Brentford v Tottenham: Premier League – live
Key events
Just the one debut for Brentford this afternoon: the aforementioned Mali midfielder Mamadou Sangaré.
Tottenham by contrast have four debutants in their starting XI: Sandro Tonali, Andy Robertson, Jan Paul van Hecke and Marcos Senesi. Matheus Fernandes and 17-year-old attacking midfielder Lucá Williams-Barnett are both debut-adjacent, sat waiting on the bench.
The teams
Brentford: Kelleher, Kayode, Ajer, Collins, Lewis-Potter, Jensen, Sangare, Ouattara, Janelt, Schade, Thiago.
Subs: Valdimarsson, Hickey, Henry, Pinnock, Yarmolyuk, Wilson, Anthony, Damsgaard, Schuster.
Tottenham Hotspur: Kinsky, Gray, van Hecke, Senesi, Robertson, Bergvall, Tonali, Gallagher, Moore, Tel, Richarlison.
Subs: Dubravka, Danso, Maddison, Udogie, Fernandes, Solanke, Bentancur, Davies, Williams-Barnet.
Referee: Michael Oliver
VAR: John Brooks
Preamble
Which Tottenham will we get this season, then? Good luck making a confident prediction, because after a couple of campaigns in which they’ve nearly got themselves relegated twice and won a major European trophy, Spurs have ripped it up and started again. One way or another, keeping tabs on their new team is not going to be boring. Brentford by contrast have kept things much the same, other than adding all-action midfielder Mamadou Sangaré, who could turn out to be the signing of the summer.
Having finished eight places above Spurs last time, the Bees will go into tonight’s fixture with confidence. Especially as they’ve got previous in beating north London royalty on the opening day …
… although their head-to-head with Spurs isn’t quite so promising. Just the one win in ten since their return to the top tier, and no victory at home since a 2-0 win at Griffin Park in the old Second Division in 1948. So you’d have to think that history is on Tottenham’s side … but then logical outcomes so often aren’t, and therefore this could be a lot of fun. Kick-off is at 5.30pm BST. It’s on!
