When Tottenham Hotspur moved into their state-of-the-art billion-pound stadium, it was supposed to become a fortress where visiting teams feared to tread.
In reality, it's proven to be something far more accommodating: an arena where opposition sides, regardless of their own internal difficulties, routinely rock up and depart with all three points.
The early stages of the new season have laid bare Spurs' poor home form in stark fashion. Tottenham have already suffered two home defeats from three, first succumbing 2-0 to Newcastle United before falling 3-2 to Aston Villa.
Tottenham Hotspur have lost 22 league games AT HOME since the beginning of 2024/25
What makes these early setbacks so damning is not just the dropped points, but the state of the teams that inflicted them.
Both Newcastle and Villa arrived in North London in states of flux and transition. Villa endured a summer exodus that saw nearly half their core squad depart, while Newcastle lost key stalwarts, integrated a raft of new arrivals, and replaced long-serving manager Eddie Howe with Matthias Jaissle in the dugout.
Neither side truly knows their definitive identity yet, and both walked away with victory.
Spurs should have had the decisive upper hand because while Tottenham are still undergoing their own tactical evolution under Roberto De Zerbi, their squad remains far more settled than either Villa's or Newcastle's.
De Zerbi benefited from an invaluable stretch at the tail-end of last season to bed in his principles of play, iron out kinks, and establish a clear playing style.
That a De Zerbi side with a full pre-season under their belts, playing in their own backyard, was picked apart by two teams still searching for their footing is a troubling indictment.
There are fears this the continuation of a rot that has set in over recent years, not simply a slow start or isolated blip.
Across both the 2024/25 and 2025/26 campaigns, Tottenham’s home record was among the poorest in the Premier League. Spurs lost 10 of their 19 league games on home turf, winning just three. Only relegated Wolverhampton Wanderers and Burnley presided over poorer records on their own doorstep.
The season prior, Spurs' home form was better but not by much, winning six league matches, but still losing 10. Ange Postecoglou, Thomas Frank, Igor Tudor and perhaps now De Zerbi, have all found playing at the incredible Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to be more of a curse than a blessing.
In truth, it has become a ground where visiting coaches can sit deep and wait for the home crowd's anxiety to boil over. And can you blame them, when they've seen 22 league defeats since August 2024? Could it be that ailing home form becomes a permanent feature of Tottenham's modern identity?
De Zerbi was handed a lucrative long-term contract in the form of a five-year agreement worth a reported £12 million per season, alongside substantial bonus terms. Aside from correcting their course at the end of 2025/26, he hasn't made good on the Spurs hierarchy's investment just yet.
Tottenham's commitment to De Zerbi in effect strips the club of any easy or inexpensive exit strategy should the Italian be unable to remedy their home complex. Severing ties early would carry with it an eye-watering compensation payout, meaning Spurs are all-in on De Zerbi fixing their home field disadvantage that has beaten his predecessors.
The road ahead offers little margin for error. Tottenham's home fixture list in the coming weeks features Premier League clashes against Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Ipswich Town, and Fulham - all winnable on paper. Whatever the outcome, they could be the making of, or the undoing of De Zerbi and this latest attempt at a Spurs rebuild.
