Three games into the new Premier League season, Tottenham sit 17th with just one point, and the gap between their summer ambition and early results is growing harder to ignore. A 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest on Saturday salvaged something from a difficult afternoon, with a late VAR intervention ruling out a Forest goal for handball to preserve the stalemate. It was a point earned through fortune as much as performance, and it did little to ease the pressure building around De Zerbi's heavily rebuilt squad.

The context makes the slow start all the more striking. Spurs spent close to £400 million across the summer, with record signing Sandro Tonali among the arrivals, yet consecutive Premier League defeats to Brentford and Newcastle preceded Saturday's draw. Experts have also raised concerns that the scale of that outlay could put the club on a collision course with UEFA financial regulations.

Off the pitch, the Richarlison situation has added an uncomfortable subplot. De Zerbi publicly stated the decision to omit the Brazilian from the Premier League squad was not his, with Trabzonspor pursuing a late move that had not been resolved before the Turkish window closed. Mykhailo Mudryk's deadline-day loan arrival from Chelsea offers a different kind of intrigue. The winger made his return from a 21-month absence at the City Ground, and De Zerbi has not backed away from his belief that Mudryk can reach the very top of the game.

Everton visit Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on September 12, and with the squad still finding its shape, a first league win of the season has become an immediate priority.