Worst-ever Spurs manager Frank surely to be sacked, Chelsea let Palmer down, Bournemouth find gem | OneFootball

Thomas Frank is now statistically the worst manager in Tottenham Hotspur’s history and his inept side are only going one way in this shambolic season.

Also in the early kick-offs on Tuesday night, Cole Palmer’s brilliance was undermined by Chelsea’s long-term weakness, while streaky Bournemouth have found a brilliant replacement for Antoine Semenyo.

Tottenham 1-2 Newcastle United

Surely, it must now be all she wrote for Frank?!

Pre-match, Tottenham vs Newcastle was billed as this season’s latest El Sackico, but there was only one side fighting for their manager in this match.

Spurs are in a relegation battle and they are playing like a team in one, having spent most of the first 50 minutes deep in their own half and showing no attacking gusto on the rare occasions they had a spell of possession.

Frank’s inept side would have been on the end of another embarrassing thumping had they played the Newcastle of old, but even this version of Eddie Howe’s side had too much for the hosts with their far superior intensity.

Tottenham failed to respond to the reprieve of Newcastle’s 43rd-minute disallowed goal, with Malick Thiaw taking the second of his two attempts to score from close range as the defending team was uninterested.

This was a stark contrast to Newcastle’s reaction to Archie Gray’s leveller; the visitors wrestled back control of the match and restored their lead via Jacob Ramsey’s cool finish only four minutes after conceding.

Newcastle are far from okay, but this was a deserved and potentially decisive win that could turn their season. Spurs, meanwhile, are only going one way as things stand and need to wake up quickly if they are to avoid relegation.

With this loss, Frank is now statistically the worst manager in Tottenham’s history with a shambolic 26.9% win rate; their board cannot sleepwalk with him any longer.

Chelsea 2-2 Leeds United

Palmer has returned to his best in recent days, but Chelsea’s defenders let him down against Leeds United.

Following his match-winning hat-trick against Wolves, Palmer opened up Leeds United’s resolute backline with a defence-splitting pass to assist Joao Pedro, who produced a fine chipped finish, for Chelsea’s opener and the England international later doubled his side’s lead with another penalty.

This had the Blues on course for an eighth win in ten games under Liam Rosenior, but their defence had other ideas; Lukas Nmecha pulled one back with the game’s second penalty, and Leeds equalised six minutes later via what will surely be the scrappiest goal of this season.

Robert Sanchez and Josh Acheampong shirked responsibility for clearing the ball inside the penalty area as Noah Okafor was gifted the simplest of tap-ins to equalise, while Chelsea’s late push for an equaliser came to no avail as Palmer fired over from a couple of yards out in one of the match’s final actions.

It’s another vital point for Leeds, who now look increasingly likely to survive in the Premier League, while Chelsea’s goalkeeper and centre-back issues continue to derail their hopes of major success this season.

A win for Everton would have seen them overtake arch-rivals Liverpool in the Premier League, but they threw away that opportunity in a calamitous eight minutes.

The Toffees had the lead via Iliman Ndiaye’s penalty that was conceded by January signing Rayan shortly before half time, but Semenyo’s replacement redeemed himself after the restart.

The 19-year-old is already justifying his £30m price tag, with his back-post headed equaliser against Everton his third goal involvement in his first three Premier League appearances (two goals and an assist).

Everton and Bournemouth headed into tonight’s match on respective four-game unbeaten runs, but Rayan’s leveller gave the visitors the impetus to kick on and take the lead via a well-worked free-kick that Amine Adli finished.

Minutes later, it was game over as Jake O’Brien was sent off for a last-man foul on Adli, with streaky Bournemouth now back in the top-half and a potential big move for head coach Andoni Iraola certainly back on.