Brentford opened Keith Andrews' second season with a 3-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur, exposing the gap between Roberto De Zerbi's summer spending and the product on the pitch. Tottenham's outlay on new signings is expected to pass £300m; they were second best throughout.
De Zerbi was without new captain Micky van de Ven, who missed pre-season with injury, Pedro Porro, whose return was delayed by World Cup duty, and Kevin Danso, while Mateus Fernandes began among the substitutes with calf fatigue. The captaincy passed to Archie Gray, the club's youngest competitive captain since Steve Perryman in the 1970s, deputising at right-back.
Mamadou Sangaré, a £39m signing from Lens, made the opener in the 11th minute: he found Igor Thiago, ran onto the striker's lay-off and cut the ball back for Keane Lewis-Potter to beat Antonin Kinsky from close range.
Brentford's midfield overran Lucas Bergvall, Conor Gallagher and Sandro Tonali, Tottenham's £100m record buy. The lead doubled in the 32nd minute after Bergvall gave the ball away: Kinsky failed to keep out Mathias Jensen's shot and Vitaly Janelt forced the rebound home.