Tottenham Hotspur with best start ever, how it compares to 2016/17

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LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 17: Son Heung-Min of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates with teammates after scoring their team’s sixth goal and hat trick during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on September 17, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images) /

Off to their best start in the Premier League era, Tottenham Hotspur has 17 points from 7 games, matching the point total from 2016/17, so how do these Spurs compare?

Tottenham Hotspur has not played their best yet this season, and if you spend too much time on Twitter, you will think that Spurs are down battling West Ham and Leicester City to avoid relegation. However, the reality is, despite not playing great, Spurs are one of only two unbeaten Premier League sides, and the Lilywhites have bested their best start from the 2016/17 team that finished second under Mauricio Pochettino. Here we compare the starts to see if this Tottenham side has what it takes to go where no Spurs side has gone before, first place.

2016/17 Tottenham team was defense first

With five wins and two draws from seven games, the then 2016/17 Spurs set the precedent for a good start and laid the foundation for an unbeaten season at home in the final year at White Hart Lane. That Tottenham team, the best of the Pochettino lot, was built from the back forward, with a defense that was second to none.

That season, the quartet of Danny Rose, Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld, and Kyle Walker did an amazing job of protecting Hugo Lloris. Tottenham conceded only three goals in the first seven matches, with four clean sheets, not conceding more than 1 goal in any of the seven games.

Those four clean sheets also included an impressive 2-0 win over Manchester City and a 0-4 thrashing of Stoke City.

2022/23 Spurs are good but not great defensively

Compared to the defensive juggernaut that was the 2016/17 team, this year’s version is just a notch below that level. Tottenham has conceded four more goals than that side, coughing up 7 in 7 games and with only two shutouts thus far in the Premier League season.

Averaging 1 goal per game against is not a terrible mark. However, that same average would have ruined the 2016/17 start, which included two 1-0 wins over Crystal Palace and Sunderland.

Following the big 6-2 win over Leicester, we see that the team may be a bit different this year.

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