sunday’s north London derby.

And then thirdly, Martin Odegaard went down on Monday night with an ankle problem that seems almost certain to rule him out of action for a few weeks, at least.

Merino, Rice, Odegaard. This could easily have been Arsenal’s first-choice midfield for the trip to face Spurs on Sunday. Instead, Mikel Arteta will have to totally reconfigure the central part of his team.

The timing of Odegaard’s injury is nothing short of disastrous for Arsenal. In the next week they face Spurs away, Atalanta away and Man City away. It is only September but this already has the feel of a potentially defining set of fixtures for Arteta’s side.

Defeats by Spurs and City could leave Arsenal eight points off the top of the Premier League table. Against a team of City’s historic might and consistency, that would feel like an enormous gap.

The absence of Odegaard does not make it impossible for Arsenal to secure results at Spurs and City. It does make it significantly more difficult, though. Odegaard is not only Arsenal’s chief creative force, but also the player who leads their defensive efforts through his tireless pressing. He will be badly missed.