Stalemate at Brentford - match report and reaction

Neither side was able to break the deadlock as honours ended even at Brentford on Saturday evening.

In our first ever trip to the Bees' new stadium, the first period yielded few chances with the hosts going closest when Ivan Toney's header was brilliantly saved by Hugo Lloris.

Pontus Jansson's second-half effort was kept out equally impressively by Harry Kane with a goal-line clearance, with Lloris saving sharply down at his near post from our former midfielder Christian Eriksen in the aftermath, while both teams had chances in stoppage time, Toney hitting the woodwork and Bryan Mbeumo putting the rebound into the side netting before Kane's dramatic scissor kick dropped inches past the far post at the other end.

Ultimately, though, we didn't manage a shot on target and were forced to share the spoils, slipping to fifth place in the table, two points outside the top four with five games remaining.

Bees prove tough to break down

It proved difficult for us to work our way through the Bees' organised set-up over the 90 minutes, while the hosts themselves were often a threat from Eriksen's set-pieces. Indeed, after Mbeumo's low effort from distance was deflected just wide in the opening exchanges, Brentford had a series of corners and from one of those in the 17th minute, Toney got the run on our defence and rose to steer a firm header towards goal, but Lloris saved high to his right to keep the scores level.

Lloris denied the same player in very different circumstances at the start of the second half as he raced out of his area to meet the counter-attacking forward, the two players colliding and the ball squirting out for a throw-in. Mebumo's left-footer a couple of minutes later comfortably cleared the crossbar but as the second period went on, we began to push forward more and more, Cristian Romero playing in to the feet of Kane whose shot on the turn was deflected behind by Jansson in one of the first real openings for us.

Dejan Kulusevski subsequently sent in a useful delivery from the right which was just nicked away from Heung-Min Son at the far post by Vitaly Janelt while Emerson Royal latched onto a diagonal ball forward and surged forward down the right, Kane, Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur all seeing shots blocked in the box in the wake of his cut-back.

Brentford responded and almost took the lead on 66 minutes when Mads Roerslev knocked Eriksen's set-piece back into the mix with Jansson's effort cleared off the line by Kane before Lloris kept out Eriksen's low shot at his near post on the follow-up. Still we tried to carve out that one clear opening that we needed but as the game entered stoppage time, Brentford almost stole the win when Toney hit the base of the post from Eriksen's free-kick, with Mbeumo unable to steer the second ball on target. The drama wasn't over, though, as we went on the attack deeper into added time and Kulusevski's cross from the right was volleyed acrobatically by Kane back towards goal, but sadly it crept just wide and with it went our hopes of leaving Brentford Community Stadium with a victory.

An emotional reunion

Naturally, there was plenty of attention on Danish international Eriksen throughout the game as we faced our former midfielder for the first time. Now representing the Bees after his well-publicised cardiac arrest at the European Championship last summer, the 30-year-old received a great reception from our supporters, who sang his name aloud when he trotted over to take a couple of corners right in front of the away section during the first half.

Those songs started up again amid a nice moment after the game, where Eriksen returned to applaud our fan base during a lap of the stadium and stopped to sign a Spurs shirt bearing his name for one of our fans in the front row.

As for our team news, there was one change from the home defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend, with Ryan Sessegnon coming in from Sergio Reguilon.

Reaction on Spurs TV

'I think it’s fair that today a draw is right'

Antonio Conte told Spurs TV after full-time: "My expectation was a difficult game because Brentford are a physical team, very dangerous on set-pieces, corners, throw-ins... every situation they try to put the ball into the box and they have strong players, physically, who are very good.

"We wanted to get the three points, we wanted to win, but at the same time, I think it’s fair that today a draw is right. Now we have to continue to work and play these last five games and see at the end of the season the position we are able to reach. I repeat, if you remember after the last game I said this team has to learn that a game where you are not able to win, you have not to lose. This was another game where we had to pay great attention."

Highlights on Spurs TV

Match data

Yellow cards: Brentford - Jansson 66, Bech Sorensen 89; Spurs - Bentancur 90.

Referee: Martin Atkinson.

Venue: Brentford Community Stadium.

Weather: Sunny spells, partly cloudy, 15 degrees.