Roberto De Zerbi says Tottenham are a different side to the team they were before the international break, but he believes they need to be “worse” to continue their promotion trajectory.
Spurs won three Premier League games in a row for the first time since February 2025, beating 10-man Crystal Palace 2-0 last time out.
It was a complete turnaround from their results before the extended international break in September, with the club sitting bottom of the table at one point.
Archie Gray and Jan Paul van Hecke were on target against Palace, who saw Jean-Philippe Mateta sent off for a foul challenge on Micky van de Ven in the 13th minute.
Spurs travel to Elland Road to face Leeds United on Saturday and De Zerbi said only a few areas of his squad need fine-tuning until they are at the peak of their powers.
“I am satisfied with the performance because we showed that we are mature with clear ideas and we did not concede a counterattack, maybe only one in the second half,” he said.
“We created many, many chances. If we want to be perfect, we have to be more nasty. But it’s a personal thing because if I’m a number 9 or 10, I want to score.
“But I can’t say anything. We are improving our physical preparation. If we compare “Tottenham” before the national break and after the national break, now we are playing as a team.
“We had a lot of good players before the international break, but we weren’t playing as a team.”
Through the lens on Hotspur Way. @Betano_UK
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) November 4, 2026
Leeds, meanwhile, were on the end of a 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth, who have gone without conceding a goal in their last six matches in all competitions.
But Leeds were guilty of falling behind, while James Trafford was at fault for Bournemouth’s opener.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Harry Wilson spurned great chances before Trafford’s loose pass was picked out by Justin Kluivert, who came on for Evanilson to score.
Amine Adli scored Bournemouth’s second goal in second-half stoppage time, but Daniel Farke did not blame his goalkeeper for his blunder at the Vitality Stadium.
“It was a self-inflicted blow, it was an own goal. It was decisive. Overall, we had a good away game,” Farke said about the incident. “We don’t need to talk about it.
“He’s a great young goalkeeper and he’s given us points this season. That’s the life of a footballer. The sun doesn’t always shine.
“But he’s going to cost us a lot more points than he’s costing us. We win together; we lose together. My advice is that he never watches the game again. Football can have boring days; it’s a boring 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, although his work off the ball is often overlooked.
Calvert-Lewin has applied more high-intensity pressures in the opposition penalty area than any other Premier League player this season (118), while he also has the third most off-the-ball runs in the box (75).
Tottenham – Mohammed Kudus
Since the start of last season, only Bruno Fernandes (22), Ryan Cherky (14), Jarrod Bowen (11) and Declan Rice (10) have made more Premier League assists than Kudus (eight).
In addition, Spurs have four of the 9 players who have taken the most dribbles (17+) in the Premier League this season, with Kudus second on 21.
RETURN = COMPLETE!
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) November 3, 2026
MATCH PREDICTION: LEEDS TO WIN
Despite being slightly favored by the Opta supercomputer, Leeds have picked up just 5 points in their last 13 Premier League games against Spurs (1 D2 L10) and haven’t kept a clean sheet in any of their last 16 games against them.
Leeds are also winless in their last five Premier League games (D3 L2). They lost to Bournemouth last time out, but haven’t lost back-to-back league games since February-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 (D4), their longest run in the top flight since a 15-game streak between January and December 2001.
Spurs have won four of their last five Premier League matches against Leeds at Elland Road (L1), including each of their last three in a row. Two of these were the last games in charge for Leeds managers – Marcelo Bielsa in February 2022 and Sam Allardyce in May 2023.
De Zerbi’s men have won the last three games of the Premier League and kept a clean sheet in the last two games. They last won four in a row between September and October 2023 and last won three in a row without conceding a goal in May 2022.
But they will hope to improve in the final third. Spurs have scored the fourth most goals in the Premier League this season (148) but are in the bottom half for expected goals (11.7). Indeed, they have the lowest xG per shot of any side during that time (0.08).
OPTA WIN probability
Leeds – 41.7%
Win – 26.7%
Tottenham – 31.6%