Photo via BBC Sport

Toothless Spurs blank again as new era turns into a false dawn

Tottenham Hotspur endured another frustrating outing as their Premier League goal drought stretched to 407 minutes following a 0-0 stalemate against Everton. The result marked the very first scoreless tie in 140 top-flight fixtures staged at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, as well as the club's first failure to find the net in their opening four matches across any tier of the English football league system—a four-game league dry spell they had not experienced since September 2006.

Despite an offseason expenditure topping £300m, Roberto De Zerbi's men mustered little threat against Jordan Pickford, finally registering an initial effort on frame after 46 minutes through £85m recruit Mateus Fernandes. Boos rang out from the home crowd at full-time, prompting De Zerbi to issue an apology to supporters after the match.

Everton squandered the contest's clearest opportunities via Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Brennan Johnson, sparing the hosts further misery. In an effort to break the deadlock, De Zerbi handed Dominic Solanke his first league start of the season alongside former Manchester City arrivals Omar Marmoush and Savio, before later introducing substitutes James Maddison, Mohammed Kudus, and Lucas Bergvall.