Tottenham's Premier League Opener: New Look and Key Absentees

Tottenham will walk into their Premier League opener at Brentford with a new look, a new captain – and a sizeable hole where several senior players should be.

Micky van de Ven, handed the armband for the new season, will not feature. The defender missed the entire pre-season after returning late from World Cup duty, and Roberto De Zerbi confirmed on Friday that his skipper will not even make the squad for the short trip across London.

He is not the only absentee.

Vice-captain Pedro Porro is also out, with De Zerbi ruling the right-back unavailable for the curtain-raiser. Pape Matar Sarr joins them on the sidelines after picking up a hamstring injury. The issue is not considered serious, but it is enough to keep the midfielder out of contention this weekend.

For a squad still scarred by last season’s injury chaos, the pattern feels familiar. The approach, though, is different.

De Zerbi has chosen caution. Rather than gamble in August and pay for it in March, he is holding back anyone who is not fully ready, determined not to relive the crisis that shredded Spurs’ campaign last year.

There is at least some light for travelling fans.

Destiny Udogie, James Maddison, Dominic Solanke and big-money summer signing Mateus Fernandes all trained ahead of the game. De Zerbi said they would be “inside”, a clear hint that all four are in line to be included in the matchday squad.

Whether they start is another matter.

Fernandes, brought in from West Ham for £85m, has barely had a clean run since arriving. A calf problem picked up on the club’s pre-season tour of New Zealand and Australia has stalled his integration, and he will not start at Brentford.

So Tottenham open the season with fresh faces, a new hierarchy, and key pieces missing. De Zerbi is betting that a careful August will buy him a healthier, more dangerous Spurs when the season really starts to bite.