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%
St. Louis City v LA Galaxy: Reus sets sights on silverware after dream start
Marco Reus is desperate to bring silverware to the LA Galaxy after making a flying start to his time in MLS, with St. Louis City the destination for his first road game on Sunday.
Reus registered a goal and an assist on debut last week as the Galaxy beat Atlanta United 2-0, maintaining their grip on top spot in the Western Conference.
The Galaxy are five points clear of local rivals Los Angeles FC at the top of the standings ahead of Sunday's trip to St. Louis, who are 13th and 10 points adrift of the playoff picture.
Reus' arrival in Los Angeles has caused plenty of fanfare, but he is focused solely on the team's collective aims.
"It's not about me, it's about the team," he said. "We want to be champions. So we take it game by game.
"Besides the traffic, it's really amazing. The people are so friendly. The weather, it's really nice. When you wake up in the morning and the sun is shining, you start the day differently.
"So I'm really, really happy every morning I come into the dressing room. I'm just happy and excited."
St. Louis played out a thrilling 4-4 draw with the Portland Timbers last week, twice throwing away a two-goal lead to leave interim coach John Hackworth bewildered.
"Really don't know what to say," Hackworth said. "It's hard to imagine coming to a place like this and scoring four goals, being up, and then just losing one-versus-one defensive battles.
"Sometimes, the number of goals you give up, or the number of goals you score, can hide a lot of the transition moments.
"An easy way to prevent some of these defensive miscues from happening is to just be better with the ball."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
St. Louis City – Eduard Lowen
Lowen scored his fourth goal of the MLS season last time out, converting from the penalty spot as St. Louis drew 4-4 with the Timbers.
Only Joao Klauss, with five goals, has outscored him for St. Louis this term.
LA Galaxy – Marco Reus
Reus is one of 20 players in MLS history to record a goal and an assist on his regular-season debut.
He is also the fifth Galaxy player to do so, after Steven Gerrard, Andreas Herzog, Giovani dos Santos and Sasha Victorine. No other team have had more than two players achieve the feat.
MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW
The Galaxy have won 10 of their last 13 regular-season matches, the first time they have done so in a single season since 2011. LA have not recorded 11 wins in a span of 14 matches within a single regular season in the post-shootout era (since 2000).
It would be no surprise to see the points shared in this one, though. All three meetings between St. Louis and the Galaxy have ended level, all with different scorelines (1-1, 2-2, 3-3).
St. Louis have only won one of the last six matches in which they have held the lead in regular-season play dating back to the beginning of June (four draws, one defeat).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
St. Louis City – 35.8%
LA Galaxy – 38.1%
Draw – 26.1%
Raphinha hails Barcelona after statement win over Valladolid
Barcelona forward Raphinha believes the team have laid down a statement of their intent by starting the season with four straight wins in LaLiga.
Raphinha scored the first hat-trick of his career and also delivered two assists on Saturday, as Barca crushed Real Valladolid 7-0 at Camp Nou.
Hansi Flick's side already possess a four-point cushion at the top of the table after also recording victories over Valencia, Athletic Bilbao and Rayo Vallecano.
Raphinha believes their results have demonstrated the club got things right in the transfer market, telling Movistar: "Today's game has shown that there is no need for anyone else to come. We are very happy because of that.
"We are in very good shape. The team is working hard. Today's result shows what we are working for.
"We saw that the coach was on the sidelines asking for more goals and that's our mentality.
"We are hungry and want to score as many goals as we can. When we are dominant like we have been, the best way to respect our rivals is not taking the foot off the gas."
Raphinha was one of the players who faced criticism during Barca's trophyless 2023-24 campaign and was rumoured to be on his way out ahead of the new season.
The Blaugrana again battled financial restrictions throughout the window, allowing Ilkay Gundogan to leave in order to secure the registration of new arrival Dani Olmo.
With his future now certain, Raphinha is keen to nail down a starting spot and contribute on a regular basis.
"I don't know if today's was my best game, but it's certainly among my best. I will try to play even better and as much as I can," the Brazilian said.
"I'm very happy to be able to help the team. I feel good. I knew that this season would be very important for me. I'm looking for my best version to help my team-mates and be more confident."
Lazio 2-2 Milan: Leao salvages draw but Rossoneri still winless
Rafael Leao came off the bench to earn Milan a 2-2 draw with Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday, but Paulo Fonseca's side are still without a Serie A win this season.
Milan were in front at the break through Strahinja Pavlovic's eighth-minute goal, the Serbian rising highest to power home a header from Christian Pulisic's corner.
However, Lazio hit back in the second half with Valentin Castellanos and Boulaye Dia scoring in quick succession.
Nuno Tavares' first-time ball into the centre was met by the unmarked Castellanos to level in the 62nd minute, then Dia tapped another Tavares cutback home to put the Biancocelesti ahead four minutes later.
Fonseca reacted by sending on four substitutes, and those changes had a swift impact as three of them combined for the leveller.
Theo Hernandez – who joined Leao in being dropped from the start – picked out Tammy Abraham, and his lay-off allowed Leao to escape Tavares to fire past Ivan Provedel.
The game was preceded by an emotional tribute to the man who led Lazio to their last league title, Sven-Goran Eriksson, who died at the age of 76 on Monday.
A Lazio shirt bearing the Swede's name was displayed on the home bench, while a banner held up by the home fans read: "You brought us to the top of the world... Have a good trip Mr. Sven."
Data Debrief: Milan's slow start continues
New Milan boss Fonseca is already under pressure after overseeing a return of two points from his first three league games at the helm.
It is the first time the Rossoneri have drawn two of their opening three matches in a Serie A season since 2011-12, when they also drew two and lost one,
They went on to finish second that season, just four points adrift of champions Juventus. If a title challenge is to take place this term, rapid improvements are needed.
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