Spurs come from behind to secure points against sloppy Bees

Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Solanke 8, Johnson 28, Maddison 85)

Brentford 1 (Mbuemo 1)

Tottenham came from behind to beat Brentford in a thrilling, breathless game which was a superb advert for the Premier League.

For the second week running the Bees took the lead in the first minute - through Bryan Mbuemo's superb left-foot volley. 

But just as they did last week at the Etihad, they left the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with nothing to show for it after goals from Dominic Solanke - his first in a Spurs shirt,  Brennan Johnson and James Maddison secured a 3-1 win for the home side.

After defeat in the north London derby last week, and narrowly getting past Championship Coventry in the league cup in midweek, Spurs desperately needed a win today to get their season up and running.

But Brentford shocked the home fans when they took the lead after just 22 seconds. The Bees worked the ball to Keane Lewis-Potter on the left, whose cross was lashed in on the volley with his left foot by Mbuemo from 12 yards.

But after taking the lead, the west Londoners did their best to squander it - which they succeeded in doing after just eight minutes.

Ethan Pinnock, attempting a pass under no pressure at all on the edge of his own box, succeeded only in rolling the ball into the path of James Maddison. Maddison, through on goal, saw his shot saved by Mark Flakken - leaving Solanke the simplest of tap-ins to equalise.

This was a clumsy yet thrilling advert for the English top flight, Brentford continuing to attempt to play out from the back early on, despite their defenders' inability to do so with any sort of success.

Brennen Johnson almost doubled Spurs’ lead two minutes after the equaliser, but pulled his shot just wide of the far post.

Heung-Min Son then beat the Brentford offside trap, but allowed Flekken to palm the ball away from his feet as he attempted to round the goalkeeper - with the move breaking down as several Bees' defenders got back.

But Spurs were ahead after 28 minutes. Son found Johnson down the right, Johnson shifted the ball away from his marker Nathan Collins, affording him the yard of space he needed to fire the ball across Flakken and into the corner.

By now Spurs were relentless. Dejan Kulusevski crossed low into the box soon after, Brentford just about managing to scramble the ball first on to the post and eventually to safety.

But the home side failed to sufficiently take advantage of their dominance - and Brentford should have been level at the break. 

First Guglielmo Vicario was caught in possession by Fabio Carvalho, but just about recovered to save Mbuemo's resulting shot. Then, just a minute later, the goalkeeper saved a shot across goal from Mikkel Damsgaard.

The game's end-to-end nature continued in the second half. Spurs almost extended their lead when good work from Maddison saw Kulusevski played in, but his low shot was stopped by the feet of Flekken.

Brentford were incensed shortly afterwards as Vicario appeared to handle the ball outside the area when coming for a cross. Both Kristofer Ajer and boss Thomas Frank were booked for their reactions to referee John Brooks' decision not to award a free-kick.

Vicario redeemed himself soon afterwards, saving low down from Mbuemo - before Johnson fired wide for Spurs at the other end.

And the Spurs goalkeeper was called upon again soon after, brilliantly scrambling across his goal and clawing away a close-range header from substitute Kevin Schade.

But Tottenham finally made the game safe with five minutes to go. Cristian Romero played Son through down the right. Son unselfishly squared the ball to Maddison, who controlled the ball with his right foot and lifted the ball over the onrushing Flekken with his left to make it 3-1 and give the home side the three points.

Teams:

Spurs: Vicario, Son, Maddison (Bergvall 88), Udogie, Romero, Solanke (Moore 88), Kulusevski, Johnson (Sarr 70), Porro (Gray 88), Bentancur (Bissouma 63), van de Ven

Brentford: Flekken, van den Berg, Pinnock, Carvalho (Trevitt 87), Yarmoliuk (Schade 63), Mbuemo, Ajer (Roerslev 79), Collins, Lewis-Potter, Damsgaard (Konak 79), Janelt

Referee: John Brooks