It’s been a summer of change for Spurs, who’ve seen Ange Postecoglou depart and Thomas Frank take the reins.
They fell to a disappointing UEFA Super Cup defeat in midweek against PSG, but they showed no signs of a hangover and should’ve taken the lead inside 30 seconds when Lucas Bergvall forced Martin Dubravka into a fine stop on his Clarets debut.
It didn’t take too long for Spurs to nose ahead, though, and there was an element of simplicity in the goal as Burnley lost possession in their defensive third and Mohammed Kudus picked out the unmarked Richarlison, who swept into the corner.
Scott Parker ripped up Burnley’s promotion blueprint and changed to a five-at-the-back system for this opening day game, and his side looked lost at times in the first half.
But they did grow into the game, and Josh Laurent, Lyle Foster and Hannibal Mejbri all rained shots in as they looked to get back on level terms.
Parker’s men were feeling aggrieved as Michael Oliver sounded the half-time whistle, as just moments prior Pedro Porro had barged Jaidon Anthony over from behind in the area, but despite being surrounded by claret shirts, he was unmoved in his decision of no penalty.
Having started fast in the first half, Spurs did the same after the break too, and Richarlison almost replicated his 10th-minute feat when he was afforded time and space in the area, but his low effort was repelled by the feet of Dúbravka.
The game was becoming end-to-end, and it was soon Parker’s men on the offensive, twice coming close when Hannibal took too many touches when through on goal before Anthony stung the palms of Guglielmo Vicario just seconds later.
They paid the ultimate price on the hour mark when, in almost carbon copy fashion to Spurs’ opener, Kudus’ delivery was volleyed home, this time acrobatically, by Richarlison.
Spurs were purring by this point and made sure of the points when Brennan Johnson broke clear in behind and dinked over the onrushing Dúbravka to end the game as a contest.
That also served to round off the scoring, as Spurs won their opening home league game for a fifth successive season while Burnley fell to a fourth successive defeat on the opening day of a PL season.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Richarlison (Tottenham Hotspur)
