Roberto De Zerbi's Tottenham reign begins with disastrous defeat at Brentford

Despite a major rebuild in the offseason, Tottenham were second best from the outset in west London as Brentford's relentless pressure eventually produced the breakthrough.

Keane Lewis-Potter opened the scoring after Mamadou Sangare, one of Brentford's own big-money arrivals, combined with Dango Ouattara before cutting the ball back for the forward to finish.

Brentford came close to doubling their lead when Igor Thiago headed against the crossbar, before Tottenham goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky was punished for a costly error.

Kinsky could only parry Mathias Jensen's powerful effort into the path of Vitaly Janelt, who calmly converted the rebound into an empty net to leave Spurs facing a two-goal deficit at half-time.

De Zerbi made two changes at the break in an attempt to turn the game around, but Tottenham's situation deteriorated further within five minutes.

Sangare's effort from a partially cleared corner was saved by Kinsky, but Michael Kayode reacted quickest to fire home the rebound and make it 3-0.

Brentford were then handed a chance to add a fourth when Rodrigo Bentancur brought down Kevin Schade in the box, but Thiago struck the post from the resulting penalty.

Tottenham had opportunities to mount a comeback through Mikey Moore, but the youngster was denied three times by Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher.

De Zerbi introduced his attacking options from the bench in a desperate attempt to salvage something, but Spurs never looked capable of recovering as they slumped to only their second defeat in 11 Premier League season openers.

Other Premier League results on the day

Hull 2-0 Manchester United

Everton 2-0 Crystal Palace

Ipswich 2-1 Sunderland

Nottingham 0-1 Lees

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