Brentford (A)

Roberto De Zerbi and the lads head to Brentford for the season opener, which nowadays gives off the classic "difficult place to go" vibes that Bolton had all those years ago. Signings aplenty, many of us are thinking how will we fair up against a very sturdy, dynamic side until the attacking cavalry arrive, hopefully next week.

As with any other season opener, it's difficult to predict how it's all going to turn out. Let's start with the pros, it's hopefully a start of a new era for the club, plenty of optimism from what we've seen over the pre-season friendlies and new signings galore after a busy-ish summer. However, the cons show we are yet to invest in our attack which should be done soon given the recent news surrounding the likes of Savinho, Cody Gakpo and Omar Marmoush, but also, Brentford are a very troublesome nemesis indeed.

Them

Keith Andrews took a lot of plaudits from his debut season at the helm, finishing 9th place and only a matter of goals away from taking the UEFA Conference League spot from Brighton. Building on the foundations laid down by the man who shall not be mentioned in the Tottenham universe, Andrews' side play a largely direct, physical, counter-attacking game with the trademark set-pieces routines in their armoury.

Brentford do not care about possession, but that's not to say they don't have any identity with the ball either. With a fluid midfield and fullbacks who want to go high and wide, they've got more than enough in attack to cause damage with the likes of of Igor Thiago, Dango Ouattara, Kevin Schade and Jaidon Anthony all with a possibility to start against us.

Us

It's clear to see from the pre-season games that the gears of "De Zerbi-ball" have started to turn but we are far from the finished product. However it's clear to see that with Antonin Kinsky, Jan-Paul van Hecke and Marcos Senesi at the base of our build-up, there's already a stark improvement to our in-possession game leaving us with something a lot more to get behind than this time last year. Not to mention, how much Tonali has shown his quality since arriving in the summer.

Robertson still looks more than capable of bombing up and down the left flank as he did for Liverpool for many years and has already started to build an on-pitch relationship with Mathys Tel, as all the goals from our 3-0 win against Hoffenheim shown. On the other side, Mikey Moore looks set to start before looking likely to be shipped to Cologne for a season to continue his development after a promising year at Rangers. Gallagher will likely play off Richarlison, crashing into the box and making himself a nuisance in-between the boxes. It's far from a perfect line-up, we might have another few weeks until we have a full strength side, but it's as good as we've got at the moment.

Key Match-Ups

Tel vs Kayode

Mathys Tel's form in pre-season suggests he's come back with the bit between his teeth. He's shown flair, speed, creativity and perhaps even a sprinkle of composure in crucial points, something he could've been accused of lacking last season. For those that didn't see the goals he created vs Hoffenheim last weekend, do so straight after you've read this!

van Hecke/Senesi vs Igor Thiago

A new defensive duo is set to make it's competitive debut against one of the league's most brutal forwards. Igor Thiago is bit of a throwback center forward who's strengths are his physique, hold-up play, his work-rate off the ball and his box work. With a perhaps unexpected 22 league goals last season, the new defensive partnership will be put through the wringer on Saturday evening.

Gray vs Schade

Much has been made of Archie Gray who's played a significant part in Spurs' pre-season campaign, not only for his performances, but also him captaining the side on a few occasions. The elephant in the room though has been his fairly consistent appearance at right-back in the absense of World Cup winner Pedro Porro, something that has been documented that he's not too keen on. There's no doubting Gray's physique or his stride over a mid-large distance, but I can't help but think the speedy Kevin Schade becomes a greater threat up against him in a 1v1 situation.

Predicted Lineups

Brentford: Caoimhin Kelleher, Michael Kayode, Kristoffer Ajer, Nathan Collins, Keane Lewis-Potter, Mamadou Sangare, Vitaly Janelt, Mathias Jensen, Dango Ouattara, Kevin Schade, Igor Thiago

Spurs: Antonin Kinsky, Archie Gray, Jan-Paul van Hecke, Marcos Senesi, Andy Robertson, Sandro Tonali, Lucas Bergvall, Mikey Moore, Conor Gallagher, Mathys Tel, Richarlison

H2H

4/22 0-0

12/22 2-2 Janelt, Toney, Kane, Hojbjerg

8/23 2-2 Mbeumo, Wissa, Romero, Emerson

2/25 0-2 Janelt (og), Sarr

1/26 0-0