Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur thrashed 3-0 by Brentford: Key stats
What's the story
Tottenham Hotspur's new Premier League season has gotten off to a disastrous start with a 0-3 loss against Brentford. The match, played at the Gtech Community Stadium, saw Spurs fail to register a single shot on target in the first half. Despite being on a summer spending spree, Spurs couldn't turn their fortunes around. It was a poor performance from Roberto De Zerbi's men as the Bees completed a famous win.
Match highlights
Spurs concede 3 goals
Brentford's Mamadou Sangare, their club-record signing, assisted the first goal and controlled the midfield.
Keane Lewis-Potter opened the scoring for Brentford in the 12th minute with a well-placed shot from Sangare's assist.
Vitaly Janelt doubled their lead in the 33rd minute after Richarlison and Lucas Bergvall both lost the ball, allowing Jensen to strike at goal, with his effort poorly parried out by goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky for Janelt to rebound home.
Michael Kayode added a third just four minutes into the second half, capitalizing on Sangare's saved shot.
Missed opportunities
Brentford also miss a penalty as Spurs struggle
Brentford's Igor Thiago missed a penalty in the 55th minute after Kevin Schade was fouled by Rodrigo Bentancur.
It didn't matter as Brentford were already 3-0 up before the penalty miss.
In the 62nd minute, Spurs had a shot on target which Brentford keeper Kelleher saved.
However, Spurs struggled to create clear-cut chances throughout the match.
Brentford's impressive victory gives them a strong start to the season as they aim for European qualification after narrowly missing out on Conference League qualification last season.
Numbers
A look at the match stats
Brentford managed 41.1% ball possession. In terms of xG, Brentford's 3.96 was way higher than Spurs' 0.47.
Brentford had 26 attempts with 8 shots on target.
Spurs managed 4 shots on target from 9 attempts. Brentford hit the woodwork once and created 2 big chances.
Brentford also managed 40 touches in the opposition box. Spurs had 18 touches.
Do you know?
Unique record under Andrews for the Bees
As per Opta, there was 15 passes in the build-up to Lewis-Potter's opening goal for Brentford, only Michael Kayode's goal vs Wolves in March (19) and Rico Henry's goal vs Bournemouth in December (18) have seen more in a Premier League goal for the Bees under Keith Andrews.
Information
An unwanted record for Spurs
Tottenham have become the 2nd side to lose 40 league games since the start of the 2024-25 season, as per Squawka. Only Wolves have suffered more Premier League defeats in that time.
Words
I'm sorry for the defeat: De Zerbi
Spurs boss De Zerbi apologized after his side's defeat.
"We suffered physically but we knew that before the game. We were not ready to fight the duels, we made a lot of mistakes in the timing of the pressure with Mikey Moore on the left centre-back," he told Sky Sports.
"We arrived late too many times late, but then we lost too many duels to compete with Brentford. I'm sorry for that, I'm sorry for the defeat."
"I know we have to improve in the physical condition, we have to improve in the organisation because there were many new players. But it's the first game, it's the part of our journey," he added.