North Wales Chronicle

Spurs host Manchester United in the Premier League looking to bounce back from a horror week, having crashed out of the Carabao Cup and FA Cup in the space of 72 hours.

It increased the pressure on Ange Postecoglou, who has battled with a huge injury crisis for the best part of three months which has left the club 14th in the table.

Discontent amongst supporters has grown with regular chants for chairman Daniel Levy to leave the club and a protest has been arranged for before and after Sunday’s 4.30pm kick-off by fan group Change for Tottenham.

A “peaceful march against the board” is set to occur to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before fans are called to congregate inside the South Stand concourse pre-match. After full-time, supporters are urged to “no matter the result applaud the players” before a sit-in protest to show the club board “enough is enough”.

Change for Tottenham member Christina Zandes told the PA news agency: “Even if we do get a win on Sunday, it doesn’t matter – we still want change to happen. This cycle is on repeat and we can’t keep going on with this.

“We’re tired. A lot of the fans are disconnected completely from the club and it’s a horrible feeling to see how bad we’re struggling right now and it should not be happening.”

Frustration has often centred on Tottenham’s lengthy trophy drought, with the 2008 League Cup their last silverware.

Data released by financial experts Deloitte last month has also been used against chairman Levy and the club’s majority shareholder ENIC.

Spurs placed ninth in Deloitte’s list of the world’s richest clubs with revenue of £520million from the 2023-24 season, but the club’s spend of 42 per cent of its revenue on wages was the lowest of any team in the top 10. It was also lower than all eight Premier League clubs in Deloitte’s top 20 with West Ham, Newcastle and Aston Villa spending more of their revenue on wages.

While Spurs signed Dominic Solanke for £65million from Bournemouth last summer alongside a number of highly-rated teenage prospects, it has failed to translate into consistent results with Postecoglou’s squad unable to cope with the demand of extra cup fixtures.

The Europa League remains Tottenham’s last hope of silverware this term and potentially their best chance to ensure they play in Europe again in 2025-26, with qualification via the league currently unlikely.

Change for Tottenham recently sent a letter to the club board outlining its concerns regarding the role of chairman Levy in addition to the direction of the club.

A Spurs response seen by PA noted: “Improved performances on the pitch is paramount and we all need to be unified and focus on support for our players – home and away.”

“It came to a point where we wanted to do something because we’re having this similar cycle at Tottenham where you feel progress is coming, but sadly we always take a step back,” Zandes added.

“We’ve built this world-class, incredible stadium and we have a world-class training facility. It all looks beautiful from the outside, but on the inside it is not there.

“Everyone just laughs at us now. It is known we haven’t won a trophy in a very long time and the fans are coming to a point where we all feel disconnected to the club.

“It’s something I feel is quite sad because for such a beautiful club and for what it could be, there is not much achievement on the pitch and this is what we want to do. We want to make change.

“We’ve had discussions about Daniel Levy and if you feel he could leave, is it a risk?

“It’s come to the point now where I am willing to take the risk because it feels like it’s going to be a never-ending cycle.”

Tottenham have been contacted by the PA news agency for comment.

After Ange Postecoglou’s team had narrowly avoided an early Carabao Cup exit at Coventry on Wednesday, they conceded after 22 seconds to Brentford through Bryan Mbeumo.

However, Solanke levelled in the eighth minute before Brennan Johnson made it goals in back-to-back matches after his recent social-media abuse and James Maddison wrapped up a deserved three points with a third late on.

The Bees were left to rue referee John Brooks failing to spot Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario’s handball outside the penalty area in the 58th minute before the Italian made key saves to deny Mbeumo and Kevin Schade.

Brentford were without Yoane Wissa due to an ankle injury, but again only needed 22 seconds to take the lead like they did at Manchester City.

Almost straight from the kick-off Keane Lewis-Potter cut inside and crossed for Mbeumo, who was given too much space by Micky van de Ven and brilliantly volleyed into the top corner.

Spurs responded strongly with a Rodrigo Bentancur shot deflected wide before Maddison had an effort blocked by Ethan Pinnock.

Pinnock’s wayward pass led to Tottenham’s equaliser. Maddison stole in ahead of Vitaly Janelt and while Mark Flekken saved his low strike, Solanke was on hand to tap home in the eighth minute.

It was Solanke’s first goal since his £65million move from Bournemouth last month and also the third game in a row he had scored against Brentford.

The Spurs attack, which had struggled to click during the opening weeks of the season, was in full flow with a Son Heung-min curler saved before Johnson drilled wide.

Destiny Udogie was the next to threaten and Son should have made it 2-1 in the 26th minute when he raced through, but Flekken got a crucial touch after the Tottenham captain tried to round the Bees goalkeeper.

Two minutes later and Postecoglou watched his team go in front with Johnson again able to silence his critics.

Son passed out to Johnson, who dribbled past Nathan Collins and brilliantly drilled into the bottom corner a week on from receiving social media abuse.

Chants for Johnson from the home crowd followed before a yellow card for Van de Ven resulted in words being exchanged between Thomas Frank and Spurs first-team coach Ryan Mason.

There was still time for Guglielmo Vicario to dally on the ball, but he blocked Mbeumo’s shot before Mikel Damsgaard fired straight at the Italian to bring an action-packed half to an end.

Further chances were created after the break with the excellent Dejan Kulusevski denied before Flekken made a superb stop to thwart Solanke from close range.

Brentford were rightly furious in the 58th minute though when Vicario appeared to handle outside his area after he tried but failed to claim a cross ahead of Damsgaard.

Kristoffer Ajer and Bees boss Frank were booked for dissent, but it galvanised the away side as Mbeumo was played in only for Vicario to make a fine one-handed save.

Frank sent on forward Kevin Schade and soon after he met Sepp van den Berg’s cross but Vicario made an even better save to claw away the header.

No final chance for Brentford would be forthcoming as Tottenham wrapped up the points with five minutes left when Cristian Romero played through to Son, who clipped into Maddison’s path and he chipped home the third.