Tottenham Set Unwanted 144-Year Record With Four Consecutive Goalless Premier League Matches

Tottenham Hotspur set an unwanted record in their 144-year history on September 12 after drawing 0-0 with Everton at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, extending their goalless streak to four consecutive Premier League matches at the start of the 2026-27 season. Despite a squad valued at €824 million and summer transfer spending of €366 million, Roberto De Zerbi’s side have failed to find the net in any of their opening four league fixtures — a first in the club’s entire existence across all divisions of English football.

The result left Spurs sitting 17th in the Premier League table with just two points from four matches, having conceded five goals while scoring none. Fans at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium booed the players off at full-time, venting frustration at a historically poor start that has raised serious questions about the club’s summer recruitment strategy and De Zerbi’s ability to turn his tactical vision into goals.

De Zerbi Calls Goalless Run ‘Absolutely Diabolical’

Roberto De Zerbi did not hide from the severity of the situation in his post-match press conference following the Everton draw. The Italian, who was appointed on March 31, 2026, on a five-year contract to oversee a long-term rebuild at the club, expressed his disbelief at the barren run in front of goal.

“After spending £300m, I didn’t think there would be a problem scoring goals,” De Zerbi told reporters after the match, as reported by The Guardian. “But to not score in six hours of football is absolutely diabolical.”

Despite the bleak outcome, De Zerbi attempted to find positives in his team’s performance, noting that parts of the display against Everton showed progress in implementing his possession-based system. “For the first 20 minutes, I thought that this is what I want to see,” he added, according to Sky Sports. However, as has been the recurring theme this season, Spurs could not translate territorial dominance into chances, and chances into goals.

A Season of Misery: Tottenham’s Four Goalless Matches

Tottenham’s 2026-27 Premier League campaign has been a disaster from the opening whistle. The sequence of results reads like a cautionary tale about the gap between spending power and on-pitch cohesion. Here is how the season has unfolded for Spurs through four matchdays:

The opening-day loss to Brentford set the tone, with Spurs overwhelmed 3-0 at home. A trip to Newcastle produced another shutout defeat, 2-0, before consecutive goalless draws with Nottingham Forest and Everton followed. Four matches, zero goals, five conceded, and just two points. According to Transfermarkt, the scale of the underperformance is staggering given the resources invested in the squad.

407 Minutes Without a League Goal

Tottenham’s league goal drought now stretches to 407 minutes, dating back to the final match of the 2025-26 season when João Palhinha scored against Everton. The irony is not lost on observers that Spurs’ last Premier League goal came against the same opponents they faced in their most recent goalless draw.

According to data published by StatMuse FC on X (formerly Twitter), never before in the club’s 144-year history have Spurs failed to score in each of their first four league games to start a domestic season. The record applies across all tiers of English football, not merely the Premier League era, underscoring just how historically unprecedented this barren spell has been.

For Premier League context specifically, only Crystal Palace in the 2017-18 season had a longer goalless run at the start of a campaign, going seven consecutive matches without scoring under Frank de Boer and then Roy Hodgson. That Palace side eventually avoided relegation, but only after a dramatic upturn in form from October onward. Whether Spurs can engineer a similar turnaround remains to be seen.

€824 Million Squad, Zero Goals: The Striker Problem

The central question hovering over Tottenham’s season is how a squad valued at €824 million by Transfermarkt, with €366 million invested in summer transfers alone, has failed to produce a single league goal in four attempts. The answer, according to multiple reports, lies in the club’s failure to sign a recognized top-level striker during the transfer window.

Reuters reported after the Nottingham Forest draw on September 5 that “Tottenham’s failure to sign a recognised striker despite spending over £300 million on a rebuild was exposed” in the goalless draw at the City Ground. That match saw Spurs fail to register a single shot on target — the first time they had done so in a Premier League match since April 2022, according to the same Reuters report.

The lack of a focal point in attack has been a recurring theme throughout the opening weeks. De Zerbi’s tactical system demands intelligent movement and interplay between forward players, but without a proven goal-scorer to finish those moves, Tottenham have looked toothless in the final third. The attacking unit, collectively valued at €139 million according to Transfermarkt’s squad breakdown, has produced nothing tangible in open play or from set pieces across 360-plus minutes of competitive football.

De Zerbi’s Appointment and the Tottenham Rebuild

Roberto De Zerbi arrived at Tottenham under extraordinary circumstances. He was appointed on March 31, 2026, as the club’s third manager of the turbulent 2025-26 season. Ange Postecoglou had departed earlier in the campaign, with Igor Tudor subsequently lasting just 44 days in the role without winning a single Premier League match. De Zerbi was tasked with saving Spurs from relegation — a mission he accomplished — before being handed the reins for a full summer rebuild.

The 47-year-old Italian signed a five-year contract, reflecting the club’s long-term commitment to his project. His reputation, built on successful spells at Sassuolo and Brighton and Hove Albion, centers on a proactive, possession-heavy style featuring structured buildup play, aggressive pressing, and fluid positional rotations designed to create numerical advantages in central areas.

At Brighton, De Zerbi’s teams were known for their ability to dominate possession and create chances. The 2022-23 season saw Brighton finish sixth in the Premier League and qualify for the Europa League under his stewardship, playing some of the most aesthetically pleasing football in the division. That pedigree earned him the Tottenham job — but implementing his complex system with a substantially rebuilt squad has proven far more challenging than anticipated.

The Athletic reported that Tottenham’s offer to De Zerbi was “far more generous than you would normally expect for an out-of-work manager,” describing a salary that makes him one of the best-paid coaches in the league. The expectation, clearly, was that such investment in both the manager and the squad would yield immediate results. Four matches in, those expectations remain unfulfilled.

Not Alone: Aston Villa and Coventry Also Started Goalless

Tottenham are not the only Premier League side to have struggled in front of goal at the start of the 2026-27 season. Aston Villa and newly promoted Coventry City also failed to score in their opening three matches, making this the first time in English top-flight history that three clubs began a season without finding the net in their first three games, according to the BBC.

However, by Matchday 4, Tottenham stood alone in their futility. As Sky Sports reported, Spurs’ 0-0 draw with Everton on September 12 extended their unwanted record while other sides began to break through. The contrast with clubs at the top of the table is stark: Arsenal sat on 12 points from four wins, Manchester City had nine points from three matches, and Chelsea had already scored 10 goals in their opening four fixtures.

For Everton, the draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium represented a continuation of their solid, if unspectacular, start to the campaign. Jordan Pickford‘s side maintained their unbeaten record through four matches, a run that also saw the goalkeeper reach 100 Premier League clean sheets — a milestone that placed him among the all-time greats in English goalkeeping.

The Wider Premier League Picture on Matchday 4

Tottenham’s struggles came against the backdrop of a dramatic fourth round of Premier League fixtures on September 12-13, 2026. Arsenal maintained their perfect record with a 2-0 win over Sunderland, with Bruno Guimarães scoring off the bench. The Manchester derby produced one of the weekend’s biggest talking points, with Phil Foden receiving a red card as 10-man City beat United 1-0 through an Erling Haaland goal confirmed by VAR.

Elsewhere, Hull City continued their remarkable start with five matches unbeaten, Chelsea drew 2-2 with Hull at Stamford Bridge in a pulsating encounter, and Liverpool were held to a goalless draw by Fulham. Crystal Palace secured a notable 3-2 away win at Ipswich Town, while Aston Villa suffered a 1-2 home defeat to Nottingham Forest. The Premier League table after four matchdays showed Arsenal leading with 12 points, followed by Manchester City on nine and Hull City on eight.

Historical Parallels: Crystal Palace 2017 and Beyond

The closest historical parallel to Tottenham’s predicament comes from Crystal Palace’s 2017-18 campaign. Under Frank de Boer, Palace lost their opening four matches without scoring before the Dutchman was sacked. Roy Hodgson took over and initially fared no better, with the goalless run extending to seven consecutive matches at the start of the season. Palace eventually found their shooting boots and climbed to safety, finishing 11th.

Other Premier League teams that have gone four or more matches without scoring at the start of a season include Sheffield United in 2023-24 and Norwich City in multiple campaigns. In each case, the drought signaled deeper structural issues that took weeks, if not months, to resolve. The common thread was a disconnect between the system being asked of players and the personnel available to execute it — a diagnosis that applies directly to Tottenham’s current predicament.

For Spurs, the comparison with Palace is instructive but imperfect. Palace in 2017 were a modest mid-table club with limited spending power. Tottenham in 2026 are one of the wealthiest clubs in the league, operating out of a state-of-the-art stadium and having spent more than €366 million in a single transfer window. The expectations — and the scrutiny — are of an entirely different magnitude.

Fan Frustration Boils Over at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

The boos that greeted the final whistle against Everton on September 12 reflected a fanbase running out of patience. Spurs supporters have watched their team score zero goals in 360-plus minutes of Premier League football this season, with the home record reading played two, lost one, drawn one, goals scored zero.

The frustration is compounded by the scale of the summer investment. Tottenham’s transfer outlay of €366 million was among the highest in the Premier League, yet the squad appears to lack the most fundamental requirement of any football team: the ability to put the ball in the net. Multiple reports have pointed to the absence of a proven striker as the root cause, with De Zerbi’s system demanding a type of forward the club simply did not acquire.

Social media reaction after the Everton draw was scathing. Supporters questioned the club’s recruitment strategy, the decision-making of the football operations department, and whether De Zerbi’s complex tactical approach was suited to the players available. The hashtag related to Tottenham’s goalless run trended in the United Kingdom on X throughout Saturday evening, with former players and pundits weighing in on what has become an embarrassing start to the season.

What Comes Next for Tottenham

Tottenham’s next Premier League fixture is scheduled for September 19 when they host Aston Villa — another side that struggled for goals in the opening weeks. The match represents a crucial opportunity for De Zerbi’s team to finally break their duck, but it also carries enormous pressure. A fifth consecutive goalless match would bring Spurs perilously close to Crystal Palace’s 2017 record and would almost certainly intensify calls for urgent action.

The transfer window has closed, meaning Tottenham cannot address their striker shortage through recruitment until January at the earliest. De Zerbi must find solutions from within, whether that means adjusting his tactical approach, deploying different combinations of attacking players, or simplifying a system that has thus far produced plenty of possession but no end product.

For a club that prides itself on attacking football — from the days of Bill Nicholson’s double-winning side through the Pochettino era and beyond — four goalless matches at the start of a season represents more than just a poor run of form. It strikes at the very identity of Tottenham Hotspur. De Zerbi’s challenge is not merely tactical; it is existential. He must prove that his vision can translate into goals, and he must do it quickly. The patience of the fans, the board, and the broader football world is not limitless.

The clock is ticking on one of the Premier League’s most expensive and most goalless starts to a season. Whether September 19 against Aston Villa marks the beginning of a turnaround or a deepening crisis will define not just Tottenham’s campaign, but potentially De Zerbi’s tenure at the club.

Sources

• De Zerbi told reporters after the match, as reported by The Guardian — theguardian.com
• Transfermarkt — transfermarkt.co.uk
• As Sky Sports reported — skysports.com
• Tottenham’s 407-Minute Goal Drought Sets Club Record in EPL — chosun.com
• Roberto De Zerbi critiques Tottenham’s decision making after goalless draw extends historic drought — cryptobriefing.com

Photo via Wikimedia Commons (CC0)