Roberto De Zerbi and Xabi Alonso entered the new Premier League season with major expectations after their clubs invested heavily in their squads. Five matches into the campaign, however, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea are both searching for greater consistency, with the international break offering the two managers time to address difficult starts. Tottenham have endured the more severe results. De Zerbi’s side have collected only two points from their opening five league games and sit in the relegation zone after Saturday’s 3-2 home defeat by Aston Villa. The result marked their worst start to a Premier League season, with a record of two draws and three defeats.
The loss to Villa also ended Tottenham’s extraordinary scoring drought. Conor Gallagher’s late goal was their first league goal of the season, arriving after 492 minutes without scoring. Jan Paul van Hecke added another in stoppage time, but Villa had already established a three-goal lead through Johan Manzambi, Nicolas Jackson and Emiliano Buendia.
Tottenham’s expensive rebuild has yet to produce goals
Spurs spent more than £300 million during the summer transfer window, but the club did not secure the recognised striker De Zerbi wanted. Reuters reported that Tottenham’s recruitment left them without a conventional centre-forward after missing out on Manchester City signing Iliman Ndiaye. Savio and Omar Marmoush were among the late additions, while Mykhailo Mudryk arrived on loan from Chelsea. De Zerbi said after the goalless draw with Everton on September 12 that several players had joined late and that injuries and a disrupted pre-season had affected the team’s physical preparation.
Tottenham had already drawn 0-0 at Nottingham Forest and against Everton before finally scoring against Villa. Against Everton, they registered 14 attempts but seriously tested goalkeeper Jordan Pickford only once, underlining the gap between possession and attacking output. De Zerbi now has the international break to work with his squad before Tottenham’s next league fixture, away to Manchester United on October 10.
Alonso’s Chelsea also searching for stability
Chelsea’s position is less severe in terms of league points, but Alonso has his own problems to solve. Chelsea have seven points from five games and are seventh after Friday’s 3-0 defeat at Brentford. The defeat followed a 2-1 loss at Arsenal and a 2-2 draw with Hull City, leaving the London club without a win in three league matches. The defensive record is particularly concerning. Chelsea have conceded 12 goals in their opening five league games, allowing at least two in every match. Injuries have also reduced Alonso’s options, with Moises Caicedo and Marco Palestra unavailable against Brentford and Joao Pedro missing from the squad.
Chelsea were among the biggest spenders in the summer, with Reuters putting their expenditure at £349 million, second only to Manchester City’s £458 million among Premier League clubs. Tottenham spent £303 million according to the same figures. For Alonso, the Brentford defeat exposed a problem he acknowledged after the match: Chelsea struggled to maintain their level for the full 90 minutes. The Blues were competitive for long periods before conceding three times in the second half.
Chelsea will return from the international break at home to Bournemouth on October 10. Alonso and De Zerbi therefore have several weeks to work on two expensive squads that have so far produced very different versions of the same problem: significant investment has raised expectations, but results and performances have yet to match them.
