Thomas Frank failed to get one over his former side on his return to the Gtech Community Stadium as Tottenham Hotspur drew 0-0 with Brentford.
Goalscoring opportunities were few and far between after Kevin Schade saw an early strike ruled out for offside, but the Bees began to threaten after the break.
Both Keane Lewis-Potter and Vitaly Janelt failed to find the back of the net, while Igor Thiago could not test Guglielmo Vicario from a tight angle.
Caoimhin Kelleher, meanwhile, was forced into just two saves in the Brentford goal as Spurs struggled to find their rhythm on New Year’s Day.
The goalless encounter leaves Brentford in ninth, three points behind fifth-placed Chelsea, while Spurs are a point further back in 12th.
How the match unfolded
Schade thought he opened the scoring inside five minutes when he was the quickest to react to a rebound from Nathan Collins’ header, but the linesman quickly raised his flag for offside to spare Spurs' blushes.
It was a first half of very few chances from there on in, with Archie Gray seeing an effort blocked at the other end, as both defences remained resolute.
The Bees clicked into gear after the break, with Lewis-Potter scuffing an effort from Yehor Yarmoliuk’s cutback before Janelt saw his header comfortably saved by Vicario just after the hour mark.
Thiago finally saw an opportunity come his way in the 69th minute when Michael Kayode found the striker in the box, but he fired well over the bar from a narrow angle.
Neither side seemed overly willing to risk losing in search of all three points as the clock wound down, with Richarlison’s weak stoppage-time effort the closest either team came to winning at the end.
Thiago and Schade left with too much to do
As always for Brentford, Thiago was the focal point for the attack, with only Erling Haaland scoring more than his 11 goals in the Premier League this season.
And Schade was clearly eager to add to his hat-trick against AFC Bournemouth last time out, but the two forwards struggled to get the final pass away and threaten Vicario’s goal.
Both Thiago and Schade were threatening in the opening stages but began to be outnumbered when looking to catch the Spurs defence off guard as the game went on.
The closest they came was in the first half when Schade was denied a shot at goal by a late-ditch tackle from Pedro Porro, and Thiago mistimed a header from Jordan Henderson’s cross seconds later.
Lewis-Potter was often late to join the attacks, with the Bees perhaps missing the attacking presence of Dango Ouattara, who is currently away with Burkina Faso at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Nevertheless, there were plenty of positives to take for Keith Andrews against his predecessor, with his backline giving very little away against Spurs.
Andrews’ side now face a difficult trip to the Hill Dickinson Stadium on the weekend, with Everton just one point and place above them in the table.
Frank’s lacklustre return
Ahead of his return to Brentford, Frank revealed that this would not be the same as any other fixture due to his past with his former club.
The Dane spent almost seven years as their head coach, but it was his current club who were close to being caught out early on in west London.
Schade’s disallowed goal was an early warning for Spurs, who adjusted appropriately to keep the Bees at bay.
Djed Spence and Porro did not push forward as frequently, so that Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven would not be left alone to deal with Brentford’s direct counter-attacks, while they also defended set-pieces in stronger numbers.
Brennan Johnson’s seemingly imminent move to Crystal Palace and a suspension to Xavi Simons gave Wilson Odobert a chance to prove his worth to Frank.
The 21-year-old was handed his first league start since their north London derby defeat to Arsenal in November, but he found himself focusing more on his defensive duties rather than making a difference in the attacking third.
Spurs host Sunderland in their next Premier League fixture, and Frank will be aiming to find more balance between defence and attack.
Club reports
Brentford report | Spurs report
What the managers said
Keith Andrews: "Lovely to see Thomas [Frank], as always. [He's] somebody who I respect hugely. I enjoyed working with him last season. Tonight I thought we edged it and if anybody was going to win the game it was probably us."
"They beat us twice last season, they deserved to beat us 26 days ago at Spurs. Today was a completely different performance. We wanted it quick in the tempo in the second half and they tried to slow it down.
"Thomas is very aware of what this home crowd can do and how dangerous we can be. Their goalkeeper got booked for time wasting which pretty much says it all."
Thomas Frank: "It was nice to be back and nice to acknowledge things both ways and then the whistle goes and it's business and you want to win the game.
"Definitely, we don't create enough. I think we dealt with half of the challenge here because they are very strong at home. They only gave seven shots away in the whole game so very happy with that but we didn't create enough. The amount of unforced errors today was too big."
Next five PL fixtures
Key facts
Spurs' all-time Premier League record run of 137 games without a goalless draw has come to an end, with this their first 0-0 draw since April 2022, which also came away at Brentford.
Spurs have kept more Premier League clean sheets in 19 games under Thomas Frank this season (seven), than they did in 38 matches under Ange Postecoglou across the entirety of last season (six).
Brentford have failed to score in their last four Premier League London derbies (D1 L3), winning just one of their last 10 (D4 L5), a 2-0 win at West Ham in October last year.
This was just the fourth Premier League game this season not to see a single big chance created after Liverpool v Arsenal (August), Bournemouth v Newcastle United (September) and Bournemouth v Nottingham Forest (October).