Tottenham Hotspur

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Wales legend Cliff Jones has paid an emotional tribute to friend and former team-mate Terry Medwin following his death at the age of 91.

Jones and Medwin came through the Swansea youth ranks together before moving to Tottenham Hotspur, where they famously won a league and cup double in 1964.

Jones and Medwin also played together for Wales at the World Cup in Sweden in 1958.

“Very sad news that my lifelong friend and Spurs, Wales team-mate Terry Medwin has passed away," Jones said on X, which was formerly Twitter.

"We shared so much success with club and country and we were brothers. Love and condolences from the Jones family x."

Tottenham announced Medwin's death on Wednesday.

Tottenham are targeting Chelsea and England midfielder Conor Gallagher, 24, along with 23-year-old Feyenoord and Mexico striker Santiago Gimenez this summer, while they also have eyes on Bournemouth's English defender Lloyd Kelly, 25. (Telegraph - subscription required), external

Want more transfer news? Read Thursday's gossip column

It is a rare and perhaps rather unfortunate turn of events that Tottenham must face their two most dreaded opponents in the space of a few days.

Sunday's derby with Arsenal was as usual; compelling, startling and mystifying. Only Spurs could play quite well in the first half, to then find themselves 3-0 down but not quite hit those heights again after the break and nearly scramble a draw.

There is every reason to think Thursday's game with Chelsea could be equally difficult to predict.

The mind-boggling 4-1 defeat by the Blues in the autumn summed up Spurs' new approach to these sorts of games, whether you like it or not. Six months have passed since that match and, while it might be reasonable to expect that both teams will have refined their approach in that period, recent events suggest that is not the case.

Spurs remain vulnerable defensively but still want to press forward at every opportunity, usually with defender Cristian Romero leading the charge. Chelsea remain a loose collection of individuals with no shortage of talent but very little collective spirit and with Mauricio Pochettino straining to impose the sort of order he managed at Tottenham.

It could not be more chaotic than last time, surely? I would keep an open mind if I were you.

• Chelsea have lost just one of their past 33 home league games against Tottenham - losing 3-1 in April 2018 when Spurs were managed by Mauricio Pochettino.

• Only against Manchester United (39) have Tottenham lost more Premier League games than they have against Chelsea (34).

• Chelsea have done the Premier League double over Tottenham nine times, only doing so more against Manchester City (10). Spurs have only lost twice in the same season more often against Manchester United (10) than they have against the Blues.

• Tottenham have lost two of their past three Premier League away games (D1), as many as they had in their previous 14 (W7 D5). They have failed to score in both defeats, having only failed to score in two of their previous 34 away league matches.

• Chelsea have conceded 59 Premier League goals this season, their most in a single campaign in the competition. They last conceded 60 or more in 1991-92 (60), and most recently did so in a 38-game campaign in 1990-91 (69).

• Pochettino could become the first manager to complete a Premier League double over Spurs having previously managed them in the competition.

• Cole Palmer has scored in each of his past seven Premier League home games, scoring 13 goals in this run - the longest scoring streak by a Chelsea player at Stamford Bridge in the competition's history.

• Palmer has scored a hat-trick in his past two home games - the only player in Premier League history to score a hat-trick in three consecutive home games is Erling Haaland last season.

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Ange Postecoglou says Tottenham are a better side now than when they lost 4-1 at home to Chelsea with nine men on a chaotic Monday night in November.

But are they?

That was Spurs’ first defeat of an outstanding opening to the season, winning eight and drawing two of their first 10 games and riding an extraordinary crest of positivity under their new boss.

Now, seven points off the top four with five games to go, it is not immediately apparent they have improved.

Indeed, given Spurs’ limited involvement in cup competitions including Europe, and rivals Aston Villa storming clear of them despite Europa Conference League commitments, it could be argued they have underperformed this season.

Two caveats before diving into the data.

The first. Pre-Chelsea numbers are based on a 10-game sample size, smaller than the 23 that have come in the period since.

Secondly, one would expect the data to be more positive for the first 10 games given their results.

That being said, the stats do offer some illuminating findings.

The average number of shots per game is down but that is perhaps not a surprise given the absence for significant periods of Son Heung-min and Richarlison. It has been hard for Postecoglou to name a settled frontline.

However, both the shooting accuracy (50.2% to 52.5%) and shot conversion rate are up, suggesting that Spurs have been more clinical in the intervening period.

Expected goals also remains essentially the same, indicating Spurs continue to create at the same level even if shots are down.

In fact, the problems have not been in attack – rather, the numbers show defensively Spurs have dropped off since 6 November.

They are conceding a similar number of shots each game (almost 13) but their expected goals against has been significantly higher. The save percentage from summer arrival Guglielmo Vicario has also dropped massively from keeping out nearly 82% of shots to just over half.

This implies the chances Spurs are conceding are of higher quality than previously. And if you cannot stop the opposition scoring, winning football matches becomes infinitely more difficult.

Last time Spurs faced Chelsea they were flying high and ticking all the boxes. The decline has not been as steep as their league position suggests, but they need to tighten up or Cole Palmer and company will have a feast.

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When Tottenham travel to Stamford Bridge on Thursday, Ange Postecoglou will hope for a less incident-packed game than the reverse fixture in November.

The 4-1 home defeat to Chelsea is arguably one of the most chaotic but entertaining games of the season with five goals, three others disallowed and two red cards over nearly 100 frantic minutes.

Postecoglou, who also received a yellow card on the Spurs bench amid the mayhem, gambled on keeping a high line despite being down to nine men after Romero and Destiny Udogie were dismissed.

James Maddison and Micky Van de Ven were also injured that evening and missed lengthy periods of time.

"It is a constant evolution of overcoming challenges since then," said Postecoglou. "We had good rhythm up until that point and since then we have had challenges."

But despite many injury concerns, Spurs have 12 more points on the board than Chelsea and are almost certain to be playing European football next season.

On whether his players will feel the need to 'revenge' that heavy defeat, he added: "I have never bought into that revenge rubbish because that would suggest you need motivation other than winning games of football.

"You can understand the meaning of games to fans but players and staff should not need extra motivation. That is what you have to do every week.

"Irrespective of that, we are playing at their ground and it is a London derby so you know it is going to be a tough game."

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Referees' chief Howard Webb says Michael Oliver "will be really disappointed" to have not initially awarded a penalty for Declan Rice's foul on Ben Davies in Sunday's Premier League derby between Tottenham and Arsenal.

In his attempt to clear the ball in the box, Arsenal midfielder Rice caught Tottenham defender Davies without touching the ball.

Referee Oliver initially waved away appeals for a penalty before the video assistant referee (VAR) intervened and recommended he reviewed the decision, which was then overturned.

Speaking on Sky Sports' Mic'd Up programme, Webb said: "It's a clear and obvious error not to give the penalty. I know Michael [Oliver] will be really disappointed. He had a really good game. He's one of our top referees, he's one of the top referees in the world.

"But I know you [as fans] will be disappointed he misread that in the moment and we all can misread things in the moment. I did that many times myself. But thankfully we've got VAR that can look at these situations very quickly.

"Michael went to the screen, looked at it, quickly saw the error and gave a penalty. And as you say, without VAR this would have stayed as a non-awarded penalty. It would have been hugely controversial. So a really good use of the VAR facility here."

Ange Postecoglou has been speaking to the media before Thursday's Premier League game at Chelsea.

Here are the key lines from the Tottenham boss:

• Forward Timo Werner and left-back Ben Davies will miss the remainder of the season with respective hamstring and calf injuries.

• Defender Oliver Skipp "should be back" for the trip to Stamford Bridge after missing the defeat to Arsenal because of a knock in training.

• Richarlison "is working his way back to fitness" but "will play a part" in this three-game week.

• He said it is "absolutely clear as day" that his team have progressed this season. He feels that was demonstrated against Arsenal last weekend where they measured themselves "against one of the best."

• On whether Spurs need to be better at defending set pieces: "I don’t see it an issue and I know that answer doesn’t satisfy people. We work on it but there are far more important things we have to focus on as a team at the moment."

• He said opponents Chelsea have been "in very good form and have some real talent in the group," despite them only being ninth in the table.

• On 'revenging' the 4-1 defeat to Blues in November: "I have never bought into that rubbish because that would suggest you need extra motivation other than winning games. We shouldn’t need extra. Irrespective of that, we are playing at their ground and it is a London derby."

• He said the challenges they have faced this season with injuries will "build a resilient team in the long-term" and that is a positive.

• On VAR being rejected in Sweden, he joked: "I am moving there! It is here to stay, it is not going away. But hopefully they will find the right sort of ground for it to work on."

Follow all of Wednesday's football news conferences

So, a demoralising north London derby defeat.

Three down by half-time, comical defending, and having had a full 15 days of rest to prepare. Arsenal had played four times since Spurs' last outing - a 4-0 defeat at Newcastle United.

But there are still reasons for optimism.

Spurs remain fifth, with a six-point lead over sixth-placed Manchester United, who have also played a game more.

There was spirit in the second-half resurgence against Arsenal and were it not for a string of strange decisions by referee Michael Oliver, maybe we would be talking about a heroic Spurs comeback.

It has not gone unnoticed among Spurs supporters that Oliver has been omitted from the list of officials this weekend.

It must be remembered that not many predicted Tottenham to be fifth before the season started - see my August BBC predictions - when selling their best player in Harry Kane, making wholesale changes to the playing squad, and adopting a totally new style of play under a new manager.

But here we are, with Ange Postecoglou looking likely to bring Spurs back into European qualification at the first time of asking.

Supporters demanded a rebuild and we have seen enough progress in Ange's first nine months in charge to show it will be worthwhile.

John Wenham can be found at Lilywhite Rose, external

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New York Times journalist Rory Smith has been analysing Tottenham centre-back Cristian Romero, after manager Ange Postecoglou said he wanted "more Cristian Romero" in all of his players following their north London derby defeat by Arsenal.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club, Smith said: "There was a line on the commentary where I think somebody said that he was Spurs' 'danger man'. You would be like: 'Hold on - that is the centre-half - so that can't be the sign of a great performance.'

"Romero can be rash. He is very aggressive - which is a strength and a weakness at times - but you can see why Ange Postecoglou appreciates what he offers the team.

"I don't necessarily know if you would want too much Cristian Romero in your team. I think one is probably enough. But that isn't to diminish his ability - he is a World Cup winning central defender, so Cristian Romero is really good.

"A cooler head occasionally would be more useful [for Tottenham], but he is a weapon and he is something you can use to batter teams down in attack as well.

"Romero is one of the most important players for this Tottenham team. You can see why Postecoglou wants more players like him, especially after the performance against Arsenal."

Catch up on Monday Night Club on BBC iPlayer or BBC Sounds

BBC Sport's chief football news reporter Simon Stone has been answering your questions.

Buster asked: What are your thoughts on the Spurs defenders allowing Ben White to hassle Gigi Vicario? It is baffling to me. When organising my defence for a corner that is the first thing I will check - is anyone on my keeper? It is vital your keeper can come out and punch or claim. This is basics, surely? Or is this just zonal marking gone mad?

Simon replied: It is interesting. I have seen goalkeepers getting crowded at corners at a wide spread of levels in the game this season. I do recall Manchester United players surrounding David de Gea in his early days at the club as they tried to protect him from being stopped from coming for crosses.

I wonder if the change is partly to do with managers being aware that committing players to defending the goalkeeper means opposition players are free.

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Tottenham winger Dejan Kulusevski says the team need to become more disciplined and have a stronger mentality if they are to challenge for a Premier League title.

Reflecting on Sunday's North London Derby defeat to Arsenal, Kulusevski said: "We have to take responsibility.

"We have to win games. We have to improve. If we are not doing that then people are of course going to be disappointed."

Spurs showed their vulnerability from set pieces against the Gunners, in particular from corners, which resulted in two goals.

"We have to grow because you cannot concede easy goals like that," added Kulusevski. "The football is quite good, but we have to improve.

"They [Arsenal] are much more disciplined and a little bit more mature. That is where we are lacking at the moment.

"Being strong in difficult moments like a set-piece. They score on corners, we concede.

"It is quite easy."

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Premier League clubs have voted in favour of adopting an anchoring economic model, which will be linked to the earnings of the bottom club (tv and prize money).

The proposed system would operate like a spending cap.

The next stage is final analysis and drafting of rules, which will potentially be put to clubs at an AGM in June.

The model will be presented to clubs and - should clubs vote in favour then - it will replace the Profit and Sustainability Rules currently in place, from the 2025-26 season onwards.

Any new element of the financial system would come in shadow next season, to fully replace PSR in 2025-26.

“We will obviously wait to see further details of these specific proposals, but we have always been clear that we would oppose any measure that would place a ‘hard’ cap on player wages," said the PFA

“There is an established process in place to ensure that proposals like this, which would directly impact our members, have to be properly consulted on.”

Aston Villa, Manchester City and Manchester United opposed the vote, with Chelsea abstaining.

BBC Sport's chief football news reporter Simon Stone has been answering your questions.

Mike asked: What did you think of Tottenham's line-up in the north London derby? Do you think playing the likes of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Ben Davies showed that Ange Postecoglou and Spurs have prioritised the other games in the run-in? They put out a patched-up squad against probably Arsenal's best team in seven years (even if they did get away with only a 3-2 loss) and seemed like they were just protecting key players for important games.

Simon replied: I am not sure about that theory at all. I realise Tottenham still have five games to play but they do not play again until Thursday and have no travel.

They have also surrendered the initiative in that battle for fourth place to Aston Villa as they cannot catch them even if they win their two games in hand (which are against Chelsea and Manchester City so not exactly easy).

Tottenham have won six and lost four of their past 13 Premier League fixtures. That tells me Ange Postecoglou is searching for the line-up and combinations that would give him consistency, which is what every manager wants from their team.

No-one can be certain what they will get from Tottenham at the moment, even within games. The respective first and second-half performances Sunday were like chalk and cheese.

Read more of the Q&A with Simon here

On Sunday's episode of Match of the Day, Tottenham defender Cristian Romero was praised for his efforts in the north London derby, despite the 3-2 loss to Arsenal.

A graphic on Sunday's episode showed Romero's all-action performance.

"I'm a big fan of Cristian Romero," said former Premier League defender Ashley Williams.

"[His performance] is exactly what you want to see in this situation when your team are getting dominated.

"In the second half, he's decided to get the game by the scruff of the neck on his own and push his team on. He really drove his team forward. He wanted to get into the box and create something.

"He just decided that he's not going down without a fight and he's going to change the momentum of the game. That's the attitude you want.

Former Premier League goalkeeper Shay Given added: "It's high stakes and the fans were up for it. Romero was a really good example. At 3-0 down he could have said he doesn't fancy this, but he's not accepting this. Arsenal just had enough to hold on."

Listen to the rest of Sunday's analysis here

I am not going to dwell on refereeing decisions because it will not do us any good.

What I will talk about is mentality, which has been so defining for us this season.

I am glad the line-up was tweaked to have a bit more maturity in the side. It did not negatively impact our starting attitude and up until 2-0 it was one of the most passionate performances I have seen from us in a while.

We did not lose our heads in the way we did against Chelsea. In fact, I think it was one of the tamest derbies I have seen in a while.

However, after having the equaliser ruled out, and not focusing on the the break that led to Arsenal's second goal, we lost our determination and spark.

It was not until we brought Richarlison on that we saw a major shift in collective attitude. He pressed the keeper which then led to our first goal and he gave us a focal point up front in the middle and we fought until the final whistle.

I still do not understand why he could not start? Is he not fully fit still? I feel like that could be said about some other players too.

We have got to start taking set-pieces more seriously, and learning how to defend corners should be on the top of our list.

We have gifted opponents with goals too many times this season and we have got to stop making life difficult for ourselves.

Will we ever learn from our mistakes and adapt?

Anna Howells can be found at Spurs XY, external

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Spurs fan and host of the Tap in Tobs YouTube channel Tobi believes first-half mistakes and missed chances were the reason Arsenal left the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with all three points on Sunday afternoon.

"You could say Spurs gave Arsenal a couple of goals in that first-half," he told BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast.

"First goal was totally avoidable after a poor corner from Bukayo Saka - it just needed to be headed out by Pierre-Emile Hojberg. How that ball ended up in our net is still mystifying.

"It's a routine header - there is absolutely no reason why that should be in the back of his own net. That was a symptom of the first-half because having been at the game I could not believe what I was watching.

"Arsenal had four attempts, two shots on target, and were 3-0 up. Spurs had two big opportunities, missed both, and we defended set pieces poorly. We didn't take our chances and made mistakes.

"Cristian Romero had a point-blank header hit the post - on the flip side Kai Havertz had a header which he scored from. Son Heung-Min was one-on-one and ballooned it over the bar - on the flip side when Saka was released he chopped it onto the inside and he scored. That's the difference.

"As a team we did not do enough to protect a vulnerable Ben Davies against a top winger in Saka. It was a recipe for disaster.

"Arsenal were efficient in the first-half and did not make the mistakes that we made. They made those mistakes in the second-half which made the game more nervy but had we been more clinical and defended better we would have won that game."

Listen to the full chat from 06:20 on BBC Sounds

We asked for your views on Sunday's match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal.

Here are some of your answers:

Spurs fans

Dave: We just can’t keep gifting teams goals from corners. Aside from that, I thought Spurs were the better team and were unlucky with some of the decisions. Arsenal are better than us at the moment and I'm always one to give credit where it's due, but I thought we put in a good shift and gave them a good game. It shows that we're not that far away.

Gareth: The scoreline flattered us. This Spurs team and Postecoglou's tactics (or lack of them) are an embarrassment. We cannot defend, cannot create chances, don't have a recognised goal scorer and follow the same woeful script week in week out. Somehow we are hoping that the outcome will be different. Postecoglou may still have his supporters, but I'm not one of them.

Cliff: Typical Spurs. We were useless in the first half, got better in the second half, but failed to win against an excellent Arsenal side. We deserved nothing and got nothing - that is why we win nothing. Nothing will change under overrated Ange.

Pat: Is there any actual coaching or management taking place at Spurs? Week after week we get the same tactics, the same failings and the same missed opportunities. The defending is atrocious, the midfield ineffective and the strikers non-existent. What on earth is Postecoglou doing to prepare this team for their matches?

Arsenal fans

Lewis: A good win and that's what matters. It is a derby - we saw how dangerous a derby can be on Merseyside - and we came out the other end of it with all three points. People say that Manchester United away was our 'hardest' game left, but it was always this game. Simply because it's the north London derby. Vamos!

Terry: A compelling first half with a deserved three goals, making the home side look very ordinary. What a change in the second half, Arsenal slowed up and the Raya fiasco gave Tottenham the belief they needed. They could have got something from the game. Fortunately, the resilience was there to hold on and we came away with three valuable points.

Reginald: Another outstanding match from Arsenal! It's going to be a tough fight to the end of the season. The goal difference helps us because it could come down to goal difference at the end of the season. Well done Arsenal, you can do it. Come on you Gunners.

Phil: Once again the Raya v Ramsdale issue has raised its head. Raya is supposed to be much better with his distribution, but he always looks a bit too eager to get us going forward to me. Because of this, he has made a number of distribution errors that have led to us conceding goals or facing very near misses.

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Former Tottenham defender Stephen Kelly does not think Ange Postecoglou's side need a set piece coach despite conceding two goals against Arsenal from corners on Sunday.

"When I was playing there was not a specific coach for set pieces," said Kelly on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily Podcast. "It was just one of the assistant managers who had that as one of their roles.

"Guglielmo Vicario is such a wonderful goalkeeper but from corners we do not protect him. We do not give him space to come and clear it.

"And because of that Arsenal kept putting the ball into the dangerous area. It is difficult but it is something Spurs are going to have to work on.

"I am not sure they need a specialist to come in because they already have people at the club who can work on it. But it is down to the players to take more responsibility in those moments.

"It is the little details."

Listen to the full discussion on BBC Sounds

Mark Chapman introduces highlights and analysis from Sunday's three Premier League fixtures.

If you missed Match of the Day 2, you can catch up on the best of the action on BBC iPlayer.

And you can watch highlights of Saturday' seven games on Match of the Day here

Listen back to Sunday's BBC Radio 5 Live match commentaries in full:

• Tottenham 2-3 Arsenal

• Nottingham Forest 0-2 Man City