The Portuguese only took over in June but his side are eighth in the Premier League with five losses already.
Spurs were humbled 3-0 at home by under-pressure Manchester United on Saturday.
Supporters made their feelings known at full-time as boos rung out around Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
TOP STORY – SPURS READY TO REPLACE NUNO
Tuttomercato claims that Tottenham are working on a deal to have ex-Inter boss Antonio Conte replace Nuno Espirito Santo as manager.
Football Insider also reports that Spurs will sack Nuno this week, with Ryan Mason to be installed as their interim boss again.
The Standard claims that Porto head coach Sergio Conceicao is also under consideration for the job.
ROUND-UP
- Le Parisien reports that Paris Saint-Germain could sensationally walk away from their contract with off-season signing Sergio Ramos, who is yet to debut for the club due to ongoing injury issues from his time at Real Madrid. PSG are said to believe they were misled about his injury status.
- Barcelona are interested in a loan deal for Manchester United's wantaway Dutch midfielder Donny van de Beek, reports Sport.
- Real Madrid are considering moves for Manchester United's Paul Pogba and Chelsea's Antonio Rudiger, claims Marca.
- Theo Hernandez will ignore Manchester City 's advances and pen a new deal with Milan, reports Calciomercato.
- Tuttosport reports hot property Fiorentina forward Dusan Vlahovic wants to join Juventus amid interest from Tottenham, among others.
The coronavirus pandemic forced most global sport to shut down in March, but the Bundesliga, LaLiga and Premier League have all recommenced their 2019-20 campaigns – albeit behind closed doors.
Football has already returned in Italy, however, with Napoli edging out Juventus to lift the Coppa Italia trophy on Wednesday.
But the top tier makes its comeback with a double-header of Torino v Parma and Hellas Verona v Cagliari on Saturday, with everything from relegation to the title still to be decided.
As we look forward to the season's resumption, we glance back at the best Opta stats from Italy's top-flight campaign so far.
JUVENTUS
- Juve have been trailing for 133 minutes in 2019-20, less time than any other team in Serie A this season.
- At home, Juve are unbeaten in their previous 34 league games (W29, D5), more than double the next best streak (Lazio at 15).
- This term, Cristiano Ronaldo equalled the record of 11 consecutive goalscoring appearances in a single Serie A season. He has also already levelled his haul of goals from 2018-19 despite making nine fewer appearances, averaging 0.95 goals per game compared to 0.68 last season.
- Among the players who made their debut in the three-points-for-a-win era, Ronaldo was the fastest to reach 42 goals (52 appearances) – before him the record was 58 games played (Vincenzo Montella, Andriy Shevchenko and Brazil great Ronaldo).
LAZIO
- Lazio are unbeaten in their previous 21 league games (W17 D4), already an all-time Serie A record for the club. Six of the seven previous teams with streaks as long as that in a single season went on to win the Scudetto (the only exception was Roma in 2009-10).
- Ciro Immobile has 27 goals in 26 games in 2019-20. Only Antonio Valentin Angelillo (29) in has managed more after 26 matchdays.
INTER
- Antonio Conte is the first Inter coach to see his team score in each of his first 19 games in all competitions.
- Inter have won nine of their 13 Serie A away games this season (D2 L2): only in the 2006-07 campaign have the Nerazzurri won more (11).
- Romelu Lukaku is one of three players to have scored at least 17 Serie A goals in their first 25 games of a debut season with Inter, emulating Giuseppe Meazza (1929-30) and Stefano Nyers (1948-49).
ATALANTA
- Atalanta's 70 goals in this Serie A campaign already represents their second-best haul in a single season (77 in 2018-19).
- No team has scored as many as 70 goals in the first 25 matches of a single Serie A season since 1959, when Fiorentina netted 79.
- Three Atalanta players are into double figures in terms of goals this season: Josip Ilicic, Luis Muriel and Duvan Zapata. Only in 1949-50 and 1951-52 have the club had as many players reach 10 goals.
MILAN
- Since Stefano Pioli joined Milan, they have kept the most clean sheets in Serie A (seven).
- Since his first spell at Milan (which began in August 2010), Zlatan Ibrahimovic has scored 60 goals for the Rossoneri in all competitions, more than any other player with the club in the period.
Lopetegui won the only competitive match between the two coaches - Sevilla's 3-2 triumph over Inter in the 2020 Europa League final - but they had to share the result this time, with Ivan Rakitic equalising after Harry Kane's opener in Suwon.
Sevilla had the majority of possession over the opening 45 minutes but their best chance came in transition, with Rafa Mir botching a one-on-one opportunity with Hugo Lloris.
To reinforce their lack of penetration with the ball, Kane scored after Rodrigo Bentancur won the ball high up the pitch in 50th minute, before substitute Rakitic rifled home from the top of the penalty area 14 minutes later.
For his side's first game of the pre-season though, Lopetegui was ultimately content his side could restrict Spurs while revealing his admiration for Conte, believing he can transmit his identity onto every team he coaches.
"They tend to take the initiative and at this moment we have minimised a great team," he said post-match. "They've had their moments, but we've had a good first game. I am a great admirer of Conte, he has his own stamp that he transfers to all his teams and he has all my admiration and respect.
"They are one of the best teams in England and in the world and at times we surpassed them. We have finished with six footballers from the bench and have played a good game.
"I don't value the result but we have tried to put what we are training on the field into action and the boys have done a good job. We have done a good week of work optimising defensive and offensive aspects."
After achieving their LaLiga points record in 2020-21, Sevilla plateaued last season, finishing 16 points off eventual title winners Real Madrid along with last-16 exits in the Copa del Rey and Europa League.
Lopetegui's side did secure Champions League football for the second consecutive year, finishing fourth in LaLiga ahead of archrivals Real Betis.
Coming off the bench, Rakitic echoed his coach's sentiments, but added that his goal would allow him to approach training with less pressure.
"There was a desire to compete, play, also against a spectacular team. I think we did a great job. To begin with, the truth is that we are very happy," he told Sevilla FC TV post-match.
"The truth is very happy, I think it is important for us to start adding good minutes. It was an intense game, with a lot of rhythm. For the days to come, with a goal like this you work even more comfortably."
Life after Nuno Espirito Santo began brilliantly for Spurs, with Son Heung-min, Lucas Moura and an own goal from Jacob Rasmussen giving them a firm grip on the game after just 28 minutes.
However, Rasmussen atoned for his error and Matus Bero brought Vitesse – who won the reverse fixture 1-0 – back to within a goal of restoring parity before half-time, with a previously jubilant Tottenham Hotspur Stadium falling flat.
Romero's second booking with 30 minutes remaining increased the pressure on Conte's men, but Danilo Doekhi and Markus Schubert also received their marching orders in the final 10 minutes as Vitesse missed a chance to complete a historic comeback.
Ben Davies was perhaps fortunate not to concede a third-minute penalty for a clumsy tackle on Nikolai Frederiksen and Spurs took advantage of that reprieve, Son scoring on the follow-up after Schubert failed to hang onto an effort from Lucas.
Son rattled the upright but Tottenham soon stormed clear as Lucas added a cool finish to Harry Kane's throughball and Rasmussen scored an own goal while attempting to stop Kane steering Davies' mishit shot home.
Hugo Lloris did brilliantly to tip Sondre Tronstad's long-range shot over the crossbar, but Rasmussen headed home from the resulting corner and Bero punished a mistake from Lucas to curb the enthusiasm that was building in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The pace of the game was far slower after the restart and Spurs were reduced to 10 men when Romero received a second yellow card for pulling down Lois Openda.
Vitesse's hopes of completing the comeback and causing an upset evaporated in the closing stages, though, as Doekhi committed a second bookable offence and Schubert got a straight red for handling outside his area.
What does it mean? Something to build on
Conceding two goals in seven first-half minutes will not have pleased Conte, but the way his team stoically made sure of the win in difficult circumstances will have.
With their next five Premier League games coming against teams that currently sit below them in the table, the new coach has a great chance to quickly turn their fortunes around.
They also sit second in Group G and could qualify by winning their next game against Mura if other results go their way.
Teacher's pet
After going close in the second minute, it did not take much longer for Son to get Tottenham off the mark under Conte. He has now scored Spurs' first goal under each of their past three permanent head coaches.
Problems at the back
Romero picked up two bookings for tackles he really did not need to make, while Eric Dier's marking of Rasmussen was questionable on Vitesse's first goal and Davies was lucky not to concede an early penalty. Conte's three-man defence looked anything but solid.
What's next?
Conte's Premier League return will be made at Everton on Sunday, when Vitesse host Utrecht in the Eredivisie.
