Spurs have found a ruthlessness in front of goal over the festive season but have not always made pressure tell against the team top of the Premier LeagueTottenham Hotspur could hardly look sharper going into Wednesday’s high-stakes duel against Chelsea but they know the match represents a mighty test of their finishing skills and they must pass it if they are to retain hope of ending this season as champions. Related: Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea: match preview Related: Mauricio Pochettino reckons everyone else wants Spurs to beat Chelsea Continue reading...
Today’s rumours are wondering whether Shropshire’s nightclub scene will ever leave the 80s where it belongsLuka Modric’s move from Spurs to Real Madrid in 2012 was followed by a strange announcement from the London club. “The club can announce that it has signed a partnership agreement with Real Madrid FC and reached agreement for the transfer of Luka Modric, subject to medical, to the Spanish club. The partnership agreement will see the two clubs working together in respect of players, coaching, best practices and commercial relationships.”Having sold Gareth Bale to the Madrid giants a year later, and after receiving no players, coaches, no announcements of joint commercial ventures, Tottenham ended the ‘partnership’, having watched Real sell Mesut Özil to Spurs’...
Some got roughed up by Gary Neville, others had an obsession with Twitter, but from Michael Ricketts to Oumar Niasse, these players all have a dismal January transfer in commonAt 11.30pm on the first ever January transfer deadline day, Middlesbrough sealed the signing of the striker who was intended to revolutionise their team. “I was stuck in a rut at Bolton, training was the same all the time, things weren’t going the way I planned,” he revealed. “Hopefully that’s going to change here.” It didn’t change there: at the end of the following season, 18 months, 12 league starts and three goals after his arrival, he left for Leeds on a free transfer. Related: Premier League’s fear of the drop...
Leicester hope to party like it’s 1963, Liverpool must find a way to stop Joe Allen scoring and it is eight years since Phil Brown’s infamous Hull City team talkEvery year for more than half a century folks have been hoping for a repeat of the Boxing Day fun of 1963, when the 10 top-flight fixtures produced a record tally of 66 goals. We can’t get an exact repeat of that this year because half of the teams who were in the First Division back then are now in the lower leagues (although, as it happens, Ipswich and Fulham are meeting in the Championship this Boxing Day so Mick McCarthy could point to progress if his team do better than...
Claude Puel’s rotation proves a winner, opportunity finally knocks for Michy Batshuayi, and Mesut Özil’s invisibility at City should worry Arsène Wenger Related: The Dozen: the weekend's best Premier League photos Related: Premier League 2015-16 fans’ verdicts part one: Arsenal to Manchester United Related: Premier League fans’ half-time verdict part 2: Manchester United to West Ham Continue reading...