After a huge summer spend, it’s fair to say that Tottenham’s back-foot start in west London was rather anticlimactic.
Several half-chances had come and gone for Brentford before they eventually took a deserved lead, and it was a big-money signing of their own who was heavily involved in the build-up as club-record summer arrival Mamadou Sangare exchanged a neat one-two with Dango Ouattara before cutting the ball back for Keane Lewis-Potter to sweep home.
The Bees’ pressure was unrelenting in the opening stages, and only the woodwork prevented Igor Thiago doubling their advantage moments later when he crashed a header against the crossbar.
A shell-shocked Spurs had some sloppy play from Ouattara to thank for not falling two behind on the half-hour mark when his heavy touch while bearing down on Antonin Kinsky’s goal spared the visitors’ blushes.
It was Kinsky left red-faced from Brentford’s next attack though, as he fumbled a stinging drive from Mathias Jensen into the path of the grateful Vitaly Janelt who stroked into an unguarded net.
De Zerbi thought a half-time double change would change the flow of the game, but he was sorely mistaken, as within five minutes of the restart they found themselves three behind.
A half-cleared corner was hammered goalwards by Sangare, and although Kinsky initially produced a smart stop to deny him, Michael Kayode was on hand to turn home the rebound from inside the six-yard box.
Things went from bad to worse when substitute Rodrigo Bentancur felled Kevin Schade inside the area, but a huge stroke of fortune saw Igor Thiago steer his penalty against the post.
Mikey Moore squandered three good opportunities to get Spurs back into the game, but was denied each time by Caoimhín Kelleher.
De Zerbi threw on all of his attacking options off the bench in a desperate bid to salvage something from the game, but it was ultimately fruitless, as the north Londoners went down with a bit of a whimper on their way to just a second defeat in 11 Premier League season openers.
Brentford could scarcely have dreamed of a better start to the campaign, with three points made ever sweeter by the fact this was their first-ever league win over Spurs on this ground.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Caoimhin Kelleher (Brentford)
