Tottenham are staring down the barrel of relegation.
Things couldn’t have gone much worse for Roberto De Zerbi in his first game in charge of Tottenham Hotspur, with his team tasting defeat at Sunderland whilst also seeing skipper Cristian Romero forced off with injury. It has since been reported that Romero will not feature again this season after sustaining a knee injury that will keep him out for a minimum of six weeks.
Coming into the clash against Sunderland, Tottenham knew that a victory was needed if they were to move away from the relegation places following West Ham United’s 4-0 win over Wolves earlier in the gameweek. However, the North Londoners failed to respond and fell short once again, losing 1-0 to the Black Cats.
Tottenham’s chances of relegation have been steadily rising over the last two months, and many now consider them favourites to go down. Ex-West Ham goalkeeper Rob Green delivered a worrying verdict on Spurs after the Sunderland loss. De Zerbi felt his team “didn’t deserve to lose” and took some positives from his first game in charge. The 46-year-old also stated that he is confident of turning things around at White Hart Lane.
Gary Neville makes admission on Tottenham battling relegation
Famous talkSPORT pundit Simon Jordan has backed De Zerbi to turn things around after a losing start to life in N17. Now, former Manchester United skipper Gary Neville has admitted that it is “unthinkable” for Spurs to be in the second tier of English football. While the 51-year-old still expects Tottenham to retain their top-flight status, Neville admitted that he has absolutely “no confidence” in that prediction.
“It’s as interesting as the title race. The Spurs question – can they go down? Will they go down? Is this the biggest club that’s ever gone down in Premier League history?” the English pundit said on the Gary Neville podcast, contrary to Jamie Carragher’s verdict.
“Aston Villa are a massive club, but Tottenham have been in Champions League finals in the last five, six, seven years, and won the Europa League last year, this would be a monstrous moment.
“Some say it would be good for the game because it would demonstrate competitiveness, that anybody can go down in the Premier League, just as when Leicester won it. It was the most phenomenal story that anybody can win the Premier League.
“They’ve lost at Sunderland, and they’ve got big matches to come. The unthinkable could happen. I think they’ll just get out of it, but I’ve got no confidence to sit here and say Tottenham are safe right now. Everyone knows they’re in massive trouble, and it’s the unthinkable.”
Only six games left for De Zerbi!
De Zerbi was not wrong when he said his Tottenham team were unlucky to lose at Sunderland. Indeed, Mukiele’s deflected effort handed the hosts the points, but there were some encouraging signs in the first 15-20 minutes of the game, where Spurs did open up Regis Le Bris’ side a few times.
Players looked committed and focused to executing a game plan, but they lacked the finishing touch to put pressure on the Black Cats. The Lilywhites must move on from it and concentrate on what is about to come next. De Zerbi now has six games to try and revive the North London club’s fortunes. Given West Ham and Leeds United’s wins over Wolves and Manchester United, respectively, the odds have grown bigger for Tottenham’s relegation.
The Italian has to find a way of motivating his boys and getting them fired up for the visit of Brighton and Hove Albion this weekend.