I remember the good old days when you had to rely on Ceefax. Now we’re subjected to blow-by-blow accounts of every dealHave you ever wondered how long Richarlison’s legs are? It’s something I confess to spending very little time considering until this week, when Spurs tweeted out a five-minute video of the Brazilian’s first day at the club.We begin with him walking into the training ground flanked by an entourage of three. He gets a half-hearted welcome from Ivan Perisic and we’re into the physio room for his medical. Is this his real medical or his show medical? A man checks his legs can bend at the knee and goes full shipping forecast, “45 internal, approaching 90 external”. It cuts...
There was no repeat of Lasagna-gate as Spurs beat Norwich 5-0 to secure Champions League football next seasonAt the end of this hazy, fun, end-of-term romp Antonio Conte could be seen striding out across the Carrow Road turf to join his players in front of the Tottenham support, who had spent the last hour basking and lolling and running through their repertoire of songs, serenading not just the players or the excellent transport links now in place for any potential trip back to Woolwich for their north London neighbours, but above all Conte himself.Conte had come to Norfolk sporting a kind of narrow-boat chic, blue leather yacht shoes, nautical slacks, navy sweater. As the players celebrated he moved among the...
Will City or Liverpool be champions? Burnley or Leeds to go down? And surely Spurs won’t lose at Norwich … will they?This season’s final-day title battle will have an air of familiarity as Manchester City look to pip Liverpool to the post for the third time in the last decade. Steven Gerrard will be in the opposition dugout at the stadium where the greatest finale of all played out 10 years ago. Folklore is in the air, but Pep Guardiola might feel frustrated that it has come to this. City could have few complaints with their draw at West Ham, digging in to rescue a vital point after a disastrous first half – but had Riyad Mahrez scored his late...
Spurs sat back in the north London derby, then applied their shoulder to the wheel to bump and press Mikel Arteta’s sideTwo minutes into the second half of this north London derby, Harry Kane took the ball inside the Arsenal penalty area and entered into a chest-bumping grapple with Gabriel. Kane stalled a little, struggling to keep his feet. Then he did something that seemed to capture the physics, the newtons of this match in a single collision. Kane pushed and found no resistance, no pressure in front of him.Gabriel fell backwards, swished aside like a pair of rickety saloon bar doors. The ball was nudged back to Son Heung-min, who smashed it past Aaron Ramsdale to make the score...
Tottenham’s twin spearheads underline their star quality to hand Manchester City the advantage over rivals LiverpoolWith 56 minutes gone, as the sky began to fade from powder blue to black, Emerson Royal pumped a hopeful pass into the empty air above the roof-lights, seeking out Harry Kane, who craned his neck, adjusting his feet, reading the arc.At that point the game seemed to fall apart a little. For almost an hour this had been a close, stifling game. Just before half-time Liverpool had applied one of those periods of surge-football, where they seem to be playing out of the same red mist, winning the ball back repeatedly, forcing the Spurs players to sweat and puff and turn a little dizzy....