Premier League first happens in Tottenham vs Burnley as Michael Oliver in spotlight
Tottenham saw history when hosting Burnley during their opening Premier League game of the season.
Tottenham welcomed Burnley to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, 16 August, during the height of Premier League action this weekend.
Thomas Frank would have expected to be placed under the spotlight after Spurs’ defeat to PSG in the UEFA Super Cup final earlier in the week. But Michael Oliver took all the glory when fans saw a first take place in the Premier League.
Martin Dubravka caught in new 8-second rule
Frank caught his fair share of criticism when Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray were named in Tottenham’s starting lineup.
Bergvall was less of a surprise given the midfielder’s strong performance under Ange Postecoglou last season. But Gray was mostly used in the defence under the Australian. As such, the move to bench both Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur after their PSG performances was a strange one.
- Palhinha and Bentancur featured heavily for Frank during pre-season
- Brennan Johnson was also a surprise starter against Burnley
Oliver has been criticised for his Tottenham decisions before, but seems to have gotten things right within the opening minutes of the game.
Under new Premier League rules, goalkeepers cannot hold onto the ball for longer than eight seconds. Keepers will be given a five-second countdown for the referee as a reminder. But if they do not, a corner will be awarded to the opposing team.
Burnley found out the hard way within the first 10 minutes of the action when Oliver awarded a corner to Tottenham after Martin Dubravka held onto the ball for too long.
While the corner did not come to much, Dubravka is now the first-ever keeper to be caught with the new Premier League rule.
- Read more: Tottenham chances rated for 2025/26 season
Will this rule stop time-wasting in the Premier League
The end goal is that the new rule will put a stop to time-wasting in the Premier League. But as evidenced by Dubravka against Tottenham, it will take time to get used to.
Ultimately, this could be great for the first division. There have been too many instances where games have lost their intensity and teams have been at a disadvantage due to goalkeeping antics.
There is every possibility that this could force keepers to spring into action when distributing the ball. But as this has just been introduced, the true benefits of it remain unknown for now.
Sign up for the daily Tottenham News newsletter on Substack and our new WhatsApp channel to have all the latest, breaking Tottenham Hotspur news sent straight to your phone.