Roberto De Zerbi’s summer rebuild at Tottenham Hotspur got off to a disastrous start as they suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat to Brentford on the opening day of the Premier League season.
Despite Tottenham’s huge summer spending, they made a poor start in west London. Brentford created several half-chances before deservedly taking the lead, with club-record signing Mamadou Sangaré involved in the build-up. He exchanged a neat one-two with Dango Ouattara before cutting the ball back for Keane Lewis-Potter to sweep home.
Brentford continued to dominate, with Igor Thiago coming close to doubling their advantage when his header crashed against the crossbar.
Tottenham escaped conceding a second goal shortly afterwards when Ouattara’s heavy touch while bearing down on Antonín Kinský’s goal allowed the visitors to recover. However, Kinský was at fault moments later when he fumbled Mathias Jensen’s powerful drive into the path of Vitaly Janelt, who calmly finished into an empty net.
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De Zerbi made a double substitution at half-time in an attempt to change the game, but Tottenham quickly fell further behind. Five minutes after the restart, Sangaré’s effort from a partially cleared corner was initially saved by Kinský, but Michael Kayode reacted quickest to turn home the rebound from inside the six-yard box.
Things then went from bad to worse for Spurs when substitute Rodrigo Bentancur brought down Kevin Schade inside the penalty area. However, Igor Thiago missed the chance to make it four after sending his penalty against the post.
Mikey Moore had three opportunities to bring Tottenham back into the contest, but Caoimhín Kelleher denied him on each occasion.
De Zerbi introduced his remaining attacking options from the bench in a desperate attempt to rescue something from the match, but Tottenham could not find a way back as they suffered just their second defeat in 11 Premier League season openers.
For Brentford, it was an outstanding start to the campaign, made even more memorable by their first-ever league victory over Tottenham at this ground.
