Tottenham have registered 20 points from their opening eight Premier League games

Tottenham have registered 20 points from their opening eight Premier League games this season (W6 D2), only in 1960-61 (21 points in first seven games converting to three points/win) have they done so in fewer games to begin a top-flight campaig

Ange Postecoglou stated his players are entirely focused on “changing the destiny of the club” after Micky van de Ven scored his first goal in English football to lift 10-man Tottenham to the Premier League summit with a 1-0 victory at Luton.

Jurgen Klopp’s team was denied a genuine goal in Spurs’ disputed 2-1 victory over Liverpool the previous Saturday due to “significant human error” on the part of VAR operator Darren England.

It meant three points for Postecoglou’s team at Kenilworth Road would send them to the summit for at least 24 hours, but they had to work hard for it after Yves Bissouma was sent off in first-half stoppage-time

Bissouma was booked twice in quick succession by referee John Brooks, the second for simulation, but Van de Ven’s close-range finish in the 52nd minute earned Tottenham a hard-fought win.

Speaking to netsport after the narrow victory, Postecoglou said: “I don’t think it is fair to compare to last season, and speak about what happened then. It is all credit to the players, the way they have bought into what we are trying to do.

“We are really tight as a group, which you see because not only are we winning games but apart from the football which has been good, the resilience we have shown has been great.

“I thought we needed a little more control. Pierre [Hoijberg] is an experienced player in the middle, and I thought we would still be a threat with Deki [Dejan Kulusevski] and Sonny up front.

“They put some balls in the box that we had to deal with, but he [Hojbjerg] was excellent in there keeping the ball away from our goal.”

Due to the heated environment, even TNT pundits Rio Ferdinand and Peter Crouch were jeered before the game began. This was the first match between the clubs since 1992.

Spurs should have added to their season total of seven goals scored against other recently promoted teams within the first ten minutes.

Two times, Richarlison blundered, first by shooting off target with the goal at his mercy from Kulusevski’s cross in the third minute, then by denying the Brazilian with his foot after James Maddison’s quick through pass just 60 seconds later.

When Bissouma was rightly sent off on the stroke of half-time, it looked like everything was conspiring against Tottenham. But, as previously seen on several occasions this season, Postecoglou’s players dug out a result.

Speaking later in his press conference, the Australian added: “I’ve said from day one, I like winning. I love it. I get the team to play the way I want and try to create an environment that breeds success.

“I’ve gone into this with an open mind, and the results have been there so far, but it doesn’t change where I think we are in terms of our growth. I don’t get driven by the results at this early stage. Everyone we recruited in the summer has had a big impact which has helped, but we have to keep getting that right;

Luton had the ball in the net after 39 minutes but it was immediately ruled out and a VAR check showed Elijah Adebayo had shoved Cristian Romero.

Luton boss Rob Edwards said: “I’ve been told it [Tom Lockyer’s disallowed goal] was the correct decision but not by my staff, but they didn’t come raging into the dressing room to tell me it should have stood. It was ridiculous that due to two injuries we were then down to nine men for a short period.”