The Telegraph

Ange Postecoglou has accepted that Tottenham Hotspur are starting a run of games that could make-or-break their season – and his own future as head coach.

Tottenham start a run of nine games in 30 days against Manchester City on Saturday night, a period during which they also play Chelsea, Manchester United in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup and Liverpool before Christmas, as well as Europa League games against Roma and Rangers.

Postecoglou’s team are 10th in the Premier League table and could drop into the bottom half if they lose to City. But they also start the weekend just three points behind third-placed Chelsea.

Tottenham will be missing centre-backs Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero on Saturday, with Rodrigo Bentancur starting his suspension despite Spurs appealing the length of his seven-game ban for racism.

“Certainly for us I think it’s a significant period because I think you look at those games and we’ve got the league where we’ve got to improve our position and a couple of important European fixtures that can set us up for the back half of the year. Also, a Carabao Cup quarter-final,” said Postecoglou.

“At the end of that period, we could be in a decent position for a strong second half of the year, so for us it is an important period. You know there’s no more international breaks, so the full focus is here, so you can build some momentum through that, or if things don’t go well you could get yourself into a bit of a grind. So, for us, it’s going to be a really pivotal part of the season.”

Tottenham lost at home to Ipswich Town before the international break and Postecoglou added: “Obviously the table reflects where we’re at. Of course. If we had beaten Ipswich, we’d be third and I reckon this press conference would be much different wouldn’t it?

“I’m not going to let my life be dictated by one result, I’m sorry. I take a wider perspective on these things because I know how fickle it can be. But we need to address our position for sure. And if we’re 10th at Christmas, yeah it won’t be great, for sure. Rightly so, there’d be a lot of scrutiny and probably a lot of scrutiny around me which is fair enough but that’s not where I plan for us to be.”

‘It could have been a whole lot worse’

Saturday’s trip to City will be Postecoglou’s 50th league game in charge of Tottenham and, asked to assess that period, he said: “You’ve got to look at it in totality of those 50 games, because your question probably would have been framed differently if we’d won the last game – it might have been ‘after 50 games would you expect to be third and still in the Carabao Cup and going well in Europe?’

“So because of one result, we look at it the other way. What I try to do is look at that totality and consider our starting point. And I keep going back to that because I think people forget our starting point. I took over a club that finished eighth. I didn’t take over a club that finished second, third, fourth, fifth. Finished eighth. No European football. Significant player turnover. Significant. Change of playing style.

“Where did I think we’d be after 50 games? God knows. It could have been a whole lot worse. But when you look at it in the current prism of we’re 10th, you’re going ‘it doesn’t look good’ and I understand that, and we have to improve that.

“But over the 50 games I think there’s enough there that shows we are progressing as a team and we are developing into the team we want. The key is the next 50 games, if they can be in totality better than the first 50? First, that means I’m here but second, I think we’ll be in a good space.”

Ange Postecoglou will know that in many of the critical metrics caught by data analysis in the Premier League, his Tottenham Hotspur side are second only to Manchester City – although that may be little consolation ahead of Saturday’s big game.

The pressure is back on Spurs and their manager just over three weeks since they eliminated City from the League Cup. Pep Guardiola’s team might feel it too having lost four in a row, although none of those have been at the Etihad where they remain undefeated in the league for more than two years. By contrast, Spurs went into the international break having lost at home to Ipswich Town, the first Premier League win for that club in more than 22 years.

Yet, if there is a team who could win at the Etihad, form suggests it might just be the volatile Spurs. It would be unusual for Guardiola’s team to lose to a side who play in such a similar fashion, with a high line and an intense determination to go forward, but it would also be in keeping with Spurs’ season. Managing that club is eternally precarious, as Postecoglou’s predecessors discovered, and this feels like another significant evening for the current incumbent.

Had they beaten Ipswich, Spurs would have been in third place – rather than 10th. That they lost says much about the extremes in form and outcome of a team who have outscored every other in the Premier League. They inflicted City’s first defeat of the season, demolished Aston Villa, and yet they also handed Crystal Palace and Ipswich their first league wins of 2024/25.

The data tells a story of a team built very much in the image of City. In many of the metrics that Guardiola would consider important, Spurs are second only to City. The issue for Postecoglou, 59, is that Spurs are already 12 points behind leaders Liverpool and extremely vulnerable to defeat when some of their key figures are off-colour. The seven-game Football Association ban for Rodrigo Bentancur, appeal pending, is one more body-blow.

Absolute commitment to attack

Spurs’ goal difference of +10 is second only to Liverpool. In terms of expected goals difference, excluding penalties, Spurs are on a balance of 0.7, second only to City. Unconvinced? The pattern repeats itself. Spurs are second only to City in terms of pure possession. The same is the case in possession progression-forward from the defensive third: Spurs 69.5 per cent plays City’s 75 per cent. More assist-zone entries for Spurs (12.8 per 90 minutes) than any other team other than City (15.4).

Spurs have scored 23 goals, one more than the nearest contenders City and Brentford, for their relatively meagre return of 16 points. No team aside from City complete more passes in the opposition box or make more attacking passes than Spurs. Even City get passed through more often in their midfield than Spurs.

According to the model devised to measure such things, Spurs press more intensely than anyone, including Guardiola’s champions. They score more goals, and – City aside – they have as much of the ball in the most dangerous areas. They also seem to go to pieces more regularly as they have against Ipswich and Brighton, when they threw away a two-goal lead in the space of 18 minutes.

Those numbers tell one story about the kind of team Spurs are trying to be. Inside the club Postecoglou is a different kind of manager. The coaching is done chiefly by Matt Wells, 36, the club’s former academy coach who previously left to serve as an assistant to Scott Parker at three different clubs before returning to Spurs.

Postecoglou rates Wells highly and gives him some autonomy. Postecoglou leads meetings, makes the big decisions on game plans, and tells his coaches what he wants from sessions. Then he generally observes training, led by Wells.

A distant observer

The Australian’s own interventions are relatively rare although the players might hear more from the manager as the final tactical preparations are made before match day. Postecoglou has a debrief post-session with his coaches. Many others have done the same: from Sir Alex Ferguson to Jurgen Klopp in his later years at Liverpool.

Postecoglou is unusual in the modern era in that he does not go in for a lot of the cosy personal conversations with players that some of his peers favour. He prefers to keep those interactions direct and brief when they do happen. It is certainly not the way of Mauricio Pochettino, for instance, but it has served Postecoglou well and he sees no reason to change.

Postecoglou arrived at Celtic in 2021 without a single fellow traveller on his staff, and the same was the case when he joined Spurs two years later – although that was more a consequence of Celtic’s refusal to release anyone else. At Spurs, Postecoglou’s coaching team includes Nick Montgomery, a Sheffield United stalwart who also played in Australia. Chris Davies was a key figure before he left in the summer to take over Birmingham City.

They have had their triumphs. Moving Dejan Kulusevski into a central position has been a step forward, and he is Spurs’ best player this season. The change at half-time against West Ham on October 19, the introduction of Pape Sarr for James Maddison, gave Spurs the greater impact in midfield and they went on to win 4-1.

Maddison has started just one of the last four games, the defeat by Galatasaray, and Postecoglou and his coaches seem to be managing him into an understudy role – at least before Bentancur’s suspension was announced.

Postecoglou certainly has a sense of humour when it comes to his media obligations – one that only occasionally deserts him. His remarks after the defeat by Brighton, when he said that the performance was so poor his team did not deserve anything from the game, were telling for another reason. Can his sides fight to win games when they are not playing at their very best?

There are the more prosaic issues of managing Spurs. In the summer of last year they sold Harry Kane, their greatest player of the Premier League era, perhaps of all-time, and have shown nothing like the ambition others might have done to replace him.

That was typical of a club run by chairman Daniel Levy, and the trust of the family of absentee former owner Joe Lewis, forced after his recent fraud case in the US to divest himself of the direct control of the parent company, Enic. The same problems seem to repeat themselves.

The greatest burden of all is Spurs’ extraordinary habit of not winning trophies. Even the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United have managed to do so in seasons when they have been a long way from title challengers. Postecoglou certainly made himself a hostage to fortune when he said that he would deliver in his second season, and perhaps he felt it needed that kind of brinkmanship. The League Cup quarter-final against United next month is another great turning point.

Many others with bigger reputations have come away from Spurs cursing the place. While the careers of Jose Mourinho, Antonio Conte and, to a lesser extent, Pochettino, are often the most regularly cited in that respect, another name has crept on to the list. Three years ago Nuno Espirito Santo was sacked after four months at Spurs. It was near-fatal for his career. Yet look at him now. Fifth in the Premier League with Nottingham Forest. Was Nuno the problem? Or might it have been Spurs?

Postecoglou will be well aware of the scale of his task. Not many survive long at Spurs, and it could go either way on Saturday. The numbers say that this rather retiring man, with an absolutism about his style and a tendency to keep his distance from his players, could well be on the right track. But coaxing any modicum of trophy success from Spurs requires rather more than that. So far it has proved elusive in this century to all but one who has tried.

Tottenham plan to appeal the Football Association’s decision to ban Rodrigo Bentancur for seven matches over a racist remark he made about team-mate Son Heung-min.

While Spurs are not appealing the guilty verdict, it is understood that the club will challenge the length of the ban, which exceeded the minimum six games applied by the FA for racist abuse.

Telegraph Sport revealed that the severity of the ban and the process behind the decision shocked Spurs’ rivals, who felt they had been made an example of.

The FA introduced a minimum six-game ban for racist abuse five years ago, but Bentancur was handed an extra match after it was deemed that his comments constituted an “aggravated breach”.

Tottenham’s appeal will be aimed at reducing Bentancur’s ban, although it is unlikely to be reduced below the minimum six-game threshold, despite perceived inconsistencies regarding other cases.

Enzo Fernandez and Rodri escaped FA investigations over comments made while on international duty this summer. Bernardo Silva was given a one-game ban in 2019 for a tweet involving his former Manchester City team-mate Benjamin Mendy. Edison Cavani was banned for three games in 2021 over a social media post in which he used the term “negrito”.

Under FA rules published in 2020, sanctioning guidelines allow regulatory commissions to apply a ban below the minimum six games where an offence is “in writing only or via any communication device” and another specific mitigating factor is present.

The fact Bentancur’s offence came via a spoken interview on YouTube meant that he could not receive a punishment under the six-game ban. But it has been pointed out to Telegraph Sport that the interview was seen by most people after being widely shared on social media, which has prompted questions over whether or not it should be treated differently to the offences of Bernardo and Cavani.

Punishable offence

Bentancur was banned for seven games and fined £100,000 for suggesting in a YouTube interview in Uruguay that Son was indistinguishable in looks from other South Koreans.

Bentancur was being interviewed during a tour of his home when Uruguayan journalist Rafa Cotelo asked: “Well, what about the Korean’s shirt?”

After questioning whether the journalist was asking about “Sonny”, Bentancur then added: “Or one of Sonny’s cousins as they all look more or less the same.”

Following charges in September, a panel found that he had shown “genuine remorse” but he should have “foreseen substantial publicity” in making the abusive joke.

It was further found proven that his comments constituted an “aggravated breach”, as they included a reference to nationality and/or race and/or ethnic origin.

There is a belief that Tottenham and Bentancur have been made an example of and that the player’s own apology, together with Son’s backing, has been used against him.

In the written reasons for Bentancur’s ban, it is stated that: “His first apology, drafted without consultation with THFC or any other adviser and posted the day after the film had been brought to his attention, explained it as “just a very bad joke” (although in his statement, he said that “sarcastic” would have been a better word than “joke”). That suggests that the player himself realised what he had said was offensive, and was anxious to correct it as soon as possible. His second apology equally appears to have acknowledged that his remarks had been objectively offensive, which is why he apologised for offence caused.”

It then added: “In these apologies (particularly the first), the player appears to realise and accept that his remarks were objectively insulting and/or abusive and this offensive, and apologise for the offence he has caused to Heung-min Son and those who share his characteristics of nationality and/or race and/or ethnic origin.”

Sources outside Tottenham have expressed surprise to Telegraph Sport that Bentancur’s own attempt at an apology would be effectively used against him, particularly when English is not the first language of the Uruguay international.

Similarly, the fact the written reasons refer to support from Son as further evidence that Bentancur accepted his remarks were insulting has been noted with an element of astonishment.

In the written reasons, it is stated that: “The statements made by Heung-Min Son (see paragraphs13 and 15 above). These again appear to be premised on the player’s remarks having been objectively offensive, and regarded by both Heung-Min Son and the player himself as such.

“For example, Heung-Min Son is reported as saying: “I’ve spoken with Lolo. He made a mistake. He knows this and has apologised.” And: “He knew. He apologised straight afterwards when he had holiday.... We are all human and all make mistakes and we learn from it.”

Son had been keen to try to help Bentancur and wanted to speak up in his defence, saying: “Lolo would not mean to ever intentionally say something offensive. We are brothers and nothing has changed at all.

“When we came back for pre-season, he [Bentancur] felt sorry and he almost cried when he apologised publicly and personally as well. He felt like he was really sorry. We are all human and all make mistakes and we learn from it.”

Rodrigo Bentancur, the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder, has been banned for seven matches by the Football Association over a racist remark he made about Son Heung-min.

Bentancur, who has also been fined £100,000, had suggested in a YouTube interview in Uruguay that his Spurs team-mate was indistinguishable in looks from other South Koreans.

Following charges in September a panel found that he had shown “genuine remorse” but he should have “foreseen substantial publicity” in making the abusive joke.

Bentancur was being interviewed during a tour of his home when Uruguayan journalist Rafa Cotelo asked: “Well, what about the Korean’s shirt?”

After questioning whether the journalist was asking about “Sonny”, Bentancur then added: “Or one of Sonny’s cousins as they all look more or less the same.”

Sir Gary Hickinbottom, who led an independent regulatory commission panel, acknowledged Bentancur’s subsequent direct apologies and statements on social media after the interview clip was published. However, Hickinbottom said it remained a straightforward case to impose a seven-match suspension plus £100,000 fine on Bentancur for a breach of FA Rule E3 – acting in “an improper manner and/or used abusive and/or insulting words and/or brought the game into disrepute”.

It was further found proven that his comments constituted an “aggravated breach”, as they included a reference to nationality and/or race and/or ethnic origin.

Bentancur was also instructed to attend an educational course and the panel chair added: “We consider that sanction, when looked at as a whole, is in all the circumstances reasonable and proportionate to the breach we have found proved.”

The ban for Bentancur is likely to prompt scrutiny of the regulations as the FA was powerless to bring sanctions against Enzo Fernandez after the Chelsea midfielder was accused of singing a racist and transphobic chant following Argentina’s Copa America triumph.

Tottenham’s midfielder had been facing a potential 12-game ban, but Fernandez escaped any FA punishment because the alleged breach took place while he was on international duty.

Bentancur was charged by the FA on Sept 12 over the interview with Cotelo, the host of Canal 10. After footage became public, he expressed immediate remorse.

Son, meanwhile, acknowledged his team-mate “made a mistake”. “He knows this and has apologised,” Son said. “Lolo would not mean to ever intentionally say something offensive. We are brothers and nothing has changed at all.”

He later added: “When we came back for pre-season, he [Bentancur] felt sorry and he almost cried when he apologised publicly and personally as well. He felt like he was really sorry. We are all human and all make mistakes and we learn from it.”

Tottenham had also added that the club have “been providing assistance in ensuring a positive outcome on this matter”.

“This will include further education for all players in line with our diversity, equality and inclusion objectives,” the club said. “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 franchise and playing squads.”

However, the independent regulatory commission panel upheld the charge and Bentancur will sit out Tottenham’s next seven domestic fixtures, but will be able to feature for the club in forthcoming Europa League matches against Roma and Rangers.

An FA spokesperson said: “An independent regulatory commission has imposed a seven-match suspension and £100,000 fine on Rodrigo Bentancur for a breach of FA Rule E3 in relation to a media interview. It was alleged that the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder breached FA Rule E3.1 as he acted in an improper manner and/or used abusive and/or insulting words and/or brought the game into disrepute.

“It was further alleged that this constitutes an “aggravated breach”, which is defined in FA Rule E3.2, as it included a reference – whether express or implied – to nationality and/or race and/or ethnic origin. Rodrigo Bentancur denied this charge, but the independent regulatory commission found it to be proven and imposed his sanctions following a hearing.”

Analysis: Why did Enzo Fernandez and Rodri escape bans?

After a summer of discrimination cases against the likes of Fernandez and Rodri, only Bentancur faces an FA ban – because of timing.

The FA had been powerless to go after either the Chelsea or Manchester City midfielder because their cases took place while on international duty.

The Bentancur interview emerged within weeks of those other cases but, as it took place officially “on his own time”, the FA was able to pursue a case against him as “a participant in English football”.

Fifa, instead, launched investigations after France complained over a video of Fernandez allegedly singing a racist and transphobic chant following Argentina’s Copa America triumph. First sung by Argentina fans during the 2022 World Cup, the chant claims that France’s players are “all from Angola” and making crude insults and wild accusations about Kylian Mbappe’s sexuality.

Rodri and Alvaro Morata, meanwhile, were each banned for one Spain match by Uefa for chanting “Gibraltar is Spanish” during celebrations in Madrid for the victory against England in the Euro 2024 final.

After a turbulent start to the season, Arsenal are back on the ascent. A dominant display against their local rivals at the imposing Tottenham Hotspur Stadium saw the visitors brimming with confidence against a lacklustre home side.

Speaking after the match, Renée Slegers, Arsenal’s interim manager, praised her team’s cutting-edge performance. “[Ruthless] is exactly one of the words we are using a lot at the club at the moment,” she said.

“We want to be ruthless in both boxes. It’s easy to say it but then turning it into action is another thing.”

Slegers and her team have managed to rejuvenate Arsenal’s attack in just a month and their display against Tottenham was undoubtedly ruthless.

They are unbeaten since she took charge after former manager Jonas Eidevall’s exit, and have handed Tottenham, Juventus, and Brighton heavy defeats in their last three fixtures without conceding a single goal.

Arsenal were 1-0 up within 63 seconds, when Mariona Caldentey powered in a cross which took a heavy deflection off Hayley Raso and fell into the path of Alessia Russo. She made no mistake with her shot, to which Tottenham goalkeeper Becky Spencer was unable to get a hand.

What should have been a wake-up call for the home side was anything but. For the majority of the first 45 minutes, they were stuck in their own half, sitting back, yet simultaneously leaving themselves far too open to Arsenal’s relentless pressing.

The visitors doubled their lead in the 22nd minute after Leah Williamson was left unmarked and with plenty of space just outside the box. She sent the ball forward to Frida Maanum who volleyed it past an infuriated Spencer and into the bottom-left corner.

The second goal finally injected some life into Tottenham’s attack and they worked themselves out of their own half and created a couple of good chances.

Bethany England came closest in the 34th minute with a shot from just outside the box. It clipped the crossbar and led to a corner which ultimately came to nothing for the hosts – much to the joy of the animated section of away fans just behind the goal.

The Tottenham captain gestured wildly and shouted to her team in the aftermath, making her frustrations known after a disappointing 45 minutes.

The second half followed much of the same pattern, with Arsenal looking dangerous every time they went forward and Tottenham struggling to cause visiting goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar any real problems.

It wasn’t quite as easy for Arsenal in the opening stages as Tottenham maintained a more rigid back line. However, the gulf in attacking quality between the two sides was demonstrated by the introduction of Arsenal’s firepower duo of Beth Mead and Stina Blackstenius.

The latter almost added a third goal to the visitors’ tally just moments after joining the game, and then made no mistake the second time she had a chance with a decisive strike from close range.

Slegers has overseen a complete revitalisation to her side’s attacking prowess although she would not be drawn into suggestions of her name being in the hat for the permanent role.

“The block has gone really well so far,” she said. “We have one more game ahead of us, and we’re going to do everything to get a good performance again in that last game and that’s when we start breathing. But for the moment we just have to stay focused because we’ve got a lot of hard work to do.”

At the start of the season, Arsenal lacked edge and many were questioning whether they were really capable of keeping up with fellow title challengers Manchester City and Chelsea.

But now, with their last loss being Eidevall’s final game just over a month ago, Arsenal have reasserted themselves as a force to be reckoned with. It would be surprising if Slegers were not emerging as a serious contender for the top job.

That could still change this season, with Tottenham, despite their defeat by Galatasaray, looking good in the Europa League and still in the Carabao Cup – what used to be the old Carling Cup – after knocking out Manchester City.

One can only assume that a Carabao Cup success would not be enough to break into Levy’s top three. A Europa League might be, given it earns qualification to the Champions League, but winning has not appeared to be the be-all and end-all at Tottenham for well over 20 years now.

It should be a source of profound embarrassment to Levy that for all the excellent players he has employed – Harry Kane and Gareth Bale were the two he picked out – Tottenham have not won more than a solitary League Cup under his watch.

Which brings us nicely to watches of the timepiece variety and the revelation by Hugo Lloris that the Tottenham squad who reached the final of the 2018/19 Champions League, of which Son was a member, were given watches with the word “finalist” engraved into the back of them.

That was the moment Lloris claims in his autobiography to have known that Levy and Tottenham were not in it for the winning, and after a defeat by Ipswich Town, fans are once again playing the club’s favourite game of “whose fault is it anyway?”

Postecoglou defended Tottenham over the Lloris comments, claiming that the “broader view” was that it “could have been a very successful period for the club”.

Maybe it would have been if the club had not become the first in history not to sign a single player in the summer before Tottenham’s Champions League final appearance. Or if Levy had backed Mauricio Pochettino, rather than sacking him just six months after it.

Postecoglou accepted responsibility for Tottenham’s inconsistency after the Ipswich defeat and it was the head coach who appeared to be on the end of some choice words from an angry fan as he headed down the tunnel.

No trophy for top-four finish

Asked at the same fans’ forum about how he handles criticism, Levy claimed: “I have a very thick skin and I just ignore it. (It) makes me want to be more successful.”

He was not asked how he would define “successful”. It would be interesting to hear if Levy’s interpretation of the word is different to that of Postecoglou, who recently responded to the suggestion “some people” see a top-four finish as being as good as a trophy with: “But there isn’t a trophy.”

Maybe somebody needs to tell Levy that his world-class stadium is not a trophy, just as the striking mural of Harry Kane on the way into it from White Hart Lane train station is not, either. And, apart from the watches he handed out, there is no silverware for reaching a final.

Much has been made – largely by himself – of Postecoglou’s record of winning trophies in his second seasons at clubs, but is he going to be another manager who finds that Tottenham is the exception to the rule? Jose Mourinho won trophies before and after his Tottenham experience, while Antonio Conte is top of the Serie A table with Napoli, the first club he has worked at since leaving Levy behind.

Supporters have an entire international break in which to go back and forth over the familiar Tottenham blame game. But the fact remains there has only been one constant during the 20-plus years in which Tottenham have managed to win a single trophy that does not even figure in the chairman’s top three.

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Tottenham Hotspur are to trigger a one-year option on Son Heung-min’s contract to commit his future to the club beyond the current season.

The Spurs and South Korea captain signed his latest deal in 2021 which expires in seven months’ time and it is understood that his club holds the power to extend for a further year.

Spurs only need to inform Son they have triggered their option and Telegraph Sport understands they fully intend to do so.

It means Son will head into a second decade at the club after joining from Bayer Leverkusen in 2015 in a deal worth £22 million, which has been rated as one of Spurs’ finest achievements in the transfer market in the modern era.

Ange Postecoglou appointed the 32-year-old captain at Spurs after Hugo Lloris’ departure, having played a huge part in the club emerging as Champions League regulars during his nine-and-a-half years at the club.

The forward has reached double figures for goals in all but his first season at the club, with his haul of 123 in the Premier League making him the joint-third top scorer currently playing in the competition. Only Mohamed Salah (164) and Jamie Vardy (140) have scored more.

Son was asked about his contract earlier this season and insisted he was focused on ending Spurs’ trophy drought, which dates back to 2008, rather than looking at a new deal.

While at the club, Son has reached the final of the Champions League and EFL Cup but has yet to win a trophy.

“I am fully focused on this year and just want to win something that everybody at the club – the players, all around – deserves,” he said. “That’s what I’m working for.

“In the future you never know what will happen, but I will give everything for this club because it’s been almost 10 years and I give everything.

“I still have a contract with the club which is the very important thing and I just want to give everything until my contract [expires].”

Spurs are lying in seventh place in the Premier League, with 16 points, nine behind leaders Liverpool, but just two points off fourth place.

Postecoglou’s side are also well-placed in the 36-team Europa League table, where they sit second on goal difference after three wins out of three, and have reached the EFL quarter-finals, with a home tie against Manchester United scheduled for next month.

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