This is it. Another Premier League season is upon us.
Tottenham Hotspur kick off their campaign this time round on the road against the newly-promoted Leicester City on Monday.
As the Premier League enters its 33rd season, we thought the time was right to pick out our top five Tottenham wins on the opening day of a Premier League season. Here, we’ve done just that.
So, without further ado, here are our picks.
Tottenham 4-1 Southampton | 2022/23
You had to be there. Having arrived midway through the previous season, Antonio Conte had catapulted the Lilywhites into a Champions League spot by May as the 2021/22 season came to an end.
Given his record up until that point, expectations were high in terms of what Spurs could achieve in his first full season, and boy were the scenes worth taking in as they handed the Saints a proper grubbing on the opening day.
Spurs did, lest we forget, went behind in the game courtesy of James Ward-Prowse, but quickly bounced back with goals from Ryan Sessegnon, Eric Dier, Mohammed Salisu (own goal), and Dejan Kulusevski.
It was a false alarm, of course, as Spurs would go on to finish outside the European places come the end of the season, Conte having left a few months prior after a very public rant.
Tottenham 1-0 Man City | 2021/22
This was a shocker. Nuno Espírito Santo had been appointed by Spurs not too long before the season started after failing to appoint an array of their higher-priority targets.
A second-half winner from Son Heung-min that sunk the Sky Blue ship on Day 1 really gave fans a sliver of hope, that maybe the unfancied Portuguese could do something miraculous.
Of course, it wasn’t to be. City would go on to win the league again, with Santo having been sacked within three months of the season kicking off after picking up the league’s Manager of the Month award. Such is football.
Tottenham 3-1 AstonVilla | 2019/20
Just a few months before this encounter, Spurs had reached the final of what is arguably one of the greatest Champions League campaigns of all time. The Lucas Moura hattrick that sunk Ajax at the very end was one of many, many unforgettable encounters that season’s knockouts sent our way.
So you can understand spirits were high as Spurs entered the new season, believing this time Mauricio Pochettino could really deliver them something special. And that’s how the opening day felt, as new record signing Tanguy Ndombele opened the scoring for Tottenham in the 73rd minute, cancelling out John McGinn’s ninth-minute strike. Harry Kane would then go on to add a four-minute brace before the full-time whistle to hand Spurs a 3-1 victory.
Sadly, despite the day-one euphoria, the season turned out to be a long-drawn impending deflation arriving on the back of the previous season’s highs. Poch was sacked by November and replaced by José Mourinho, who would go on to have an almost story with Spurs of his own.
Tottenham 2-1 Liverpool | 2009/10
Liverpool entered this season as league runners-up from the previous campaign. Finishing just four points behind the hegemonic Man United gave the club hope that their league drought may soon be over.
They got an immediate reality check, however. Goals for Tottenham from Benoît Assou-Ekotto and Sébastien Bassong on either side of a Steven Gerrard penalty sunk the Reds on the opening day.
Harry Redknapp‘s men would go on to qualify for the Champions League this season, while Rafael Benítez would go on to leave Liverpool at the end after delivering a seventh-place finish.
Sheffield Wednesday 3-4 Tottenham | 1994/95
Yeah, we’re really going back with this
one. But with a score line as emphatic as this, it’s hard to look past this season-opener, for it will never not be an all-timer.Goals from Teddy Sheringham and Darren Anderton put Spurs two goals clear against Wednesday inside 35 minutes, but the opposition needed just a little over twenty minutes in the second half to level the proceedings. Nick Barmby and Jürgen Klinsmann quickly put Spurs 4-2 up, taking the game away, and even though David Hirst pulled one back within a minute of Klinsmann’s strike, Wednesday could not mount another comeback.
Sadly, the opening day drama of this game paved the way for what turned out to be a season of mediocrity for both these sides, as Wednesday finished 13th, while Spurs ended seventh.
