Tottenham’s visit to Chelsea began mundanely but by the end was a stage for Dele Alli to deliver two exhilarating goals brimming with imaginationThere was a fascinating moment towards the end of a slightly dull opening half-hour at Stamford Beige. Dele Alli had been on the fringe of things in a game that had barely clanked up out of second gear. There were a few loose touches, some misplaced passes. Even then Alli had been his unignorable self, an oddly captivating figure even in those moments where he seems to be playing through a mild fog, circuits jammed, flicks and feints a little out of whack.That sense of power in reserve was there again as Andreas Christensen and Victor Moses...
A feline invader merits a Uefa inquiry, while Danny Welbeck showcased with impunity the English talent for deception also displayed by Sterling, Vardy and of course Dele AlliPresumably, everyone is up to speed by now about the reassuring news from Uefa, permanently trying to find different ways of curing football’s ills, that it has launched disciplinary action against Besiktas because of the pitch invader that briefly interrupted the club’s Champions League tie against Bayern Munich.Even by Uefa’s standards, it’s a belter of a story given that it was actually a ginger cat who had wandered in off the streets to investigate what all these silly humans were up to. Unfortunately for Besiktas, nobody at Uefa appears to be aware that...
The England international showed another side to his game in a more central role against Liverpool, producing a sublime display on his return to the teamThere was a fascinating moment during Tottenham Hotspur’s 4-1 shellacking of Liverpool at Wembley on Sunday; a moment made all the more so by the fact it didn’t involve Harry Kane gorging himself, flesh‑eating zombie-style, on some poor dawdling defender, Son Heung-min leading another brutal counterattack or any of the other stuff that took up most of the highlights reel. Related: Tottenham show José Mourinho how counter-attacking game should work | Jonathan Wilson Continue reading...
Spurs pair who cost pittance are second and third most valuable players in the world behind Neymar according to one estimate – but fans still crave a splurgeNow that the Lions tour and Wimbledon are over, and with the Test series against South Africa yet to grab the attention, thoughts can easily turn to the start of the new football season, which is only two weeks away. Or rather to the pre-season competition. I don’t mean friendly tournaments, like the money-spinning non-event of the so-called International Champions Cup. But the true sport and drama of the transfer window. A kind of fantasy football for chairmen, it is also a ritual that finds generous space for frenzied media and desperate fans...