Spurs' September Expectations and EFL Championship Insights
Fitzie is back, and English football hasn’t exactly been standing still. So, three quick hits today: the early EFL Championship picture, a pivotal month ahead for Tottenham, and a hard look at a lavish Spurs transfer window that ended with more questions than answers.
Hoddle #1: Early EFL Championship Picture
Four games. That’s all we’ve had, and already the table is throwing up storylines that could define the season once the winter grind bites.
Charlton’s bright start jumps off the page. Ten points in the bank this early might not feel decisive now, but when the relegation battle tightens and nerves fray, those points will look priceless. Survival often comes down to what you did in August, not April.
Swansea look sharp. So do QPR. Both have hit 10 points and, on the eye, carry the swagger of sides that believe they belong at the top. This is the Championship, though. We’ve seen plenty of fast starters fade when the fixtures stack up and injuries hit. The test comes when the pitches get heavy and the margins thinner.
West Ham stumbled out of the gate, taking just one point from their opening three games. Then came Wolves. A convincing win, a reminder of their quality, and a statement that they still belong in the automatic promotion conversation. One result doesn’t define a season, but it can reset one.
At the other end, the alarm bells are already ringing. Preston have lost four from four. Burnley, winless and stuck on two points, are also drifting dangerously close to an early-season crisis. The table might be young, but habits form quickly in this division.
Top eight after four matches:
- Swansea – 10 pts
- QPR – 10 pts
- Charlton – 10 pts
- Wolves – 7 pts
- Boro – 7 pts
- Bristol City – 7 pts
- West Brom – 7 pts
- Birmingham – 6 pts
Bottom three:
- Stoke City – 3 pts
- Burnley – 2 pts
- Preston North End – 0 pts
Four games down, 42 to go. But patterns are already emerging.
Hoddle #2: Spurs Face a Quiet Month With Loud Expectations
No European football. Fewer midweek flights. No Thursday-Sunday grind. For Tottenham, September offers something rare: clarity.
Roberto De Zerbi has a mostly settled squad now, with only Richarlison’s future at the club still hovering in the background. The calendar is kind. The pressure is not.
Tottenham play just four times this month on the men’s side, including a testing EFL Cup trip to Anfield. It’s a stretch that should allow De Zerbi to drill his ideas, stabilise selection, and, bluntly, put points on the board before a far tougher October looms.
Tottenham Hotspur men’s September schedule:
- Forest – 5 September
- Everton – 12 September
- at Liverpool (EFL Cup) – 15 September
- Villa – 19 September
Spurs showed flashes against Newcastle last week but walked away with nothing. That can’t become a theme. This month feels like a runway: smooth enough to build momentum, unforgiving if they stumble.
The women’s side, meanwhile, are just getting started. Their season opens this weekend against West Ham, and this is a very different Spurs team to the one supporters have grown used to. Beth England has gone. Molly Bartrip too. Big personalities, big gaps.
Tottenham Hotspur women’s September schedule:
- West Ham – 6 September
- at Liverpool – 13 September
- at Palace – 20 September
- West Ham (League Cup) – 23 September
- Villa – 27 September
- at Brighton (League Cup) – 30 September
It’s a new-look squad, new dynamics, and plenty of unknowns. The fixtures come steadily, not frantically, giving the coaching staff a chance to shape something coherent. Whether that turns into a genuine step forward or a season of transition will become clearer by the end of this month.
Hoddle #3: Spurs’ Transfer Window – Big Money, Big Bets
More than £300m spent. A squad rebuilt at speed. Tottenham’s hierarchy didn’t just back their manager this summer; they tore up the safety net.
This is a club that flirted with relegation last season. The response? Aggression. Conviction. Risk.
Some big names departed, including Cristian Romero and Guglielmo Vicario. In their place, a wave of new arrivals designed to drag the squad into a different era. Mateus Fernandes stands out as a flagship signing, the sort of move that signals intent far beyond one season.
Then came the free transfers. Marcos Senesi and Andy Robertson arriving without fees is sharp business in any market. Both bring experience, resilience, and a level of know-how that Spurs badly lacked when the pressure ramped up last year.
On the flanks, Tottenham didn’t hesitate. They paid the premium for Savio, a winger expected to inject pace, flair and end product. Omar Marmoush joins the attacking mix too, a signing that feels quietly ambitious rather than headline-chasing.
Mykhailo Mudryk is different. On paper, the move makes little sense. The talent is obvious; the output, far less so. Can De Zerbi unlock him? And if he does, what does that actually mean for Spurs in the long term? Is this a reclamation project for someone else’s future, or a cornerstone of their own?
Sandro Tonali’s arrival adds further weight to the midfield. On paper, it all looks strong. Deep, technical, aggressive. On paper, this is a window that transforms a fragile squad into something far more robust.
But not everything landed cleanly.
Letting Will Lankshear leave feels like a misstep. There were routes to develop him through loans, to see whether his potential could be realised within the club’s own structure. Spurs have protected themselves with a sell-on clause, but that’s future money, not future goals.
Then there’s the goalkeeper situation. It doesn’t convince. Martin Dúbravka does not look like a serious long-term challenger for Antonín Kinský, and confidence in Kinský himself is hardly overflowing. For all the money spent elsewhere, this felt like a clear opportunity to upgrade decisively. Spurs didn’t take it.
So where does that leave the window?
The club backed De Zerbi heavily. They reshaped the squad, addressed major areas, and took big swings on talent. There are gaps, there are gambles, but the intent is undeniable.
Fitzie’s verdict: B+
Now the money has been spent, the excuses are gone. The question is no longer whether Spurs have supported their manager.
It’s whether De Zerbi can turn this expensive blueprint into a team that finally lives up to it.
