Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Gary O'Neil was full of praise for Matheus Cunha after his side earned their first Premier League win of the season with a 2-0 defeat of Southampton.
The Brazilian attacker's delightful pass had allowed Pablo Sarabia to open the scoring at Molineux with only one minute and 48 seconds on the clock.
It was Wolves' fastest-ever Premier League goal, eclipsing Matt Jarvis’ strike against Blackpool in February 2011 (1:56).
But Cunha did not stop there as he wrote his name on the scoresheet with a stunning strike from distance to put Wolves two to the good six minutes into the second half.
"Cunha is huge for us. He has such ability but he is one of those players who drifts and takes up positions," O'Neil told BBC Sport after the game.
"We work very hard on him - on how it is to be a trusted team player when we don't have the ball. He's worked very hard on it after I spoke harshly to him after Brentford away.
"It's a big win for us and Cunha had a big say in it."
Neuer and Gnabry out of Bayern's clash with Heidenheim
Manuel Neuer and Serge Gnabry will be absent when Bayern Munich take on Heidenheim in the Bundesliga.
Bundesliga leaders Bayern, who lost to Bayer Leverkusen in the DFB-Pokal in midweek, were already without top scorer Harry Kane.
Now two of his team-mates have joined him on the treatment table.
Neuer, who was sent off against Leverkusen, has an issue with his ribs, while Vincent Kompany did not specify Gnabry's injury.
"Manuel Neuer has discomfort with his ribs. It also looks like Serge Gnabry won't be involved either. Aleksandar Pavlovic is available," Kompany told reporters.
"Pavlo is available. There's no limit on how long he can play. He's not played for a while, but he's available."
Kompany did, though, provide a positive update on Kane.
"Things are looking good. I don't want to give a timeline and put our medical team under pressure. It could well be that he plays again this year. But everything needs to go perfectly," Kompany said of Kane.
Bayern are firmly in control in the Bundesliga and are unbeaten after 12 games with 30 points, four more than second-placed Eintracht Frankfurt.
They will fancy their chances of maintaining that unbeaten streak when they take on relegation-threatened Heidenheim, who have lost their last four league games.
However, Kompany warned against complacency.
"They're playing in Europe. It's always tough to be competitive in both competitions. What Heidenheim have done over the last 20 years is good," Kompany said.
"They're a very solid club. They won't panic now. We don't differentiate in how we prepare. It'll be another important game for us."
Heidenheim won their last Bundesliga game against Bayern 3-2 – they became the first promoted team in the league's history to come from two goals down to beat the Bavarians.
The Numbers Game: Can Tottenham get back on track against Chelsea?
When Brennan Johnson tucked in Tottenham's fourth in their demolition of Manchester City a couple of weeks ago, few would have expected the pressure would soon be mounting on Ange Postecoglou.
Yet after Thursday's tame performance in a 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth, the Australian faced jeers from a section of the travelling Spurs fans at the Vitality Stadium.
Spurs are now winless in their last three games in all competitions, having drawn against Roma in the Europa League and then Fulham in the Premier League. Before that stunning win at Man City, Tottenham also slipped to a 2-1 home loss to Ipswich Town.
Tottenham are back at home on Sunday, but they will go up against one of the Premier League's form teams.
Enzo Maresca declared that "Chelsea are back" after a 5-1 win at bottom-of-the-league Southampton moved the Blues into second on Wednesday, seven points behind leaders Liverpool.
Will Chelsea make it four top-flight wins on the spin, or can Spurs get back on track?
What's expected?
Chelsea are made the favourites by the Opta supercomputer, though the model expects a hard-fought encounter.
The Blues are given a win probability of 43.2%, while Tottenham came out on top in 32.7% of the data-led simulations. There is a 24.1% chance of a draw.
Tottenham have won just one of their last 11 Premier League games against Chelsea (D2 L8), picking up a 2-0 home win in February 2023.
After a run of just two wins in 13 Premier League away games against Tottenham between 2006 and 2018 (D5 L6), Chelsea have won four of their last five visits to Spurs (L1).
Spurs were unbeaten in their first four Premier League London derbies under Postecoglou (W2 D2), but have lost seven of their last 13 (W4 D2). Five of their six London derby wins under the former Celtic boss have been at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, however.
Chelsea have won 35 Premier League games and scored 116 Premier League goals against Tottenham, more than they have against any other opponent. It’s also the most goals Spurs have conceded against a side, while they have only lost more times to Manchester United (39).
The Blues have also won five of their seven games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in all competitions (D1 L1), the most wins any visiting side has picked up at the ground since Spurs moved there in 2019.
Hot and cold
Spurs' inconsistency this season is why they are 10th heading into the weekend. Despite the unrest from some fans, Postecoglou will surely point to the fact that they are only three points off fifth-place Brighton.
Postecoglou did perhaps not help himself by insisting he always wins a trophy in his second season at a club, but Spurs are still in the EFL Cup and are well placed in the Europa League. A top-four finish in the Premier League is unlikely but is far from out of sight.
Only two teams - Chelsea (31) and Liverpool (29) - have scored more Premier League goals than Spurs this season, but their issues have come at the other end of the pitch, by and large.
Tottenham have kept just one clean sheet in their last 22 Premier League home games (4-0 vs Everton this season), a run which started with a 4-1 loss against Chelsea last November. Indeed, since the start of November 2023, no side currently in England’s top four tiers have recorded fewer home league shutouts than Spurs.
Spurs have lost seven of their last 11 Premier League away games (W3 D1), while they have not won on the road when conceding first in the competition since a 5-2 win at Burnley in September 2023 (D2 L8 since).
Postecoglou will likely be glad to be back on home turf this time out. That being said, they have taken just one point from their last two top-flight matches at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
But if the fans can get behind them, then Spurs have a great weapon in their arsenal: their pressing.
Spurs have forced 142 high turnovers in the league this term, more than any other team. However, only two of those have resulted in a goal.
Maresca's magic touch
In all competitions, Chelsea have scored 57 goals in 22 games this season, which is already seven more than they scored in 2022-23 (50 in 50 games). Their current goals-per-game ratio of 2.6 is their best in a single season in their entire history.
Goals have come from across their squad, too. The Blues have had 10 different goalscorers in the top tier.
Cole Palmer leads the way with nine, while the in-form Nicolas Jackson has eight. Noni Madueke has netted five times and Enzo Fernandez, who has also proved a creative force, providing six assists in his last five league games, has scored twice.
Meanwhile, only Erling Haaland (17) and Mohamed Salah (15) have scored more goals in all competitions among Premier League players this season than Christopher Nkunku (12) – the Frenchman has now found the net in eight of his last nine starts, scoring 11 times.
Chelsea are not only the league's leading scorers, they have also created the highest expected goals (xG) total at 29.8.
They have had 213 shots, the fifth-highest tally in the competition. Their xG per shot comes out at 0.13, which means that, on average, each of their attempts has a 13% chance of going in.
Only Liverpool (57) have had more big chances than the Blues (51), meanwhile, and given they are going up against such a fragile defence, Maresca's attackers should be licking their lips.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Tottenham - Brennan Johnson
Johnson has scored three goals across his last five home appearances in the Premier League, more than across his previous 24 outings at home in the competition for Spurs and Nottingham Forest (two goals).
Chelsea - Nicolas Jackson
Jackson has scored four goals in his two Premier League games against Spurs, netting a hat-trick in the corresponding fixture last season.
No rest for influential Raphinha, says Barcelona boss Flick
Hansi Flick is unlikely to rest Raphinha for Barcelona's LaLiga match at Real Betis on Saturday.
Flick opted to rest LaLiga top-scorer Robert Lewandowski, who had started 20 straight matches in all competitions, for Barcelona's 5-1 victory at Mallorca in midweek.
Raphinha scored twice in that match, taking his tally of LaLiga goal contributions for the season to 17, a joint-league high alongside Lewandowski.
The former Leeds United attacker has been crucial to Barca's form under Flick, and the former Germany coach claimed Raphinha is a player he cannot afford to rotate.
Flick told reporters: "We need Rapha. When he is available, he will play.
"If he's ready for 90 minutes, then he'll play 90 minutes. So is Lewandowski, who will also play tomorrow."
Barca, who top the LaLiga standings with 37 points, snapped a three-game winless run in the league with the victory over Mallorca.
The Blaugrana will be looking to continue their momentum and face 10th-placed Betis, who are winless in their last four league matches.
"Betis are a very good team, with very experienced players. They are always capable of pressing high up the pitch, that's their style and we have to be careful," Flick said.
"They know how to play and we have to be focused. Manuel [Pellegrini] is a very experienced coach, his teams always play very good football.
"His style is very good, his teams like to have the ball. It's not easy for opponents to play against him."
Betis coach Pellegrini is set to take charge of his 500th game in LaLiga.
The Chilean will become the eighth coach to hit that milestone in the competition.
His teams have scored 762 goals, conceding 592. Pellegrini has won 239 matches, losing 138 and drawing 122.
Across his LaLiga coaching tenure, Pellegrini has recorded a 47.9% win ratio. His best win percentage came at Real Madrid, where he won 81.6% of his matches (31 wins out of 38 games).
However, he has lost 19 LaLiga matches against Barca, suffering more defeats against them than he has any other club.
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