Tottenham must be 'nastier' to be a perfect team, says De Zerbi

Roberto De Zerbi says Tottenham are a different team to the one before the international break, but he believes they must become "nastier" to continue their upward trajectory.

Spurs beat 10-man Crystal Palace 2-0 last time out, winning three consecutive Premier League matches for the first time since February 2025.

It has been a complete turnaround from the results they produced before the extended international break in September, with the club at one point sitting at the bottom of the table.

Archie Gray and Jan Paul van Hecke were on target against Palace, who saw Jean-Philippe Mateta sent off for a nasty challenge on Micky van de Ven in the 13th minute.

Spurs make the trip to Elland Road on Saturday to face Leeds United, and De Zerbi said just a few areas of his team need fine-tuning before they are at the peak of their powers.

"I'm happy with the performance because we showed to be mature with clear ideas, and we didn't concede a counter-attack, maybe just one in the second half," he said.

"We created many, many chances. If we want to be perfect, we have to be nastier. But it's an individual thing, because if I'm the number nine or the number 10, I want to score.

"But I can't say anything. We are improving our physical condition. If we compare Tottenham before the national break and after the national break, now we are playing as a team.

"Before the international break, we had a lot of good players, but we weren't playing as a team."

Leeds, meanwhile, were on the end of a 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth, who have now won their last six matches across all competitions without conceding a goal.

But Leeds only had themselves to blame for going behind, with James Trafford at fault for Bournemouth's opener.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Harry Wilson spurned glorious chances before Trafford's loose pass was picked off by Justin Kluivert, who squared for Evanilson to score.

Amine Adli scored Bournemouth's second in second-half stoppage time, but Daniel Farke did not blame his goalkeeper for his blunder at the Vitality Stadium.

"It was self-inflicted, an own goal. This was decisive. Overall, we played a good away game," Farke said of the incident. "We don't have to speak about it.

"He is a terrific young goalkeeper and has saved us points this season. It's the life of a football player. The sun isn't always shining.

"But he will save us way more points than perhaps he cost us. We win together; we lose together. My recommendation is that he doesn't watch the game back. Football can have annoying days; it's an annoying day for him."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Leeds – Dominic Calvert-Lewin

Despite seeing a goal ruled out against Bournemouth last time out, Calvert-Lewin continues to be Leeds' most attacking threat, though his work off the ball often goes unnoticed.

Calvert-Lewin has applied more high-intensity pressures in the opponent's penalty area than any other Premier League player this season (118), while he's also made the third-highest number of off-the-ball runs ending in the box (75).

Tottenham – Mohammed Kudus

Since the start of last season, only Bruno Fernandes (22), Rayan Cherki (14), Jarrod Bowen (11) and Declan Rice (10) have more Premier League assists than Kudus (eight).

In addition, of the nine players to have completed the most dribbles in the Premier League this season (17+), four of them play for Spurs, with Kudus joint-second on 21.

MATCH PREDICTION: LEEDS WIN

Despite being slightly favoured by the Opta supercomputer, Leeds have picked up just five points in their last 13 Premier League matches against Spurs (W1 D2 L10) and have not kept a clean sheet in any of their last 16 against them.

Leeds are also winless in their last five Premier League games (D3 L2). They lost to Bournemouth last time out, but have not lost consecutive league games since between February and March last season.

But Farke's side have the advantage of playing at Elland Road. Leeds are unbeaten in their last eight Premier League home games (W4 D4), their longest run in the top-flight since a 15-game streak between January and December 2001.

Spurs, however, have won four of their last five Premier League matches against Leeds at Elland Road (L1), including each of the last three in a row. Two of those were the final games in charge for Leeds managers – Marcelo Bielsa in February 2022 and Sam Allardyce in May 2023.

De Zerbi's men have also won their last three Premier League games, keeping a clean sheet in their last two. They last won four in a row between September and October 2023, and last won three in a row without conceding in May 2022.

But they will be hoping to improve in the final third. Spurs have had the fourth-most shots in the Premier League this season (148), but rank in the bottom half for expected goals (11.7). Indeed, they have the lowest xG per shot of any side this term (0.08).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Leeds – 41.7%

Draw – 26.7%

Tottenham – 31.6%