Tottenham Hotspur

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The 2023–24 season saw the arrival of Australian manager Ange Postecoglou and the exit of several long-serving players, including Harry Kane, who had been a constant presence for Tottenham. Other players who exited the club included Lucas Moura, who had seen out his contract, and Harry Winks, who had been at the club since 2014. Davinson Sánchez was sold to Turkish club Galatasaray. Dejan Kulusevski and Pedro Porro, who had arrived on loan in the previous season, signed permanent papers at the start of the 2023–24 season. Tottenham started the season away to Brentford, where the game finished in a 2–2 draw. The following week saw a home game against Manchester United, which Spurs won 2–0. The unbeaten start to the season continued with an away win at Bournemouth. In the League Cup, Tottenham were drawn against Fulham. The match ended in a 1–1 draw at full time and needed penalties to decide the tie. Son Heung-min and Kulusevski converted their penalties, but Davinson Sánchez's penalty was saved by Marek Rodák. Fulham scored all five of theirs to knock Tottenham out of the competition. This was Davinson Sánchez's final game for the club, as a little over a week later he was sold to Galatasaray.

In Their Own Story

In the league, Tottenham were unbeaten in their first ten games and sitting in first place right up to the beginning of November. On 6 November, Spurs played at home against Chelsea. Tottenham started the game well with a goal from Dejan Kulusevski in the sixth minute. Eight minutes later, Son had a goal controversially disallowed for a negligible offside. In the 33rd minute, Cristian Romero was sent off for a foul despite clearly winning the ball. This allowed Chelsea to get back into the game at 1–1. In first-half injury time, Reece James escaped a red card for an elbow to the face of Destiny Udogie, which would have leveled the teams at 10 players each. The game stayed even for a period of time, until Tottenham lost Udogie to a second yellow in the 55th minute. Their two-player advantage allowed Chelsea to overcome Tottenham, resulting in Nicolas Jackson claiming a second-half hat trick, with the final result a 4–1 loss for Spurs.

Reader's Guide

To prepare for the upcoming season, Tottenham played a series of friendlies around Asia and Australia for the Asia-Pacific Tour. This saw newly appointed head coach Ange Postecoglou return to his home country. The club first met fellow English side West Ham United in Australia on 18 July 2023. They then travelled to Thailand to play Leicester City on 23 July 2023, which was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions. To conclude the tour, Tottenham were supposed to visit Singapore to play Italian club Roma on 26 July 2023. However, the match was cancelled due to logistical reasons, and so Tottenham played local club Lion City Sailors instead. On 28 June, Tottenham revealed a special match dedicated to the people of Ukraine, against Shakhtar Donetsk. On 19 March 2024, it was announced that Tottenham would travel to Australia and participate in a post-season friendly against Newcastle, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, on May 22. As a Premier League club, Tottenham entered the FA Cup in the third round, and were drawn at home against fellow Premier League side Burnley. They were then drawn at home to Manchester City in the fourth round. Tottenham entered the EFL Cup in the second round as one of the Premier League teams not participating in any European competitions, and were drawn away to Fulham.

Did You Know?

• The 2023–24 season was Tottenham's 32nd consecutive season in the Premier League and their 142nd season in existence.
• For the first time since the 2009–10 season, Tottenham did not compete in any European competition.
• Harry Kane departed to join German champions Bayern Munich after fourteen years at the club.
• Son Heung-min was named the club's new captain on 12 August 2023, replacing Hugo Lloris.
• Tottenham were unbeaten in their first ten league games and sitting in first place right up to the beginning of November.