We found out just over a week ago that a Premier League title race is very much on.
We also found out the same weekend that there will likely be a battle to avoid the drop, even accounting for the fact that the bottom two, Wolves and Burnley, are surely all but gone.
Since then, there has been a full set of midweek fixtures, the SBOTOP 2026 Premier League betting odds have twisted this way and that way, and now the talk is about two new managers on the scene.
While the sacking of Thomas Frank was partly predicted, I couldn’t help that think Spurs would have benefited from giving him a full season.
There is no question the Dane worked wonders at Brentford and, after going within a penalty shoot-out of securing silverware in his first official match in charge, had to contend with a crippling injury list virtually all year.
It’s arguable that the North Londoners have started to look unmanageable, having cycled through six permanent managers (and four interims or caretakers) since moving into their new stadium in 2019, as though the elevated environment has created an expectation with which the squad-building cannot keep up.
That they have replaced him with a Croat with no English top flight experience has surprised. But there again Igor Tudor has been appointed to do a job until the end of the season and he does have a record of causing a quick upswing in fortunes.
He won five of his nine matches at Lazio after arriving in March 2023 and then oversaw an equally impressive revival in Turin last year when he guided Juventus into the Serie A top four with five victories during the final two months of the campaign, before he was dismissed in October.
Spurs will improve, with or without Frank and with or without Tudor, when they are near a full complement of players once more, but they need to make sure their next permanent appointment is backed properly.
When the next set of Premier League 2026 highlights return before our eyes in just over a week’s time, though, it won’t just be in the Spurs dugout where the main focus will be.
In an era in which club owners seemingly panic before more than ever before, the decision of Nottingham Forest to sack Sean Dyche speaks of madness.
As respected journalist Henry Winter highlighted, here was an experienced figure who had been nominated for Manager of the Month in January and overseen two wins and three draws during his most recent six Premier League games.
A goalless draw at home to Wolves last week may have been poor but the home side dominated the contest and had 35 attempts on goal, suggesting they are not struggling to create openings.
How can a manager who has made a positive impression since arriving lose his job after just 114 days?
Let’s remember, Dyche took over at the City Ground with Forest 18th in the table after one win in eight games during a difficult start to the season.
After a 2-0 defeat by Bournemouth in his first match in charge, the ‘Ginger Mourinho’, as Burnley fans used to call him, led Forest to four wins and one draw in their next seven to guide them out of the drop zone.
A run of four consecutive defeats followed, but Dyche’s side responded with a four-match unbeaten run – including a 2-1 win at fellow strugglers West Ham and a resilient goalless draw with leaders Arsenal.
An upturn in form of both the Hammers and Leeds has left it tight, meaning the boys from the Trent are just three points clear of the drop zone, but I have no doubt Dyche would have kept them up.
He also guided them to the knockout stages of the Europa League.
The real embarrassment for Forest is their owner, the combustible Evangelos Marinakis whose actions mean the team is preparing to play under a fourth different manager of the season.
Nuno Espirito Santo, who guided them to seventh place last term, was sacked 23 days into the campaign before his replacement Ange Postecoglou lasted 39 days.
All in all, it’s fair to say Forest’s problems are of their own making after Nuno fell out with global sporting director Edu and owner Marinakis to make his position untenable.
Postecoglou was a different clash of styles again and was never given a chance to impose his ideas.
Dyche was a safe pair of hands, reverting back to what the squad knew under Nuno, and his connection with the club – having come through the academy – initially made it a sweet homecoming.
Their 3-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield in November provided one of the stories of the season.
All I would say is, it would appear the club has made a shrewd appointment with his replacement, whose first league game will be at home to the Merseysiders.
Vitor Pereira, who has arrived on an 18-month deal, worked wonders at Wolves last term before player sales left the squad exposed last summer.
He will also keep Forest up, I suspect, but few will have any sympathy for Marinakis should they fall.
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