The Premier League is finally back. After what has felt like an interminable wait, even despite (or perhaps because of) the summer’s World Cup, champions Arsenal start things off at home to Coventry City on Friday night.
Then we get to the good stuff. At least, for those of us in TW8, where Saturday evening sees Brentford hosting Tottenham Hotspur.
Last season could not have been further apart for the two teams. Brentford, with a new head coach in Keith Andrews and multiple big-name departures over the summer, including Bryan Mbeumo and Christian Norgaard. Yet despite a new squad and a coach who had barely been tested at any level, the Bees ended up coming within a hair’s breadth of qualifying to play in Europe. Alas, it wasn’t to be (much to the relief of my overdraft), although I’m sure many of us retained a passing interest in how Brighton fared against Tromsø on Thursday evening.
For Tottenham, the campaign was an unmitigated debacle. Even by their Spurs standards. Thomas Frank was expected to bring stability after the erratic Ange Postecoglou but was gone by mid-February. Replacement Igor Tudor suggested it may be something more in the water than just the manager. A sequence at the helm which began with four defeats on the trot saw him replaced after a mere forty-four days with the team in serious danger of lining up against Lincoln City in the Championship this season.
In the end, Roberto De Zerbi had enough about him to guide the team to safety on the last day of the campaign. Spurs’ final position of 17th saw a huge sigh of relief breathed as they ended two points clear of relegated West Ham.
That was then. This is now. Keith Andrews has had the luxury of seeing players come in rather than out. His team demolished Eintracht Frankfurt 7-0 on Saturday. He has tough decisions, of the nicest sort, to make when picking his starting XI.
If this feels an unusual position for Brentford fans to be in, then things are positively into the Twilight Zone for Spurs. They’ve been spending actual money. Lots of it.
True, there have been departures. The most high-profile being Cristian Romero taking his red cards to Atlético Madrid and Djed Spence joining Inter Milan. However, the indoor has finally been oiled and hasn’t stopped swinging.
Jan Paul van Hecke, Martin Dúbravka, Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi, Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali are amongst those to arrive. A summer spend of £237m includes an eye-watering £100m for Tonali alone.
Incredibly, there may be even more. As of Friday morning, talks were ongoing regarding signing both Savinho and Omar Marmoush from Manchester City. Let’s not forget either that James Maddison is very close to a return although Spurs still have a number of concerns, including Mateus Fernandes, Destiny Udogie, Micky van de Ven, Xavi Simons, Mohammed Kudus, Wilson Odobert and Dejan Kulusevski. Likewise, Dominic Solanke has barely troubled the scorers over pre-season.
Still, all of this is irrelevant to Andrews. Throwing a dumper truck full of cash at a problem is no guarantee of a solution. Just look at Chelsea. A club that, like Fulham, finished below Brentford last season. With the Loftus Road team languishing in the second tier, there was no better performing side in West London, whilst of the teams based in the capital, only Arsenal did better than The Bees.
So who does Keith go for when the sides are announced? Personally speaking, I can’t look beyond the same side that obliterated Eintracht last week. It seems almost bizarre to leave Mikkel Damsgaard on the bench, but he’ll need to be content with entering the fray later in the game. As such, expect to see us line up as follows:
Caoimhín Kelleher; Michael Kayode, Kris Ajer, Nathan Collins, Keane Lewis-Potter; Vitaly Janelt, Mamadou Sangaré, Mathias Jensen; Dango Ouattara, Igor Thiago, Kevin Schade
For the visitors, they have a similar luxury in squad size, although the number of newcomers, combined with injuries/fitness concerns, makes them tougher to predict. Discounting the unlikely scenario of match-ready and fully integrated signings coming in from Manchester City, I’m going as follows:
Antonín Kinský, Archie Gray, Paul van Hecke, Marcos Senesi, Andy Robertson, Sandro Tonali, Lucas Bergvall, Mikey Moore, Conor Gallagher, Mathys Tel, Richarlison.
As for the officials, a new season and new rules (see Tuesday’s preview article) mean we are starting from fresh. So without any bias or anxiety, we can all look forward to welcoming our team of:
Referee: Michael Oliver.
Assistants: James Mainwaring, Blake Antrobus.
Fourth official: Sam Barrott.
VAR: John Brooks. Assistant VAR: Gary Beswick.
I’m sure it will all be fine.
Finally, you may have seen the Supporter groups have planned a march from Kew Green to the stadium before kick-off as a means to further build the atmosphere. Amongst other things, they’re also asking fans to arrive half an hour early and to wear red and white in order to create a visible sea of Brentford colours.
I’m all for this. The colours part is primarily where there’s no finer sight in the stands than everybody wearing their Bees’ shirts. Old or new. Grab your kit and buckle up – this game has all the hallmarks of an absolute cracker.
If nothing else, the opportunity to stop this new dawn for Spurs dead in its tracks is too sweet a chance to miss. Bring it on and see you there.
