RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesMatch Preview: Brentford v Tottenham Hotspur
Brentford open their 2026/27 Premier League campaign against Tottenham Hotspur at Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday afternoon (5.30pm kick-off BST, live on Sky Sports).
Keith Andrews’ side will be looking to make a winning start, as the Bees begin their second season under the head coach.
Analysis, team news, match officials and more - here's everything you need to know ahead of the game.
Pre-match analysis
Stephen Gillett, Playmaker Stats: Brentford’s attacking threat meets De Zerbi’s possession game
Boosted by a strong pre-season and some exciting summer arrivals, Brentford will take on Roberto De Zerbi's new-look Tottenham in their Premier League opener this Saturday.
The Bees completed their preparations for the new campaign in emphatic style with a 7-0 win over Bundesliga outfit Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend . Spurs also enjoyed an unbeaten pre-season, recording four wins and three draws across seven games ahead of their first full campaign under De Zerbi.
A flurry of competitive debuts could be on the cards at Gtech Community Stadium. Brentford fans will be eager to see Jaidon Anthony , Callum Wilson and highly-rated Mali international Mamadou Sangaré in red and white, while Tottenham have invested heavily in reshaping a squad that has finished 17th in each of the past two Premier League campaigns.
Shortlisted for the 2025/26 Manager of the Season award in his first campaign as Brentford head coach, Keith Andrews moulded the squad he inherited from Thomas Frank into a durable, athletic outfit possessing one of the most clinical strike forces in the top flight.
Igor Thiago came of age last season with 25 goals across all competitions, spearheading a formidable attacking trident alongside Kevin Schade and quicksilver wide man Dango Ouattara .
The Bees ended the campaign with the best shot-on-target percentage of any team in the Premier League (36.3 per cent), while Thiago's shot-conversion rate (26.19 per cent) was the highest of any forward in the division.
New signings Anthony (eight) and Wilson (seven) plundered 15 league goals between them for Burnley and West Ham respectively in 2025/26, and their arrivals will add further firepower this season. The pair also offer distinct threats: Anthony scored all but one of his top-flight goals for the Clarets from open play, while Wilson netted more goals from set-pieces than any other player in the league.
Sangaré, meanwhile, scored a screamer for the Bees against Eintracht last weekend, and his potential midfield battle with Spurs’ big-money signings Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes could be one of the game's most intriguing contests, though the Portuguese is nursing a calf problem.
The 24-year-old Mali international won the Marc-Vivien Foé Award, presented annually to the best African player in Ligue 1, and his ability to break up play and distribute intelligently was showcased by a raft of league-leading stats in France last term.
Andrews and De Zerbi will look to bed in their new faces and implement the tactical tweaks they have been fine-tuning during pre-season, and an intriguing battle lies in store.
He was renowned for the possession-based game he implemented at Brighton, and with technicians such as Tonali, Fernandes and James Maddison in the middle of the park, Tottenham are likely to favour a more controlled approach than was on show as they battled for Premier League survival at the end of last season.
In De Zerbi's final season with the Seagulls in 2023/24, Brighton averaged over 60 per cent possession and recorded a pass-completion rate of 89 per cent, bettered only by Pep Guardiola's Manchester City side (91 per cent).
It will be fascinating to see how Andrews and his Italian counterpart on Saturday deploy their new personnel and freshen up their tactics as both sides look to start the 2026/27 campaign on a positive note.
Scout report
Dan Long, Sky Sports: New-look Spurs aim to move on from season of turmoil
Tottenham were 12th in the Premier League table after the goalless draw with Brentford on New Year’s Day.
Their results had been consistently inconsistent, yet there were no alarm bells and they were just four points behind fifth-placed Chelsea.
But that was to be the first in a run of 15 league games without a win. From there, they dropped like a stone, despite beating Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt to finish fourth in the Champions League league phase.
Thomas Frank lasted only seven more league games. An injury nightmare played a significant role, with Mohammed Kudus, Rodrigo Bentancur, Richarlison, Ben Davies, Lucas Bergvall, Pedro Porro and Kevin Danso sidelined in January alone. Spurs fans called for Frank’s dismissal after the 2-1 home defeat to Newcastle on 10 February, and their wish was granted the following day.
Igor Tudor was appointed as his successor on a deal until the end of the season. The club made no secret of the fact he was brought in as a firefighter, after similar recent roles at Juventus and Lazio. “His mandate is straightforward - bring organisation, intensity and competitive edge to the squad at a decisive stage of the campaign,” read a statement.
If anything, he added further fuel to the fire. In his first game, Spurs lost 4-1 to Arsenal in the north London derby and they had taken only one point from five league games by the March international break. He left by mutual consent on 29 March, just 44 days after his arrival. They were only one point above the relegation zone at that point.
The third man to lead the club was former Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi. He signed a five-year deal. It was a show of faith that they believed he was the man who could finally get them out of the mire. And they were right.
Despite slipping into the bottom three after a 1-0 defeat away at Sunderland in his first game, Spurs picked up 11 points from the last 18 available. They survived...
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