Tottenham Hotspur held to 2-2 draw against Brentford in their 2023/24 Premier League opener

Tottenham Hotspur were held to a 2-2 draw against Brentford in their opening match of the 2023/24 Premier League season.

Ange Postecoglou had a thrilling start to his Premier League managerial career with a dramatic 2-2 draw against Brentford. This season-opening game on Sunday marked the beginning of Tottenham's life without their star striker, Harry Kane.

New recruit James Maddison, who is now donning Kane's iconic number 10 shirt, bravely led the Spurs' midfield, providing them with a crucial edge in the match. The midfielder showed promising signs by delivering two assists that saw Tottenham take the lead, then lose it, but eventually claw back to secure a hard-fought point. All four goals were scored in an action-packed first half.

Tottenham got off to a promising start as Cristian Romero broke the deadlock in the 11th minute with a header, following an impressive free-kick from Maddison. However, the goal was held up for a lengthy VAR check amid offside concerns. This contributed to the 11 minutes added on at the end of an electrifying first half.

Bryan Mbeumo then equalized for Brentford in the 15th minute from the penalty spot. Brentford took the lead in the 36th minute when a Yoane Wissa shot went in off Dutch defender Micky van de Ven and in the back of the Spurs net.

However, in the dying minutes of the first half, full-back Emerson Royal leveled the scores after scoring off a pass from Maddison.

The match also saw Postecoglu take Romero off after a clash of heads while scoring Tottenham's opener.

"The medical team were just monitoring him and obviously, then he scored with his head and they were pretty sure we needed to get him off for his own benefit," said Postecoglu.

Postecoglu arrived in July as a replacement for former Tottenham manager Antonio Conte. With this debut, he made history by becoming the first Australian to manage a team in the Premier League.