Tottenham 2026-27 Premier League preview: Prediction, fixtures, squad, depth chart

Tottenham Hotspur's 2025-26 Premier League campaign was one of the most turbulent in the club's recent history, as three managers, a deepening injury crisis and an inability to convert Champions League momentum into domestic stability conspired to leave the club clinging to 17th place for the second consecutive season.

The appointment of Roberto De Zerbi in April 2026 changed the atmosphere if not quite the points column in the short term, and with a full pre-season and more than £237m in gross summer spending behind him, the expectation is that 2026-27 should mark the beginning of a genuine upward trajectory rather than another white-knuckle survival bid.

The club's single biggest summer statement has been the £100m capture of Sandro Tonali from Newcastle United, a signing that transforms Tottenham's midfield from a position of concern into one of the most technically accomplished units in the division.

Here, Sports Mole previews Tottenham Hotspur's 2026-27 Premier League season, including fixtures, squad depth and the expectations for their campaign.

Tottenham Hotspur 2026-27 Premier League fixtures

Tottenham open away at Brentford on August 22 in a 17:30 kick-off before hosting Newcastle United the following week, a fixture that carries an unmistakable subplot given Tonali's switch from Tyneside, and the two opening gameweeks set the tone for a September run that also includes trips to Nottingham Forest and home encounters with Everton and Europa League winners Aston Villa.

The stand-out early fixture is undoubtedly the gameweek five home game against Aston Villa, who bring continental silverware to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for a 12:30 Saturday kick-off on September 19, while the October run of four games in 22 days, including the derby trip to Stamford Bridge against Chelsea on October 24, offers the first real examination of De Zerbi's squad depth.

With no European competition to manage in 2026-27, Tottenham can direct their full resource toward the FA Cup and Carabao Cup alongside the league, and the absence of Thursday night fixtures removes a significant scheduling burden that disrupted multiple opponents in De Zerbi's opening seven league games in charge at the end of 2025-26.

Tottenham summer 2026 transfer activity

Tottenham's 2026 summer window has been one of the most ambitious in recent memory, with the club committing a gross total of £237m to reshape the squad in a manner that reflects De Zerbi's specific requirements in midfield and central defence.

The marquee arrival is Sandro Tonali, who joins from Newcastle United for a reported £100m, making him one of the most expensive central midfielders in Premier League history and representing the most pointed signal yet that the club intend to accelerate their recovery from consecutive 17th-placed finishes.

The departure of Cristian Romero to Atletico Madrid at an undisclosed fee is offset by the arrivals of Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton & Hove Albion (£52m) and Marcos Senesi on a free transfer from AFC Bournemouth, while Djed Spence's £30m sale to Inter Milan and Luka Vuskovic's £46m move to Brighton contribute to an overall summer income of £99m.

Guglielmo Vicario's situation remains unresolved at the time of writing, with the Italian goalkeeper the subject of reported interest from abroad, and his potential departure would hand Antonin Kinsky the first-choice role on a more permanent basis heading into a season that will demand consistency between the posts.

Tottenham Hotspur 2026-27 squad

Tottenham head into 2026-27 with approximately 32 senior players, a squad that has been substantially reshaped from the one that spent most of last season in the bottom three, with six summer arrivals adding tangible quality rather than speculative depth.

The midfield is now the squad's most compelling area, with Joao Palhinha providing the defensive foundation, Sandro Tonali bringing range, physicality and a proven ability to dictate tempo, and Mateus Fernandes arriving as one of the Premier League's most complete young midfielders after a standout 2025-26 season at West Ham United.

The striker department remains a concern, with Richarlison and Dominic Solanke representing the senior options and neither player having demonstrated the fitness consistency to warrant full confidence as a season-long solution, while no specialist No. 9 was added in this window despite the outlay elsewhere.

Xavi Simons, who had impressed under De Zerbi before suffering an ACL injury late in 2025-26, remains on the books but is unlikely to be available until the new year at the earliest, leaving a significant creative hole that the wider forward group will need to fill collectively in his absence.

Tottenham Hotspur 2026-27 predicted starting XI

De Zerbi is expected to deploy a 4-3-3, with Joao Palhinha as the defensive midfielder anchoring the unit and Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes providing the two more progressive roles on either side, a configuration that should give Tottenham the physical and technical balance to compete across a demanding fixture list.

In defence, Micky van de Ven and Jan Paul Van Hecke are the first-choice central defensive pair, offering pace and ball-playing composure in roughly equal measure, while Pedro Porro on the right and Andrew Robertson on the left provide attacking width, with Antonin Kinsky confirmed as De Zerbi's No. 1 between the posts after signing a new long-term deal.

Up front, Richarlison leads the attack, with Mohammed Kudus operating on the right and Mathys Tel on the left as the first-choice wide options, though Dejan Kulusevski and Wilson Odobert will press for minutes and the formation may shift to accommodate James Maddison behind the striker once the squad has fully bedded in.

Tottenham Hotspur 2026-27 squad depth

Behind Kinsky, Martin Dubravka provides reliable senior cover after joining on a free transfer from Burnley, with Brandon Austin retained as third choice in a goalkeeping group that could yet be reduced further if Vicario departs.

Archie Gray is the natural right-back cover behind Porro, having played the position regularly in 2025-26 and shown the versatility to operate across several areas of the back line, while Kevin Danso and Marcos Senesi are both capable of slotting into the central defensive partnership alongside Van de Ven or Van Hecke in the event of injury, with Ben Davies offering an experienced fallback option at left-back if Destiny Udogie's rumoured exit is confirmed.

The midfield depth is the most reassuring area of the squad, with Rodrigo Bentancur and Conor Gallagher both able to step into the three with minimal disruption, and Lucas Bergvall continuing his development as a long-term first-team option at box-to-box midfielder; Pape Sarr and Kota Takai provide additional cover deeper in the unit.

Up front, Dominic Solanke is the backup striker to Richarlison, and Mikey Moore's excellent pre-season showing against Hoffenheim underlines his growing readiness for a wider rotational role, while Kulusevski and Odobert cover the wide positions behind Kudus and Tel; James Maddison's return to fitness will also restore a creative option in or behind the front line.

Roberto De Zerbi: Manager profile

Roberto De Zerbi was appointed Tottenham Hotspur head coach in April 2026, taking charge of a side sitting 16th in the Premier League table with nine games remaining and a genuine risk of the club suffering back-to-back relegations from the top flight for the first time in half a century. The Italian had been out of management since departing Marseille in February 2026, and his willingness to commit to a long-term project at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium even with the theoretical prospect of Championship football was cited by the club as a defining factor in the appointment.

His results in those final nine games were mixed on paper but decisive in outcome: three wins, two draws and two defeats, with the 1-0 home win over Everton on the final day the moment that secured survival and, in retrospect, may prove the most consequential result in the club's recent history. What De Zerbi showed in those seven league appearances was not a polished system but a clear tactical intention, a more cohesive defensive structure and, crucially, a response to adversity that previous regimes had been unable to provide.

The Italian operates a possession-dominant 4-3-3, built around intelligent positional play, high pressing triggers and overlapping full-backs who stretch play wide, and the summer additions of Tonali and Fernandes suggest the squad is being deliberately rebuilt to match those demands. His midfield at Tottenham now has the profile to sustain the ball-dominant style he favours: Palhinha as the shield, Tonali as the driving force and Fernandes as the progresser.

De Zerbi is direct and emotionally involved in his public communications, known to set high standards and to confront underperformance in a way that polarises opinions in the short term but tends to produce clarity over a full season; his contract at Tottenham is reported to be a long-term, multi-year agreement, with the club publicly committed to the project, though the specific expiry date has not been confirmed at the time of publication.

Sandro Tonali: Tottenham's star player

Sandro Tonali completes his move from Newcastle United to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as one of the Premier League's most expensive central midfielders, and his arrival at 26 gives De Zerbi a player whose profile maps almost exactly onto the engine-room role the Italian most values in his system.

The 2025-26 Premier League season at Newcastle United produced two assists and zero goals across 35 appearances and 2,543 minutes, which understates his contribution: Tonali ranked among the top midfielders in the division for defensive contributions and successful passing percentage, and his physical and tactical consistency was central to Newcastle's campaign despite the club's eventual failure to retain Champions League qualification.

He brings Premier League experience accumulated across three seasons and a proven ability to perform under pressure, with the EFL Cup winner's medal he collected with Newcastle United in 2024-25 his most recent piece of domestic silverware and a reminder that he has already won at the highest level with AC Milan in Serie A.

At 26, Tonali is entering the years where central midfielders typically produce their best sustained output, and the combination of De Zerbi's system, Palhinha's cover and Fernandes alongside him creates conditions in which the Italian should be able to express the full range of his passing, pressing and goal-scoring ability more freely than at any previous club.

Mateus Fernandes: Tottenham's one to watch

Mateus Fernandes arrives at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for £85m from West Ham United as one of the most expensive midfielders in Premier League history, and the 22-year-old Portuguese midfielder's statistical profile from 2025-26 suggests the fee is not as surprising as the headline figure implies.

Last season at West Ham, Fernandes registered three goals and four assists from 35 starts and 3,024 Premier League minutes, posting the highest defensive contribution total of any midfielder in the division while also ranking highly for chances created and successful dribbles, a combination that explains why clubs far beyond Spurs were tracking his availability when West Ham's relegation was confirmed.

In De Zerbi's 4-3-3, Fernandes is expected to operate as the left-sided central midfielder in the three, a role that will ask him to press intensely when out of possession, drive forward into the half-space in transition and switch the play from deep positions, and his athletic capacity to cover ground in both directions gives De Zerbi a player who can handle those competing demands within the same phase of play.

At 22 and under contract until 2031, Fernandes is arguably the most significant piece of the long-term rebuild at Tottenham, and the early pre-season signs, including a goal on his debut appearance against MK Dons in July, suggest he has hit the ground at pace with his new club.

Tottenham strengths and weaknesses

Tottenham pre-season results

Tottenham completed six pre-season fixtures with four wins and two draws, scoring 10 goals and conceding three across a schedule that took in a behind-closed-doors opener against MK Dons, a tour of New Zealand and a two-match visit to Sydney for the Sydney Super Cup before returning to North London for home games against Getafe and Hoffenheim.

The most striking result was the 2-1 victory over Chelsea on August 1 in Sydney, when Tottenham held on with 10 men to complete a win that carried a psychological edge given the context of last season's struggle; the 3-0 home win over Hoffenheim on August 15 was also notable for a double from Mikey Moore, who underlined his readiness for senior involvement.

Mateus Fernandes scored on his first appearance for the club against MK Dons and featured across the subsequent fixtures, offering an encouraging early indication of his adaptation to De Zerbi's system, while Xavi Simons remained absent throughout his ACL rehabilitation, his return timeline the single most significant outstanding fitness question before the opener against Brentford.

Tottenham Hotspur 2026-27 season prediction

The opening five gameweeks offer a genuine early test against opponents of varying quality, but De Zerbi's squad is deeper and better organised than the one that stumbled through the equivalent stretch last season, and a haul of eight to ten points from the first five games would represent a reasonable baseline from which to build.

The December fixtures are where the season could take shape or fracture: four league games in 28 days including the home North London derby against Arsenal on December 5, a trip to Anfield on December 19 and back-to-back home games against Bournemouth and Brighton across the festive period make that run as demanding as any comparable stretch in the fixture list, and Tottenham's squad management across that period will say much about the progress of De Zerbi's project.

The factor most likely to determine the final outcome is the fitness of Richarlison, who has repeatedly promised more than he has delivered at the club, and how quickly the new midfield three of Tonali, Palhinha and Fernandes builds the collective automaticity that De Zerbi's system demands; a settled midfield reduces the burden on a forward line that carries legitimate questions about its depth.

A 9th-placed Premier League finish feels like the most realistic projection, representing a substantial improvement on consecutive 17th-placed seasons and a genuine signal of progress, with the top seven not beyond Tottenham if the key players remain fit and the system beds in at pace across the first third of the campaign.