The match started off inauspiciously for Tottenham Hotspur, after Spurs gave the ball away in his own half and Bryan Mbuemo converted an incredible volley past Vicario after just 23 seconds of match play. But to Spurs’ credit, after that point it was all Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs instantly kicked their press into high gear, and harried a Brentford side into numerous turnovers. Spurs got first half goals from Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson, and added a late goal from James Maddison to roll to a comprehensive 3-1 win over the Bees at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Mbuemo’s goal could have been deflating, but Spurs proved to have more mettle than you might have expected after a tepid performance in the League Cup midweek. Spurs equalized in the 8th minute after Spurs’ press forced a turnover via James Maddison and fired a shot that was saved by Brentford keeper Flekken. Solanke was right there at the back post to tap in the rebound, his first for the club.
Tottenham continued the frantic press and forced numerous Brentford turnovers, who were on the back foot the entire half. Brennan Johnson put Spurs ahead inside a half hour thanks to another move started by Maddison. Son picked out Johnson in space, who dribbled Nathan Collins and fired a low ball past Flekken and into the bottom left corner of the goal to put Spurs 2-1.
Brentford did have a couple of late opportunities, none worse than after Guglielmo Vicario was caught in possession and coughed up the ball just in front of his own goal, but was able to recover and save the chance. Spurs went into the break up 2-1 and with the wind at their backs.
Big Ange opted not to make any changes at halftime, which makes sense considering how well the team played in the opening 45 minutes. The press was again in high gear at least in the first part of the match — Dejan Kulusevski was played into the box after another Brentford turnover, but despite some lovely 1-2 play in the box Deki had his shot saved by Flekken.
Spurs let off on the press midway through the half, probably due to exhaustion, and let Brentford get a foothold on the match. The visitors ended up with couple of decent looks at goal that forced excellent stops by Vicario, including one wild one-handed diving stop from a free header by Brentford’s Kevin Schade.
There was a nervous energy midway through the second half but Spurs cut that short after James Maddison chipped Flekken for Tottenham’s third goal in the 85th minute off of an exceptional team attack started by Yves Bissouma and facilitated by Son Heung-Min, who had two assists on the day.
The end result was a solid win by Spurs, one desperately needed after a string of early results that have sapped some of the resolve out of supporters early on this season. The win propels Spurs up to tenth with seven points from its first five matches.
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