Preview: Tottenham Hotspur vs Burnley

From the Champions League winners to the Championship runners-up, Tottenham Hotspur pick themselves up and go again when they host Burnley in the first Premier League gameweek of the 2025-26 season on Saturday.

Thomas Frank's troops were agonisingly edged out by Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday, while the Clarets fell to defeat in their final two pre-season friendlies.

Match preview

The London bus analogy very nearly rang true for Tottenham on Wednesday evening, as after waiting 17 years for another slice of silverware, the Lilywhites were minutes away from winning two European titles in the space of four months.

Defensive duo Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero both struck against the continental champions, but Lee Kang-in and Goncalo Ramos's replies forced a penalty shootout, where Van de Ven and Mathys Tel's failed attempts proved fatal - the latter has since been subjected to sickening racial abuse online.

In spite of the excruciating manner of that defeat, Frank and co could undoubtedly leave Udine with more positives than negatives to reflect on after going toe-to-toe with the European champions - a promising omen ahead of their quest to improve on last season's historically poor 17th-placed Premier League ranking.

The record books certainly favour the men in lilywhite, who have previously hosted a promoted team on the opening weekend twice before and won on both occasions - against Ipswich Town in 2000 and Aston Villa in 2019.

However, the reigning Europa League winners have also failed to keep a clean sheet in 13 straight Premier League matches - their longest such run since a streak of 17 in 2010 - and they could do with taking some defensive pointers from their imminent visitors.

A former PFA Premier League Team of the Year member while at Tottenham, the defensive might of Burnley head coach Scott Parker rubbed off onto his players last season, where the Clarets wrote a new chapter of English football history.

An inspired Burnley backline shipped a mere 16 goals across their 46 Championship games - the best record of its kind in English league history - while keeping a staggering 30 clean sheets, but an undesirable first was also achieved by Parker's men.

Owing to an inferior goal difference to trigger-happy Leeds United, Burnley became the first English side to ever collect 100 points in a season but fail to win the title, although Premier League promotion was always the ultimate prize for Saturday's visitors.

For all of Burnley's rearguard excellence in the second tier, however, the Clarets have conceded in each of their last 20 Premier League matches, while they have also suffered defeat in each of their last three matchday one fixtures in the top division.

Furthermore, the visitors have failed to win any of their previous nine Premier League away games against the North London giants, only once managing to avoid defeat in a 1-1 stalemate during the 2017-18 campaign at Wembley.

Tottenham Hotspur form (all competitions):

Burnley pre-season form:

Team News

In addition to their septet of injured troops - more on that below - Spurs missed Yves Bissouma during the UEFA Super Cup, as the Malian midfielder was omitted from the squad by Frank due to persistent lateness.

Whether Frank will grant Bissouma clemency and recall him this weekend is yet to be ascertained, but all of James Maddison (ACL), Radu Dragusin (ACL), Kota Takai (foot), Manor Solomon (calf), Dejan Kulusevski (knee), Destiny Udogie (knee) and Bryan Gil (knee) are definitely missing.

However, Dominic Solanke made his return from an ankle problem as a substitute on Wednesday night and ought to be recalled to the XI on Saturday, as Frank reverts to an attacking setup after understandably going defence-heavy against PSG.

On Burnley's end, Parker told reporters on Thursday that he was blessed with a "pretty full squad" for Saturday's game, although it can be assumed that long-term absentees Zeki Amdouni (ACL) and Benson Manuel (Achilles) are still on the sidelines.

Zian Flemming, Bashir Humphreys, Jordan Beyer, Connor Roberts and new signing Martin Dubravka have therefore seemingly recovered from their pre-season niggles; the latter will debut in goal if his shoulder problem has settled down.

Champions League and Premier League winner Kyle Walker will likely form part of Dubravka's defence against his old club, but Parker may hold off on starting the injury-plagued Armando Broja just yet.

Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:

Vicario; Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Spence; Bentancur, Palhinha; Kudus, Bergvall, Johnson; Solanke

Burnley possible starting lineup:

Dubravka; Walker, Esteve, Ekdal, Hartman; Cullen, Ugochukwu; Edwards, Hannibal, Anthony; Foster

We say: Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Burnley

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Burnley's astonishing defensive feats in the Championship may not be a precursor for their Premier League rearguard feats, although the Clarets held their own against Lazio in their final pre-season friendly.

Midweek fatigue will also work against the Lilywhites, but we still have faith in Frank's men to break through eventually and make the perfect start, even if it may not be pretty.Â

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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