The two-way battle to avoid relegation could be heading towards some final-day drama after Tottenham Hotspur were pegged back by Leeds United on Monday night.
Here are our Scout Notes.
UNDER PRESSURE
After excellent recent displays against Brighton and Hove Albion and Aston Villa, this was a nervier one from Spurs.
We shouldn’t be too surprised, given what’s at stake.
After an event-free first 20 minutes, the Lilywhites slowly started to get on top. By the hour mark, they were 12-3 up on shots, 0.95-0.18 up on Statsbomb xG, and 1-0 ahead. Mathys Tel (£6.2m), much improved under Roberto De Zerbi and delivering an attacking return for the second successive week, curled in a superb opener.
But for the final half an hour, Leeds bested them 1.39-0.26 on xG. Dominic Calvert-Lewin‘s (£5.8m) penalty, after a moment of madness and a high boot from Tel, led to an edgy closing period, in which Antonin Kinsky (£3.9m) produced a wonder-save from Sean Longstaff (£4.8m). The same Leeds midfielder then completely mishit a very good back-post chance.
Tense, perilous times, which may set the scene for Spurs’ last two league games.
“We didn’t play well. We didn’t play a great game; we played a good game. I think we felt too much pressure. It can happen if you fight for the relegation. ” – Roberto De Zerbi
NO LET-UP FROM LEEDS
Credit to Leeds who, despite having Premier League safety ensured before a ball was kicked on Monday, competed throughout. No capitulation at 1-0, and they were the likelier side to win by full-time.
Daniel Farke set the tone by naming as strong a side as he could, with his two changes enforced. Daniel James (£5.2m) and Brenden Aaronson (£5.4m) came in for the injured Jayden Bogle (£4.4m) and Noah Okafor (£5.6m). James played as a right-sided wing-back.
For those holding Leeds assets and worried about an ‘on the beach’ mentality, Farke won’t permit it.
“I wouldn’t allow it in a different way. If you put the white shirt on and represent this passionate and amazing club, you have all to play for because we represent the United. We want to make our supporters proud. And for that, if you’re then not highly motivated in a Premier League game, you have chosen the wrong club. And I would never allow anything less than just 100%, exactly what we’ve shown today,
“We also want to show this and to spoil our supporters, even a bit more, in our final home game [in Gameweek 37]. And then also, of course, on the final game day. If we can extend our unbeaten run and keep going, it would be great. And we will fight till the end for each and every point till the last game day.” – Daniel Farke
STRUIJK + BOGLE INJURIES
We mentioned the two enforced Leeds changes above. Okafor’s absence was confirmed in the pre-match presser but Bogle’s no-show was a surprise, and it turns out that it was a late, late injury that put paid to his involvement.
“Jayden Bogle was ready to travel with us. He injured himself somehow. So, first experience that I have during an activation session before our final session in the gym. I’ve never experienced someone who has a hamstring strain by doing activation.” – Daniel Farke
Pascal Struijk (£4.3m) did recover enough from a hip issue to start, but the same problem forced him off in the second half.
“Pascal has been struggling since a few weeks with some hip problems. Also during the second half today, it was not possible for him to go further on.” – Daniel Farke on Pascal Struijk
CALVERT-LEWIN TO KEEP BONUS…?
Calvert-Lewin’s owners will be chuffed with the goal, but it looked like the forward was going to lose his bonus point. The striker dropped down to 17 BPS after the overnight update (not yet seen on the FPL site), with James Justin (£4.0m) moving up to 18:
However, regular DefCon/bonus updater Tom Hadley reports that Justin has been incorrectly awarded +3BPS for a ‘big chance created’ – so following the next next update, Calvert-Lewin’s bonus should stick!
Watch this space…
To summarise:
DCL is managing to hang on to 1 bonus point for dear life 😆 https://t.co/s6V7FWTyqa
— Tom Hadley FPL (@FPL_TomHadley) May 12, 2026
…BUT UNLUCKY PORRO TO LOSE DEFCON
Pedro Porro (£5.2m) will be the sole player dropping back down below the DefCon threshold, meanwhile:
It capped off a frustrating evening for Porro owners, who not only saw the clean sheet go up in smoke but also chances for attacking returns come and go.
The right-back supplied an excellent through ball for Richarlison (£6.4m) early on, only for the Brazilian to take a heavy touch and allow Karl Darlow (£4.0m) to smother the ball. Darlow then saved another close-range attempt from Richarlison following yet another Porro tee-up.
The Spurs defender himself could have scored, only for a goalbound shot to be cleared off the line.
The final insult was Tel’s goal. Had the winger controlled Porro’s deflected corner inside the box and scored, the Spanish right-back would have bagged the assist. As it was, Tel was a yard outside the area.
Exasperation for owners, then, but encouragement for the remaining two Gameweeks.
RICHARLISON WASTEFUL, KINSKY SUPERB + MADDISON RETURNS
Richarlison owners were left similarly irked. Aside from the opportunities that Porro set up, the Brazilian couldn’t scramble home a corner and then blazed over from close range following Randal Kolo Muani’s (£6.9m) centre. Four shots in the box and two big chances were a game-high.
At least he was in the right areas, but Dominic Solanke (£7.1m) might soon be back to challenge for the striker role.
At the other end of the field, Kinsky was excellent. As well as the save onto the bar from Longstaff, he made a superb low stop from Joe Rodon (£3.9m).
Ending on another positive note, we saw James Maddison (£6.8m) on the field for the first time this season. A non-playing substitute in the last three Gameweeks, he finally made it off the bench. He was bright, too, having 22 touches of the ball in his brief cameo.
Maddison was only an 85th-minute substitute, however, and it sounds like he may not be ready to start just yet.
“Great news for us. He is a different player [in terms of] quality, as a guy and he will be, I hope, crucial for us. Yesterday, I spoke with him about his physical condition and about how many minutes he could play. He played more than what he said yesterday. We are happy for him but I think we are in the right way.” – Roberto De Zerbi on James Maddison
