Conte's verdict
“I think it was good performance against a good team. They are a dangerous team: you can see they have been working for many years with the same manager. To keep a clean sheet for us is very important. We had chances to improve the final result but, in the end, I’m happy. I have seen great commitment from the players. For sure we need to improve but today it was a good win. It was a good reaction to the game against Mura. In losses you learn a lot. Now we have to prepare for Sunday [v Norwich]: we have to think it will be a sporting war and we must be ready.”
Son speaks
“It was a great performance. From the start of the game we made it really hard for them. It was our aim to make it a horrible match for them because this is our home and we did that really well.”
Full-time: Spurs 2-0 Brentford
Spurs do the business, claiming their third win under Conte. It wasn’t a particularly impressive performance and wouldn’t have been enough to beat most Premier League team but Brentford were distressingly limited for long periods and can’;t complain about the result.
89 min: Glenn Hoddle has named Oliver Skipp as the man of the match and you’ll get no carping about that here. He’s worked very hard, won plenty of possession and made some thrusting passes from midfield.
Spurs substitution: Bergwijn on, Son off.
85 min: Norgaard pieces the Spurs’ defence with a lovely sliderule pass to reward a smart run by Toney. The striker tries to send it across the face of goal but Lloris diverts it with his foot.
Spurs substitution: Tanganga on, Emerson off.
83 min: Winks releases Son, who momentarily has a chance to shoot. But he doesn’t take it and is closed down. He looks to his left for someone to cross to but Kane hasn’t kept up with him.
81 min: Lloris’ policy of punching away any Brentford corner that comes near him has worked well so far.
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79 min: Brentford are not lying down. Jensen has given them more control in midfield and they’re forcing Spurs to defend.
Spurs substitution: Winks on, Lucas off
75 min: Emerson hauls down Jensen to give Brentford a freekick in a good promising position on the left. Mbeumo’s delivery is headed away by Son.
72 min: A cross from the right by Jensen puts Lloris into the difficulty. The keeper takes the safe option and tips it behind for a corner.
70 min: Spurs’ are full of confidence now and seemingly determined not to let Brentford back into this. They’re hunting them down high up, and quick to attack when they get the ball back.
Brentford substitutions: Wissa and Jensen on, Canos and Janelt off.
GOAL! Spurs 2-0 Brentford (Son 65)
What a break! Kane collects the ball in the centre circle and looks to his left to see Reguilon racing down the flank. Kane plays the ball into the Spaniard’s path, and Reguilon centres for Son to tap in from close range.
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64 min: Janelt cuts the ball back from the left-hand byline to Toney, who doesn’t quite catch the shot from 15 yards, leaving Lloris with a routine save.
61 min: Brentford are enjoying a bright spell. They’re playing with more urgency and precision. Spurs are looking brittle.
58 min: Another Goode throw from the left drops in the box, and Jansson swings a boot at it as he spins, shanking it high and wide from nine yards.
57 min: Canos raids forward and exchanges snappy passes. Then Emerson intervenes at the edge of the area, putting an end to Brentford’s best move of the game.
Brentford substitution: Baptiste on, Onyeka off.
55 min: Long throws from Goode have been Brentford’s main threat. The latest one is flicked on at the near post before being thwacked clear by Kane.
53 min: Brentford try to play their way out of their own box but only play themselves into trouble. Skipp slips the ball through to Kane on the right. Kane sends it across the face of goal. Hojbjerg arrives beyond the far post and tries to steer it into the net from a tough angle ... but he blasts into the sidenetting.
51 min: Reguilon crosses from the left. Sanchez makes life difficult for the keeper. Kane can’t turn the ball into the net but it come to Davies, who nods towards the top corner ... but Fernandez saves without much bother.
49 min: Skipp storms through midfield and plays a lovely pass through to Kane, who running clear into the box. Fernandez comes towards him ... and Kane fires it at the keeper, who saves with his knee. What a chance missed!
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47 min: Goode flings in another long throw from the left ... and it’s a foul throw. Duh.
46 min: No changes during the break, at least not to personnel: but Brentford could do with changing their attitude. Kane, too: he’s been irrelevant for most of the game.
Half-time: Spurs 1-0 Brentford
Spurs haven’t been great but they’ve been comfortably better than Brentford. Still, they owe their lead to a lucky own goal. Both managers will demand improvement for the second half.
45+1 min: Another in-swinging corner from Son is flicked on at the near post. But Toney clears from in front of his own goal.
44 min: Fernandez makes a mess of his attempt to punch Son’s corner away. Pinnock tidies up.
41 min: Henry wins a throw-in down the left. Goode comes forward to hurl in a long one. Kane flicks it on instead of out, and Norgaard then hooks it across the face of goal. Lloris is in trouble for a moment but Spurs eventually scramble it clear.
39 min: A slack pass by Kane ruins a promising move.
37 min: Hojbjerg retrieves the ball beyond the back post after a corner. He takes a couple of touches and then tries to whack the ball into the net from an acute angle. Fernandez closes him down and cops the ball flush in the snout.
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36 min: A loose pass by Brentford allows Hojbjerg to intercept and nod the ball forward to Son, who immediately scampers towards the box. When he gets within 20 yards of goal, he unloads a left-footed shot that Fernandez pushes around the post.
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35 min: Brentford stroke the ball around the back, and Spurs are happy to watch them go nowhere fast.
33 min: Skipp wins possession back off Mbeuma in midfield just as Brentford got to thinking there might be a chance of a counter-attack. “Spurs midfield is reminding me of the glory days of Steve Sedgley and Jason Dozzell,” snarks someone called Foderoy.
31 min: Skipp strides to the middle, spots a clever run by Emerson and tries to slide the ball through to the full-back. But Fernandez had spotted the run too, and he gets to the ball before Emerson.
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30 min: Henry pulls down Emerson on the right to stop the Brazilian reaching the ball. Another flagrant and scurrilous foul that the ref decides not to punish with a yellow card.
27 min: A nice passing mover down the left by Brentford - that’s more like it - yields a corner. Canos swings it in. Lucas heads it away at the near post. Brentford hook it back in and when it’s cleared again, Mbeuma tries to smash a volley from 25 yards into the net. It dips wide.
25 min: Spurs are happy to stand off Brentford in their half, knowing the visitors will probably resort to a long pass soon, and Spurs have dealt with those pretty well so far.
23 min: Brentford are looking quite limited at the moment: they’re not hurting Spurs at all.
21 min: Son curls in the freekick from the left. Dier tries to glance a header into the net from 12 yards but the keeper is well positioned and saves comfortably.
20 min: Good pulls Son’s back by the shirt as the forward tries to sprint clear. It’s the most blatant bookable offence you could see, but referee Jon Moss decides not to show a card for some reason.
18 min: Kane, very quiet so far, sweeps a fine pass from the centre circle wide to Emerson, who makes a mess of a first-time cross.
15 min: Brentford are trying to exert some pressure but there’s not much precision in the approach play and Spurs are holding them off easily.
GOAL! Spurs 1-0 Brentford (Canos og 12)
Sons takes a corner short and gets it back. Then he curls a cross into the box. Several players go for it: Davies is the closest Spur, but Jansson seems to get to it first - his clearing header rebounds off Canos and into the net!
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12 min: Canos slides in to poke the ball out for a corner rather than allow Dier’s raking diagonal pass to reach Reguilon, who made another burst from the left.
10 min: Son gets a chance to run at the defence from midfield for the first time. Kane drifts wide to the left to anticipate a pass, which is duly delivered. At the corner of the box the England captain tries to sidestep his way past Goode, but the defender reads his intentions and relieves him on the ball.
7 min: Fernandez is forced into a save for the first time, pushing over a drive by Lucas at the near post. It was well struck on the run by the Brazilian but never likely to beat any half-decent keeper.
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6 min: Mbeuma takes down a long ball from the back, then swaps passes with Onyeka before digging out a useful cross form the right. Lloris intervenes.
4 min: Toney heads a corner clear. That’s another precious aspect to his game: he’s almost Drogba-esque in his defensive ability.
3 min: Brentford are certainly practicing what their manager preached beforehand: they’re pressing very high and hard. But Spurs eventually play their way through them and send Reguilon hurtling down the left. He belts in a dangerous low cross, which is cleared from in front of the goal. Thirty seconds later Reguilon is back, sending in another fizzing cross that is turned behind for a corner.
1 min: Spurs-Bees is go! The away team set the ball rolling , knocking it straight back to Fernandez to punt downfield.
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Here comes the teams. The hosts are wearing their time-honoured lillywhite clobber, while Brentford are sporting all yellow.
Before kickoff, spectators at Spurs’ stadium are to be treated to a sound and light show or, as it used to be called, some disco hijinks.
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“During the close season Dele bulked up,” says Tony Pateman. “He’s super fit but has lost speed and flexibility, his key qualities. He needs to reverse the process and will get back to his exceptional best.”
Thomas Frank speaks
“It’s very important that we go to this big club - with a massive stadium and a full house - and don’t be afraid: we have to try to do our style and be brave on and off the ball. Off the ball we need to press high, and on the ball we need to play forward. Spurs will come out flying, attacking, there’s no doubt about that. We’re facing a club with big ambitions and they want to be in the top four at least so I guess the pressure is a little bit on them.”
Antonio Conte speaks
The Spurs manager says he expects to see his players implement what they have been doing in training: “I think we are improving and have been working together for weeks so now is the right moment to see the improvement on the pitch.”
Conte makes two alterations to the lineup that started their last league match, the 2-1 victory over Leeds. Sanchez and Skipp come in - after, um, impressing last week agaisnt NS Mura? - in place of Tanganga and Winks. Meanwhile, Brentford are unchanged from the win over Everton.
Spurs: Lloris; Sanchez, Dier, Davies; Emerson, Hojbjerg, Skipp, Reguilon; Lucas, Kane, Son
Subs: Gollini, Doherty, Tanganga, Sessegnon, Winks, Ndombele, Bryan, Bergwijn
Brentford: Fernandez; Pinnock, Jansson, Goode; Henry, NOrgaard, Janelt, Onyeka, Canos; Mbeuma, Toney
Subs: Cox, Jensen. Forss, Wissa, Ghoddos, Baptiste, Roerslev, Maghoma, Stevens
Referee: J Moss
Preamble
Hello and welcome. Spurs and Brentford have not met each other in the league since December 1949, back when both were in the second tier (though Spurs won promotion at the end of that season, their first under a visionary new manager, Arthur Rowe). Now both clubs ensconced in the middle of the Premier League. Yes, this is ninth place versus eleventh place with practically nothing - just little ol’ Manchester United – between the two clubs. Praise be Brentford, shame on Spurs.
Thomas Frank’s side have enriched the Premier League by showing a lot of the qualities that Spurs have often lacked this season, such as cohesiveness, dynamism and sharpness. Sustaining that with their modest resources will be a neat trick. Spurs’, meanwhile, have been a puzzle that Nuno Espirito Santo failed to solve and Antonio Conte now has to get his head around: they’re produced one excellent half in four matches under the Italian and their best result so far may have been the snow-enforced postponement of last Sunday’s game at Burnley. That gave the Italian more time to tutor his new charges, or just to study them and try to figure out how to get them to perform well consistently. Reviving Harry Kane is one of the challenges faced by Conte. Maybe Spurs’ dwindling striker will be inspired by the sight of Ivan Toney, who could make a good case for being included in the next England squad instead of Kane? It’s on!
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