Why Are Tottenham So Good at Home in Europe — but So Bad in the Premier League?

Tottenham Hotspur brushed aside 2024 finalists Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday night.

Spurs flew out of the blocks and took a deserved lead inside the opening 14 minutes courtesy of Cristian Romero’s first Champions League goal for the club.

Dortmund were then reduced to 10 men when Daniel Svensson was shown a straight red card for a dangerous challenge, before Dominic Solanke wrapped up the victory in the 37th minute.

Tottenham unbeaten in 24 European home games

The win over Dortmund extended Tottenham’s unbeaten run of European home games to 24.

Spurs have not lost a European fixture at home since a 1-0 defeat by RB Leipzig in the Champions League in February 2020.

In their last 24 home games in UEFA competitions, Spurs have recorded 20 wins and four draws, scoring 65 goals, conceding just 13 and keeping 15 clean sheets.

Tottenham’s last 24 home results in UEFA competitions

Date	Competition	Result
Oct 2020	Europa League	Spurs 7-2 Maccabi Haifa
Oct 2020	Europa League	Spurs 3-0 LASK Linz
Nov 2020	Europa League	Spurs 4-0 Ludogorets
Dec 2020	Europa League	Spurs 2-0 Royal Antwerp
Feb 2021	Europa League	Spurs 4-0 Wolfsberger
Mar 2021	Europa League	Spurs 2-0 Dinamo Zagreb
Aug 2021	Conference League	Spurs 3-0 Pacos Ferreira
Sep 2021	Conference League	Spurs 5-1 NS Mura
Nov 2021	Conference League	Spurs 3-2 Vitesse
Sep 2022	Champions League	Spurs 2-0 Marseille
Oct 2022	Champions League	Spurs 3-2 Frankfurt
Oct 2022	Champions League	Spurs 1-1 Sporting
Mar 2023	Champions League	Spurs 0-0 Milan
Sep 2024	Europa League	Spurs 3-0 Qarabag
Oct 2024	Europa League	Spurs 1-0 Alkmaar
Nov 2024	Europa League	Spurs 2-2 Roma
Jan 2025	Europa League	Spurs 3-0 Elfsborg
Mar 2025	Europa League	Spurs 3-1 Alkmaar
Apr 2025	Europa League	Spurs 1-1 Frankfurt
May 2025	Europa League	Spurs 3-1 Bodo Glimt
Sep 2025	Champions League	Spurs 1-0 Villarreal
Nov 2025	Champions League	Spurs 4-0 Copenhagen
Dec 2025	Champions League	Spurs 3-0 Slavia Prague
Jan 2026	Champions League	Spurs 2-0 Dortmund

Awful home record in the Premier League

Tottenham’s excellent home form in European games is in stark contrast to their run of domestic results at their 62,850-seater stadium in north London.

Only the three clubs currently in the relegation zone — Burnley, West Ham and Wolves — have worse home records than Spurs in the Premier League this season.

Thomas Frank’s men have so far lost six of their 11 home Premier League matches, drawing three and winning just two.

This dismal start comes after former manager Ange Postecoglou lost more than half of his Premier League home matches in charge of Spurs last season. Postecoglou’s Tottenham recorded just 21 Premier League points from a possible 57 in front of their own fans in 2024/25 by winning six, drawing three and losing 10 of their 19 home fixtures.

During the same campaign, Spurs won five, drew two and lost none of their seven Europa League home games.

Why are Tottenham so much better in Europe than the Premier League?

There are multiple theories and possible factors that might help explain the huge difference between Tottenham’s home form in the Premier League and in Europe.

A significant one is the standard of opposition. Dortmund are second in Germany’s Bundesliga and Villarreal are third in Spain’s La Liga. Spurs have faced the likes of Roma and Milan as well during their 24-game unbeaten run in Europe.

However, they have also faced many much weaker sides and it could be argued that the average level of their European opponents has been lower than that of an average Premier League team.

It is also worth noting that Tottenham firmly prioritised Europa League games over Premier League matches in the second half of the 2024/25 season. This famously helped Postecoglou deliver a major trophy, but it was also a major factor that led to defeats by Leicester, Man City, Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace and Brighton.

But Tottenham previously prioritising Europe over domestic games does not explain why their poor Premier League home form has continued into the Frank era.

Spurs currently sit 17th in the Premier League home table, but are second in the away table. The most played soundtrack at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this season has been booing and jeering, with some Spurs fans even chanting “sacked in the morning” at Frank following a recent loss to West Ham.

That toxic atmosphere has led some to question whether Tottenham fans might be partly to blame for their team’s poor home form.

Gareth Bale suggests Tottenham are “more suited to European competition”

Club legend Gareth Bale has a theory about why Spurs seem to perform better in UEFA competitions than in the Premier League.

Bale was at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as a TNT Sports pundit on Tuesday night and he explained: “It’s a different type of football, European football.

“You’re playing teams from different countries, it’s not so physical, it’s not so demanding.

“Everybody knows what the Premier League’s like, it’s very fast and furious. Maybe this team is more suited to European competition, with the record last year in the Europa League.

“They somehow need to find a solution to playing in the Premier League and really improve their home form drastically, because their away form is pretty good.”