Well, that felt a little different. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was a lovely balmy place at kick off, the pitch in deep green late-summer shade. “Welcome to N17” read the vast, pre-match Tifosi sign on the South Stand, which was nicely done, but does sound more like a local estate agent tagline than a blood-chilling call to arms.
But something seemed to shift here, if only in tone and texture and energy, if not anything that resembled, quite yet, a team to push the very best in the division.
