Tottenham’s struggles at the start of 2026 continued as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Sunderland, courtesy of Brian Brobbey’s late strike on Sunday.
Ben Davies had put Spurs ahead in the 30th minute, but Brobbey’s fierce finish in the 80th minute rescued a point for the visitors, leaving the home fans frustrated once again.
After boos greeted the team following their New Year’s Day draw with Brentford, similar jeers echoed around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at full-time as Spurs failed to build on Davies’ opener.
From the outset, Tottenham looked to assert themselves, with Mathys Tel forcing an early save from Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs before narrowly missing the target shortly afterward.
Their pressure paid off in the 30th minute when Davies tapped in Micky van de Ven’s shot after Cristian Romero was left unmarked at the back post.
Sunderland, however, quickly began to respond, with Trai Hume unleashing a fierce long-range effort that tested Guglielmo Vicario and set the tone for their second-half revival.
Davies blocked Hume’s header just seven minutes after the restart, and Brobbey nearly equalized when Romero’s mistake allowed him to fire into the side-netting.
Sunderland came agonizingly close again when Enzo Le Fee’s header struck the base of the post, but moments later, the midfielder combined beautifully with Brobbey, who controlled and rifled a left-footed shot into the roof of the net to level the score.
Sunderland continued to threaten, with Hume forcing Vicario into a superb save over the crossbar and Joao Palhinha sending a late header wide in stoppage time.
Despite Spurs’ dominance, registering 13 shots with five on target and an xG of 1.18 compared to Sunderland’s 10 attempts and 0.48 xG, the hosts were unable to claim all three points.
The result leaves Spurs winless in their opening fixtures of 2026 and with six draws from 20 league matches under Thomas Frank (W7 L7), matching the number of stalemates they endured in Ange Postecoglou’s final 53 league games (W18 L29).
Meanwhile, Sunderland remain unbeaten in five Premier League matches (W1 D4), their longest top-flight run without defeat since Sam Allardyce’s side in April–May 2016.
