Dominic Solanke is a “top pro” who is exactly what Tottenham expected when they paid big money to sign him from Bournemouth, so says Ange Postecoglou.
Spurs splurged a club-record fee – reportedly up to £65million – on Solanke, who scored 19 Premier League goals for the Cherries last season.
Solanke could be in line to make his Tottenham debut on Monday, when Spurs open their Premier League campaign away at newly promoted Leicester City.
And Postecoglou spoke highly of his new addition.
"Thankfully, it's what we expected,” said the Australian.
“He's a top pro and a good guy – he's settled into the dressing room really well.
“Football-wise you can see he has all the attributes we need. We've still got a couple of training sessions to go but he's doing well.”
While Postecoglou confirmed Spurs will have a full squad to choose from, bar the suspended Yves Bissouma, at the King Power Stadium, hosts Leicester are not as fortunate.
Steve Cooper, who is preparing for his first league match in charge of the Foxes, confirmed Patson Daka was set for a spell on the sidelines after suffering an injury against Lens in pre-season, with the striker set for a long spell out.
“Patson [Daka] obviously is not great news,” Cooper said. “He suffered quite a serious ankle injury last week in the game in Lens and he is going to be out for a good few months.
“He’s having an operation. That’s really unfortunate for him because he was looking good in pre-season.”
Jamie Vardy is also absent.
Cooper, whose last Premier League game was a 2-0 home defeat to Tottenham in December last year with Nottingham Forest, added: “Vards, similarly, he’s been injured since the second week of pre-season now, when we were on one of our pre-season camps.
"He’s closer to returning but it will be a little while, although he’s itching to get back. But it’s not great at that end of the pitch.
“He’s right at the latter stages of rehab now and just making sure he can fight past those final stages before he returns. With experience and age a little bit, he really understands his body and he knows what it takes.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Leicester City – Stephy Mavididi
Mavididi scored 12 league goals for Leicester in their push for promotion last term, a tally bettered only by Vardy (18). The winger created 72 chances, providing six assists. Only Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who has since joined Chelsea, crafted more goalscoring opportunities (109) for the Foxes.
Tottenham – Son Heung-min
Son has been involved in 13 goals in 14 Premier League appearances against Leicester (nine goals, four assists), only having a hand in more against Southampton (15). Indeed, the South Korean has scored five and assisted once in his last three against the Foxes.
MATCH PREDICTION: TOTTENHAM WIN
Leicester have lost half of their Premier League games played on Mondays (21/42) – only in Friday games do the Foxes have a higher loss rate in the competition (61.5% – 8/13).
Tottenham’s last four Premier League wins of 2023-24 came against each of the sides to finish in the bottom four (Forest, Luton Town, Burnley, Sheffield United). They won all six of their league games against promoted sides last term, accounting for 30% of their overall victories (6/20).
This is the seventh time Tottenham are starting their Premier League campaign against a promoted side; they have won five of the previous six, losing the other 1-0 against Sunderland in 2007-08.
However, Leicester are unbeaten on the last nine occasions they have begun their league campaign with a home game (W6 D3).
Expect goals in this one. Of all Premier League fixtures to have been played at least 30 times, Leicester against Tottenham has the highest goals-per-game average (3.8 – 128 goals in 34 games). There have been 28 goals scored in the last five meetings between the sides alone (5.6 per game).
Spurs have only failed to score in one of their 17 Premier League away games against Leicester, a 3-0 loss at Filbert Street in September 1997.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Leicester City – 26.5%
Tottenham – 49.9%
Draw – 23.6%
'I love where I am,' says Simeone after 700th game in charge of Atletico
Diego Simeone said he is "calm and at peace" at Atletico Madrid after his side edged Deportivo Alaves 2-1 in LaLiga in his 700th game in charge of the club.
Atletico went behind through a Jon Guridi penalty in the seventh minute, but Antoine Griezmann drew them level from the spot in the 76th minute.
The winner came via Alexander Sorloth in the 86th minute as Atletico moved four points behind leaders Barcelona.
Simeone, who has been in charge of Atletico since 2011, is the first coach to manage 700 matches with the same LaLiga club.
"I live in the present, we are having a good time, the boys are working very responsibly," Simeone told DAZN.
"I am calm and at peace. I love where I am and that's it."
He managed Atletico to LaLiga title triumphs in 2014 and 2021 and also helped Los Rojiblancos win two Europa League titles in 2012 and 2018.
The game against Alaves was Simeone's 492nd LaLiga match in charge, and the Argentine has also managed the third-most games with a single club in the Champions League (109), after Alex Ferguson with Manchester United and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal.
AC Milan 0-0 Juventus: Bianconeri maintain unbeaten start after Rossoneri stalemate
AC Milan and Juventus shared the spoils following a dour goalless draw at San Siro.
The Bianconeri maintained their unbeaten start to the Serie A season, but missed the chance to go second behind leaders Inter after a game lacking in quality and chances.
With the likes of Dusan Vlahovic and Arkadiusz Milik out injured, Juventus began the game without a recognised striker, as Teun Koopmeiners and Weston McKennie led the line.
Koopmeiners hit the side-netting from a tight angle after 10 minutes, while Kenan Yildiz grazed the post following a fine individual run midway through the half.
Alvaro Morata had Milan's best chance at the other end, but the former Juventus striker could only head wide from Rafael Leao's free-kick.
Opportunities did not fall as freely in the second half either, and both teams left the field to a chorus of boos on the referee's final whistle.
Data Debrief: Stubborn Juve take clean sheet tally into double figures
Juve are the first team to register 10 clean sheets in their opening 13 matches of a Serie A season since Roma (also 10) in 2013-14.
The Bianconeri have also kept five clean sheets in their first six away league games in a campaign for only the fourth time, also achieving the feat in 1967-68, 2004-05, 2023-24.
Meanwhile, Thiago Motta is only the fifth Juventus manager to go unbeaten in his first 13 league matches in charge (won six, drawn seven), after Jesse Carver, Cestmir Vycpalek, Antonio Conte and Maurizio Sarri.
Manchester City 0-4 Tottenham: Guardiola's champions humiliated in fifth straight loss
Manchester City's losing streak stretched to five games across all competitions as Tottenham stunned the Premier League champions with a 4-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium.
On his 28th birthday, James Maddison scored twice in the first 20 minutes as Ange Postecoglou's visitors caught out their hosts on the counterattack.
Maddison was found unmarked at the far post by Dejan Kulusevski for his opener, then exchanged passes with Son Heung-min and dinked a fine finish over Ederson for his second.
City continued to dominate possession but struggled to find a killer pass, and their hopes of a second-half fightback were dashed when Pedro Porro – who spent three years as a City player between 2019 and 2022 – capped another lightning break early in the second half.
Erling Haaland clipped the crossbar but that was as close as City came to making it competitive, with Brennan Johnson completing the rout following fine work from Timo Werner, as the worst run of Pep Guardiola's managerial career continued.
Second-placed City could now find themselves eight points adrift of the summit after Liverpool’s trip to Southampton on Sunday.
Tottenham, meanwhile, climbed to sixth in the table, four points behind City.
Data Debrief: Uncharted territory for Pep
City have now lost five straight matches in all competitions, including two versus Tottenham after they were also beaten in the EFL Cup last month.
They are the first reigning top-flight English champions to lose five games in a row since Chelsea did so in March 1956.
This is the worst losing streak of Guardiola's glittering managerial career, with City last losing six in a row under Stuart Pearce in 2006.
Should their dismal run continue at Liverpool in eight days' time, their title defence may be in tatters before the festive season has even begun.
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