Tottenham Hotspur head coach Thomas Frank will be delighted with where the team is currently at, after moving up to third in the Premier League table on Sunday.

The former Brentford boss inherited a team that finished 17th in the division under Ange Postecoglou last season, despite winning the Europa League, which makes their current form all the more impressive.

Spurs travelled to Merseyside to take on Everton at the Hill Dickinson stadium on Sunday in the Premier League, and came away from that match with a 3-0 win.

Central midfielder Micky van de Ven took his tally for the season to five goals with two strikes in the first half, before Pape Matar Sarr added a third late on by heading in from close-range after Richarlison nodded the ball back across goal.

You would often be hard-pressed to find many negatives from a 3-0 win away from home in the Premier League, but there were some for the Lilywhites on Sunday.

For example, there was another fairly underwhelming performance from summer signing Xavi Simons in the middle of the park, and he needs to step up for Spurs in the coming weeks and months.

Why Xavi Simons needs to step up for Spurs

The Europa League champions splashed out £52m to sign the Netherlands international from RB Leipzig, possibly with the intention of him replacing James Maddison, who suffered an ACL injury in pre-season.

It is easy to see why they were willing to splash the cash on the former Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona youngster, as he produced consistent quality in the Bundesliga in the last two seasons.

Appearances

32

25

xG

8.26

5.11

Goals

8

10

Big chances created

14

12

Key passes per game

2.5

2.0

Assists

11

7

As you can see in the table above, Simons racked up 18 goals and 26 ‘big chances’ created as an attacking midfielder or winger, proving that he can make a big impact in the final third.

However, the Dutchman has no goals and one assist, which came from a corner, in ten appearances in all competitions for Tottenham since his move to the club in the summer window.

Simons, as of yet, has been unable to translate his influence in the Bundesliga over to the Premier League. Whether that will come with more time and experience in England, it remains to be seen.

The 22-year-old attacking midfielder played 62 minutes against Everton on Sunday, per Sofascore, and came off the pitch without any shots on goal or any chances created to show for his efforts for the Lilywhites, which shows that it was an ineffective performances in the final third.

Along with his struggles in the Premier League, Simons also has no goals, one key pass, and no ‘big chances’ created in three appearances in the Championship for Tottenham this term.

This shows that he has been struggling domestically and on the continent stage, which will be a concern for supporters and Frank at this stage, as the Dutch star is clearly capable of much better than he is showing, given his output for Leipzig in his two full seasons in Germany.

In The Pipeline

Football FanCast’s In the Pipeline series aims to uncover the very best youth players in world football.

With the £52m signing’s struggles at the top end of the pitch, though, it could be the right time for the Danish head coach to provide a young player with an opportunity to step up.

Luca Williams-Barnett made his first-team debut for the club in the League Cup in a 3-0 win against Doncaster Rovers, and he could emerge as a surprise upgrade on Simons.

Spurs travel to Tyneside to take on Newcastle United in the League Cup on Wednesday night, which could be the perfect opportunity to offer the teenage starlet a chance to shine.

Why Luca Williams-Barnett could be a Xavi Simons upgrade

The 17-year-old star’s form for the club at academy level this season suggests that he has the potential to be an exciting player for the first-team if he can make the step up.

As aforementioned, Simons has not stepped up to deliver goals and assists since his big-money move from Leipzig, with a goal contribution every ten matches on average so far.

Williams-Barnett, meanwhile, has scored eight goals and provided seven assists in 12 appearances in all competitions this season, including a three-minute cameo for the first-team, per Transfermarkt.

On top of his exceptional form in front of goal in the current campaign for Tottenham’s youth teams, the England U18 international also scored 20 goals in all competitions last season.

Appearances

23

12

Minutes

1857

894

Goals

20

8

Minutes per goal

93

112

Assists

12

7

Minutes per assist

155

128

Minutes per goal contribution

58

60

As you can see in the table above, Williams-Barnett has provided goals and assists on a consistent basis since the start of last season, averaging a goal or an assist every hour or so over the past 18 months.

U23 scout Antonio Mango went as far as to call him the “most underrated talent in English Academies”, which speaks to how impressed he has been with the Spurs youngster’s performances.

His talent has been recognised this season, though, as he won the Premier League 2 Player of the Month award for his displays at U21 level in September.

With all of this in mind, and the fact that his main position is as an attacking midfielder, it could be the right time for Frank to provide him with another chance to impress at first-team level after his debut against Doncaster last month.

Spurs have unearthed their new Vertonghen & it's not Van de Ven

Tottenham Hotspur may have found their next Jan Vertonghen, and it is not Micky van de Ven.

ByDan Emery Oct 27, 2025

He has shown unbelievable form and consistency for the academy team for more than a year, and his numbers at youth level suggest that he does have the potential to be an upgrade on the currently underperforming Xavi Simons, if he can make the step up.

Cole Palmer is set to miss the next six weeks for Chelsea with head coach Enzo Maresca warning that the club’s medical staff are “not magicians”.

The 23-year-old has been struggling with a groin injury for much of the season and has not played since being taken off 20 minutes into the 2-1 defeat by Manchester United on September 20.

Maresca shares Chelsea injury blow on Palmer

Prior to the international break Maresca said he had hoped to have Palmer back for Saturday’s game at Nottingham Forest but, when asked about the progress of the injury, he admitted:

The injury, which first presented when he was forced to withdraw from the line-up minutes before kick-off in the 5-1 win over West Ham in August, will not require surgery.

“He looks relaxed,” said Maresca. “He’s doing all the therapy that he needs to do. He looks good.”

Caicedo, Fernandez and Neto also Chelsea injury concerns

There was mixed injury news elsewhere in the squad with Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez and Pedro Neto, who featured against Liverpool, all doubts for the trip to the City Ground.

However Tosin Adarabioyo and Wesley Fofana are set to return to ease Maresca’s selection issues in defence while Andrey Santos is also back.

تحدث الإسباني إريك جارسيا، لاعب الفريق الأول لكرة القدم بنادي برشلونة عن فوز فريقه على أوساسونا ضمن منافسات الدوري الإسباني.

واستضاف ملعب “كامب نو” مباراة برشلونة وأوساسونا ضمن منافسات الجولة السادسة عشر من بطولة الدوري الإسباني، وانتهت المباراة بفوز البلوجرانا بهدفين نظيفين.

بعد هذا الفوز زاد برشلونة من رصيد نقاطه في صدارة جدول ترتيب الدوري الإسباني برصيد 43 نقطة، مبتعدًا عن ريال مدريد صاحب الوصافة برصيد 36 نقطة.

اقرأ أيضًا | سبب عدم مشاركة ليفاندوفسكي أمام أوساسونا

وقال جارسيا، في تصريحات نقلتها صحيفة “ماركا”: “كنا نعلم أنها ستكون مباراة متقاربة للغاية، افتقرنا إلى الإيقاع في تحريك الكرة، في النهاية ضد هذه الفرق إذا لم تحرك الكرة بسرعة، فسيكون الأمر صعبًا”.

وأكمل: “عندما تلعب أمام منافسيك وتزيد من تقدمك في جدول الدوري، فإنك تقضي يوم أحد هادئًا في المنزل”.

وأتم حول قوة بيدري وأهميته على أرض الملعب: “عندما تتعقد الأمور، أمرر الكرة إلى بيدري وهو يحل كل شيء”.

Trey Yesavage made his first career postseason start on Sunday, and boy did he make it count.

The 22-year-old was called on by the Toronto Blue Jays to start Game 2 of the American League Division Series, and the team's top prospect more than lived up to his billing. Yesavage was electric, and broke the franchise's record for strikeouts in a postseason start by the fourth inning.

The righty set, tied, or approached several MLB records during his outing, in which he struck out 11, walked one, and didn’t give up a single hit over 5 1/3 innings pitched. Toronto went on to win, 13–7, to put the Yankees down 2–0 in the series and on the brink of elimination.

He was the second-youngest player in history to have 10 or more strikeouts in a postseason game. Only John Candelaria was younger during Game 3 of the 1975 NLCS.

In the third and fourth innings, Yesavage struck out all six batters he faced. Those six strikeouts in a row also set an MLB postseason record.

He notched his ninth strikeout in the top of the fourth inning, breaking the Blue Jays' record for strikeouts in a postseason game, passing four players tied with eight.

Additionally, his 10 strikeouts through four innings are the most in postseason history, tied with Patrick Corbin's start in Game 4 of the 2019 NLCS.

Trey Yesavage Was Toronto's Top Prospect

The Blue Jays selected Yesavage with the 20th pick in the 2024 MLB draft. The East Carolina product was among the top players available, and Toronto inked him to a $4.1 million signing bonus.

He opened his professional career in A ball this year and climbed four levels over the course of 25 appearances, with 22 starts. Overall, he went 5-1 with a 3.12 ERA, a 0.97 WHIP, and 160 strikeouts against 41 walks in 98 minor league innings.

MLB Pipeline had him as the 26th-ranked prospect in all of baseball and the top youngster in Toronto's system.

The Blue Jays called Yesavage up to the big leagues on September 15 when he made his major league debut against the Tampa Bay Rays. In five starts, he went 1-0 with a 3.21 ERA, a 1.43 WHIP, and 16 strikeouts against seven walks in 14 innings. That late-season showing earned him a spot in the team's postseason rotation.

He made the most of it on Sunday.

MatériaMais Notícias

Fortaleza e Altos se enfrentam pelas quartas de final da Copa do Nordeste, neste domingo (21), às 19h (de Brasília), na Arena Castelão. O jogo terá transmissão da ESPN (TV fechada), Nosso Futebol (pay-per-view) e Dazn (streaming).

continua após a publicidadeRelacionadasOnde AssistirFortaleza x Cruzeiro: onde assistir ao vivo, horário e prováveis escalações do jogo pelo BrasileirãoOnde Assistir17/04/2024Futebol NacionalVÍDEO: Melhores momentos de São Paulo 1 x 2 Fortaleza pelo BrasileirãoFutebol Nacional14/04/2024DicasFortaleza x Cruzeiro: odds, estatísticas e informações para apostar no jogo do BrasileirãoDicas16/04/2024

➡️ Siga o Lance! no WhatsApp e acompanhe em tempo real as principais notícias do esporte

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Confira abaixo todas as informações que você precisa saber sobre o confronto (onde assistir, horário, escalações e local).

✅ FICHA TÉCNICA
FORTALEZA X ALTOS
COPA DO NORDESTE – JOGO ÚNICO (QUARTAS)

Data e horário: domingo, 21 de abril de 2024, às 19h (de Brasília)
Local: Arena Castelão, Fortaleza (CE)
Onde assistir: ESPN (TV fechada), Nosso Futebol (pay-per-view) e Dazn (streaming).
Arbitragem:  Marcio dos Santos Oliveira; José Ricardo Vasconcellos Laranjeira (VAR).

⚽ PROVÁVEIS ESCALAÇÕES
Fortaleza (TÉCNICO: Vojvoda)
Santos; Dudu, Brítez, Kuscevic e Bruno Pacheco; Lucas Sasha, Pochettino e Pedro Augusto; Marinho, Moisés e Lucero.

continua após a publicidade

Altos (TÉCNICO: Flávio Araújo)
Careca; Luis Guilherme, Leandro Amorim, Ricardo e Arthurzinho; Hudson, Marcelinho e Dhonata, Matheus, Brayann e Rhuann.

Tudo sobre

Copa do NordesteFortalezaFutebol NacionalOnde assistir

Red Sox star rookie outfielder Roman Anthony left the fourth inning of Tuesday night's contest against the Guardians with a back injury.

Anthony, who was hitting .291 on the season entering Tuesday as a breakout star in Boston's lineup, swung hard and missed at a breaking ball from Cleveland pitcher Slade Cecconi. He immediately grabbed his lower back and did not return to the game.

The Red Sox said Anthony was dealing with "left oblique tightness." He will undergo an MRI on Wednesday to confirm the severity of the injury.

The Red Sox won the game 11–7, and now sit at 78–62 on the season. Boston entered Tuesday night tied with the Yankees just 2.5 games out of first place in a hotly contested American League East. Both clubs are chasing the Blue Jays, who have been one of the best teams in the American League since June.

Any long-term injury to Anthony would be impactful to the Red Sox, who hope to not only win the division but compete for the American League pennant.

The Mets have some tough decisions ahead of them if they manage to fight their way into the playoffs.

Former staff ace Kodai Senga opened the season on fire, but may not even make the postseason roster.

In his first 14 starts this season, the 32-year-old was outstanding. He posted a 7–3 record with a 1.39 ERA, a 1.13 WHIP, with 74 strikeouts and 33 walks in 77 2/3 innings. Since then, he's been a mess.

After 13 excellent starts to open 2025, a hamstring injury suffered in June sidelined Senga for a month. He threw four shutout innings after returning on July 21, then fell off a cliff. Since then, he's made eight starts and has gone 0–3 with a 6.56 ERA, a 1.71 WHIP, and 35 strikeouts against 22 walks in 35 2/3 innings.

The Mets optioned him to Triple A Syracuse on September 5 to work through his control issues. In his lone start for the Mets' minor league affiliate, he allowed one run on three hits over six innings, striking out eight and, crucially, walking none.

The Mets are currently fighting for the final National League wild card spot and, if they get in, will have to decide whether or not to include Senga on the postseason roster. Manager Carlos Mendoza addressed that potential dilemma on Thursday.

"I think we'll have the conversation and we'll take the 13 guys that we feel are going to give us the best chance to win baseball games in October," Mendoza said "I think the biggest thing for him [is] to go out there today and have a good performance. And then we have decisions there."

Some excellent manager-speak by Mendoza there. Top-notch stuff.

Senga was so good early in the year that his awful stretch only raised his season ERA to 3.02. He was the Mets' ace for the first half of the season and is now on the outside looking in on a playoff rotation spot.

The India captain has crossed 50 just once in New Zealand, across three formats, so far

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Christchurch26-Feb-2020The Virat Kohli cover drive. What a shot, eh?ESPNcricinfo’s categories for logging shots played by batsmen have changed over the years, but counting “cover drive”, “off side drive on front foot” and “off drive” as descriptions of roughly similar shots (while leaving “off side drive on back foot” out of this far-from-scientific exercise), Kohli has scored more runs with it than any other shot in his Test career: 1911, off 1719 balls, with 282 fours and three sixes in the mix.He plays the shot brilliantly, and scores exceptionally quickly with it. He has a great eye, wonderful hands and wrists, and one of the longest front-foot strides in the game. This means he can play cover drives off a far wider range of lengths than most other batsmen. He can cover-drive balls that other batsmen might square-cut. More often, he’ll cover-drive balls that other batsmen might leave.And so, while scoring as many runs as he does with this shot (spectrum of shots, to put it more accurately), he also gets out playing it, quite a lot. He’s been out to it 25 times, which is as many times as he’s been out defending, except it’s taken him 3045 balls to get out as often while defending.ALSO READ: ‘Dry him up’ – Neil Wagner’s plan for Virat KohliKohli knows the risk-reward equation that comes with playing the shot this frequently, and he’s weighed it up and resolved to keep playing it, against every bowler and in nearly all types of conditions. And his judgment of when to play it is right far more often than it’s wrong; he wouldn’t average 54.30 otherwise.When he attempted the shot off Kyle Jamieson in India’s first innings at Basin Reserve last week, while batting on 2, and nicked it to slip, it may have therefore been a less terrible shot than it seemed at first glance. Especially when you consider that Jamieson had pushed Kohli back with his previous delivery, a well-directed short ball that climbed towards the batsman’s throat.But the early dismissal came on the back of seven limited-overs innings, all on this tour, in which he’d made a solitary fifty, 51 in the first ODI in Hamilton.It’s unwise to make too much of a run of scores that straddles formats, especially one that includes multiple T20I games, but it wasn’t just the scores.The first innings in Wellington was Kohli’s first innings since he’d played a strange little knock in the third and final ODI in Mount Maunganui, where he’d been beaten three times in his first five balls, hit his seventh ball for six – he usually never hits anything in the air that early – and slashed his 12th ball for a catch at third man. Kohli hadn’t batted or fielded in India’s three-day warm-up match in Hamilton, choosing instead to work on his game in the nets.

As unreliable and mythical a creature as body language might be, there’s been something just slightly off about it when Kohli’s been at the crease in the last few weeks. Or it might just be cricket writers doing the cricket-writer thing and seeing a pattern where none exists

In the second innings in Wellington, Kohli once again played his shots from the get-go, picking up a second-ball boundary with an uppish cover drive, edging his eighth ball between slip and gully while trying to work it into the leg side from outside off stump, playing another uppish drive – which fell a few yards short of mid-off – off his 15th ball, and showing a greater willingness to take on the short ball than any of his top-order colleagues. A top-edged pull off Trent Boult eventually got him out for 19 off 43 balls.After the match, Kohli suggested that more of India’s batsmen could have taken the short ball on, and tried to put New Zealand off their plan of using it as a defensive weapon. He said it would help India to try a more proactive approach in the second Test in Christchurch, and not let New Zealand keep playing the waiting game. At one point, he framed it as a question of team over individual glory.”[If] six-seven people can think like that, for sure two-three people will come good.”Knowing Kohli, he’s probably fully prepared to be one of the three or four batsmen who get out for a low score if the tactic pays off from a team perspective.But a positive, look-to-score-off-every-opportunity approach is one thing, and the nature of Kohli’s last few innings on this tour is another. There’s been something hurried, maybe even harried, about his manner at the crease, an over-eagerness to feel ball on bat, maybe, and hit that one impeccable drive or pull or flick that brings him back to his best form. He hasn’t appeared to be playing the game at his own pace, which could, perhaps, have something to do with frustration – conscious, subconscious or unconscious – over his recent run of scores. Something not dissimilar to Jasprit Bumrah’s seeming overeagerness, in Wellington, to take a wicket or two and feel the old rhythm again, having missed so much cricket over recent months to recover from a stress fracture of the back.Kyle Jamieson is pumped up after getting rid of Virat Kohli•Getty ImagesDuring his post-match press conference in Wellington, Kohli was asked to assess his batting on this tour.”I’m absolutely fine,” he said. “I am batting really well. I feel that sometimes scores don’t reflect the way you are batting and that’s what can happen when you don’t execute what you want to well. Look, when you play so much cricket and you play for so long, obviously you’ll have three-four innings that don’t go your way. If you try and make too much out of it, it’ll keep piling on.”I think it’s about staying in a good space and I know the chat on the outside changes with one innings. But I don’t think like that. If I thought like people on the outside, I would probably be on the outside right now. I think it’s all about doing the basics right and putting the hard work in practice.”You can’t really walk in thinking that I have to do it every time. You want to do it. But if it doesn’t come off, then you don’t have to beat yourself up too much. You take pride in performing for the team and I’ve always done that and I’m looking forward to contributing in a win in the next Test.”It doesn’t matter what I do. It’s never been about my performance on tour or about how many runs I score. It’s all about if the team wins, even a 40 is good. If the team loses, then even a hundred is irrelevant for me and I’m going to stay in that mindset.”He’d say that, of course, and it may even be true. But as unreliable and mythical a creature as body language might be, there’s been something just slightly off about it when Kohli’s been at the crease in the last few weeks. Or it might just be cricket writers doing the cricket-writer thing and seeing a pattern where none exists. Whatever it is, at 1-0 down, India would love for the Christchurch Test to contain a cathartic Kohli innings.

Legspinner has been a regular in England’s squads this winter, but his opportunities have been limited

Matt Roller02-Mar-2020At the end of a 2019 season in which he played four first-class games for Lancashire, you would have got long odds on Matt Parkinson being one of only three players to be named in all six England squads for their winter tours to New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka.*But Parkinson is in the business of proving people wrong. He has bowled exactly 100 balls in international cricket to date, but has already experienced both fawning praise for his flight and chutzpah, and scathing criticism for his speed through the air and perceived lack of variation.For all the judgements that have been made, he has done something right to continue to be included. And with England flying to Sri Lanka on Monday ahead of a two-Test series that could provide them with either a significant boost or a real blow to their hopes of reaching the inaugural World Test Championship final, Parkinson may finally get his chance to demonstrate the red-ball prowess that he has spent much of his career waiting for.”[At the] back end of last season I wasn’t expecting an England call-up really, especially a red-ball call-up,” Parkinson tells ESPNcricinfo before the squad’s departure. “I was hoping that I’d get selected in the white-ball [squads] but obviously it hasn’t been a massive winter for white-ball really.”If you’d have asked me on September 20 I’d have said that my ambitions for the winter would have been to play some franchise cricket, I would think. Fingers crossed I’ve done something that Spoons [Chris Silverwood] and Rooty [Joe Root] like, and Sri Lanka is hopefully a place where if I do get an opportunity, I can take it.”Parkinson’s exploits in New Zealand drew quiet praise at the end of last year, with five wickets across his six overs in the series demonstrating his worth as an attacking spinner.Parkinson struggled in England’s first tour match in South Africa•Getty ImagesIn South Africa, by contrast, he became something of a magnet for criticism: his 20 overs in a three-day warm-up match cost 112 runs, and when Jack Leach went down ill, his late replacement Dom Bess – whom Parkinson has known since they were 10 years old – leapfrogged the legspinner in the queue ahead of the second Test.He bowled only eight overs in the ODI series that followed, going wicketless, but again became a talking point: before the end of his first over of the trip, commentators wondered aloud whether it was possible to succeed at his pace in international cricket (he typically bowls at around 47mph/75kph, and is the slowest bowler in CricViz’s database which dates back to 2005).Being such an outlier inevitably invites opinions on both sides: when things go well, his lack of pace is an attacking strength; when he struggles, it is seen as a fatal weakness. As far as Parkinson is concerned, it fits into a wider equation of continued improvement.

“[I have] the regular three: googly, slider and leggy, and I’m trying to make all three of them better”Matt Parkinson

“You say you don’t read it, but I think most people do. It probably got me down a little bit, more than I thought it would. But I tried to take it with a pinch of salt, and speaking to people outside of cricket – my girlfriend is a good sounding board – they get more offended than you.”Obviously there’s areas to improve for every cricketer, but I think you’re [in the England team] for a reason. Those things that people are picking up on as negatives, I might see as positives.”The higher level you go, you need to keep on improving, and I might need to bowl quicker, might need to add a few more variations. But the way I bowl has got me there, so I’ll trust it. If it doesn’t work over a decent period of time, then you can reassess, but being written off after a game is a bit harsh.”I wouldn’t say I’m actively looking to get quicker. I think moving forward it probably is something that I need to look to improve on, but it’s not something that I’m going to sacrifice the extra skills in trying to find it. If it comes naturally to me, if I can find a way to do it while keeping the skills that I have currently then brilliant; if I feel that I’m sacrificing any of those skills in an attempt to bowl quicker then I’d probably park it for a bit.”But I’m only 23 years old, and spinners generally mature a little bit later. We might be having a conversation in four years’ time, and people might be saying I’m bowling too quickly, so I’m not too worried at the moment. I’m just going to keep trying to improve – if that improvement is bowling two or three mile per hour quicker then that’s great.”And what of his apparent lack of variation, which seemed particularly telling when Adil Rashid returned to the side and attacked with his venomous googly?”I have bowled a googly in an England shirt, and I bowled one in that one-day game,” Parkinson insists. “But again, people just forget to mention that. That’s an area to work on, but every ball is: I’m still trying to improve my legspinner, everything. It’s not just one area that I’m trying to work on, it’s everything, it’s my overall bowling.”[I have] the regular three: googly, slider and leggy, and I’m trying to make all three of them better. Obviously it’s a step-up in international cricket: maybe a couple of balls aren’t yet international standard, but the more time that I spend around an international environment, those balls are going to get better.”