The New York Times

Every Tottenham fan will remember where they were one year ago today. Maybe they were in the lucky thousands inside the San Mames stadium in Bilbao. Maybe they went to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, or the surrounding pubs, to be part of a communal experience there. Maybe they watched it in a Spurs bar somewhere else in the world, or at home with the people they love to share Tottenham with.

But wherever you were on May 21 2025, some things will be the same. The desperation for it to be different from the Champions League final in Madrid six years before. The pride in seeing how well-represented Tottenham were in the stadium. The momentary disbelief at how the ball diverted off Luke Shaw and Brennan Johnson and into the net. The nerves in the second half as Spurs defended their lead. The ecstasy at the final whistle. The pride. And above all, more than anything else, the sense that a great cosmic weight had been lifted from the whole Tottenham community.

To call it a ‘historic’ occasion barely comes close to conveying its significance. For a whole generation of Spurs fans, it was the greatest night, not just the win itself but the trophy parade on the Friday, when hundreds of thousands of fans came back to Tottenham to celebrate and commune. It felt like it could be a transformative moment for the club, a dividing line between before and after.

It certainly felt as if it was the climactic point of so many long stories with Spurs. The perfect end to Son Heung-min’s 10 years at the club. The conclusion of six years of drift following the 2019 Champions League final and the move to the new stadium. The vindication of the appointment of Ange Postecoglou, the return to progressive football, and perhaps the launch pad to greater things.

Now we can argue all day about why this has not proven to be the case, about how Tottenham Hotspur as an institution has squandered the legacy of Bilbao over the last year. It is hard to imagine how things could have gone any worse in the last 12 months. That is a conversation for another day.

But the really remarkable thing, the thing that no one would have expected, is that this Sunday, Spurs have a game which is in fact bigger than Bilbao. One year and three days on from their greatest modern night, they now have a game with even higher stakes. The only difference is that this time they are not playing to win. But playing not to lose.

It was a comparison that Roberto De Zerbi offered when he gave his press conference in the Stamford Bridge media room just before 11pm on Tuesday night. He had been asked about the penalty claim when Micky van de Ven was wrestled to the ground in the area, when Spurs were desperately chasing a goal. But De Zerbi wanted to talk about something very different.

“Sunday is the final for Tottenham,” De Zerbi said. “Not Bilbao, against Manchester United. The most important game is Sunday. Last season, they played for the trophy. Now we play for something more important than the trophy. Because the pride, the history of the club, the dignity are more important than the trophy. The trophy you can win, you can lose, nothing changes in your life. You can have one trophy more, but the most important is to keep the dignity, to keep pride. To go on holiday like this (De Zerbi lifted his head up high), and not like this (De Zerbi pointed his head down).”

It was the most interesting thing De Zerbi has said since taking over. Ever since he arrived, the tone has been upbeat. He has focused on building his players up, talking about how good they are, how often he tried to sign them in previous jobs. He has tried to expel all negative talk. After the painful Brighton game, when many fans concluded Spurs were down after a 95th-minute equaliser, De Zerbi insisted that he would countenance no sad faces at training on Monday. Everything that he has said has been positive, optimistic, and designed to lift the players up.

But on Tuesday night, the tone changed. It felt as if, for the first time, De Zerbi was telling his players how important this is, and that the responsibility is theirs to fix it. That he was reminding them of the huge cost of failure, if they lose to Everton on Sunday and West Ham United beat Leeds.

He did not even need to use the word ‘relegation’. His framing was more emotional, more personal. Perhaps more designed to appeal to the egos and consciences of the players on the pitch. It was not just the dignity of the club and the fans that is at stake. But the dignity and reputations of the players as well. If they are the players who take Spurs down, then they will bear the mark of shame for years, and not just for their summer holiday.

It felt like a brave move. But maybe that is the way to appeal to the players ahead of Sunday. Maybe that fear is what will truly move them. “For me, all drama is about dignity,” said playwright Jez Butterworth, in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter in 2019. “I don’t think we really care whether people live or die; we care about their dignity as such. As soon as that’s the case, then you really look through your fingers.”

Tottenham have been at risk of losing their dignity all season. That is what they have been scrambling to try to save all year, and what De Zerbi was brought in at great cost to secure. But they are not there yet, and after Tuesday night, they will have to go out and fight for it again against Everton. Maintaining it, maintaining their pride, avoiding shame, being able to look yourself in the mirror; these are things with a weightier value than just trophies, medals and Premier League status. They are not things that go on players’ Wikipedia pages. But maybe they will extract an extra commitment from the players on Sunday. While the crowd looks through their fingers.

Welcome to the final edition of The Alternative Premier League Table in 2025-26, where each week, The Athletic has analysed the entire division through a specific lens.

This edition will compare Opta’s projected points table from before the season and our pre-season predictions to the actual table.

Key takeaways include:

After their summer spending spree, Liverpool were viewed as favourites to repeat, but they are well off the pace. Instead Arsenal finally finished first, something predicted by nine of our writers.

Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur were both expected to finish in the bottom half by Opta’s model, while our writers thought they would end up eighth and sixth respectively. They have bucked that in different ways, with United securing third place and Spurs down in 17th, with relegation still possible.

Opta’s model put Brentford in 10th, while our writers expected them to finish 16th, with 13 picking them to be relegated. They are in the fight for European qualification on the final day.

Opta predicted Sunderland to finish last, and our writers had them 18th, with 19 writers picking them to be relegated. They currently look set for a top-half finish.

Arsenal

After three consecutive second-place finishes, Arsenal have finally broken their 22-year league title drought. Mikel Arteta’s side are worthy champions, particularly for the way they have held their nerve under pressure since the 2-1 defeat at Manchester City, eking out 1-0 wins over Newcastle United, West Ham United and Burnley.

Set pieces have been the defining feature, but their defence deserves credit, with 19 clean sheets. Their new signings have each delivered at different stretches, too.

Martin Zubimendi was crucial to their early-season form. Eberechi Eze has chipped in with important goals, while Viktor Gyokeres has scored nine times in 2026.

Arsenal have built a core to continue competing at the top for years to come.

Liverpool

While Arsenal’s signings have thrived, Liverpool’s have not.

Hugo Ekitike delivered 11 league goals before his Achilles injury, but Florian Wirtz has scored just five times in 32 outings, while Alexander Isak has struck three times in just 703 league minutes.

Jeremie Frimpong, brought in to cover for Trent Alexander-Arnold, has often played at right wing, showing some spark but struggling with injuries. Milos Kerkez, after a tough start, has been more consistent of late.

All of that has played a part in Liverpool just about hanging onto the extra Champions League slot, having been backed by Opta and 13 of our writers to win the league. Arne Slot’s side have lost the identity that drove them to the 2024-25 title, with their pace of play dropping in a season where the league has gone in the opposite direction. Another busy summer awaits…

Manchester City

Pep Guardiola will leave City without adding a seventh Premier League title in nine years. This has been a second season of transition after they finished third in 2024-25, but the seeds have been sown for his reported successor Enzo Maresca.

City remodeled their tactical identity to adjust to the Premier League’s directness, playing faster, vertical football while keeping the long-passing sequences that have defined the Guardiola era.

In Gianluigi Donnarumma, Nico O’Reilly, Abdukodir Khusanov, Marc Guehi, and Matheus Nunes, they have a defensive core with physicality and the athleticism to defend large spaces. Cover will be required for the departing Bernardo Silva and ageing Rodri, but Rayan Cherki, Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland and Antoine Semenyo form a frontline that offers plenty in attack and is capable without the ball.

Manchester United

The disappointment of 2024-25 was somewhat rectified by a summer spent remodelling a misfiring attack. Benjamin Sesko, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo have all hit double figures and contributed to 31 of United’s 66 Premier League goals.

Opta’s projections placed them in the bottom half, while their highest predicted finish according to our staff was sixth (picked by five writers). When Ruben Amorim was sacked on January 5, they were sixth, 11 points off third-placed Aston Villa.

Michael Carrick’s arrival has galvanised the team, especially Bruno Fernandes, who has unleashed his creative arsenal with a chance at breaking the league’s assist record. United have won 11 of their last 16 matches and lost just twice.

The unprecedented climb needs to be built on by another summer of shrewd transfer activity.

Tottenham Hotspur

In the maiden Alternative Table, we said Spurs’ aim should be to finish somewhere between sixth, as predicted on average by our staff, and 14th, Opta’s projection for them.

Well… Thomas Frank lasted 26 league games, leaving Spurs after an eight-match winless run to kick off 2026 that left them 16th. Igor Tudor’s forgettable spell followed before Roberto De Zerbi was tasked with staving off relegation.

His side needs a point on the final day to do that, and another rebuild will surely be required in the summer if Spurs are to challenge for even a Conference League spot.

Brentford

Keith Andrews would be a deserving manager of the year winner. Taking over from Frank and without Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa, Christian Norgaard and Mark Flekken, there was pessimism around Brentford maintaining their mid-table and, in some cases, even top-flight status.

Shrewd recruitment, one of their hallmarks, has proved pivotal again. Igor Thiago, a 2024 signing who missed nearly all of 2024-25 with injury, has delivered a 22-goal season. Caoimhin Kelleher has had some big moments in goal, and Dango Ouattara has won five penalties, the second-most in a single season since 2018-19 (behind six by Wilfried Zaha in 2018-19 and Anthony Gordon in 2024-25), and scored seven goals to boot. Mikkel Damsgaard, Michael Kayode, and Mathias Jensen have all delivered when called upon.

Brentford took points off Arsenal, Manchester United, Aston Villa (twice) and Liverpool, and who can rule them out causing the big sides problems again in 2026-27.

Sunderland

Two consecutive seasons of promoted teams going straight back down may have coloured our opinions on Sunderland. We compared their summer spree to 2018-19 Fulham and said relegation was a very real possibility — we could not have been more wrong.

Virtually all of Sunderland's transfers were hits. Omar Alderete and Nordi Mukiele have been excellent at the back ahead of the impressive Robin Roefs. Granit Xhaka and Noah Sadiki have been excellent in midfield alongside Enzo Le Fee, while Habib Diarra has chipped in too. Brian Brobbey’s seven goals have been vital, as have Chemsdine Talbi’s four.

Dan Ballard, Wilson Isidor, Luke O’Nien and Trai Hume have all had their moments, too, with Regis Le Bris’ squad management an underrated contributor to their success.

Leeds United

As with Sunderland, we were not high on Leeds, even though 11 of our staff had them securing safety, with two predicting a 14th-place finish, which is where they find themselves with one game remaining.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Anton Stach and Gabriel Gudmundsson have been excellent, while Felix Nmecha, Jaka Bijol and Sean Longstaff have proved reliable.

Daniel Farke’s decision to shift from a possession-based to a direct style in December prompted a crucial run of just two losses in 14 matches (four wins, eight draws). He had just six wins in his 49 Premier League matches entering the season but could make it 12 wins in 2025-26 alone on the final day against West Ham, a result which would relegate the Londoners.

Bournemouth

Only one out of our 30 staff predicted a top-seven finish for Bournemouth, who have absolutely soared in 2026.

They have picked up 33 points from 18 matches this calendar year, only bettered by both Manchester sides (38 points each from 19 games) and champions Arsenal (37 from 18), while losing just once.

Under Andoni Iraola, Bournemouth’s form has often oscillated between streaks of positive and negative results. In 2025-26, they won five and drew three games after losing to Liverpool on Matchday 1, then went winless between November 2 and January 3 before entering their current hot streak that has seen more composed in-possession play and improved game management.

A sixth-place finish despite losing Milos Kerkez, Dean Huijsen and Illia Zabarnyi in the summer and Antoine Semenyo in January deserves immense credit. Eli Junior Kroupi, with 13 league goals, summer arrival Adrien Truffert and January signing Rayan have been excellent, while the stocks of Alex Scott and James Hill have risen further.

Brighton & Hove Albion

Brighton will enter their season-ender against Manchester United possibly needing a win to secure Europe, having been predicted to finish eighth by Opta and ninth by our writers. Only two of our staff predicted a top-seven finish for Fabian Hurzeler’s side.

Winning just seven of their first 26 matches set Brighton back quite a bit, even leading to speculation about Hurzeler’s future at the club. But they have won seven of their last 11 games, with their 22 points ranking fourth behind Manchester City (25), Arsenal (24) and Manchester United (23) in that stretch.

Danny Welbeck has scored a career-high 13 goals, but Brighton have made up the goals lost with Joao Pedro’s departure to Chelsea in the aggregate. Their 19 different goal scorers lead the league, with seven players managing three or more goals behind Welbeck.

Chelsea

All but one of our 30 staff had Chelsea in the top four (with one even predicting them to win the title), in line with Opta’s projections. The one writer who was less optimistic still had them seventh.

Chelsea currently sit eighth and cannot finish higher than sixth. Their season began with seven wins in 11 matches under Enzo Maresca. He left by mutual consent in January, and their season has since spiralled with six defeats in a row between March 14 and May 4 costing Liam Rosenior his job.

A lack of fight on the pitch and fan protests against pretty much everything off it have characterised a turbulent 2025-26. Xabi Alonso has been tasked with reversing that in 2026-27 and beyond.

Newcastle United

Like Chelsea, expectations were high for Newcastle after a 2024-25 campaign that brought Champions League football. Opta’s projections and our staff had them finishing fifth, with their lowest predicted finish from our writers being eighth.

A slow start to the season immediately put that at risk, but a muddled middle of the table and a run of six wins and three draws in 11 matches brought some optimism. Errors and an inability to hold onto or build on leads have inevitably led to Newcastle dropping a league-high 27 points after going ahead in games, preventing a sustained rise up the table.

The expenditure on Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa has brought nine goals in a combined 50 appearances, while Anthony Elanga is goalless in the Premier League across 1,289 minutes. Will Osula’s emergence to score seven times in just 745 league minutes has been a major positive in attack, while Malick Thiaw, despite the occasional error, has been a solid addition.

The possible funds raised from selling Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali this summer might prove crucial for Newcastle to bolster their squad depth.

They are 11th but can still get to eighth (which may be enough for a Conference League spot) if they beat Fulham and several results go their way on the final day.

Crystal Palace

The added weight of Conference League football and a subdued summer that saw Eberechi Eze leave led us to suggest Palace would not finish seventh, which was Opta’s projection for them. Our staff felt they would end up in 11th.

The lack of depth snowballed into Oliver Glasner’s frustrations with the hierarchy amid a nine-game winless streak from December 14 to February 1. The January arrivals of Jorgen Strand Larsen and Brennan Johnson were supplanted by Marc Guehi’s departure to Manchester City and Glasner’s decision to leave at the end of the season. They are 15th and cannot rise more than a spot on the final day.

But this season will be a resounding success if Palace beat Rayo Vallecano in the Conference League final on May 27 to cap off an excellent maiden continental run and secure another year of European football, this time in the Europa League.

Everton

Everton were firmly in the fight for European qualification before a six-match winless streak since April 11, which has left them 12th heading into their final game at Tottenham.

That is still one spot higher than where Opta’s projections had them and two higher than our staff’s projections. Two runs of excellent form — four wins and a draw in six matches in November-December and four draws and three wins in eight games in December-February — have proven crucial.

Bolstering their front six with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Jack Grealish — before his injury — and Thierno Barry has paid dividends, adding unpredictability and goals. James Garner has been excellent, while Jordan Pickford, James Tarkowski and Idrissa Gueye have been reliable once again.

Fulham

Since returning to the Premier League in 2022, Fulham have finished 10th, 13th and 11th. Our writers predicted another 13th-place finish, while Opta’s model placed them 15th. Heading into their final match against Newcastle, Fulham can finish anywhere between ninth or 14th.

This has been yet another season where Marco Silva’s side have threatened to break into the European places at times with impressive individual campaigns — with Harry Wilson taking over from the 2024-25 editions of Raul Jimenez and Antonee Robinson — before eventually fading away. They won just two of their first nine games, eight of the next 14 and four of the last 14.

Silva’s contract expires this summer, so big changes could be on the way at Craven Cottage.

West Ham United

Our writers predicted a 15th-place finish for West Ham, with only two out of 30 suggesting they’d go down. Opta’s projections had them finishing 16th.

Safety looked possible between January 17 and March 14 when they won four and drew three of nine matches. But their torrid start to the season, which saw them win just three of their first 21 matches, along with Leeds and Nottingham Forest picking up form, has rendered that run nearly inconsequential.

Spurs’ implosion had them interested, but West Ham have lost three in a row right as Roberto De Zerbi’s side won two and drew two to nearly claw themselves to safety. Their defeat against Chelsea leaves West Ham needing a final-day win and a Spurs defeat to stay in the top flight. Not impossible, but unlikely.

Nottingham Forest

A fantastic 2024-25 that ended in Europa League qualification and a busy summer window led Opta to predict an 11th-place finish for Forest. Our staff placed them 12th on average, with seven backing them to finish in the top half.

Their domestic campaign has been one of turmoil instead, with Ange Postecoglou and Sean Dyche getting and losing the job after Nuno Espirito Santo departed following a fallout with Edu. Vitor Pereira has kept them up, though, losing just three of his 11 matches in charge (four wins and four draws).

Plenty of credit for that should go to Morgan Gibbs-White — who has scored 14 goals with 2024-25 top-scorer Chris Wood sidelined for long stretches — and Elliot Anderson.

Forest will finish in the bottom six, but expect the Europa League semi-finalists to be busy in the summer yet again, particularly with Anderson attracting plenty of suitors.

Aston Villa

Unai Emery has turned Villa into European performers. Like Palace, they endured a quiet summer and did not bolster much of their squad, which factored into Opta’s sixth-place projection. Our staff, on average, picked them to finish seventh, with seven of 30 writers placing them in their top five.

A five-game winless streak to start the season, scoring just one goal, might have made a few nervous. But Villa won 12 of their next 13 and in a table with a muddled-up middle, it was enough to separate them from the rest and secure Champions League football for 2026-27, even if their form since has been middling.

Much of it has to do with Emery extracting even more out of large parts of the squad he acquired from Steven Gerrard in October 2022. Six of the 11 players who started the Spaniard’s debut match, a 3-1 win over Manchester United in 2022,started their 3-0 win in the Europa League final against Freiburg last night, which ended a 30-year wait for a major trophy.

Burnley

Twenty-eight of our 30 writers predicted Burnley would get relegated. Opta’s projections were more optimistic, placing them ahead of Leeds and Sunderland.

A torrid fixture list to start the season did not help. But Scott Parker’s side beat Sunderland, Leeds and Wolves, drew with Forest and acquitted themselves well against Manchester United, Liverpool, Aston Villa and, for a half, Manchester City.

The issue was that all four games ended in defeat and a defining 16-match winless run with 11 defeats followed.

Wolves

Losing 2024-25 stars Matheus Cunha and Rayan Ait-Nouri, along with captain Nelson Semedo and Pablo Sarabia, meant Wolves were always going to be up against it. Our staff predicted a 19th-place finish, while Opta’s model had them just above the relegation zone.

The Vitor Pereira bounce that carried them to 16th last May fell flat as Wolves lost eight of their first 10 games, resulting in his departure. None of their summer signings, barring Tolu Arokodare to an extent, have delivered, with some not playing many minutes and Jhon Arias lasting only until January.

The planning for the Championship began in January with Adam Armstrong’s arrival, and the funds raised from the prospective sales of Andre and Joao Gomes, among others, will be crucial if they are to bounce straight back.

There was an easy way and a hard way for Tottenham this week. All the easy way required was to get a point at Stamford Bridge and then they could finally relax, take a deep breath and start to think about the future. Sunday would have been a box-ticking exercise and who knows, shorn of the pressure of the league table, they might even have enjoyed it.

But the door that led to the easy way out of this remains firmly shut. Tottenham were simply not good enough to open it on Tuesday evening.

It should not have taken a lot to get a point here. Chelsea had not won a home league game since January. They played and lost the FA Cup final on Saturday. Calum McFarlane is coming to the end of his second interim spell in charge. If Spurs could just produce a basic level of competence and efficiency then they could get what they needed. Nottingham Forest’s B team found it easy enough here only a few weeks ago.

The simple story of Tuesday night, however, is that Tottenham were not good enough. Not good enough to turn situations into chances and chances into goals. Not good enough to stay focused and deny Chelsea the opportunity to hurt them. Not good enough to keep the game tight, turn the crowd and put Chelsea under pressure. And not good enough, ultimately, to open that door and stride confidently through it to guaranteed safety.

There is always the temptation to explain things through the prism of character and confidence. Tottenham have a terrible record at Stamford Bridge, a ground where they have won just once — in 2018 — since 1990. For months fans have feared that it was their destiny to get relegated here. It felt like Roberto De Zerbi’s job, the thing that would define this game, was to break the psychological grip Chelsea enjoy over Spurs.

Or maybe all that is just nonsense. And maybe these things just come down to simple matters of technique and execution. Because there were certainly moments here when Spurs tried to do the right things, tried to get the ball forward into dangerous positions. But almost every single time they did so, and worked the ball well, the final pass was not good enough.

Whether it was Randal Kolo Muani on the right or Mathys Tel on the left, the outcomes were largely the same. Sometimes the ball would hit the first man. Sometimes it would be easily gathered by Robert Sanchez. Sometimes it would fade away into the stands, like a balloon caught in a gust of wind. But it was never what Spurs needed. And the home crowd crowed with even more conviction every time it happened.

It did not help that Spurs did not have a genuinely creative player on the pitch until James Maddison came on in the second half. Everything that Conor Gallagher and Joao Palhinha did in possession was so telegraphed that Chelsea could start planning what they would do with the ball before they even won it. And when Spurs lost conviction and started to pass backwards, De Zerbi would often spin away in disgust.

But this was a night when Tottenham needed to be efficient, needed to be ruthless in the final third. And they were not. It was the same story against Leeds United last Monday. Spurs dominated long spells but never killed the game. Richarlison skied a golden chance to make it 2-0, but he missed it, and Spurs were clinging onto the draw by the end.

There is not much point criticising Tel, Richarlison and Kolo Muani right now. This was the third game in a row they have started together. All three of them are working as hard as they can. Some of their movements are exactly what De Zerbi would want. Ultimately they are Spurs’ only fit available senior forwards. De Zerbi has no option but to keep picking them.

But there is no avoiding the simple fact that they are not delivering when it matters. Tel has four league goals this season. Kolo Muani has just one, and looks further away from justifying his reputation with every appearance. Yes, Tel is a talented young player with a good attitude and a lot of upside. But Spurs do not need potential right now. They need production. Just ask Archie Gray or Lucas Bergvall, who have not started since Sunderland on April 12.

De Zerbi has fiercely defended his players ever since he took over. He has tried to build them up, to repair their shattered confidence, and remind them how good they can be. It has worked, in the sense that Spurs are still favourites to stay up on Sunday. But late on Tuesday night at Stamford Bridge he revealed something of his frustrations about Spurs’ misfiring attack. “In the last third of the pitch we made too many mistakes,” he said. “In the assist, in the last pass, the cross, in the finishing. I think we can show these values also in the last pass.”

The problem is that there is no reason to imagine that Sunday will be any different. De Zerbi does not have many other options. His three substitutions here were Pape Matar Sarr, Maddison and Djed Spence. Tottenham do not have reserves of goalscorers, or even of pace.

Maybe Dominic Solanke will recover enough to play a part but he has been out since April 25. Maddison could be an impact sub again but De Zerbi said he “cannot play more than 20 or 25” minutes. There is no cavalry coming to save the day.

Now Spurs have to do it the hard way. Having failed to open this door, they must now open a different one. It will be difficult, painful, and there is a genuine chance that it could end in disaster. And they must do it, under more pressure than they have ever experienced before, with these same players who have just failed to beat Chelsea and Leeds, who have been unable to make it count when it matters most. The future of this football club rests on the outcome next time being different.

Tottenham Hotspur head coach Roberto De Zerbi has said that avoiding relegation is “more important” than winning a trophy.

Spurs faced Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday and a win would have secured their top-flight status for another season. Even a draw would have been a positive result due to their superior goal difference over West Ham United in 18th.

However, Spurs lost 2-1 and are only two points above West Ham going into the final day of the 2025-26 campaign. Spurs face 12th-placed Everton at home on Sunday while West Ham host Leeds United, 14th, at the same time.

After the game, De Zerbi was asked about an incident in the second half when Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella brought down Micky Van de Ven in the box from a corner. Cucurella was booked but Spurs were not awarded a penalty as the ball was not deemed to have been in play.

De Zerbi said discussing the incident is “not my business now” because of the high stakes of Sunday’s game against Everton.

“Sunday is the final for Tottenham, not Bilbao against Manchester United (in their triumphant 2025 Europa League final),” De Zerbi told reporters in his post-match press conference. “The most important game is Sunday, because last season they played for the trophy, now we play for something more important than the trophy.

“Because the pride, the history of the club, the dignity are more important than the trophy. The trophy you can win, you can lose, nothing changes in your life. You can have one trophy more, but the most important is to keep the dignity, to keep the pride, not to go on holiday like this (head up), and not like this (head down).”

The Italian was then asked if the players understood the importance of maintaining the club’s dignity.

“Very well, because I’m living just for Tottenham,” De Zerbi said. “I have lived the last 45 days just for one thing. Tottenham and for my players and I know them very well.

“Then we can make differences because not everyone is like their team-mate because the character, the level of passion, the level of personality is different because the people are different. But every one of them they are focused on the target. They are working hard during the week and every one of us wants to achieve the goal.”

In a post-match interview with Sky Sports, midfielder James Maddison — who was making only his second appearance since coming back from an anterior cruciate ligament injury — described Tottenham’s predicament as “unacceptable and a little bit embarrassing”.

Spurs head into their final game of the season on Sunday two points above the relegation zone but winless in their last two games.

Tottenham Hotspur’s battle for Premier League survival will go to the final game of the season after they were defeated 2-1 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Roberto De Zerbi’s side only needed a point on Tuesday night to stay up — and relegate West Ham United — but succumbed to a Chelsea side trying to find a positive end to a season of disappointment.

Tottenham started the game strongly and Mathys Tel hit the post with an early header from a Pedro Porro cross but all that early momentum was lost when, on 18 minutes, Enzo Fernandez scored with a long-range shot that swerved and dipped, wrong-footing goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky.

Spurs’ lack of quality in the final third was a problem throughout, and Chelsea might have extended the lead when a Fernandez free kick from wide on the left hit the frame of the goal. With 67 minutes played, the home side got their second, Fernandez setting up Andrey Santos for a close-range finish.

With the game drifting away, Tottenham rallied — helped by a dose of good fortune, when Pape Matar Sarr’s sliced back-heel found Richarlison to score at the far post. The Brazilian striker was narrowly onside. Spurs poured forward in search of an equaliser — James Maddison going close after coming off the bench — but they could not find the goal that would have preserved their Premier League status.

Tottenham play Everton at home on Sunday, with a two-point cushion over West Ham, who host Leeds United just a few miles away across London.

Jack Pitt-Brooke, Simon Johnson, Jay Harris and Cerys Jones analyse the key talking points.

Where does this leave Spurs?

Tottenham put in an unconvincing, patchy performance under pressure. And lost this game 2-1. They strung some good moves together but were always let down by a lack of quality in the final third. They conceded both goals from switching off in the middle of the pitch and their late fightback was not enough to rescue a point.

For all that De Zerbi has improved Tottenham in his brief time in charge, this game was a reminder of how hard his job is. Spurs are short on quality and depth. And they also appeared to lack conviction in the biggest moments. An early goal tonight might have turned the home crowd against Chelsea.

Of course, their position is still preferable to West Ham’s. One point at home against Everton would still be enough. They could even lose that one, provided West Ham do not beat Leeds. But now they face the intense pressure of needing a result to stay up, in front of what will naturally be an anxious home crowd.

It is a situation they wanted to avoid. But they were not good enough here to do that.

Jack Pitt-Brooke

What will Alonso have learned from this?

New Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso may have opted against being at Stamford Bridge tonight, but this game will have provided another valuable exercise for him to watch.

Alonso was officially appointed for next season on Sunday, and will have already taken great interest in Chelsea’s FA Cup final defeat by Manchester City on Saturday, having already accepted the post by then. This win will have given him cause for optimism, as well as showing up areas for improvement.

In terms of good things, midfield stood out the most. Fernandez took his goal involvement tally for the season to 22 (15 goals, seven assists) with a superb strike and his influence was everywhere, as was that of Moises Caicedo. Andrey Santos, a 22-year-old Brazil international of some promise, albeit left out of their World Cup squad earlier this week, scored what proved to be the winner.

It is clear both attack and defence need a lot of attention.

Liam Delap, who has one goal in 27 league appearances following last summer’s £30million move from Ipswich, disappointed again when leading the line. Pedro Neto, who has gone quiet in the second half of the campaign, provided little threat from the wing.

It does not matter who Chelsea pick to play at the back, they just cannot keep a clean sheet. They last kept one in the Premier League on January 17. Even going two goals up against an underwhelming Tottenham attack was still not enough to see this game out. They switch off too easily.

Levi Colwill is their best defender but has been out for most of the season recovering from a knee injury. He’d started the two matches before this, but Chelsea were never going to ask him to put his body on the line again only three days after the FA Cup final. Jorrel Hato, 20, is a player of great promise and there is Marc Cucurella, of course, but the other positions are to be fought over as far as Alonso will be concerned.

Simon Johnson

Gallagher’s unhappy return

Conor Gallagher came through Chelsea’s academy but left in acrimonious circumstances almost two years ago. The midfielder was not happy about the length and conditions of the new contract on offer at Stamford Bridge so he moved to Atletico Madrid. In January, he did the unthinkable in the eyes of many Chelsea fans and returned to English football with Spurs.

There was only a small chorus of boos when Gallagher took his first touch back at Stamford Bridge but he was the crowd’s pantomime villain by the end as he was involved in a series of flashpoints which cranked up the tension.

It all started with Andrey Santos, who kept pinching the ball off Gallagher. In the 39th minute, the England international dropped to the floor in pain after a collision with the Brazilian. While he was rolling around, Cucurella ran past and shouted something at him.

Roughly a minute later, Gallagher clattered into Cucurella and conceded a foul. He then shoved the Spanish full-back and pointed angrily in his face. Micky van de Ven was then booked for dragging down Delap, and the Chelsea bench jumped up when Gallagher escaped a booking for a late tackle on Caicedo.

Spurs substitute Guglielmo Vicario had to tell team-mates to remain calm and kept pointing to his head.

The bad blood continued in the second half, with Destiny Udogie picking up a yellow card for a tackle on Wesley Fofana and Richarlison tangling with Caicedo.

In the closing stages, Spurs’ assistants were furious with the officials when Cucurella pulled down Van de Ven at a corner, but the ball was not in play. It led to a brief argument between the two sets of bench personnel. During Chelsea’s next attack, Delap caught Djed Spence in the face with his elbow.

This was a tense game and Tottenham were guilty of allowing their frustration to get the better of them as they chased in vain for an equaliser.

Jay Harris

Has Palmer rediscovered his spark?

Cole Palmer has not lit up Stamford Bridge this season in the way Chelsea fans had grown accustomed to in his first two years at the club. A persistent groin injury limited the 24-year-old’s involvement in the first half of the campaign and the man providing the flair for Chelsea has, most of the time, been Joao Pedro. With the Brazilian absent from the squad tonight through injury, it was a timely moment for Palmer’s spark to flicker back to life.

The England forward registered Chelsea’s first effort of the game, a shot from range that forced a good save from Kinsky. But it was his creative contribution that really shone. He switched on the turn of pace that has been missing at times this season to nick the ball on the right wing, drawing Tottenham players away from Neto before flicking the ball inside to his Portuguese team-mate. Neto passed sideways to tee up Fernandez’s superb finish.

It was Palmer who started the move for Chelsea’s second goal, too, but there were other signs of the instinctive maverick that Stamford Bridge has rarely seen this season.

During the first half, inside Tottenham’s box, he showed excellent control to chip the ball up and side-foot it to a waiting Delap, who scooped his shot into the stands. As he stood over a free kick in the second half, anticipation built, with a chorus of, ‘Palmer again, ole ole’ from the home support. He carried again the whiff of danger and the fear factor that had been dulled for much of this campaign.

On his way off when substituted in the 88th minute, Palmer looked disappointed — but unlike many times this season, that felt more like frustration at not being allowed to stay on the pitch longer, to create another massive moment, than over another underwhelming personal performance.

Palmer’s flair has been dimmed this season; with the World Cup on the horizon, this was the perfect time for it to re-emerge.

Cerys Jones

What did McFarlane say?

Chelsea interim manager Calum McFarlane said: “It was obvious from minute one that we didn’t, at times, have the energy and the intensity. We had it in patches. It was always going to be tough with the turnaround from the cup final.

“I thought we played some really nice stuff in the first half. I thought we deserved the two-goal lead. And then it was about when Spurs obviously showed more energy, they had more time to prepare for the game, more rest.

“The results haven’t been good enough recently. But the fight and determination has been questioned at times. In some of the performances, maybe that’s right, but I don’t think (having Europe to play for on the final day) is extra motivation.

On Levi Colwill and Joao Pedro’s absences from the squad and Reece James remaining on the bench, McFarlane said: “Levi has come off the back of a very serious injury, so it was too quick of a turnaround from the cup final.

“We had Reece on the bench, but again, coming off the back of an injury, the turnaround from the City game, we didn’t really want to risk him. Joao Pedro had a slight knock, nothing that we’re massively concerned about.

“We’re hopeful (that they will be available to start on Sunday), but we won’t know that until the next couple of days.”

What did De Zerbi say?

Speaking to Sky Sports, Tottenham head coach Roberto De Zerbi said: “We created a first chance to score with (Mathys) Tel. It was a big save for Robert Sanchez.

“Then we concede one great goal because (Enzo) Fernandez, a big player, we could do something better. Then we stay in the game until the second goal, we lost a stupid ball. We conceded a second goal. But before the second goal, we created a big, big chance with Richarlison.

“I think we played a very good game. We lost.

“But now is not the time to think too much of this game. We have to prepare the next game. We play in our stadium with our fans. With our qualities, with character, with pride and courage we have to play.

“But I am positive because today, we played a good game.”

What next for Chelsea?

Sunday, May 24: Sunderland (Away), Premier League, 4pm UK, 11am ET

What next for Spurs?

There will be a particularly Tottenham Hotspur flavour to the UK coverage of this summer’s World Cup, with the club’s former head coaches Thomas Frank and Ange Postecoglou confirmed as leading pundits for the BBC and ITV, respectively.

Frank is among the names adding “global insight and international edge” to the BBC’s coverage of the tournament in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, while his predecessor at Spurs, Postecoglou, will be part of the team at rival ITV.

Frank has not spoken publicly since he was sacked by Spurs in February following a run of eight league games without a win, and his view of the club’s annus horribilis — as well as Brentford’s rise under his successor, Keith Andrews — should be insightful for supporters.

The Dane’s win ratio of 34.2 per cent was the worst of any permanent manager in Tottenham’s history and Roberto De Zerbi, the club’s third permanent coach of the campaign, has quickly made the squad appear more confident and accomplished since replacing Igor Tudor in March.

Frank, 52, is unlikely to be so bold as the lay the blame for Spurs’ struggles at Postecoglou’s door but there is a case that their irreversible slide down the Premier League began on the Australian’s watch during the second half of last season, when he prioritised winning the Europa League — a milestone that came at the cost of a 17th-place league finish.

Postecoglou has already had a say on Spurs, offering a damning assessment of the club during an appearance on The Overlap podcast (which was released on February 12, the day after Frank’s sacking), during which he described them as “not a big club”.

The 60-year-old also addressed his 39-day spell at Nottingham Forest, which ended without a win from eight matches, although there is likely to be more to come from the outspoken former Celtic boss, who should also have a view on the dramatic revival of his former club in Scotland.

Frank and Postecoglou were diametrically opposed in their ideas on football — the former a pragmatist, the latter an idealogue — but are likely to agree that Tottenham’s deep malaise is far bigger than any coach. Their first appearances this summer will be particularly compelling if Spurs are relegated, they are two points clear of the relegation zone ahead of their fixture against Chelsea on Tuesday.

While Postecoglou is a compelling and persuasive rhetoricist, who will not be afraid to offer some punchy opinions (expect a tirade about VAR at some point), Frank is likely to be more low-key in approach. His time at Brentford, when he was in a far greater position of strength than any point at Spurs, suggests he can hold a room when necessary, however.

Two former Chelsea and Spain team-mates will also go head to head for ratings, with Juan Mata lined up for ITV and Cesar Azpilicueta part of the BBC team.

Former Arsenal and France players Oliver Giroud — whose goal in the quarter-final of the last World Cup eliminated England — and Gael Clichy will also be part of the BBC line-up, along with Ashley Williams and Benni McCarthy.

Regulars including Alan Shearer, Wayne Rooney and Steph Houghton will reprise their roles on the national broadcaster’s coverage, which will be fronted by Kelly Cates, Mark Chapman, Gabby Logan and Alex Scott from studios in Salford, Greater Manchester.

ITV, by contrast, will base all of its World Cup coverage, to be presented by Mark Pougatch, Laura Woods and Semra Hunter, from a New York studio.

Along with Mata and Postecoglou, former Arsenal stars Patrick Vieira and Ian Wright will be part of the team, along with familiar faces Gary Neville and Roy Keane. A U.S. flavour will be provided by Emma Hayes, the U.S. Women’s National Team boss, and Wright’s son, Bradley Wright-Phillips, who played for a number of clubs in MLS and is currently a studio host on MLS Season Pass.

The BBC and ITV share UK rights for the tournament, although the only game they will both broadcast live will be the final at the New York/New Jersey Stadium on July 19.

Tottenham Hotspur travel to Chelsea today as they look to secure Premier League safety for next season.

Spurs can clinch survival and relegate West Ham with a win, while a draw would also effectively guarantee that outcome.

Manchester City travel to Bournemouth needing a win to keep their title hopes alive, which you can follow here.

Kick-off time: 8.15pm BST, 3.15pm ET, 12.15pm PT

How to watch: Peacock (U.S.); Sky Sports (UK)

Contact us with your views: live@theathletic.com

The Athletic's live coverage schedule for the week

Good question.

The Premier League's 37th and penultimate matchweek began on Friday as Aston Villa eased past a shaky Liverpool, with Saturday blocked out for the FA Cup final.

Then, on Sunday, there were six further matches ahead of Arsenal facing Burnley on Monday, which ended in a 1-0 win for the home side thanks to Kai Havertz's header.

Here are the results in full:

Aston Villa 4-2 Liverpool (Rogers, Watkins x2, McGinn; Van Dijk x2)

Manchester United 3-2 Nottingham Forest (Shaw, Cunha, Mbeumo; Morato, Gibbs-White)

Brentford 2-2 Crystal Palace (Ouattara x2; Sarr, Wharton)

Leeds 1-0 Brighton & Hove Albion (Calvert-Lewin)

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 Fulham (Mane; Robinson)

Everton 1-3 Sunderland (Rohl; Brobbey, Le Fee, Isidor)

Newcastle 3-1 West Ham (Woltemade, Osula x2; Castellanos)

Arsenal 1-0 Burnley (Havertz)

It was disappointment for Chelsea in their last match, the FA Cup final on Saturday, May 16.

In a tight match of few clear-cut chances, Calum McFarlane's side were denied several soft shouts for a penalty.

Then, in the second half, Manchester City's Antoine Semenyo scored via a superb back-heeled flick from Erling Haaland's cross.

It proved to be the only goal of the match, giving City another trophy and condemning Chelsea to another loss at Wembley and continuing their winless run against Pep Guardiola's side.

When these teams last met in the Premier League back in November, it was Chelsea who came out on top via a tight 1-0 win thanks to a goal from Joao Pedro.

That was when Enzo Maresca was still Chelsea boss, while Thomas Frank was in the dugout for Spurs,.

How things have changed at both teams since then.

Dominic Solanke has been ruled out of Tottenham's match against Chelsea today but goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario is available after recovering from hernia surgery.

Solanke has only made 15 league appearances this season as he has struggled to stay fit. He missed the first half of the campaign with a persistent ankle issue and suffered a muscle injury last month.

Vicario’s last appearance for Spurs was Igor Tudor’s final game in charge, their 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest in March. Antonin Kinsky has started every match since Roberto De Zerbi replaced Tudor.

“Vicario is available to play,” De Zerbi said in his pre-match press conference. “Solanke is not good yet. He is not available. He feels something. I don’t want to take a risk for this game.

“We hope for Sunday. Maybe for Sunday he can be available for one part of the game.”

This has been a long weekend of Premier League action, with one other game from matchday 37 taking place tonight.

And it is a big one, with Manchester City travelling to Bournemouth — also covered live on The Athletic — still to come this evening.

That match kicks off slightly earlier than this one, at 7.30pm BST, local time in the UK, which works out as 2.30pm ET and 11.30am PT in the United States.

One thing is for certain amid various possibilities at both ends of the table and with the race for European football: Wolves and Burnley will be back in the Championship next season.

Who will be joining them?

That is yet to be decided.

We want to hear from you today — either via emailing live@theathletic.com or over on the discussion tab at the top of this page.

Who do you think is going to win the title race?

Which player should be ranked as the best signing of the season?

And who do you see getting relegated?

Let us know and we will aim to share your responses in our coverage.

We have an evening slot for this one, with kick-off coming at 8.15pm BST local time in London.

That works out at 3.15pm ET on the east coast of the United States and 12.15pm PT on the west coast.

Hello and welcome along to The Athletic, where today we have a tasty Premier League meeting in store between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.

The pressure is on for Roberto De Zerbi's side as the race to secure a Premier League place for next season approaches its finale.

Stick around for team news, analysis and all the latest updates as we edge closer to kick-off.

For months, Tottenham Hotspur fans felt a very specific fear, one even worse than the thought of relegation itself. And that was the prospect of getting relegated at Stamford Bridge.

Spurs’ penultimate Premier League game of this season being Chelsea away stuck out like a rusty nail on the fixture list. Of all the possible places to be banished from the top division of English football, only Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium would be as painful as it happening at Stamford Bridge.

It almost felt like an inevitability, a scenario so awful that it would be impossible to change course away from it.

Well, Tottenham have avoided it. Whatever happens in that match in west London tonight (Tuesday), they cannot go down because of that result. And after West Ham United lost at Newcastle United on Sunday evening, Spurs are now in pole position to stay up. If they can take a single point from their final two games, the other being Sunday’s visit from Everton, they will be safe.

And yet the fact of this huge game, this game of games, being at Chelsea gives it even more weight, even more pressure, than if it were anywhere else. Because there has been something about this fixture, especially when played at Stamford Bridge, that has exerted a painful hold over the Tottenham psyche in recent years.

Of course, Spurs’ biggest needle matches are against near neighbours Arsenal, and those are still — and will be for as long as they are both in the top flight — the games that the fans look for first when the fixtures are released each summer. But it feels as if Tottenham’s fortunes in the past few seasons have been far more determined by meetings with their other main London rivals, Chelsea.

Spurs have a miserable recent record against both teams.

They have lost seven and drawn one of their last eight north London derbies. But not many of those games have had ramifications beyond themselves, as bad as they have been. The last time there was a north London derby with distinctive stakes was in May 2022, when Antonio Conte’s Spurs beat Arsenal 3-0 to move towards fourth place. At the time, it felt important. But Tottenham have not beaten their arch rivals— or even been within 23 points of them in the end-of-season table — since.

But Tottenham’s recent games against Chelsea have carried more weight. Seasons and trophies have been determined by them. And it has started to feel, more and more by the year, that Chelsea had a profound psychological grip over Spurs.

Arsenal would beat them because they were better. But Chelsea would beat them because they were Chelsea.

On top of that, Chelsea would win these games in ways that nobody would expect. Strange things would happen, things from outside the course of normal football events. No wonder that so many Tottenham fans feared that their relegation from the Premier League was destined to be confirmed on Tuesday night.

So you can look at the numbers — the simple facts about how bad Spurs’ record against Chelsea is.

Tottenham have won just once at Stamford Bridge in the last 36 years in any competition. That was in April 2018, back when Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen could still decide games by themselves, and when Conte’s time at Chelsea was coming to an insipid end. But that was a one-off, an aberration, a coming together of historical forces.

For the 28 years before that, and the eight years since, Spurs’ trips to Chelsea have been utterly barren. Which has been both cause and consequence of the psychological weight of this game.

Everyone will have their own starting point with this.

Tottenham infamously didn’t win a league game against Chelsea for 16 years up to 2006. That was an era when Spurs were patiently building a young team under Martin Jol, only for Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea to change the game from underneath them (Abramovich, it was reported in 2019 book The Club, had briefly considered buying Spurs instead, but drove through Tottenham once in his Mercedes and declared that part of London “worse than Omsk” — a city in Siberia).

Spurs did at least beat Avram Grant’s Chelsea to lift the 2008 League Cup, a clear blow in the other direction.

Perhaps the next best place to start is when Harry Redknapp’s Spurs went to Chelsea in April 2011, chasing a top-four finish and a return to the Champions League. Sandro put them 1-0 up but the home side equalised with a Frank Lampard shot that Heurelho Gomes appeared to claw away before it crossed the line, before a Salomon Kalou winner that looked offside. Unusual or unfortunate, perhaps, but not unique.

Stranger things happened the following year.

Redknapp’s Tottenham met Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley. Chelsea were 1-0 up when a Juan Mata shot was blocked on the line by Ledley King. It was clearly not a goal — far clearer than the Lampard one the year before — and yet referee Martin Atkinson gave it anyway (remember, this was an era before goal-line technology). Chelsea ran out 5-1 winners. It felt like a random freak occurrence. But there was another one just a few weeks later.

Spurs finished that Premier League season in fourth, which under normal circumstances would have been enough to secure Champions League football in 2012-13, for just the second time in their history.

The only thing that could stop them was Chelsea, under caretaker manager Roberto Di Matteo after the March sacking of Andre Villas-Boas, winning the Champions League. And they went and did just that, in the most remarkable way possible. They knocked out Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona in the semi-finals, even with John Terry sent off in the second leg at the Camp Nou, as Lionel Messi missed a penalty. And then in the final, with a patched-up team, they beat Bayern Munich, in Munich, on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

Chelsea, who finished sixth domestically, were back in the Champions League as its title holders. Tottenham were not. They had to regroup with the aforementioned Villas-Boas replacing Redknapp that summer.

Two years later, Mauricio Pochettino came in to launch another new era. And even then, Tottenham’s hopes of winning a trophy kept coming up against Chelsea. In Pochettino’s first season, they reached the League Cup final, Spurs’ first in any competition since 2009, only to be well beaten, 2-0, by a far more experienced Chelsea side managed by Jose Mourinho.

More pain was to come the following year.

Perhaps the most significant game between these two teams came at Stamford Bridge on May 2, 2016, just over 10 years ago. Pochettino’s men were desperately trying to cling on in the race for the Premier League title. Leicester City had a decisive lead and the only way Spurs could stay alive was by winning all three of their remaining games. So the pressure was on.

Despite this, Tottenham were 2-0 up at half-time. But there was a febrile atmosphere at Stamford Bridge that night, with Chelsea fans and players desperate to ruin Spurs’ last remaining hope.

Tottenham tried to ride that wave but it eventually got the better of them. Pochettino’s players got so involved in scraps and fights with Chelsea that they lost control of the game. Nine were booked, setting a Premier League record, and Mousa Dembele got a six-game ban for poking opposition striker Diego Costa in the eye.

Amid the chaos, Chelsea clawed it back to finish as a 2-2 draw, handing Leicester the title.

The next year, Chelsea managed to complete the hat-trick, beating Spurs in another FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. That was a difficult time for Tottenham, coming just days after the sudden passing of popular academy coach Ugo Ehiogu. They played excellently for long spells and had Chelsea pinned back but every decisive moment was won by Conte’s side, who came out on top, 4-2.

“We played better than Chelsea,” Pochettino wrote in Brave New World, a book about his time at Tottenham, “but it was one of those games that we just weren’t destined to win, whatever we did.” Spurs never won a trophy under the Argentinian.

Even in the past few years, these games have continued to haunt Tottenham. Signing two high-profile managers who won the league with Chelsea — Mourinho and Conte — did nothing to break the curse.

The league meeting in north London in November 2023 is one of the most significant of the decade so far.

Spurs were top of the league and on top of the world coming into it, with eight wins and two draws from their first 10 league games under new head coach Ange Postecoglou. When they went 1-0 up — and then had a second disallowed — they looked unstoppable. Then their world collapsed. Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie were both sent off, James Maddison and Micky van de Ven got serious injuries, and Tottenham ended up losing 4-1.

Things were never the same again under Postecoglou, even if Spurs ended up finishing a creditable fifth, and then won the Europa League the following season. But you can draw a clear line before and after that 4-1 defeat.

When Tottenham sacked Postecoglou in June of last year, they even pointed to the league record since that game (66 games, 78 points) as justification for making a change. It is almost three years now since that magical early start for the Australian, and Spurs have never been that consistent or good since.

Any hope of getting back to that level the following season was snuffed out again when hosting Chelsea.

Tottenham went 2-0 up early on but lost Van de Ven and Romero to injuries — both were making swift returns to the team — and lost 4-3. Again, Spurs spiralled in the league and finished 17th.

When they went to Stamford Bridge in the April, Postecoglou was barracked by the travelling fans for bringing on Pape Matar Sarr for Lucas Bergvall. After Sarr banged in what appeared to be an equaliser, Postecoglou cupped his ear to the away end. The goal was then disallowed.

A small incident, perhaps, but a sign that when Spurs face Chelsea, anything that can go wrong often does.

That is the weight of history Tottenham are facing tonight.

Chelsea’s loss to Manchester City in Saturday’s FA Cup final has left them with little to play for over the dregs of this season.

They are relying on slip-ups from Bournemouth, Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford to offer them an unlikely route to European football in 2026-27. The trophy cabinet will be bare. Instead, the buzz of appointing Xabi Alonso as their new manager will have to suffice in focusing minds.

But nothing lifts the mood quite like kicking a rival while they are down, and a win over Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night would have massive implications for their visitors from across the capital. While a Spurs win would mean they are safe from relegation, a Chelsea victory would mean third-bottom West Ham United could still save themselves from relegation. If Chelsea win, West Ham beat Leeds and Spurs lose to Everton in their own final game, Tottenham would go down.

For Chelsea fans, who have had little to cheer of late, to be able to contribute to Spurs’ demotion would be particularly sweet — especially for those of a certain vintage who have been waiting over half a century for this moment. “April 19, 1975. It’s engrained in my memory,” says season-ticket holder Graham Wright, 66, recalling a trip to Tottenham’s then home White Hart Lane as a 15-year-old.

Fifty-one years ago, these two clubs faced off in a crunch relegation battle. That time, it was Chelsea who went down.

In April 1975, as author and fan Tim Rolls puts it, Chelsea were “in trouble on and off the field”.

The club were beset with financial problems, key members of the FA Cup-winning side of 1970 had departed, and former player Eddie McCreadie had just taken over as manager from Ron Suart, who himself had only replaced Dave Sexton the previous October.

For the third-to-last game of the season, Chelsea travelled to Tottenham in 19th place, one point ahead of their hosts in 20th — the first relegation place in a then 22-team top flight.

“The club was in turmoil, basically,” Rolls says. “Everyone knew how crucial the game at White Hart Lane in April 1975 was. I think it was known from supporters on both sides that it was going to be a tense day.”

For Darren Rowe, 65, that Saturday started inauspiciously. Then 14, Rowe met fellow supporters at Fulham Broadway, near Stamford Bridge, and waited for a large group to travel across the capital to the match together on the underground. It was not a smooth journey.

“People were just acting like idiots on the Tube,” he says. “There was a lever you could pull and it would set the alarm off on the train and the train would stop immediately, and this happened a couple of times — and it delayed us by about, literally, for a couple of hours, just doing that journey to get to Seven Sisters (the underground station for White Hart Lane).”

Neil Smith, co-author of the book Eddie Mac Eddie Mac, about McCreadie, was 19 at the time and remembers how his own Tube service was “packed and yet it was silent”.

“Everybody knew how tense it was,” he says, recalling the mile-long walk from Seven Sisters to the stadium. “When you got into the vicinity of White Hart Lane, there were police vans everywhere, sirens going off. You saw people with bloodied faces being put into ambulances or police vehicles. They were struggling to arrest people.”

This was in an era where violence at the football was common, and with Spurs’ victory over Chelsea in the 1967 FA Cup final still fresh in the memory for many supporters, the rivalry between the two clubs was feverish enough without being ratcheted up by the threat of one of them suffering relegation.

When many Chelsea fans arrived at the stadium that April day — with tickets sold at the turnstile in those days — it was already close to capacity. Wright, 15 at the time, and his friend had gained entry to the Paxton Road end early and waited for others to join them, but by the time many Chelsea fans arrived, the turnstiles were shut and they found themselves surrounded by home supporters.

“We were mainly kids,” Wright says. “These were big. These were blokes. These were 18-to-25-year-olds. Some, I think, were nearly 30, looking at them. And we stood there waiting, and next thing you know, they’ve all come piling down on top of us from behind. Some ran on the pitch.”

He and his friend climbed over a fence to reach ‘the Shelf’ terrace running along the east touchline — with his friend tearing his jeans on a spike in the process. “So he’s walking around with his Levi jeans hanging off,” Wright says. “We went in the Shelf to try and find more Chelsea, but that was just the Tottenham lot in there and in the Park Lane as normal. And none of ours got in. So we sort of kept our heads down.”

“I remember being near a floodlight, and I think we even tried to climb up it to get a view, because it was that packed.”

From his vantage point in the Shelf, Smith remembers watching confrontations between Chelsea and Tottenham fans spilling out of the stands. “There was a terrific commotion opposite where there was an entrance on the other side of the ground. And it appeared that a massive Chelsea contingent were coming into the ground, which was nearly already full to capacity.

“A lot of the Tottenham fans in the Paxton Road end confronted them — and it ended up, because it was so packed, that the Chelsea fans who were just coming into the ground spilled onto the pitch.

“Kids from all four sides of the ground got onto the pitch. And there were plenty of fights, pitch battles, literally going on on the pitch. But you didn’t really know which fans were which. The colours weren’t evident. And then, come kick-off time, everyone started chanting, ‘Off, off, off.’

“Jack Taylor was the referee and he came on, and then people realised it was kick-off time. And then they cleared the pitch and the match started.”

McCreadie took a risk on a youthful team.

“He made Ray Wilkins, who was 18, his captain,” Rolls says. “He dropped a load of experienced players like John Hollins and Steve Kember and went with the youngsters. Now, the older players weren’t performing, but it’s still a heck of a gamble.”

Even with that risk, the fans The Athletic spoke to recall Chelsea being the better side for large parts of the game.

“The first half came and went, and they hadn’t bothered our goalkeeper at all,” Smith says. “Early on in the game, Charlie Cooke chested the ball down and volleyed it in past (Spurs goalkeeper) Pat Jennings. And I thought it was very harshly ruled out as it brushed his arm.”

Chelsea forced some excellent saves from Jennings, who denied Ian Britton and Ian Hutchinson in the first half. But after the break, they succumbed: Steve Perryman tapped in at the back post to put the home side ahead. Chelsea’s Micky Droy thought he had equalised, only to see his finish disallowed for handball as well.

Then Alfie Conn struck Spurs’ second from the edge of the area, and there was no way back.

“All I remember was the Spurs fans singing ‘Bye Bye Chelsea’ to (the tune of) the Bay City Rollers song Bye Bye Baby,” Wright says. “The whole of the ground was singing it because we knew, obviously, we’d probably get relegated on the back of this. It was one of the worst games I’ve been to in that respect.”

Tottenham did not technically relegate Chelsea that day. They could still have recovered, but only drew their final two fixtures. Spurs picked up the same number of points from their two remaining matches — meaning that win on April 19 turned out to be decisive.

Chelsea spent the next two seasons in the second division, winning promotion back to the first tier at the end of the 1976-77 season — trading places with Tottenham, who were relegated.

In a sense, the west Londoners have already had their payback. Tottenham have only won once in their past 35 league away games against Chelsea (drawing 11 and losing 23). Chelsea have also won 38 Premier League meetings between the two clubs, the most they have managed against any opponent since the revamped competition launched in 1992. Spurs have only lost more times against Manchester United (40).

But that is not stopping fans hoping for relegation revenge, though — especially those with less-than-fond memories of 1975.

“I’ve hated Tottenham ever since that day,” Wright says. “The irony of it as well was my sister gave birth to my nephew that day. And he’s (grown up to be) a Spurs fan. That exact day. You couldn’t make it up.”

Wright is a season-ticket holder, but ill health has kept him from going to Chelsea in recent months. This meeting with Spurs will be his first match back.

“Everyone you could think of is coming out for that game,” he adds. “That will make our season if we can put them down.

“And it’ll make up for the April 19, 1975 as well.”

Dominic Solanke has been ruled out of Tottenham Hotspur’s Premier League match against Chelsea on Tuesday but goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario is available after recovering from hernia surgery.

Solanke has only made 15 league appearances this season as he has struggled to stay fit. He missed the first half of the campaign with a persistent ankle issue and suffered a muscle injury in the first half of last month’s 1-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers. Head coach Roberto De Zerbi was hopeful the England international could return against Chelsea but revealed on Monday he is not fully fit.

Vicario’s last appearance for Spurs was Igor Tudor’s final game in charge, their 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest in March. The 29-year-old then underwent a hernia operation and Antonin Kinsky has started all of their matches since De Zerbi replaced Tudor.

“Vicario is available to play,” De Zerbi said in his pre-match press conference. “I decide tomorrow (who starts in goal). Solanke is not good yet. He is not available. He feels something. I don’t want to take a risk for this game.

“We hope for Sunday. Maybe for Sunday he can be available for one part of the game.”

In a previous press conference, De Zerbi described Vicario as Tottenham’s first-choice goalkeeper. He said it would be an “easy decision” to choose between Vicario and Kinsky for Chelsea but did not reveal who would start.

“Yes, Vicario is No 1 but we have to consider the physical condition at the moment, everything,” De Zerbi said. “I have a big relationship with Antonin Kinsky and with Vicario as well. There won’t be any problem.

Victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge will secure Spurs’ top-flight status for another season.

‘A blow to Spurs’ chances’

One of the biggest takeaways from last week’s draw with Leeds United is the lack of attacking options on the bench for De Zerbi to pick from. Wilson Odobert and Xavi Simons are recovering from anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries while Mohammed Kudus has been unavailable since January due to a hamstring problem.

Solanke’s absence is a blow to Spurs’ chances of winning for only the second time in 36 years at Stamford Bridge and sending West Ham United down in the process.

Solanke — who started his career in Chelsea’s academy and made his senior debut for them under former Spurs head coach Jose Mourinho — is more composed on the ball than Richarlison and offers a greater threat running in behind. Solanke’s scorpion-kick in February’s draw with Manchester City proved he can create something special out of nothing. However, De Zerbi will have to continue to rely on Mathys Tel, Richarlison and Randal Kolo Muani.

Solanke will also be concerned about how this impacts his chance of being named in England’s squad for this summer’s World Cup. The 28-year-old featured under Thomas Tuchel in March’s friendlies against Uruguay and Japan. Since then Solanke’s rivals upfront, including Ollie Watkins, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Danny Welbeck, have played and scored regularly. Is Tuchel going to call-up someone with a bad injury record this season who has only scored six times in all competitions?

De Zerbi was cryptic with his answers about the goalkeeping situation but it would be bizarre to drop Kinsky after his excellent performance against Leeds, including his impressive saves to prevent Joe Rodon and Sean Longstaff from scoring.