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Spurs Daily: Tottenham now favourites to go down - Opta
Bardi
Fan writer
Image source, PA MediaIt takes something special for a club to go through four managers and for nothing to change.
Four different sets of principles, four different approaches, four different game plans, yet nothing sticks. Not one idea nor concept has made a lasting impact on who we are as a football club. Tottenham Hotspur have been lacking an identity for so long that I am not sure I could tell a stranger, someone who has never heard of the club, what exactly we are.
Games pass us by, bad luck seems to wait at every 50-50 and there is such a lack of goal threat that opposition goalkeepers may as well start their summer holidays early. We are a team lacking in every department, on the pitch and off it.
With each appointment, we are promised change. Something to make us proud, something to cling to, but every new era brings the same disappointment and the same draining of our most valuable resource: time.
The new manager bounce is a fable as old as time, but at Spurs there has been no sign of it. It remains a bedtime story as we sleepwalk towards relegation. Every weekend brings another must-win game, and every weekend the line in the sand is erased and redrawn further down the beach.
On a personal level, I have gone beyond panic, fear and anger. I have arrived at acceptance. Since January, all we have needed is three wins, yet even that has proved beyond everyone involved. I do not see Spurs, with the finish line in sight, suddenly finding the energy to push on. Instead, we will continue to crawl towards it, as Nottingham Forest, Leeds and, most painfully, West Ham surge past us to safety.
In the long term, Roberto de Zerbi may prove an inspired appointment, but he has been dropped into a hole so deep and so dark that even a five-year contract may not give him enough time to find a way out.
Tottenham fans have been let down so often this season that I have no fingers left to point with. You make your own fate, and this club has created a monster.
Find more from Bardi at The Extra Inch - a Spurs podcast, external
Defender Cristian Romero may have played his last game for Tottenham Hotspur, with the club planning a squad overhaul even if they stay up. (Talksport, external)
Want more transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip column
Image source, Getty ImagesTwo Premier League heavyweights are set to face each other this weekend at Etihad Stadium, as Manchester City host Arsenal.
Both teams go into the fixture with different targets. For Mikel Arteta's side, it is about extending their lead at the top of the table. For Pep Guardiola's side, it is about closing the gap and keeping themselves in the title race.
It is a fixture being labelled a title decider by some, so we want to know who you want to win this Sunday's match.
Will you be cheering on the Citizens or getting behind the Gunners?
Ali Speechly
Fan writer
Image source, Getty ImagesAs Cristian Romero made an early exit at the Stadium of Light on Sunday, I think most fans knew that his tears were for Argentina, not Spurs.
Adding to Tottenham's ridiculous injury list, Romero appeared distraught despite his team-mates' efforts to console him. This raw emotion was from a man who had just realised his World Cup dream might be over before the tournament has even kicked off, not one who is desperate to keep the club he captains in the Premier League.
Therein lies the issue at Spurs. There doesn't seem to be anyone taking responsibility for this relegation battle, nor is there any sense of panic about our plight. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting it would be helpful for our players to run around in alarm. Clearly, they need calm heads. But where is the sense of urgency?
Instead, there is an ominous air of resignation in the Spurs camp. The fans are still giving it everything we have, including those who travelled to Sunderland in the fragile, and ultimately futile, hope that we might secure our first league win of 2026.
However, the stony expressions on the faces of our board members watching on told a different story. Their final, desperate gamble of appointing Roberto de Zerbi - a decision that has divided the fanbase for good reason - has started in the worst way possible.
Any dreams of this mythical "new manager bounce" were destroyed by a cruel deflection which led to the only goal of the game and yet another defeat. If De Zerbi was under any illusion about the desperation of this situation, the scale of his task was brought into sharp focus for him in his first match in charge.
Whichever league we end up in next season, there must be a full-scale review of the club over the summer, resulting in a change of leadership from top to bottom, on and off the pitch.
For now, if we have any chance of surviving the drop, these players need more than a big brother or a father figure. They need a miracle-worker.
Find more from Ali Speechly at Women Of The Lane, external and on Instagram, external
Former Premier League striker Chris Sutton says Roberto de Zerbi has gone into Tottenham "and put his coaching principles aside" in order to try and save them from relegation.
De Zerbi's reign started with defeat at Sunderland, meaning Spurs are still winless in 2026 in the Premier League.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club about the tough job De Zerbi has, Sutton said: "He is a pure coach, but he has said the team don't need to be coached and that means they are that low on confidence they are not ready for him to go in and play the De Zerbi brand of football.
"It is just about getting them over the line and I think he is doing the right thing, but it is pathetic really.
"I was looking at their bench on the weekend and it's an expensive bench, let alone the first team. How Tottenham are in this position is just incredible. The players have to take a great deal of responsibility.
"In De Zerbi's early days it is just about trying to lift them and keep them on side.
"He has gone in and put his coaching principles aside and will give them a good pat on the back to try and keep them up."
The Observer's Rory Smith says De Zerbi has taken a "firefighter's approach" and is being "pragmatic".
Smith said: "De Zerbi's said 'I'll put this on hold until the summer. Let's stay up and then we can do the playing out from the back stuff.'"
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Adwaidh Rajan
BBC Sport journalist
Image source, Getty ImagesGetting 36 points on the board should offer a huge psychological boost for Leeds.
Teams finishing on 36 or more points in each of the past nine Premier League seasons have avoided relegation.
In the 20-team Premier League era, starting from the 1995-96 season, the average number of points earned by the team finishing 18th is 35.53.
In those 30 seasons of 38 games, 36 points has ensured survival 60% of the time.
The rate of survival increases to 80% for 38 points, 90% for 40 points and 100% for 43 or more points.
So does that mean Leeds have virtually guaranteed survival this season?
Not really.
That is because this season is on track to be the toughest to survive for a decade.
According to Opta's supercomputer, Tottenham are now favourites to go down at 48.7%. But Spurs, sitting 18th, are on 30 points and projected to finish on 37 by Opta - meaning 38 points would be needed for survival.
West Ham, currently 17th, hold the record for the team relegated with the most points in the 20-team era - in 2002-03 when they picked up 42 points but still went down.
"The reality is that performance-wise we should already [have] far more than 40 points," Daniel Farke said.
"This team has performed over the whole season with unbelievable consistency.
"But we are on 36 points, a few more points are needed. For now, three points closer but nothing is achieved yet."
Image source, Getty ImagesWe asked for your views on how big a blow it is for Spurs to lose captain Cristian Romero for the rest of the season after his injury at Sunderland.
Here are some of your comments:
Deep: This team is going to benefit from the loss of Romero. He isn't a leader and his disciplinary issues have never helped. He was never crying for us (he's going to Athleti in the summer!), he was crying for his national team. He doesn't care if we go down and the team is better off without him! A solid defender like Danso, with that long throw as well, will do us the world of good. Hopefully the loss of this dreadful captain will allow someone to step up and really lead this team.
I do feel for the lad though, he might miss the World Cup.
KH: This is not a blow at all. When we needed him he got idiotic suspensions and has shown zero leadership on or off the pitch. I'd far rather have Danso playing.
Terry: It's nice to hear that Romero is out for the rest of the season. Maybe now Spurs can replace him with a better defender that really fights for the team, because Romero certainly didn't. It's a shame that when he wanted to leave earlier in the season they didn't let him go. If they had we wouldn't be in this position now.
John: The loss of Romero is no big deal, he is a yellow card waiting to happen in every match as at Sunderland. Danso, who will be his replacement, is a very good player with a long throw as well. Romero has been guilty of not leading from the front, of jogging back when the opposition break a fast attack forward. This was highlighted on Match of the Day. I'm not sad to be seeing the back of him. What is actually needed is a creative midfielder and that's something we just haven't got.
Douglas: Pity for Romero, but a blessing in disguise for Spurs. A good defender, but a poor leader. The worst discipline at the club, maybe even in the league. Spurs need to appoint a proper leader who sets the example for the rest of the team to follow and now is the perfect time to do it.
Richard: Huge loss. I know Romero is the target of much criticism but he is still critical to the team. Brobbey's unwarranted push on Romero should have resulted in a second yellow. Once again the ref failed to keep players safe from injury.
Cristian Romero's club season appears over after a partial tear of his medial cruciate ligament, reports BBC Sport's Sami Mokbel.
How big of a blow is this?
Image source, Getty ImagesTottenham Hotspur ended the weekend sitting in the relegation zone, following their defeat at Sunderland and West Ham's win against Wolves.
Former England captain Wayne Rooney felt Spurs' performance was "a bit flat" in the north east, which prevented them being able to have a new-manager bounce in Roberto de Zerbi's first game in charge.
"Sometimes you get a bounce but I think you get that when a new manager comes in and you are front-footed and aggressive on the ball," he said on The Wayne Rooney Show. "I thought they were a bit in between."
The ex-Premier League striker added that De Zerbi "needs to find some answers quickly" and that dropping to the Championship would be disastrous for the club.
"It will be a disaster for them if they do go [down]," said Rooney. "I think that's where some of those players probably are looking at it thinking if they go down they can move on and go to a different club.
"If they don't get back in the Premier League in the first year, that will be an absolute nightmare for them."
Tottenham have not won a Premier League match in 2026 and their next game is at home to Brighton on Saturday 17:30 evening.
Rooney feels they must figure out a way to win to help boost their confidence.
"If they can do that then they give themselves a chance. The longer it goes without winning is difficult for them."
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Image source, Getty ImagesTottenham Hotspur fan Hollie Agombar says the club are in a "mess" at the moment and doesn't believe the team has it in them to "fight" in their bid to stave off a shocking drop to the Championship.
The 1-0 loss against Sunderland was Spurs' fifth defeat in six Premier League games and leaves them two points adrift in the relegation zone after West Ham thrashed Wolves to leapfrog their London rivals.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Hollie was asked about Roberto de Zerbi's first game in charge: "It's just the same old, same old, isn't it? I know I said a few weeks ago we're already going down and I think that's cemented. We can't even get a new manager bounce at the moment, either.
"It is just a mess to be brutally honest. I think he's alluding to a mentality thing as well because we've heard managers over the years say that, and I 100% get that, but I don't think they've really got it in them to fight and that's what we've seen in recent weeks.
"It's a very strange time at Spurs at the moment."
We asked for your thoughts after Sunday's Premier League game between Sunderland and Tottenham Hotspur.
Here are some of your comments:
Sunderland fans
Adrian: Three points off fifth and a Champions League slot. Who'd have predicted that this time last year?
Robert: Another Superb performance by this young Sunderland side. Regis le Bris is, in my opinion, a good candidate for manager/head coach of the season. He has built a virtually new team in his debut Premier League campaign. He has developed a wonderful team spirit and togetherness that is excellent. Magnificent results have come thick and fast. I could not be happier. Ha'way the lads. And I'm feeling "Glad All Over" as it's the song the Crystal Palace fans sing when they score a goal and win.
Stephen: More proof that we need an "out-and-out" goalscorer. We created many more chances than Spurs yet our only goal came from a deflection.
Graham: Not the best this season but, as always, a team performance and Granit Xhaka pulling the strings - as usual.
Tottenham fans
Peter: A much better performance. Chances created but lack of quality upfront meant they weren't taken. I would like to have seen more urgency towards the end. You don't play your way out of the bottom three. As for the goal, one of those conceded by team at the bottom. We deserved a point, but that's not how football works. Still hope, three wins a minimum. COYS.
Colin: Listless. Boring. Pathetic. Big mistake not playing Xavi Simons until 95th minute. So many under performing players. Play the under-21s' side next week.
Roger: In the days when we had Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son consistently contributing over 30 goals a season we could afford to concede a few goals and still pick up the points. Unfortunately, they have been replace by very expensive flops when it comes to scoring. Likewise in midfield we have never come close to replacing the quality of Christian Eriksen, Dele Ali and Mousa Dembele. That is why we are where we are and unfortunately there are no quick fixes. Against Sunderland confirmed that hard work and effort alone will not be enough, we are going to have to rely on a lot of good luck if we are to avoid relegation.
Jeremy: I have been a fan of Tottenham since 1968 when my grandfather first took me to White Hart Lane at the age of five. Outside of the money these players get and the status it affords, where's their pride in playing for Spurs? They should be ashamed of themselves. Spurs is an iconic club and deserves to stay in the Premier League but these players don't. It doesn't matter how gifted they are individually, they are poor as a team. This is not the manager's fault. This is the responsibility of the players.
Pat Nevin
Former footballer and presenter
Spurs are in deep. Seriously deep. For all of the effort they made very, very few real chances in this game.
Now they are officially in the relegation zone, people are taking it seriously. It's been serious for much longer than that. It's been sitting staring at you.
We've seen teams in the past start to fall and they have faltered, they have started to lack belief. There was no lack of effort from the Spurs players at Sunderland, but was there a desperation about the desire? I'm not sure there was.
It's not like they didn't try today, but was that the desperation level that they need? I'm afraid not. Nothing feels easy. Nothing feels certain. I don't know where the points are coming from.
Image source, Getty ImagesFormer Tottenham defender Stephen Kelly told BBC World Service's Sportsworld that new head coach Roberto De Zerbi needs to get his players to believe in themselves - and fast.
"When Spurs concede, they fall off a cliff," he said.
"They have no resilience and that's a really hard thing to try to get your team to believe in themselves in a short space of time.
"And Roberto De Zerbi is known to be pragmatic and studious with how he sets up his team. He just doesn't have that time. It's going to have to be something quick and something motivating, something to get those players to have a slightly different mindset to believe they can do it. That's what it will take to get them out of it but at the moment it is looking really bleak.
"The fear amongst all the Spurs fans is 'are we going to get relegated by Chelsea?'. It is going to come down to that. West Ham seem to have got a bit of momentum. There is something about Spurs, that they have no home wins this year.
"Someone sent me a message that said Northampton Saints Rugby team have more home wins in the Tottenham Stadium in 2026 than Spurs have.
"It's really worrying."
One simple question and an answer with ugly consequences.
Hit play below and watch Match of the Day 2 in full here
Phil McNulty
Chief football writer
Image source, Getty ImagesThe sight of new Tottenham Hotspur head coach Roberto de Zerbi watching in anguish as captain Cristian Romero walked past him in tears may yet become the lasting image of a season slowly sliding towards the Championship.
De Zerbi's hopes of a fast start after succeeding Igor Tudor, the madcap experiment of the Croat's appointment lasting only 44 days, ended brutally as Spurs failed to show any significant response to the Italian's arrival.
Amid another flatlining display, the tearful departure of De Zerbi's leader on the field with Spurs 1-0 down with 25 minutes left and on the way to deserved defeat at Sunderland was yet another harrowing chapter in this sorry tale of the fall of a giant club.
The question of whether Spurs are too good to go down was consigned to the dustbin long ago. A team without a win in 14 Premier League games stretching back to 28 December at Crystal Palace answers that.
A more pertinent question now is - are Spurs too bad to stay up?
On the grim evidence that unfolded in the Wearside sunshine, it looks like they are.
Romero appeared to have a knee injury, although De Zerbi said "we have to see in the next few days", adding: "I hope that it is not too important a problem. He's a crucial player for us. He's a good guy and a good player with a big personality. We need him to finish the season."
Whatever the prognosis, former England goalkeeper Ben Foster questioned whether Romero's downcast manner as he left the pitch sent the right message to a Spurs team already a goal down after Nordi Mukiele's shot deflected past keeper Antonin Kinsky off Micky van de Ven on the hour.
It was a moment of misfortune, the sort that is often the fate of a team, and indeed a club, in crisis.
"Romero's probably the one player who has got a bit of character in that team, a bit of grit and determination," said Foster, a pundit on Sunday's Match of the Day. "If I was one of his team-mates there, I want him to be walking off the pitch grabbing everybody, getting everybody firing.
"They've still got 25 minutes there until full-time. But the tears, I feel, send the wrong message. As a captain you shouldn't be doing that."
Image source, Getty ImagesThe Telegraph's Luke Edwards believes Roberto de Zerbi will have to "oversee some turnaround" to keep Tottenham in the Premier League this season, adding that there are "huge problems" for the club to sort out.
Tottenham failed to end their run of 14 Premier League games without a win against Sunderland on Sunday afternoon, continuing their worst run in the league for 81 years and leaving themselves stuck in the bottom three.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily, Edwards said: "There is always hope because Nottingham Forest, West Ham and Leeds United haven't been truly convincing themselves all season. However, all of those clubs have a bit more upward momentum than Tottenham at the moment.
"It is some turnaround that Roberto de Zerbi has got to oversee. When he went to Brighton, he actually lost his first five games in charge. So as good a job as he did there, it actually took a while for him to get his ideas across.
"I was in his post-match press conference and I listened to him say: 'I can't be a coach, I've got to be a father and a brother - I've got to put my arm around these players' - but I'm not sure that is going to be enough.
"They can't keep clean sheets, they can't score goals, they are too easy to play through midfield - that is a pretty poisonous mix. There are huge problems.
"De Zerbi will be on a huge bonus to keep the club in the Premier League - and he will earn every single penny of it if he manages to do it from here.
"Having watched them, there is a stench of relegation around the club. I think they are doomed."
Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United are both interested in signing Barcelona midfielder Marc Casado, 22. (Tuttomercato - in Italian, external)
Want more transfer stories? Read Monday's full gossip column
Pundits Pat Nevin and Ben Foster join host Gabby Logan to bring you the action and talking points from Sunday's Premier League fixtures.
And listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:
