Roberto De Zerbi has only five games in hand to save Tottenham Hotspur from relegation.
Tottenham Hotspur are approaching a defining moment in their season, with just five games left for Roberto De Zerbi to seal the club’s fate.
Despite leading twice, Spurs failed to win the game against Brighton & Hove Albion at home on Saturday, eventually settling for a 2-2 draw. Georginio Rutter’s 94th-minute left-footed strike past Antonin Kinsky broke the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium faithful’s hearts and denied Spurs their first league win of 2026. To make matters worse for De Zerbi’s side, they saw relegation rivals Leeds United and Nottingham Forest both win their respective games.
How De Zerbi and his boys respond is the question on every Tottenham fans’ minds. Spurs travel to relegated Wolverhampton Wanderers and then Champions League qualification-chasing Aston Villa next, before hosting relegation rivals Leeds United. These next few weeks are extremely pivotal.
Ally McCoist makes concerning relegation claim about Tottenham
After a series of underwhelming displays, it was pleasing to see De Zerbi get some kind of tune out of his players against Brighton, even if they failed to hang onto three priceless points.
Clearly, there was more spirit, energy, organisation and work ethic about Spurs’ performance. Vast improvements are still needed, as De Zerbi mentioned after the game, but this was a lot better than what has been served to the fans for the majority of the campaign.
The Italian tactician claimed after the Brighton draw that Tottenham can win all of their remaining five Premier League games to plot a great escape. However, Ally McCoist fears Tottenham are simply running out of time to register the points they require to move out of the drop zone. The talkSPORT pundit pointed out that Spurs’ relegation rivals are all having a bit of momentum in their sails and picking up good results.
“Tottenham are running out of games, and the teams around them are winning games, whether it’s Leeds or Forest,” Ally McCoist said on the talkSPORT Breakfast show.
“But the fact of the matter is that it is the second point Tottenham have taken in nine games; they haven’t won a league game this year. So, what makes us think they’re going to pick up 10 out of 15 points?
“I know they might not have to if West Ham don’t pick up points, but they’re certainly going to need a vast improvement because Forest and Leeds keep picking up points.”
Tottenham get surprise boost in survival hopes
All Tottenham fans would have been glued to their TV sets on Monday evening, watching relegation rivals West Ham play take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. The problems with which Palace arrived in the game after celebratory night out in Florence following their Europa Conference League match against Fiorentina gave West Ham the edge in the London derby.
However, the game ended in a goalless draw in South London, directly boosting Tottenham’s survival hopes. A point earned means West Ham are now on 33 points from as many games, only two above Spurs. The Hammers missed a great opportunity to widen the gap between them and Tottenham, and pile more pressure on De Zerbi.
All in all, it would be fair to say that Palace have done Tottenham a favour!