Toothless Spurs blank again as new era turns into a false dawn — SkimNews
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- Tottenham drew 0-0 with Everton at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, extending their goalless Premier League run to 407 minutes — the first time they have failed to score in their opening four league games across all four tiers, and the first goalless Premier League draw at the stadium in 140 games.
- De Zerbi's expensively assembled side has mustered a non-penalty xG per shot of just 0.066 this season, an expected conversion rate of 6.6%, despite Spurs spending in excess of £300m in the summer transfer window.
- Roberto De Zerbi apologized to fans after the match, saying "I'm sorry to the fans. We are sorry to the fans," and acknowledged his players lost confidence after failing to convert a dominant opening 30 minutes.
- Mateus Fernandes, the £85m summer signing, registered Spurs' first shot on target at the 46-minute mark, drawing ironic applause from the home crowd as the tension mounted.
- Richarlison was left out of De Zerbi's Premier League squad amid a contract dispute over the remaining nine months of his deal; a proposed deadline-day return to former club Everton and a switch to Vasco da Gama both collapsed.
- Spurs finished 17th in the Premier League in each of the past two seasons, the backdrop De Zerbi cited for launching a "root and branch revolution" that has produced zero goals and zero wins through four matches this campaign.
Why it matters: After two straight 17th-place finishes, Spurs staked their revival on a £300m summer rebuild — and four matches in, the team has zero goals and zero wins, with a 6.6% expected conversion rate exposing a finishing crisis that money has not solved. The pressure now pivots onto Roberto De Zerbi, whose only Premier League goal this calendar year came on the final day of last season to keep the club in the top flight.
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