Many thanks to Declan Mulcahy for this report:-

Thursday 1 January 2026, 8:00pm
FA Premier League
Brentford (0) 0 Tottenham Hotspur (0) 0

Brentford (4-3-3): Keith Andrews
1 C Kelleher; 33 M Kayode, 20 K Ajer, 22 N Collins (c), 3 R Henry; 18 Y Yarmoliuk (8 M Jensen 80), 27 V Janelt, 6 J Henderson; 7 K Schade (11 R Nelson 80), 9 Igor Thiago, 23 K Lewis-Potter.

Subs not used: 12 H Valdimarsson, 2 A Hickey, 4 S van den Berg, 5 E Pinnock, 26 Y Konak, 24 M Damsgaard, 45 R Donovan

Booked: J Henderson (58 dissent)

Tottenham Hotspur:
1 G Vicario; 23 Pedro Porro, 17 C Romero (c), 37 M van de Ven, 24 D Spence; 14 A Gray, 6 Joao Palhinha (11 M Tel 80); R Bentancur; 20 M Kudus 9 Richarlison, 28 W Odobert (39 R Kolo Muani 67)

Subs not used: 31 A Kinsky, 40 B Austin, 4 K Danso, 33 B Davies, 3 R Dragușin, 52 C Olusesi, 44 D Scarlett

Booked: Palhinha (60 foul on Yarmoliuk), Vicario (69 time wasting)

Gtech Community Stadium, Attendance: 17,141

Referee: Andy Madley
Assistants: Lee Betts, Simon Bennett
Fourth Official: Simon Hooper
VAR: Alex Chilowicz
Assistant VAR: Timothy Wood

No New Year's cheer for either side

Thanks to Cassim Patel for this picture

Prior to today Brentford had accumulated two-thirds of their points from home fixtures whereas Spurs had gained a similar ratio from their away matches. So in theory both sides should have been at their best today. Neither team rose to the occasion and it turned out to be a scoreless dull game.

Spurs made three changes from the team which beat Crystal Palace 1-0 away. Romero returned from suspension in place of Danso. Bergvall hadn't recovered from the injury which saw him substituted three days ago and was replaced by Joao Palhinha. Odobert was chosen over Kolo Muani. In the absence of Bergvall and Simons (suspended) there was very little creativity in the team. Johnson was expected to be available but there was no sign of him. (Ed:- A transfer to Crystal Palace looms)

Brentford made one change from the team which thumped Bournemouth 4-1 five days ago with Henderson replacing Jensen.

It was Thomas Frank's first return to the Gtech Community Stadium since moving to Spurs. He went out onto the pitch before the teams emerged and received a standing ovation.

Brentford won the first corner of the game after four minutes. Janelt's corner was parried by Vicario. Schade, who had scored a hat-trick against Bournemouth in the last game, put the ball in the net but was clearly offside. Brentford haven't scored a goal from a corner in the Premier League this season.

That was the only notable event of the first thirty minutes. Brentford had more of the ball but neither team created any clear-cut chances.

Richarlison created a chance for Gray but his shot was blocked. A Kayode long-throw into the Spurs box fell to Yarmoliuk but his attempt was high.

Richarlison tried a shot from outside the box which was off target and an Odobert effort was blocked.

Despite the lack of productivity neither side made any changes at half time.

The second half continued in a similar manner to the earlier period.

Kudus had two efforts, one too high and the other saved by Kelleher. Yarmoliuk crossed into Spurs box but Lewis-Potter's end-product was weak.

The two main events of the game happened within a minute of each other around the 56th minute. Romero and Thiago had an aerial challenge for a ball outside the Spurs box. Romero didn't make contact with the ball but did catch Thiago. He was the last defender. Referee Andy Madley didn't stop the game.

Spurs then countered and Archie Gray went down in the Brentford box in a sandwich between Collins and Schade. Again Madley allowed play to continue.

VAR reviewed both decisions and decided that there had been no obvious errors in either case. During the process Henderson was booked for dissent.

Romero committed a number of needless fouls in the second half. One of them set up Lewis-Potter for a free kick from a dangerous position but the Spurs wall did its job. Henderson set up a good opportunity for Janelt but Vicario saved his header. Janelt had scored for both sides previously in this fixture.

Each side only made two substitutions which is a fairly low number for a Premier League game. Frank didn't have many attacking options on the bench but did introduce Tel and Kolo Muani. None of the changes on either side had any impact on the game.

During the last quarter of the game it looked like both sides were content to settle for a point. Each side had a late opportunity. Vicario punched a cross away under pressure from Ajer. Richarlison had a late effort saved by Kelleher.

This was a dull game however Spurs and Brentford were far from the only guilty parties. There were four Premier League matches today and two Premier League "lows" were equalled.

This is the second time in Premier League history (after 29 April 1998) where at least four matches were played and only two goals were scored in total. It is also only the second time (after 11 April 2010) when there were three 0-0 draws in four games played.

Going into this game Spurs had four players on four bookings, Pedro Porro, Micky van der Ven, Rodrigo Bentancur and Richarlison who would have faced a one-game suspension had they been booked today. They weren't and as the half way point of nineteen games has been reached this jeopardy falls away.

The last time that Spurs were involved in a goalless draw was at home to AC Milan in the Champions League in March 2023. The last scoreless game in the Premier League featuring Spurs was this same fixture in April 2022, 138 games ago. In the seven seasons the teams have been in the same division Brentford have only won the home fixture on one occasion in March 1948 when they won 2-0 at Griffin Park the first season the teams had met in the league.

Spurs entertain Sunderland at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday. Hopefully Bergvall will return from injury to bring some creativity as Simons still has to serve one match of his three-game suspension.

There was a nice gesture at the end of the game when two Brentford supporters presented Thomas Frank with a gift. It was possibly a bottle of wine as he is known to have a taste for that beverage.

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