For the first time in the club's 144-year history, Tottenham have gone through the opening four matches of a Premier League season without scoring, taking just two points from a possible 12. The goalless draw with Everton at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium stretched the north London side's barren run beyond 360 minutes. Defeats to Brentford and Newcastle United had already darkened the mood, and manager Roberto De Zerbi now finds himself confronting a full-blown crisis.
Set against the summer's spending, the picture borders on the paradoxical. Dominic Solanke, Omar Marmoush and Savio were all signed to sharpen the attack, yet none has so far shifted a single game in Spurs' favour. Richarlison's absence only deepens the problem, the Brazilian remaining outside the squad after his move to Vasco da Gama, the Rio de Janeiro club, collapsed. Tellingly, the one department holding firm is the one nobody expected to. The central pairing of Micky van de Ven and Jan Paul van Hecke, shielded by Rodrigo Bentancur, kept clean sheets away at Nottingham Forest's City Ground and again at home to Everton.
