Notebook – Spurs v Brentford

This week, we take on our first Premier League double-header of the season with home games against Brentford and Norwich City. Up first are the Bees who make the trip to across the capital on Thursday evening (7.30pm kick-off).

Here in the Notebook, we take a look at the key points of note ahead of the clash with the west London side…

1 - Inaugural top-flight encounter

This fixture will mark the first time that we have faced Brentford in England’s top division. Despite both clubs boasting over 130 years of history each, we have yet to meet at the top of the nation’s footballing pyramid. We have, however, played each other six times in the second division, with us losing just once.

2 - Last meeting

Despite having never faced each other in the top flight, you don’t have to go far back in our history to find the last time we played the Bees, as that came just last season. Having not encountered Brentford competitively since 2001, we were drawn against Thomas Frank’s side in last term’s Carabao Cup semi-finals, hosting them at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in January. That night, we won 2-0 to book our place in April’s final with Moussa Sissoko and Heung-Min Son finding the target.

3 - A Danish reunion

It will be a Danish reunion for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg on Thursday as he is set to take on three of his international team-mates and a team managed by his former national youth team coach. The current Brentford squad boasts three senior Denmark internationals in Mathias Jensen, Christian Norgaard and Mathias Jorgensen (Zanka) – all of which have appeared alongside Pierre for De rød-hvide. Meanwhile, Bees boss Thomas Frank coached our number five during his time with Denmark’s youth teams.

4 – Unbeaten against Brentford

While we have faced Brentford just once in the last 20 years, in our last 11 meetings against the Bees, we are unbeaten. In a run that stretches back over 70 years to March, 1948, we have won eight of the 11 games between the sides, drawing the other three. We’ve scored 25 goals across those matches, but have managed to keep just four clean sheets.

5 - Thorny Thursdays

Until March, 2020, we had never lost a Premier League game on a Thursday. However, since the Coronavirus pandemic broke out, it is a night we have struggled on. Prior to the start of the spring 2020 lockdown, we had won seven and drawn five of our 12 Thursday games in the competition yet, in the 21 months since, we have lost three of our five such games, winning one and drawing the other.

6 – Capital frustrations

Another set of games that we have struggled in of late have been London derbies. We’ve lost our last five, with our last such victory coming against Crystal Palace in March – a 4-1 win. It has been almost 18 years since we last lost more consecutive derbies – a run of six between March, 2003, and January, 2004.

7 - Brentford’s form

As debut seasons in the Premier League go, Thomas Frank will surely be pleased with Brentford’s start to life in the top flight. After their first 13 games of their maiden campaign, the Bees come into this match sitting comfortably in mid-table, occupying 11^th spot, just two points short of the top half of the league.

Having lost just one of their first seven games, Brentford had a real taste of the tough nature of the Premier League as they suffered four defeats on the bounce between October and November. However, since a 2-1 home defeat to Norwich on 6 November, they have shown signs of recovery having earned a 3-3 draw away to Newcastle before defeating Everton 1-0 last time out.

8 - Conte’s previous Brentford encounter

Despite having only had two seasons in English football prior to arriving in north London at the start of last month, Head Coach Antonio Conte has experienced the challenge of Brentford before. Coming during his spell at Chelsea, the Italian took on the then- Championship Bees in the fourth round of the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge in January, 2017, and came out on top with a comfortable 4-0 win.

9 - Number 31 for Harry

Brentford will be the 31^st team that Harry Kane has faced in the Premier League. Of the 30 he has already encountered, he has scored against each of them which makes him the only player in the competition’s history with a 100 per-cent record of registering at least once against every opponent.

The striker has also scored eight goals on a Thursday in England’s top flight – more than any other player in the competition’s history. He averages a goal every 84 minutes on a Thursday and only has a better record on a Tuesday (one every 81 minutes).

10 – Team news - as you were

Antonio Conte reported on Wednesday that there were no changes to the situation in the treatment room with Argentine duo Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso still unavailable. Antonio expects midfielder Gio will return to training in the next week, however, he admitted that Cristian will be out until the new year with his hamstring injury.