While many fingers and eyes will point to Vinai Venkatesham for the business that he oversaw at N17 this summer, the credit is equally due to Roberto De Zerbi, who would surely have demanded those incomings after getting a gist of the squad at his disposal after clearly seeing exactly what needs to be patched up after he was appointed at Hotspur Way deep into the last campaign.

The former Seagulls man did find a way to keep Spurs in the Premier League, even when it was looking a little rough, especially when Igor Tudor was standing on the touchline.

And he has been given that backing in the transfer market, and honestly, this squad already looks like a different team as Spurs prep going into the new season.

We have seen the likes of Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes, and Paul Jan van Hecke joining on marquee transfers while the likes of Sensei and Dubravka arrive on free transfers.

And Tottenham are still active in the market, and they could still add quality in attack before the start of the upcoming 2026/27 campaign.

And this preseason has meant business. De Zerbi & Co. have won all of the four games in the pre-season. It started with a win against MK Dons before they went on the road for the preseason tour. Then followed a 2-0 win over Auckland FC before Tottenham were forced into penalties (which they won 4-2) after a 1-1 draw vs. Sydney FC. And to cap things off, Tottenham got their statement pre-season win against Chelsea after a late, late winner from Richarlison.

While on the other side of the fence, Getafe haven’t had the best of prep coming to North London, given they played Monaco after replacing Inter Milan, who were due to face the French side. But their preseason under Jose Bordalas has been a bit of a roller coaster given that they started with a 1-0 win over Reading and it was followed by a win over Tenerife, 2-1, on 22 July. Then they came out of the Real Valladolid game with a goalless draw.

The draw meant Jose Bardalas & Co. went into the game against Atletico Madrid on a three-game unbeaten streak. But then Atletico Madrid came around, and Simeone’s men went on to grab a 4-1 win over them. And then a 1-0 loss to Monaco followed.

Now they must want to come out against Tottenham and prove themselves, which sets it up quite nicely to test the Lilywhites.

Match Info

Date: 8th August, 2026

Time: Kick-off at 3:00 PM BST

Team News

We saw Mateus Fernandes keeping on the sidelines for the last two games because of some calf issue. Though what could come as a relief for the worrying Tottenham fans is that head coach De Zerbi was quick to play it down, insisting that the £85 million man is not injured and is scheduled to resume full training soon. Given the amount that the North Londoners have paid for him, it is understandable that many Lilywhites faithful would want him wrapped in cotton wool for a few more days regardless of whether he is ready or not.

Other than Mateus, the duo of Mohammed Kudus and Dejan Kulusevski continue recovering from thigh and knee problems, respectively. There is an expectation that both of them would be back playing at N17 soon.

While if we look at Getafe, they go into the new campaign with a fully fit squad available at Bordalas’ disposal.

Uruguayan ace Martin Satriano has had a good pre-season for the visitors. He has scored twice, and he would want to continue his good form when he lines up against the Spurs’ backline this weekend.

Possible Lineups

Tottenham Hotspur: Kinsky, Gray, Van Hecke, Davies, Robertson, Bergvall, Tonali, Gallagher, Solomon, Tel, and Richarlison

Getafe: Soria; Femenia, Abqar, Romero, Davinchi; Uche, Martin, Terrats; Lopez, Sotriano, Mayoral

Prediction

The North Londoners have been quite impressive this pre-season. And we feel Spurs will continue to do that and in a familiar setting this time around as well. That being said, facing Getafe would have problems of its own, given they were one of the stingiest defensive units of the Spanish top tier last season.

But they only played two days back when they had to fill in against Monaco. So there will be an expectation that Bordalas will rotate heavily, which will end up fitting nicely in favor of Tottenham as RDZ & Co. look to keep the perfect record before the season gets underway.

FT: Tottenham 3 – 1 Getafe