A very noble effort, but it came up oh so short. Tottenham Hotspur took Paris Saint-Germain to a penalty shoot-out in the UEFA Super Cup last night, as the two sides finished regular time level at 2-2. Spurs then fell 4-3 in pens.
All in all, they exceeded expectations, but it’s only a morale victory nonetheless. And it’s already time to look ahead to the weekend’s Premier League opener.
2025-26 Season Opener FYIs
Tottenham Hotspur vs Burnley FC
Kickoff: Saturday, August 16, 3pm, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, UK
Google’s Win Probabilities: Tottenham Hotspur 71% Draw 18% Wolves 11%
Tottenham Team News
Yes, it’s a very fast turnaround, as Tottenham must put the Super Cup behind them, so they can quickly focus on the curtain raiser against Burnley FC.
No new injury concerns to cover here, but of course the list of long-term injury absentees is quite long. The following are ruled out for Saturday:
James Maddison, Radu Dragusin, Kota Takai, Dejan Kulusevski, Bryan Gil and Manor Solomon.
Destiny Udogie is moving closer towards a return, but this match will likely come too soon for him. Next weekend seems more likely.
Also, Yves Bissouma is seriously in the dog house with manager Thomas Frank.
“Bissouma has not travelled with the team because of disciplinary reasons,” Frank said on the eve of the Super Cup.
“He has been late several times, and the latest time was one too many. With everything you need to give your players a lot of love, but also have demands, and there also needs to be consequences, and this time there was a consequence for that.”
It kind of sounds like the midfielder’s time in North London is up.
Lots of players are unavailable for Frank in the season opener, so this is what we think is the best way to go, given who’s still around.
Spurs Starting Lineup Prediction
Guglielmo Vicario; Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Kevin Danso, Micky van de Ven, Djed Spence; Rodrigo Bentancur, Joao Palhinha, Pape Matar Sarr; Dominic Solanke, Muhammad Kudus
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter