After a turbulent few weeks in North London Tottenham Hotspur have finally parted company with fiery Italian boss Antonio Conte, with six weeks of the Premier League season still to play.
Conte has been an unhappy man for some time and he has rounded on his players, calling them selfish and simply not playing as a team. And matters came to a head after Spurs threw away a two goal lead to draw 3-3 with bottom club Southampton before the international break when the now ex-boss said: “I’m not used to seeing this type of situation. I see a lot of selfish players and I don’t see a team. I see players that don’t want to help each other and don’t put their heart in. They don’t want to play under pressure. It is easy in this way. Tottenham’s story is this.”
In other words – his team was a bit Spursy!
Conte couldn’t help himself pointing out that Tottenham haven’t opened their trophy cabinet in 15 years; his angry words sounded a little like a resignation and his 16 months tenure at the club promptly ended by Chairman Daniel Levy who said: “We have ten Premier League games remaining and we have a fight on our hands for a Champions League place. We all need to pull together.”
The fact that fierce rivals Arsenal are eight points clear at the top of the Premier League doesn’t help the mood in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Spurs are out of Europe and the FA Cup so a top four place is the only priority, but with Manchester United, Newcastle United and Liverpool all pushing for two places. Acting head coach Cristian Stellini has a tough task on his hands.
Once the season is over Spurs will look for a long term replacement to take the helm and the early signs suggest Julian Nagelsmann, recently sacked by FC Bayern, is a front-runner.
Hodgson returns to save the Eagles
In another change at the top of a London club, Patrick Vieira has departed from Crystal Palace after a dismal run of form in 2023, which has left the Eagles in a nine team relegation scrap. And now, former boss Roy Hodgson has taken over until the end of the campaign. Following a run of 12 games without a win the Palace board moved quickly to bring in Hodgson, now 75 years old, to use his wealth of managerial experience at the club, which now sits precariously just three points above the drop zone.
The Eagles’ returning hero said: “It is a privilege to be asked to return to the club, which has always meant so much to me, and to be given the important task of turning the team’s fortunes around.”
The former England manager knows the club inside out; he knows the owners and many of the players and, crucially, he knows how to win games. The Premier League 2023 betting odds reckon Hodgson will steer the South Londoners to safety, but there will be some nervous people at Selhurst Park over the next few weeks. A first victory under the new boss will be golden for the Eagles.
Toffees in a sticky position
In other Premier League 2023 news it seems that Everton’s ‘creative accounting policy’ might be catching up with them. The Merseysiders squeezed their way to safety last season after appearing to be doomed with a handful off games to play. But relegation rivals Burnley, who went down, and Leeds United wrote a letter to the league last season and an investigation opened.
The club insists it has done nothing wrong but their finance team managed to write off around £170m to COVID losses, compared with around £50m written off by clubs of a comparable size. The club may now face a points deduction for breach of financial fair play rules and they are set to strongly contest the charges.
The lawyers will be rubbing their hands and I doubt whether a deduction will be made in time to relegate the Toffees this season who sit in 15th place and just two points above the bottom three. Burnley and Leeds out their complaint in during May of last year but former Everton manager Frank Lampard was permitted to spend another £80m on players in the following transfer window.
Ex Burnley boss Sean Dyche is now in the Goodison Park hot seat and he, like Hodgson, has the experience to pull his new club clear of danger. The latest SBOTOP odds reckon he will succeed, but if the Premier League gets its act together in time to dock points this season that could be a devastating blow to Everton.
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