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Spurs swap the Premier League for the Carabao Cup this evening in North London as they welcome Man City to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Spurs vs Man City in the Carabao Cup

The League Cup is often seen by many as the best route to ending a long trophy drought in N17, but coming up against the reigning Premier League champions in Round Four is less than ideal.

Spurs have performed poorly in the cup competitions over the past two seasons and fans will be dying for a good old-fashioned cup run into 2025.

Of course, facing a heavyweight like Man City so early on comes with its pros and cons. If you get knocked out, at least you did so early and have fewer games to play. If you get through, you’re not only in the hat for the next round, but also knocked out one of your biggest rivals to lift the trophy.

Tottenham vs Man City score prediction

Pascal Chimbonda has gone with the complete opposite prediction to us this week. He expects Spurs to drop out of the Carabao Cup at the hands of Man City, while we are hoping for a narrow win.

Pascal prediction – 2-1 Man City win

Spurs Web prediction – 2-1 Tottenham win

The Table

What do you think the Tottenham vs Man City score will be?

Ange Postecoglou has offered a scenario where both Richarlison and Dominic Solanke could start against Manchester City, in light of the injuries that he is dealing with. But should Tottenham go for it?

Who starts on the left?

The big question for Postecoglou to answer is who starts on the left, with Heung-min Son and Wilson Odobert still out of action.

Mikey Moore has started Tottenham’s last two games against Crystal Palace and AZ Alkmaar, but it has been suggested that the 17-year-old is now expected to drop back to the bench.

This claim was made by GiveMeSport, who reported on Tuesday that Timo Werner is expected to return to the lineup against Man City despite his recent struggles.

Ange Postecoglou has suggested an alternative option

Postecoglou said this week that he is also open to the option of starting Richarlison on the left rather than through the middle, pointing out that the former Everton man has played in that position plenty of times in his career.

The Tottenham head coach said in his pre-match press conference (via Football.London): “I think Richy has played a lot of his football on the left and he’s definitely an option there for us. He’s an option through the middle as well.

“Again, he’s getting some good match minutes now and hopefully with the next couple of weeks, with a good game schedule. He is only just getting his season started and the more we can expose him without overburdening him in these early stages, he’ll be able to contribute even more.”

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Should both Richarlison and Solanke start?

It would be quite surprising if Ange decides to play Richarlison on the left and names Dominic Solanke to lead the line. The Australian has made it clear that he wants to manage the minutes of his key players, which is why one would expect the English centre-forward to be on the bench for this evening’s clash.

However, I believe that Richarlison on the left and Solanke down the middle is perhaps the best of a bad bunch when it comes to options for this evening. Mikey Moore has started the last two matches and Postecoglou won’t want to burn him out, while both Son and Odobert are unavailable through injury. Timo Werner is an option, but he has hardly set the world alight in recent weeks.

Richarlison not only provides a direct threat from the left, but also offers something a little different in the box. Pedro Porro crossing in from the right to two strikers in the Man City box is a whole lot better than one. Not to mention the fact that getting Richarlison’s fitness up will be a huge boost to Spurs regardless of the result tonight.

If I were Ange Postecoglou, I would start with a front three of Richarlison, Solanke, and Johnson, with at least one of Maddison or Kulusevski in midfield too. It seems unlikely both creative midfielders will start this evening, and maybe that is a good thing because Spurs need all the solidity they can get in that engine room against Man City.

Sometimes, getting players to sign new deals can be just as important as signing a new player entirely. Here, we take a look at five Spurs stars who need new contracts signed as soon as possible.

Heung-min Son

Out of all possible new contracts at Spurs, this one is a no-brainer. The Spurs captain’s current contract expires at the end of the season, and while the club does have the option to trigger an automatic one-year extension, it would be far wiser to secure Heung-min Son into a new agreement that would take him to the end of the career.

Son is still the most important and influential player in the squad at Tottenham, and with the legacy he has built at the club over the last ten years, he more than deserves to stay for as long as he wants. Plus, getting him locked in for the rest of his playing days would delight the fans, too.

Ben Davies

While Ben Davies may not be a regular fixture in the starting XI these days, he has proven time and time again that he is a dependable and valuable member of the wider squad. His experience and versatility are hugely beneficial, and he knows how to get us through the more high-stakes games that some of the younger players aren’t used to.

Davies’ current contract expires at the end of the season. Giving him a new deal would be a really sound investment for the future, not just in terms of what he offers on the pitch, but what he can do for Spurs after he retires. Make no mistake, Davies will be a top manager one day, and we would do well to integrate him into the coaching staff at Spurs as soon as we can. He definitely deserves one of the new contracts at Spurs.

Yves Bissouma

He’s had his ups and downs in his time at Spurs, but Yves Bissouma is arguably the best central midfielder in the squad on his day. Calm, composed, strong, and possessing the ability to drive forward with the ball, the Mali international is the epitome of what Ange Postecoglou wants in a midfielder.

His contract expires in 2026, and though he will be pushing 30-years-old by that point, he’s a player Spurs will want to keep around for another year or two after that.

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Cristian Romero

Cristian Romero‘s current deal doesn’t come to an end until 2027, but with Real Madrid sniffing around, it would not hurt to get him on new terms as soon as possible.

The vice-captain is one of the highest-paid players at the club already, but bumping that up a little would certainly keep Romero happy, and extending his contract would potentially be enough to deter other clubs from trying to make an approach.

Dejan Kulusevski

There is no Tottenham player in better form right now than Dejan Kulusevski. Since moving inside and playing as more of a central playmaker rather than a winger, the Swedish star has been able to dictate the game far better. He’s making Spurs tick, and he is absolutely essential to this team now.

Kulusevski still has a while left on his contract — it doesn’t expire until the summer of 2028 — but if he keeps up this level of performance, he will not only deserve a new deal, but it would also help to stave off any interest from outside parties. He will be more in demand than ever next summer, so needs one of these top five new contracts at Spurs.

Ashley Phillips has had a tought start to life with Stoke City during his loan spell this season, but he just bagged his first goal for the club, and a wonderful one at that.

Ashley Phillips struggling for minutes at Stoke

After a fairly successful spell with Plymouth Argyle last season, there were high hopes that Ashley Phillips could continue his development effectively at Stoke this term.

However, the young defender has made just two appearances in the Championship so far, and has been an unused substitute on six occasions.

He got 90 minutes under his belt at the weekend, though he and his teammates were on the wrong end of a 4-0 scoreline against Sheffield United.

Phillips has featured prominently for the Potters in the Carabao Cup, though, and managed another 90 minutes this week in a 3-2 defeat to Southampton in the fourth round of the competition.

Phillips off the mark in cup tie

With Stoke trailing 2-0 to their Premier League opponents, the cup tie appeared to be done and dusted, but the Championship side were back in it just before half-time thanks to Phillips’ first goal for the club.

With 45 minutes on the clock, Stoke won a free-kick about 35 yards out. The ball was fired into the box and, after a flick-on from Jaden Dixon and a richochet off Saints defender Yukinari Sugawara, the ball fell to Phillips, who coolly converted with a clever flick.

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Phillips saw the ball floating just behind him, and in a stroke of genius, used a neat backheel finish to slot the ball beyond Aaron Ramsdale.

The start of a good run for Phillips

It seems that every weekend there is another team complaining about referee decisions and how they are impacting games, but for Tottenham, there really is very little to moan about, as Premier League referees are being more than fair to the Lilywhites this season.

Spurs benefitting from lenient referees

Tottenham are not really known as a particularly dirty team, and the number of red and yellow cards they’ve received from referees this season reflects that.

Ange Postecoglou has not had to deal with any suspensions as of yet, with his players staying on the right side of the referees. And now, there’s actual data to back that up.

The folk at talkSPORT BET have crunched the numbers on teams in the Premier League this season, looking at the number of fouls committed by each team, the number of bookings they have received, and working out how many fouls they are being allowed to get away with before the yellow card is brandished.

Turns out, Spurs are seventh in the table on this metric, meaning only six other teams get away with more fouls without a booking.

The North London outfit have registered 94 fouls across the eight league games this season, but have picked up just 19 bookings. That works out at 4.95 fouls per booking, and suggests referees are being rather lenient with Postecoglou’s side.

Noisy neighbours complaining for nothing

On the other side of North London, it feels like Arsenal fans can’t stop bemoaning their luck when it comes to the way referees are treating them.

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The Gunners have picked up three red cards already this season. But, as per this study, Mikel Arteta’s team actually get away with more than Spurs, coming in fourth in this table with 5.39 fouls per booking.

Only Everton (6.77 per booking), Aston Villa (6.21 per booking), and West Ham (6.21 per booking) have been handled more leniently than Arsenal.

Interestingly, Manchester City are the team that gets punished the quickest, with a booking for every 2.83 fouls. Chelsea are next on the list, with a booking for every 2.93 fouls, and Manchester United pick up a yellow for every 3.42 fouls.

Big Six bias debunked

It would seem referees are much more likely, then, to punish one of the bigger teams in the league a lot sooner. Still, it’s curious that Arsenal are treated so well, given their disciplinary record this season, and the fact their fans won’t stop complaining.

Ange Postecoglou has been at Spurs for close to 18 months now, and has made some pretty brilliant signings during that time, but what about the transfers he missed out on?

Since last summer, Postecoglou has brought in the likes of James Maddison, Dominic Solanke, and Micky van de Ven, all of whom have become key players in the Spurs first-team.

All those transfers happened as the result of decisions in the transfer market, with other options left behind to join other clubs instead. So, let’s take a look at the players Postecoglou opted not to sign for Spurs.

David Raya

Last summer, the top priority for Spurs was to replace Hugo Lloris and find a new number-one goalkeeper. For weeks, it seemed David Raya would be the man for the job, but Spurs eventually went for Guglielmo Vicario due to Brentford demanding too much for their Spanish stopper.

Raya would later join Arsenal and has now firmly established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League. The Gunners upgraded on Aaron Ramsdale thanks to Raya, and while Vicario is a solid keeper, it’s hard not to feel like Spurs missed out with this one.

Jean-Clair Todibo

Another key area Spurs needed to work on last year was at centre-half, and Postecoglou eventually decided to bring in Micky van de Ven to partner Cristian Romero at the heart of defence. Suffice it to say, that was a great move.

The alternative at the time was Jean-Clair Todibo, but the Frenchman decided to stay with Nice for another year. He joined West Ham this summer, and has not made a great start to his time in London, making a number of mistakes and looking off the pace in the Premier League.

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Adam Wharton

In the January transfer window, Spurs were strongly linked with a move for Adam Wharton, who had been flourishing with Blackburn Rovers in the Championship. Crystal Palace managed to snap up the midfielder, and he very quickly proved he was more than ready for the step up to the Premier League.

Putting in a string of top performances as Palace thrived under Oliver Glasner at the end of last season, Wharton would eventually make it into Gareth Southgate’s England squad for Euro 2024. Spurs are well-stocked in midfield, but Wharton would have been a great addition to that roster.

Federico Chiesa

The saga surrounding Federico Chiesa over the summer was an odd one. Deemed surplus to requirements at Juventus, reports in Italy strongly suggested Tottenham were eager to sign the winger, but sources closer to home rubbished this.

The Italian went on to join Liverpool, but has played just 18 minutes of Premier League football so far for Arne Slot’s side and has barely even made the matchday squad this season. As it stands, Spurs really dodged a bullet with this one.

Ivan Toney

After trudging on for a year in the wake of Harry Kane’s departure, Spurs needed to sign a new striker this summer. Most of the reports out there suggested it was a toss-up between Ivan Toney and Dominic Solanke, and Postecoglou opted to sign the latter, insisting he was always the top target.

Solanke has made a decent start at Spurs, scoring three goals and impressing with his high work rate and intense pressing game. Toney, meanwhile, failed to secure a move to any of the big clubs in England, and ended up at Saudi Pro League club Al-Ahli. He’s scoring goals, but the standard of football there means his reputation has taken a considerable dip.

Spurs fans will be excited by what Pep Guardiola has previously said about a striker who Tottenham are reportedly plotting a move for.

Tottenham leading race for PL striker

While Liam Delap was always rated highly while coming through the ranks at Manchester City, the striker never managed to get a run in the first-team, making a total of just six appearances for his boyhood club.

Following a series of loan spells in the EFL, the centre-forward made a permanent switch to Ipswich Town this summer, and he has not taken long to get going at the newly promoted club.

The 21-year-old has already found the back of the net on four occasions for Kieran McKenna’s men, and this has attracted Tottenham’s attention, with CaughtOffside claiming last week that Spurs are leading the race for him.

Pep Guardioal’s endorsement of Liam Delap

Guardiola, who saw Delap up close for many years, is certainly not in any doubt over the striker’s talent, with the Spaniard giving a ringing endorsement of the youngster a couple of years ago.

He said back in 2022 about the City academy graduate (as relayed by BBC): “He is the type of striker we don’t have. He is a killer. A typical British striker.

“An incredible finisher. He has a special quality,” the manager added. “He is a different type of striker.”

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Will a deal be difficult for Spurs to do?

The aforementioned report from CaughtOffside suggested that Tottenham are not the only ones eyeing Delap, who is also on the radars of Arsenal, Newcastle United, and Aston Villa.

However, it was revealed that Ange Postecoglou’s men are in pole position in the race and are ‘keen to snap him up’ in January.

The publication added that an offer of around €40m (£33.3m) would be enough to prise the 21-year-old away from Portman Road Stadium, even though he only made the switch to Ipswich back in the summer.

The Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust are up in arms after the club’s latest announcement regarding the ticket prices for the Europa League fixtures.

Europa League ticket prices at Spurs’ stadium

According to The Daily Mail, an adult ticket for the clash against Qarabag at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium cost £30 while Spurs decided to charge £35 for the clash against AZ Alkmaar.

The price increase led to a drop in attendance, with only 53,438 spectators attending Thursday’s game, which is 9,412 below full capacity.

However, despite this, Spurs have decided to charge a higher price for the clash against AS Roma on November 28.

THST not happy with Spurs announcement

It was announced on Friday that Tottenham’s clash against Roma would be ‘priced equivalent to Category C fixtures’. The cheapest Category C ticket is £38, while the most expensive Category C ticket (not including hospitality) is £81.

THST revealed that they had asked the tickets to be made available for a lower price and admitted that they were disappointed by the latest announcement.

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Decent attendance for Europa League fixtures

An attendance of 53,438 for a Europa League group stage game against Alkmaar on a Thursday night is actually pretty decent.

I am sure that the club are confident that they will get a near full house against Roma, even though they have jacked up the price.

While the match will likely be a dead rubber, the glamour of playing one of the biggest clubs in the Serie A elevates the size of the game.

Former Everton CEO Keith Wyness believes that Daniel Levy might be on the verge of making a big appointment at Tottenham.

Key position at Tottenham is vacant

At this point, it is unclear who is spearheading Spurs’ commercial operations after it was announced earlier this year that the club’s former chief commercial officer, Todd Kline, had accepted the same role at Chelsea.

Kline is currently on gardening leave and there has been no official communication from Tottenham regarding his replacement.

That is a position that would have to be filled soon, especially at a time when the club are seeking a naming rights partner and are reportedly in talks over a minority sale (The Sun).

Keith Wyness believes Spurs announcement is coming

Wyness believes that it will not be long before Tottenham confirm Kline’s successor, suggesting that Daniel Levy is likely to be in the final stages of confirming a new appointment.

He told Football Insider: “I’ve got no information on who the new chief commercial officer will be. It will be a good appointment, I’m sure, Daniel Levy is very good at getting the right people in.

“But he never seems to hang on to them for long – either in the commercial area or the operational area. It seems to be a pretty quick turnover of two to three years for each position.

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“It’s an area they need to get someone in place quickly, and I’m sure they are in the final stages of doing that – but I’ve got no names just yet.”

Have Spurs already appointed Todd Kline’s successor?

It was suggested by TBR Football on October 18th that Spurs might have already appointed Kline’s replacement behind the scenes even though they have not made it public.

The outlet pointed out that in the recently held Leaders Week, which is the biggest annual conference for sports business professionals, one of the attendees listed was the ‘chief commercial officer for Tottenham Hotspur’.

They claimed that a newcomer might have thus already begun working in that position on an informal basis.

Gary Neville explains why Ange Postecoglou’s men played a key role in getting Erik Ten Hag sacked from Manchester United.

Both Spurs and Man Utd struggling

Neither Spurs nor Man Utd have had the kind of starts they would have hoped for in the new 2024/25 Premier League season.

A quarter of the way into the campaign, the Lilywhites sit in eighth place with 13 points from nine matches, while United sit all the way back in 14th place.

The 2-1 loss to West Ham in the London Stadium proved to be the final nail in Ten Hag’s coffin, but Neville believes that the decision was coming since the loss to Tottenham.

Gary Neville says Spurs loss the catalyst for sacking

Neville admitted that he felt during United’s 3-0 loss to Spurs at Old Trafford a month ago that the writing was on the wall for the Dutchman.

He claimed that the United hierarchy would have begun their search for their new manager following that humiliation by Tottenham.

Speaking about Ten Hag’s sacking, the pundit told Sky Sports: “I thought it was coming. Looking at that Tottenham game a few weeks ago I felt I had seen this before. It was a bad day for Manchester United and a bad day for Erik ten Hag.

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“It’s got worse form then, yesterday (against West Ham) the missed chances were unacceptable, they should have been two up at halftime.

“Overall, the challenges of the results and performances have meant that the owners have decided to sack Erik ten Hag. I don’t think anybody will be truly shocked this morning.

“I suspect the Tottenham game was probably a catalyst for them to start thinking about a new manager. You look at who is available then you try to think of the timing. You are half hoping the manager can turn it around but 99 times out of 100, the tide is against you and continues to go against you.

“They’ve probably chosen a moment that was decided a few weeks ago – that the next bad loss or bad result, we’re probably going to have to act. That has come yesterday [vs West Ham]

“They would have started the process of finding Erik ten Hag’s successor, definitely, because that Tottenham game a few weeks ago did feel like the end.”

Not good news for Spurs

Ten Hag’s departure is not good news for Tottenham, considering that United are only two points behind the Lilywhites at the moment. Postecoglou will come under a lot of pressure unless he manages to turn things around quickly.

If the Red Devils do get a new manager bounce, they could well leapfrog Spurs very soon, given the difficult fixtures that the North London side have coming up.