Prior to the home game against Watford, Mauricio Pochettino had pointed to a dinner invite from his Tottenham players as an indication of their continued support.
The offer was less about attending his last supper and instead a sign they remained strong as a unit, determined to turn around a campaign that had started unravelling rapidly prior to the international break, according to the defiant Spurs boss.
Against the Hornets, there was certainly no sign of a lack of effort from the team. The problem was more to do with the lack of a cutting edge, culminating in a 1-1 draw that stops the rot but offers little in the way of long-term optimism.
The fixture list had seemingly served up an appetising offer for Spurs to move on quickly from back-to-back defeats ear…
There are no doubts over the big game of this weekend in the Premier League.
Liverpool host the only team to have taken points off them so far this season as bitter rivals Manchester United make the trip to Anfield.
Manchester City and Leicester City, second and third respectively, face matches against Crystal Palace and Burnley.
Watford, rejuvenated under Nigel Pearson, might fancy their chances of claiming a big scalp when they welcome Jose Mourinho s Tottenham to Vicarage Road.
Elsewhere in London, Arsenal will be eyeing victory over Sheffield United, while David Moyes is preparing for a reunion when West Ham take on Everton.
Before all the action gets under way, why not give our Opta-powered quiz a go? You can find all the answers at the bo…
There is almost no doubt that Alvaro Morata will be back on the bench when Real Madrid meet Atletico Madrid on Saturday. There is no doubt at all that he deserves much better.
Zinedine Zidane called on the striker for the short trip to Leganes as he chose to rest Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema. There was no small amount of pressure on him to perform in the absence of the BBC , especially after Barcelona had just battered Sevilla to move back to the top of LaLiga.
As he has so often this season, Morata responded. Whether or not he scored a hat-trick is up for debate Madrid, at least, insist he should be credited with a third goal that deflected in off Martin Mantovani but his impact was beyond a doubt. Madrid would not have won 4-2, and would not be top …
Best odds: 4/6
Bookmaker:
Juventus are set to welcome Parma to the Allianz Stadium on Sunday evening when the two teams do battle for points in the 20th round of this season s Serie A roller coaster, with different goals set for their respective campaigns.
Juventus
The champions are, naturally, fighting to defend their title and there can be no opponent in the league against which any other result but a win is good enough, especially on home soil. Having won the title every year since 2012, it s not really surprising to see them at the top of the table, where they currently reside with at total of 48 points from the previous 19 games, two more than Inter Milan in second place and six more than Lazio in third.
Their team is built to shoot for the stars, …
Mauricio Pochettino is confident Tottenham will be able to play the home leg of their Champions League quarter-final at the club s new stadium.
Spurs had initially hoped to relocate into their new permanent home early this season, but construction delays have kept them at Wembley, which they also used throughout the 2017-18 campaign.
The situation was particularly frustrating for the club and supporters when a home EFL Cup tie against Watford back in September had to be played in Milton Keynes due to another event taking place at the national stadium.
Pochettino said in November last year that he hoped a February move-in date was possible, and although that proved to be an impossibility, the Spurs boss appears to have confirmed reports that the switch…
According to a recent report from Sport Bild, Borussia Dortmund are not planning on selling Jadon Sancho during the January transfer window – and in equal measure, the staff aren’t expecting him to push for a move away until at least next summer.
There have been some issues between the two parties as of late that has let many wondering whether or not a return to the Premier League would be on the cards. As it turns out, though, Sancho seems more determined than ever before to make the best of a bad situation by putting himself out there on the open market.
We’ve all seen just how good this kid is, and if there are multiple top clubs back home that want to invest in him as a future star, you can bet he’ll give his all to make a real statement of intent regard…
Napoli captain Lorenzo Insigne said he is waiting to sign a new contract as he insisted both parties want to move forward together .
Insigne – who has been linked with Premier League giants Liverpool – cast doubt over his future last month when he conceded an offer may come in that he can t refuse .
However, the 27-year-old star forward is ready to commit his future to his boyhood club, where he emerged from the youth team in 2010.
Renewal? I m waiting for the president, Insigne told Sky Sport Italia after converting a 98th-minute penalty in a 2-1 win at home to Cagliari as Napoli sealed second spot on Sunday.
For my part there s maximum availability. We both want to move forward together. I hope that the signing of the contract will come soon.
Joshua Kimmich described Germany s humiliating World Cup exit as the worst moment of his career as Japan and Spain progressed following a dramatic Group E finale on Thursday.
Germany began their final fixture against Costa Rica knowing a win would likely take them into the last 16 if Japan failed to beat Spain, and Hansi Flick s men held up their end of the bargain with a 4-2 victory.
However, Ritsu Doan and Ao Tanaka scored as Japan staged a remarkable comeback to beat La Roja, ensuring they emerged as surprise group winners and ending Germany s bid for a fifth World Cup triumph.
Germany have now failed to progress beyond the group stage at consecutive World Cups after doing so on each of their previous 16 appearances at the tournament, leaving Kimmich devastate…
According to a recent report from Sky Sports News, Chelsea midfielder Danny Drinkwater is currently undergoing a medical with Aston Villa ahead of a proposed loan deal until the end of the season. Drinkwater, who saw his loan spell with Burnley get cut short, was set to return to training with the Blues until Chelsea agreed to loan him out while still paying a significant portion of his wages.
Villa believe that he is fit enough to go straight into the first team, which may surprise a few people given the lack of playing time he’s had in the last few years.
The injury to John McGinn is a huge reason as to why Drinkwater is being brought into the mix, with Villa really suffering from their recent injury crisis.
Now, Drinkwater needs to prove that he’s w…
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic believes his team lacked courage as they were held by Morocco in their World Cup opener, with Luka Modric offering a similar opinion.
The 2018 runners-up were big favourites to claim an opening-day win that would have been big step towards progression from a group that also features Belgium and Canada.
While Croatia enjoyed just shy of 65 per cent of the ball, they only managed to craft two clear opportunities at Al Bayt Stadium on Wednesday.
The first, a prodded Nikola Vlasic effort, was saved well by Yassine Bounou at the end of the second half, and just before the break Sofyan Amrabat made a vital block to keep Dejan Lovren s attempt out of the bottom-left corner.
Nevertheless, their accumulative expected goals figure of 0.66…