Ange Postecoglou toasted his new-look Tottenham team for providing an early birthday present with a 2-0 win at Bournemouth and backed “bargain” James Maddison to get even better. Maddison pulled the strings on the south coast and opened his account for Spurs with his 17th-minute goal, which helped make it back-to-back victories in the Premier League for the visitors. Dejan Kulusevski added a second after half-time to end his goal drought stretching back to January to keep the feelgood factor around Tottenham despite losing record marksman Harry Kane to Bayern Munich on the eve of the new campaign. Postecoglou has overseen an impressive seven-point haul from a possible nine since he took over and admitted he could now enjoy his 58th birthday on Sunday. “Yeah, I’m 58. We always put birthday celebrations on hold depending on the result but I’m sure my wife is scrambling to arrange something for tomorrow,” the Australian smiled. “It’ll be nice. Short turnaround to Fulham so still got to go into work tomorrow but it’ll be nice to spend some time with the family and now another click closer to that 60 mark, mate.” There had been doubts over Maddison’s availability at Vitality Stadium after he left Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last weekend on crutches and in a protective boot. While the England international said at the time it was precautionary, he only returned to training on Friday, but starred again with the number 10 shirt on his back. Maddison moved from Leicester in June for an initial £40million deal that could rise in add-ons and during a summer where midfielders have transferred for more than £100million, it appears a steal. Postecoglou added: “A £45 million bargain? I don’t know what world you live in mate, but I know what you mean and relatively so. “There wasn’t anyone happier than me when we got him. I was delighted. I wouldn’t say I’m surprised, but I’m overjoyed at the footballer I’ve got. The way he’s embraced the whole club, where he’s at in his life. “He really wants to be the person. He’s that creative force for us. He works hard, he wins the ball back, presses. It’s not like he just comes to life when we’ve got the ball. He’s had a disrupted week. He only had one session with us, but for him to put on a performance like that is credit to him. “And I think there’s more to come when he gets more understanding with our forward players and they get more understanding with him. He’s going to keep improving. If we got him in the bargain bin, that’s great for us.” The only negative for Tottenham was another game without a goal for Richarlison, who was replaced on the hour mark. “He just needs to work hard, keep contributing to the team and contributing to us being successful and overcoming the challenges we have,” Postecoglou countered. “Richy will work hard. He’s a good footballer and he’ll get his goals.” Meanwhile, Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola was left disappointed with their end to an entertaining contest. Ryan Christie tested Guglielmo Vicario before half-time and Antoine Semenyo curled into the side-netting after the break before Destiny Udogie burst into the area and cut back for Kulusevski to wrap the points up for Spurs. Iraola said: “I was disappointed probably with the end of the game after the 2-0. “I think until 2-0 the team was playing really well and it looked like in this moment we had chances to score the 1-1, but from there we probably lacked a little bit of intensity and they were more comfortable on the ball. “In the first half we put them in really difficult positions. I think (Yves) Bissouma and Maddison were in difficult positions, but they are good and they were winning duals even with a man on their back and protecting very well the ball. “Probably we didn’t regain so many balls because for me they could sustain a very good press.”

Mangled debris recovered from the small submersible that was destroyed when it imploded during a recent dive to the Titanic wreck was offloaded Wednesday in eastern Canada, bringing to...

The Nashville Predators have fired coach John Hynes more than a month after they missed the playoffs

Texas got clipped by rival Oklahoma in the Red River Showdown, Ohio State survived an early Maryland upset bid and we have our projected college football rankings.

Dating rumours have been circulating about Johnny Depp and Jenna Ortega - and now the actors have responded by adamantly denying this. It all began when celebrity gossip account, Deuxmoi, said that the pair had been spotted on a date together, and also perhaps working together on Tim Burton's Beetlejuice 2. However, the 20-year-old Wednesday actor was quick to dispel these rumours connecting her to the 60-year-old Hollywood veteran in an Instagram Story. “This is so ridiculous I can’t even laugh," Ortega told her 40m followers. “I have never met or worked with Johnny Depp in my life. Please stop spreading lies and leave us alone.” Meanwhile, Depp's camp has also vehemently shut down these rumours too, describing how the Pirates of the Caribbean actor was "appalled" by them. His rep told NME: “Mr. Depp has no personal or professional relationship with Ms. Ortega whatsoever. He has never met her or spoken to her. “He is not involved in any project with her, nor does he intend to be. He is appalled by these baseless and malicious rumours that are intended to harm his reputation and career.” Beetlejuice 2 is set to see Ortega play the daughter of Lydia Deetz, the role famously played by Winona Ryder in the original 1988 film, while Ryder and Michael Keaton will also reprise their roles for the sequel. The film is expected to be released on September 6 2024. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with China's foreign minister by phone on Wednesday, a call that comes ahead of a highly anticipated expected visit by Washington's top diplomat to China as the two superpowers try to improve the dismal state of their ties.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -China's major state-owned banks have been active in both onshore and offshore foreign exchange markets in recent weeks

Britain's stubborn inflation problem is finally showing signs of easing.

BRUSSELS EU tech regulators on Friday ordered Meta Platforms to provide details on measures taken to tackle child

AMSTERDAM Economic growth in the Netherlands will be much slower than earlier expected this year, government policy adviser

School bus driver Imunek Williams was just two blocks away from dropping a group of students off at the Milwaukee Academy of Science on Wednesday morning when she suddenly smelled something burning. Minutes later, the bus was engulfed in flames.

MUNICH & TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 26, 2023--