Tottenham bottom of PL after record £300m summer spend — SkimNews

Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Tottenham sit bottom of the Premier League with 2 points and 2 goals from 5 games following a 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa, their worst start in 18 years.
- Spurs spent over £300m in the summer — a club record and easily the biggest in their history — with near £200m alone on midfielders Sandro Tonali and Matheus Fernandes.
- Roberto De Zerbi hinted he would have handled the window differently, citing Financial Fair Play constraints and players earmarked for sale who remained at the club, despite getting "most of what he asked for."
- Tottenham have not won a league game when conceding first in almost two years and have managed only nine draws from losing positions, a fragility De Zerbi called "unlike anything I've seen in 14 years as a coach."
- Over half of Saturday's starting XI were summer arrivals, with Cristian Romero and Joao Palhinha departed and top scorer Richarlison sidelined in a self-imposed exile.
- Spurs' average xG per shot is the lowest in the Premier League and their overall xG total is better only than Coventry's, with Dominic Solanke still not at full fitness.
- Tottenham next face an under-pressure Manchester United side on October 10, live on Sky Sports, where even one win could lift them off the foot of the table.
- Departed centre-back Luka Vuskovic is thriving at Brighton while his replacement Jan Paul van Hecke was dribbled past three times in the Villa defeat.
Why it matters: Tottenham's bottom-of-the-table position after a record-breaking summer spend exposes structural problems money alone cannot fix — a leadership void left by the departures of Romero and Palhinha, persistent fragility when conceding first, and the worst shooting numbers in the league. With over half the squad new and a manager whose previous tenures ended on sour notes, the pressure on De Zerbi and the club's recruitment strategy intensifies ahead of a pivotal Man Utd fixture.
Ask SkimNews




