Brentford host Tottenham Hotspur at Gtech Community Stadium in the Premier League on New Year’s Day (8pm kick-off GMT), live on Sky Sports.
The Bees have defeated Wolves and Bournemouth in their last two outings, while Thomas Frank’s Spurs beat Crystal Palace 1-0 at Selhurst Park on Sunday.
Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the game.
Scout Report
Dan Long, Sky Sports: Frank calls for patience following Spurs’ rollercoaster 2024/25 season
How best to sum up Tottenham Hotspur’s 2024/25 season? Strange? Bittersweet? A rollercoaster? One thing is for sure – it was historic, for both positive and negative reasons.
Firstly, it was littered with defeats. There were 26 in all competitions, 22 of which came in the Premier League. The last time they lost that many league games was when they were relegated from the First Division in 1934/35.
It meant they finished just one place above the relegation zone in 17th, which also marked their lowest-ever Premier League finish and lowest in the top flight since 1976/77, when they finished 22nd in the First Division.
The only saving grace was that Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton won only 12 games between them and slipped back into the Championship without much of a fight.
Ange Postecoglou was under pressure for the whole campaign, with a statement he made after the north London derby defeat to Arsenal on 15 September 2024 following him around. “I usually win things in my second season,” he said.
In the league, Spurs faltered, but in the Carabao Cup and Europa League, it was a different story. Those competitions brought a much-needed release. In the former, they reached the semi-finals for the fourth time in seven seasons and in the latter, they beat Manchester United in the final in Bilbao.
Postecoglou no doubt revelled in the ultimate mic-drop, delivering Spurs’ first trophy since 2008. The disastrous league form was forgotten about.
But 16 days after that glorious night in Spain, Postecoglou was sacked. “Whilst winning the Europa League this season ranks as one of the club’s greatest moments, we cannot base our decision on emotions aligned to this triumph,” said the club’s statement.
Within a fortnight, the Australian had been replaced by Thomas Frank, who was tempted away from Brentford by a three-year deal in north London. “The time has come for me to move on. But, even as I leave, I know I have left a big piece of my heart at Brentford,” he wrote in a letter to the Bees fans.
It has not been plain sailing for the Dane, though. In his first competitive game, Spurs lost to Paris Saint-German on penalties in the UEFA Super Cup and, despite three wins from his first four in the league, they sit in the bottom half of the Premier League table.
They are out of the Carabao Cup, too, but in the Champions League, their chances of a top-eight finish in the league phase – and thus direct qualification for the round of 16 – are looking reasonably rosy.
External pressure is mounting, and has been for some time. Internally, though, the club seem to still be sure they have the right man at the helm and, as Standard Sport reporter Matt Verri told us this week, Frank has made it clear he cannot turn fortunes around overnight.
The January fixture schedule could certainly have looked more daunting than it does; next up are Sunderland, Bournemouth, West Ham and Burnley. Spurs should, in theory, come through with a healthy points total.
If they do, a push for European qualification will receive a much-needed shot in the arm.
In the Dugout
Thomas Frank
Thomas Frank was coaching youth players in his native Denmark from his early 20s. He spent time at his hometown club Frederiksvaerk, then Hvidovre, but his career might have ended before he took a job at Copenhagen-based B93.
His future would have lay in teaching, when he agreed with his wife to stop coaching due to money concerns. He was also doing his masters in psychology, working as a coach educator, studying for his A-Licence and bringing up two children, as he told The Telegraph in 2020.
Fortunately, he accepted the B93 role, then moved on to Lyngby and , later, the Danish international set-up where, in 2008, he took on the role of managing both Denmark’s Under-16s and U17s. He took the latter – with a squad that included Christian Nørgaard, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg and Yussuf Poulsen – to the U17 Euros in May 2011, where they reached the semi-finals, and the U17 World Cup the following month.
Frank moved on to the U19s in 2012, then took his first senior job in June 2013 at Brøndby. He took charge of over 100 games before resigning in March 2016. Nine months later, he joined Brentford as an assistant to head coach Dean Smith, before being promoted to head coach in October 2018, when Smith left west London to take over at Aston Villa.
Though he won just one of his first 10 games, over the next seven years, Frank would become one of the club’s most successful managers in history. He took the Bees to the Championship play-off final in his first full season, then delivered promotion to the Premier League in his second. In 2022/23, he guided the club to ninth – their highest top-flight finish since they finished sixth under Harry Curtis in 1937/38.
In June, after over 300 games in charge at Brentford, he signed a three-year deal to replace Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham.
The Gameplan
With Matt Verri, Standard Sport
Matt Verri, sports reporter at Standard Sport, has explained how he expects Thomas Frank to set up his Tottenham side at Gtech Community Stadium.
“More so in recent weeks, Frank has started to settle more on a formation and approach,” Verri told us earlier this week.
“This has mainly been 4-2-3-1, with Archie Gray establishing himself in the side as one of those two in front of the defence, which rotates between João Paulinha and Rodrigo Bentancur.
“It had been Xavi Simons as the key creative player, but that is going to have to change now. I would imagine it will still be a similar shape, maybe Lucas Bergvall as the no.10, then Odobert on the left.
“It will be the same sort of approach in terms of a lot of crosses, fairly direct, and a lot of that does still come down the right with Pedro Porro and Kudus.”
Last Premier League starting XI v Crystal Palace (4-2-3-1): Vicario; Porro, Danso, van de Ven, Spence; Bentancur, Gray; Kudus, Bergvall, Kolo Muani; Richarlison
Team News
Andrews provides Thiago update before Tottenham clash
Brentford head coach Keith Andrews provided an update on top goalscorer Igor Thiago ahead of the Bees’ Premier League game against Tottenham Hotspur.
Thiago has scored 11 goals in 18 Premier League appearances this season, and Andrews praised the forward for playing through some pain in recent weeks.
“He had a bit of an issue, but nothing to do with his injury last season at all,” said Andrews.
“This time of year takes its toll, and we need to be careful with some players at times.
“There’s nothing too much to worry about. He’s shown a lot of courage and put the team before himself going into the last couple of games.”
Defender Sepp van den Berg will be assessed having missed Brentford’s 4-1 win over Bournemouth due to a knock.
Josh Dasilva (knee ligament) remains sidelined, while Fábio Carvalho and Antoni Milambo will both miss the rest of the campaign due to ACL injuries.
Frank Onyeka and Dango Ouattara are also unavailable due to their involvement in the Africa Cup of Nations with Nigeria and Burkina Faso, respectively.
Match Officials
Madley to referee second Bees game of campaign
Referee: Andrew Madley
Assistants: Lee Betts and Simon Bennett
Fourth official: Simon Hooper
VAR: Alex Chilowicz
Andrew Madley will referee the New Year’s Day meeting with Tottenham Hotspur, exactly 12 years after first taking charge of a Brentford game, when the Bees won 3-1 at Peterborough United in League One.
It will be his second fixture involving the west Londoners this term, having previously officiated the 2-0 win against West Ham United at London Stadium in October.
The Huddersfield-born referee has dished out 34 yellow cards and two reds in the 11 games he has had the whistle for in 2025/26.
Memorable Meeting
Brentford 2 Tottenham Hotspur 2, (Premier League, 13 August 2023)
Brentford and Tottenham played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at Gtech Community Stadium in the opening game of the 2023/24 season.
Cristian Romero headed in a James Maddison free-kick to put Spurs in front, before Bryan Mbeumo levelled from the penalty spot.
Rico Henry teed up Yoane Wissa to turn the game on its head, only for Emerson Royal to equalise in first-half stoppage-time.
There was still time for Mbeumo to blaze a huge chance over the top late in a frenetic first half, but neither side could find a winner in west London.