The New York Times

The problem with appointing your third manager of the season with seven Premier League games left, when you have not won for more than three months, and all your creative players are injured, is that you desperately need your luck to be in.

Over the course of a 38-game season, you can hope that some of the impact of fortune, of randomness, of contingent little football events, bounces, decisions, injuries, and human error, might be levelled out by the sample size. But if you judge over just seven games, and those games are played under pressure like this, then luck will inevitably play the decisive role.

This is the situation that Roberto De Zerbi has walked into at Spurs. He has just signed a five-year contract. He should be able to build an exciting Tottenham this summer, one that can make his ideas real on the pitch. But to get to that point, to be able to start planning for the future, first he needs to survive this seven-game gauntlet. During which his team are exposed like never before to the random bounces of a relegation scrap.

We always like to think of managers as all-powerful, sitting in front of a dashboard of buttons and levers, able to adjust the variables until they get the desired result. That is never really the case, but it has never been less true than in the case of De Zerbi.

He has arrived at Spurs with almost no buttons to press or levers to pull. No transfer window, a squad struck by another injury crisis, with confidence on the floor and precious little time with the players. He has had to radically simplify his football, just keeping it to a few digestible principles, and hope that his force of personality can unlock something in the players.

And above all, given the stakes, given the limited time, hope that the ball bounces their way. It is not De Zerbi’s fault that he is rolling dice in the dark.

So when Tottenham showed up here at the Stadium of Light on Sunday afternoon, it was never going to be a radically different performance. There was never any prospect of Spurs mastering the complexities of De Zerbi’s ideal game, with all of its bright originality, its intricate patterns. Instead, they just came here trying to work hard and be direct.

There is no point trying to sugarcoat it. This was, in large parts, an ugly, scrappy game. Some football was played in the first half, but very little in the second. So much of it hinged on the physical battle between Brian Brobbey and the Tottenham centre-backs. Sunderland were the better team over the course of the game, especially in the second half when they took control and Spurs ran out of steam, ran out of belief. You would struggle to argue that Tottenham were unlucky to lose this game.

But despite all of that, there were moments when Spurs were not exactly lucky either. Or where, in a marginal situation, things did not go their way. Like when Richarlison played in Dominic Solanke, who whipped in a cross which Lucas Bergvall could not quite reach at the near post. Or when Conor Gallagher played in Randal Kolo Muani, who laid it off to Richarlison, who could not connect in a good position. Or when Kolo Muani was awarded an admittedly questionable penalty after colliding with Omar Alderete and Luke O’Nien, only for VAR to overturn it. Or, best of all, when Destiny Udogie crossed from the left, just before the break, the ball fell to Solanke but Robin Roefs saved.

None of these were great chances or necessarily great football, but they were the kind of promising little moments which on a good day fall for you. And there was time for one more when Pedro Porro released Richarlison, who again failed to finish with conviction.

And the problem when things like this keep bouncing against you is that there is always a chance they will bounce against you at the opposite end, too. Tottenham’s defending to let Nordi Mukiele run at them was poor, but when his shot hit Micky van de Ven, it deflected in a way that left Antonin Kinsky no chance.

The biggest single problem Spurs have right now, even bigger than the injury crisis, is the total collapse of the players’ confidence. This is a team who have not won a league game since December, two managers and almost four months ago.

And anyone who has watched them this season knows that as soon as anything goes against them in a game, the players do not know how to cope. This was the story against Nottingham Forest, Atletico Madrid, Crystal Palace, Fulham and far too many other recent defeats to mention. And this is precisely the type of ingrained issue which is very difficult for De Zerbi to just click his fingers and change.

So it was little surprise that Spurs offered very little after Mukiele’s goal. But there was still another slice of bad luck to come, when Cristian Romero was nudged into Kinsky by Brobbey, colliding with his ‘keeper in such a way that he left the field in tears with a suspected knee injury.

At the end, when Van de Ven was sitting exhausted on the floor, Udogie down on his haunches, it was a far too familiar sight: Spurs looking beaten, almost broken, adrift with nothing to cling to. Tottenham are now two points behind West Ham United, and three behind Nottingham Forest and Leeds United. Every red light is flashing.

Of course, there are still six games left. When Spurs host Brighton on Saturday, they will have a partisan crowd behind them, as well as another week of De Zerbi’s coaching in the bank. But if they are to stay up, they need to win — not just one game but two or maybe three. Right now, they look like they have totally forgotten how to do that, their last league win fading further from memory by the week.

To win those games without playing well, they will need to be lucky. Far luckier than they have been for months. De Zerbi somehow needs to convince them, as remote as it seems, that things might yet turn their way.

Tottenham Hotspur suffered defeat in Roberto De Zerbi’s first game in charge and remain in the Premier League relegation zone with only six games remaining.

Sunderland were deserved winners at the Stadium of Light, winning 1-0 thanks to Nordi Mukiele’s heavily deflected effort in the 61st minute. His shot from the edge of the box flicked off the legs of Micky van de Ven and wrongfooted the Tottenham goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky.

Their captain Cristian Romero left the pitch in tears midway through the second half after colliding with Kinsky.

The defeat, Tottenham’s 16th in 32 league games this season, leaves them 18th in the table, two points below West Ham in 17th and three points below Nottingham Forest in 16th position.

At the same time as Spurs were beaten by Sunderland, Forest drew 1-1 at home to Aston Villa, while on Friday night, West Ham thrashed Wolves 4-0. All three teams have six games left to play.

Tottenham are without a Premier League win in 2026 and their next league match is against De Zerbi’s old side Brighton on Saturday, April 18.

Jack Pitt-Brooke analyses the key Tottenham talking points from the Stadium of Light…

How much trouble are Spurs in?

This defeat did nothing to help Tottenham’s miserable Premier League position and leaves them with only six games left to save themselves from relegation.

This was an ugly, scrappy game, with very little good football played by either side. The fact that Romero was substituted in tears in the second half, after a collision with Kinsky, could have even more bearing on the end of this season than the fact that Spurs lost the game.

If he misses more of the run-in, Spurs will be without their captain and arguably most talented player.

This was by no means the worst that Spurs have played in recent months. They worked hard as a team, they matched Sunderland for long periods and the only goal of the game was an unfortunate deflection off Van de Ven.

But Spurs cannot afford to be this unlucky when they are stuck in the drop zone with six games left. They need the ball to start bouncing their way if they are to play Premier League football next season.

Did anything look different under De Zerbi?

As De Zerbi had explained at length before the game, there was no chance for him to implement anything like his own distinctive style of play during his limited time with the Spurs players.

Tottenham were more positive than they had been for much of this season so far, but there was little by way of intricate press-baiting or complicated passing patterns. The goalkeeper Kinsky was often happy just to hit the ball long when he needed to.

De Zerbi went for Richarlison and Randal Kolo Muani as high, wide wingers, either side of Dominic Solanke. Conor Gallagher and Lucas Bergvall were brought into a high-energy midfield. And in a throwback to the tactics when Ange Postecoglou was in charge, full-backs Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie often cut inside to attack when Spurs had the ball.

Tottenham were happy to go direct and play on the break, but they often looked short of quality in the final third. Richarlison struggled with his close control and Kolo Muani made too many bad decisions. And Spurs’ energy and commitment counted for very little, because they struggled to create, whereas Sunderland managed to get through in the end.

Have Tottenham forgotten how to create chances?

One of the stories of the season at Spurs has been their inability to create chances, especially in open play. This was the same for Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor, and is one of the most important issues De Zerbi has to solve if he is to keep Spurs up.

Of course, it does not help that Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison have not played at all this season, as they both recover from knee surgeries. Wilson Odobert is currently out with an ACL problem of his own, and Mohammed Kudus has just suffered another quad injury, leaving De Zerbi’s Spurs desperately short of players who can make things happen in the final third.

So De Zerbi today went for a front three made up of strikers, with three central midfielders. Mathys Tel came on halfway through the second half. But it left Spurs short, yet again, of ideas to create things. Their best fit creative player, Xavi Simons, only came on with six minutes of normal time remaining.

And while Spurs had a few half-chances — especially for Richarlison and Solanke in the first half — they needed one of them to go in. Even the pressure at the end of the game never really amounted to very much.

This is a team that looks like it has forgotten how to create, and that is a huge problem.

What did De Zerbi say?

We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.

What next for Spurs?

It is one of this season’s most compelling and unexpected Premier League plot lines: the shock unravelling of Tottenham Hotspur.

The north Londoners are in the relegation places with eight games left and are still waiting for their first league win of the calendar year. The prospect of Tottenham dropping out of the top flight for the first time since the 1970s is beginning to feel real.

Two-time champions of England, members of the domestic game’s ‘Big Six’, reigning Europa League winners, with a £1.2billion ($1.6bn at the current rate) stadium and having made it to this season’s Champions League last 16 — Spurs going down to the Championship would be an almighty shock.

But they would not be the first club to suffer a previously unthinkable relegation from across Europe and beyond. The Athletic takes a look at five of the most shocking demotions in football history.

Atletico Madrid, 1999-2000

Few, if any, clubs are actually too big to go down. Atletico, one of Spain’s biggest and most storied teams, realised that at the start of this century as they dropped out of La Liga.

Wracked by financial worries and a criminal investigation, Atletico tumbled out of the Spanish top flight after 65 years at the conclusion of the 1999-2000 season when they finished second-bottom of the 20-team table.

They started that season with ambition and a squad featuring international stars such as newly-signed Netherlands international striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, prised away from Leeds United, Argentina’s Santiago Solari, and Spain midfielders Ruben Baraja and Juan Carlos Valeron. However, in the December, Atletico’s president Jesus Gil and his board were suspended pending an investigation into the misuse of club funds, and the team’s form began to flounder.

Future Premier League-winning manager Claudio Ranieri was in charge, but by March, with Atletico in 17th place, he resigned. His replacement Radomir Antic was unable to steer them clear of the bottom three.

“It was an extremely bizarre year,” says Atletico fan and DAZN commentator Fran Guillen. “It began as a very promising project and it fell apart little by little, in a very agonising way, buried by the many non-sporting problems.”

Just four years previously, Atletico had won a La Liga and Copa del Rey double. Their success even attracted the great Italian coach Arrigo Sacchi to take his only job outside his homeland in summer 1998 (though he lasted less than a year and left with them in the bottom half of the league).

It made their sudden fall from grace even more bewildering.

“It was a season so full of paradoxes,” says Guillen. “Atletico ended up being relegated despite having Hasselbaink in their squad, who finished the competition with 24 goals (only one player in La Liga scored more). Nobody could expect an outcome like that. But it is extremely unfair to analyse that season only through the football. It was a perfect storm caused by what happened with Gil, and it ended up pushing the project to the abyss.

“Some of the players have since said that Atletico was a victim of what happened to Gil (who was also mayor of the Spanish resort city of Marbella at the time) and Kiko, who was one of the main leaders in the dressing room, said they didn’t talk about football during the whole year. It is impossible to compete in an environment like that.”

For many supporters, the setback eventually brought them closer to their club. “Once the initial shock was overcome, the fans became even more loyal,” says Guillen. “They sold a record number of season tickets for the first season in the second division. The worse the team was, the more the stands responded.”

Although Guillen says it is hard to find many other positives from that period, Atletico only spent two seasons out of the top flight. Returning club icon Luis Aragones, who had won La Liga with Atletico both as a player and manager in the 1960s and 1970s, led them to promotion in 2002, while also unleashing a future hero in teenage striker Fernando Torres.

River Plate, 2010-11

River Plate are, alongside fierce Buenos Aires rivals Boca Juniors, the most successful club in the history of Argentine domestic football. So when they went down in 2011, it made headlines around the world.

The game that sealed their fate, at River’s Monumental stadium, had to be abandoned and players helped to get off the pitch as the crowd rioted with the home side 3-1 down on aggregate in a promotion/relegation play-off with a minute of the 90 to go. Police then battled to disperse rampaging supporters after the first relegation in the club’s then 110-year history. Dozens of people were reportedly injured.

“There’s a state of mourning,” Marcelo Roffe, president of the Argentine Association of Sports Psychology, told La Nacion that year. “Because River Plate is the most successful Argentine club, and their established tradition makes it difficult for them to process the idea of ​​what’s about to happen.”

The newspaper even reported a spike in River Plate fans taking antidepressants and suffering relationship problems during that season. “Some face the situation, but many choose to shut themselves away, miss work, or not interact with their office colleagues,” Roffe also told La Nacion.

In an interview with The Athletic in 2018, the club’s then teenage defender Leandro Gonzalez Pirez recalled being part of that doomed side. “You find yourself in a situation that you hadn’t dreamed about,” he said. “I was forced to grow up quickly. There was a lot of pressure and tension.”

River Plate returned to the top flight in 2012, finishing top of the second-division table, and were crowned champions of Argentina two years later.

Leeds United, 2003-04

In England, Aston Villa and Newcastle United were major stories when they were relegated from the Premier League (Villa in 2016, Newcastle in 2009 and also in 2016). Both have since returned to the top division and blossomed into clubs competing for major honours.

But one other current Premier League club fell harder and faster.

Leeds were a traditional powerhouse of the English game and in the early 2000s seemed to be on the up once again. They finished third in the 1999-00 Premier League and fourth in 2000-01, while also reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League in the latter season. The following year, they finished fifth in the top flight.

But then it all fell to pieces.

It started with relegation in 2004 for a squad that appeared to have far too much talent to go down, including Paul Robinson, Alan Smith, Mark Viduka, Jermaine Pennant, Ian Harte and a young James Milner. Manager Peter Reid left in the November, and replacement Eddie Gray could not keep them up.

Three years later, Leeds dropped into League One (the English third tier) after being docked 10 points for going into administration. That deduction meant the Yorkshire club finished bottom of the 24-team Championship. A legacy of spending beyond their means had bitten hard, and they spent three seasons in the third division before winning promotion in 2010. Leeds returned to the Premier League in 2020, got relegated again in 2023 but came back up for the current campaign.

‘They are a great club,” wrote The Athletic’s Leeds correspondent Phil Hay in 2024, “a famous club who didn’t so much fall on hard times as get skewered by them.”

Manchester City, 1995-96 and 1997-98

If it is hard to imagine a side as big as Leeds sinking so low, then what of a clubwho have won eight Premier League titles since 2012?

Huge investment from Abu Dhabi and manager Pep Guardiola’s brilliance have transformed Manchester City into one of Europe’s major players, but in 1998 they suffered the ignominy of dropping to the domestic third tier almost a decade before it happened to Leeds.

Relegated from the Premier League in 1996, City spent two years in the second tier before going down again to what is now League One in 1998.

Then owned by a consortium of British businessmen, including their former player Francis Lee, City were far from the massively wealthy club they would become, but even so, they had expected to go back up that season as champions of the First Division — today’s Championship.

“I arrived in the belief we would win the First Division and go straight back to the Premier League,“ says Gerard Wiekens, a Dutch midfielder signed in summer 1997. “It didn’t work out like that.

“Of course, this was before the huge wealth came, but City were still a big club. We had a big fanbase and the expectation was we would not long be out of the top flight.”

Wiekens recalls a squad that was ill-suited to the challenge of a second-tier relegation fight.

“We had Georgi Kinkladze (their Georgian playmaker), who was a wonderful, skilful player, and we had bought (striker) Lee Bradbury from Portsmouth for a club-record £3million ($4m at the current rate). We all thought we would be fine at first, but we lost a lot of games and suddenly were in a relegation battle. Georgi had done really well in the Premier League but he didn’t play as much (in the First Division) because we suddenly needed different qualities, like fight and graft over flair.”

“I don’t remember what I did that night, probably cried,“ says Wiekens, who experienced three promotions and two relegations during his five seasons at City.

“My advice to Tottenham fans would be to support the team. Try not to become too negative, because even though it is understandable, it makes things worse. The Tottenham players are probably good enough to stay there (in the Premier League) but when you are in that position, and it’s unexpected, it is difficult.”

Schalke, 2020-21

Schalke have qualified for the Champions League eight times this century, and reached its semi-finals in 2011. They have 200,000 club members, the third-most in Germany and the sixth-highest number in world football. But in the 2020-21 season, ravaged financially by the Covid-19 pandemic and a succession of managerial changes, they were relegated to the 2.Bundesliga.

“When I speak to other fans about the relegation sometimes, we’re still not quite sure how it happened,” says Niklas Heising, a Schalke supporter who is a journalist for leading German newspaper Bild. “It caught us by surprise.”

The Gelsenkirchen-based side burned through five managers in that 2020-21 campaign, before ultimately finishing bottom of the 18-team Bundesliga.

Their ill-fated campaign began with an 8-0 defeat at Bayern Munich and worries over ailing finances.

“Gelsenkirchen is one of the poorest regions in Germany, with areas of low employment. The club means so much to the area,” says Heising. “Covid was a tough time for everyone, all clubs and businesses, but it was particularly bad timing for Schalke.

“I remember when relegation was confirmed by a 1-0 defeat at Arminia Bielefeld (in the April). I was at home, isolating alone and watching it on the TV. I didn’t cry — I think I was in shock. It was miserable.”

Following that Bielefeld defeat, the players had returned by coach to their Veltins-Arena stadium to meet with 500 fans. The event did not go well.

Angry supporters pelted them with eggs and chased them around the stadium before police arrived. German website Sport 1 quoted an unnamed Schalke player as saying: “The fans attacked us. We just ran. It was fear, pure fear. I was just running. Some of us got kicked and punched.”

Schalke bounced straight back as champions but were relegated again a year later. They are currently top of the 2.Bundesliga with eight games to go and hopeful of a return to the top flight.

It may have gotten tense, even toxic, at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this season, but recent history from the River Plate to the Rhine suggests things can always get worse.

“You might think, or even know, it’s going to happen,” says Heising of relegation, “but nothing prepares you for the shock when it does.”

Tottenham Hotspur head coach Roberto De Zerbi has said he was “not surprised” by the backlash from supporters over his public backing of Mason Greenwood.

De Zerbi was Marseille head coach when they signed Greenwood from Manchester United in September 2024. Greenwood was arrested while playing for United on January 31, 2022 on suspicion of rape and assault, and further arrested on February 1, 2022 on suspicion of sexual assault and making threats to kill.

He was charged in October 2022 with one count of attempted rape, one count of controlling and coercive behaviour and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. All three charges related to the same woman.

Greenwood had been due to stand trial in November 2023, but the charges were discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in February 2023. The CPS said, “a combination of the withdrawal of key witnesses and new material that came to light meant there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.” Greenwood denied all allegations against him.

In November 2025, De Zerbi described Greenwood as “a good person”, adding, “It saddens me what happened to him because I know a very different person from the one portrayed in England”.

Before signing a five-year contract as Tottenham head coach on March 31, three supporters’ groups urged the club not to appoint the Italian, citing his historical support for the one-time England international forward.

After his appointment, the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust called on De Zerbi to reaffirm values of “equality, respect, and integrity … backed by meaningful action, including visible and sustained support for women’s charities and organisations working to combat violence against women”.

After addressing the backlash in his first public interview, released on Tottenham’s club channels, the Italian was asked whether he was surprised by the public backlash in his first press conference as head coach on Friday afternoon.

“I wasn’t surprised,” the 46-year-old replied, speaking in his native Italian which was translated by The Athletic. “I was a bit sad and sorry it happened, because I’m sorry if somebody took offence.

“I must repeat what I said the other time. This topic is very close to me, I’m very sensitive about this topic, because of the person I am and because I have a daughter.

“And so I must repeat what I said the other time. I have always been against — always — any type of violence, especially against women. But not only violence, even just sexist jokes or other sexist behaviour. I have a daughter and I’m directly affected by it.

“I know who I am, I know the type of person I am, so I wasn’t annoyed by the questions — I’m just sad about them.”

De Zerbi was then asked whether he hopes Spurs fans will accept his apology.

“Yes, also because I’m not going to go back over this topic,” he said, again in Italian. “I spoke about it in my first interview, I spoke about it today, and it wouldn’t be right to go back over this topic again.”

The former Brighton and Hove Albion coach will take charge of Tottenham for the first time on Sunday, when they travel to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland.

Following West Ham United’s 4-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Friday, Spurs are 18th in the Premier League, in the relegation zone for the first time this season.

For the first time this season, Tottenham Hotspur have slipped into the Premier League relegation zone.

West Ham’s 4-0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Friday means they have climbed above their London rivals into 17th position in the 20-team table. Spurs, two points behind West Ham and 16th-placed Nottingham Forest, are 18th. They have not won in 13 Premier League games, going back to December. It is the first time they have been in the relegation zone since August 2015, after their first game of that season.

There are caveats.

Spurs now have a game in hand over West Ham, and if they win their fixture this weekend away to Sunderland on Sunday, they will climb back out of the bottom three with six matches to play. They have also just appointed Roberto De Zerbi as their new head coach, and will be hoping his arrival sparks an upturn in form.

But how will they be feeling after seeing West Ham get the result at home to Wolves? What about West Ham, now that head coach Nuno Espirito Santo has navigated them out of the relegation zone? And what will be the Wolves perspective?

The Athletic’s experts Liam Tharme, Roshane Thomas and Steve Madeley answer those questions.

Spurs have dropped into the relegation zone. How will they feel about it — and Friday’s game?

Pressure. They will be feeling the pressure. Results are king in relegation scraps, but performances matter too. West Ham took time to get going on Friday evening, struggling initially to deal with their visitors’ back-five shape and midfield three. But they showed the resilience that Spurs have lacked recently and continued to build once Konstantinos Mavropanos headed in Jarrod Bowen’s inswinging cross for the opening goal late in the first half.

The worry for Tottenham is how cohesive West Ham look. They have multiple goalscoring threats, two excellent wingers in Bowen and Cryscencio Summerville and an outstanding technical midfielder in Matheus Fernandes. One can only imagine how much De Zerbi would want him for Spurs’ build-up.

Opta had the pre-match probability of West Ham avoiding relegation at just under 42 per cent. That figure has been on the rise all calendar year, and one pre-game stat stood out: Wigan Athletic in 2012-13 were the last instance of 18th place having as many points (29) as West Ham did after 31 matches. Spurs are going to need multiple wins on the run-in to survive in the top flight.

Nuno’s side also just kept their third clean sheet in the Premier League in 2026, whereas those are rare for Spurs. They have not shut out Premier League opposition since a 0-0 draw with Brentford on New Year’s Day. The concern will be how — and if — an attack-minded coach such as De Zerbi can elevate them going forward while also fixing a leaky defence.

He made the point in his first press conference earlier on Friday that having just seven matches left only gives time for he and his coaches to impart simple principles, not layers of complex tactical detail.

West Ham are showing the kind of consistency, unity and identity Tottenham desperately need.

Liam Tharme

West Ham’s win has seen them climb out of the bottom three. Will they be confident of staying up?

West Ham moving out of the drop zone at the expense of London rivals and fellow relegation candidates Tottenham is a huge psychological boost for the players. The last time Nuno’s side were out of the bottom three was March 14, but there will be renewed optimism that they can climb further up the table over the remaining six games.

Given West Ham’s disappointing FA Cup quarter-final exit to visitors Leeds United in a see-saw tie that went to a penalty shootout on Sunday, they responded in clinical fashion back at the London Stadium to sweep aside a last-placed but improved Wolves. The win was all the more satisfying considering they had been beaten by Wolves twice this season — in August in the Carabao Cup and in January’s reverse league fixture.

Summerville made his first appearance tonight since a calf injury in the FA Cup win against Brentford a month ago, Taty Castellanos showed why he was a long-standing West Ham target by scoring his fourth goal since a January move from Lazio of Italy, Mavropanos continued his resurgence under Nuno and club captain Bowen registered two assists in a league game for the first time this season. Most importantly, West Ham kept their first clean sheet since the 1-0 defeat of Fulham on March 4.

Friday’s result and performance set them up nicely for fixtures against Crystal Palace (away) a week on Monday and Everton (home) five days later.

West Ham needed a morale-boosting display at the London Stadium, where they will play half of their remaining six games. If they continue to play like this, there should yet be scenes of jubilation come the season finale there against Leeds on May 24.

Roshane Thomas

Wolves are 15 points adrift of safety with six games to play. Is it now over for them — or has it been over for a long time?

Wolves will have left east London with a sense of frustration; not that their hopes of Premier League survival this season were shattered in defeat — those hopes had realistically gone some while back.

They will return to the Midlands frustrated that the momentum created in recent weeks, entirely unrelated to their chances of avoiding the drop, was halted in a game in which there was plenty for their fans and head coach Rob Edwards to like.

They had lost just once in six Premier League matches before the absurd 25-day break from football that preceded their trip to the London Stadium, courtesy of an international window and last weekend’s FA Cup quarter-finals, and the confidence they had generated was there to see tonight in a pleasing first 35 minutes.

But they failed to make the most of that dominance and then lost the game to three moments of careless defending. In the end, it was the kind of trouncing Wolves became used to earlier in the season when, for much of the first half, they had looked like their more recent selves.

Avoiding the drop to the Championship has been no more than theoretical for months, though. Even before this game, they needed to win a minimum of six from their final seven fixtures to have any semblance of a chance of staying up. For a team whose previous six league wins have taken a year to compile, it was never on the cards.

So defeat does not change the overall mood at Molineux or among the club’s fans, who are already focused on a huge summer ahead of what they hope will be a 2026-27 promotion campaign.

But West Ham will be hoping they have not inflicted too many psychological scars with this lop-sided victory, bearing in mind Wolves play two more of the relegation candidates in Leeds and Tottenham in their next two games.

Steve Madeley

Unlike the previous two head coaches in the Tottenham Hotspur dugout this season, Roberto De Zerbi is under no illusions about what he has signed up for.

Eleven days into February, though, Frank was sacked, with the club’s decision-makers jolted into delayed action after a dismal 2-1 home defeat to Newcastle United the night before.

A couple of days later, Igor Tudor walked through the door “100 per cent” confident that he could keep Tottenham up. Three weeks into the job, after a 4-1 north London derby defeat at home to Arsenal and a 2-1 loss away to Fulham on successive Sundays, he could not have been more thorough as he scolded the team’s mentality and quality.

“It’s complicated, the situation,” the Croatian said. “Lots of problems. I cannot tell you anything new. We need to find forces inside each of us. I said to the players, ‘It’s always what you want to do with yourself’. More personality. More wish to do. We lack when we attack. We lack quality to score. We lack in the middle to run. We lack behind (in defence) to stay and suffer and not concede.”

After just 44 days, the shortest tenure for a non-interim manager or head coach in the club’s 143-year history, Tudor was sacked having failed to win any of his five league games in charge, and losing four of them.

Now, Spurs have switched to De Zerbi, a coach renowned for an expansive style of football who is now saying he is committed to stripping back his ideas as he seeks to help his new employers avoid a first relegation since 1977.

“First of all, I’m proud and happy to be here,” De Zerbi said on Friday in his first Tottenham press conference. “I have to say thanks to Vinai (Venkatesham, the chief executive) and Johan (Lange, sporting director), because they showed me a big, big confidence. Now I have to work. Now we have to make points. I’m confident about the players’ level — in the past, I was very close to bringing many of them to my former teams.

“They are working very well. I think I’m not better than Thomas Frank or Igor Tudor, because I consider them very good coaches. I try to bring my style, myself, my character, my personality, my passion, to help the players, first of all, to show their qualities, because they have a lot of qualities, and then to achieve our target, because the most important part now is our target.”

As De Zerbi spoke, Tottenham sat 17th in the table, one point above the relegation zone, with seven games remaining.

If they remain in the Premier League next season, Spurs can work to put this campaign’s mess behind them quickly by recruiting in the summer transfer window. And with one of Europe’s most respected training-ground coaches now in charge, prospective signings will undoubtedly be enthused about the opportunity to improve under the 46-year-old Italian’s tutelage.

If they don’t reach that target, Tottenham face the prospect of major sporting and financial complications, with the club’s 2024-25 accounts detailing a worst-ever pre-tax loss and a growing need for cash, despite record revenues.

To avoid that eventuality, De Zerbi has set about promoting a mentality shift.

“Listen, my style is one part about the style of play and one part about the (player’s) character, the personality,” he said. “I have no time to work on the principle or in build-up so much, or in the last 20 metres (the attacking third). I want to give an organisation with the ball and without the ball. Two principles without the ball, something more in possession, in the offensive phase, and that’s it.

“What I want to do, what I want to achieve immediately, is the character, is the right spirit, the right courage to play, to attack. Because the DNA of this club, of this squad, is to find the goal, to score. In this part, I can be able to transfer, not in too much time, my principle.”

The messaging is clear and exciting.

De Zerbi, the best fit for the ‘Tottenham Way’ since Ange Postecoglou, who was fired at the end of last season, believes in the technical quality of the players available to him, name-checking Mathys Tel, a previous target when he was Marseille head coach (who sacked him in February), Conor Gallagher, whom he tried to sign for Brighton, Xavi Simons and Randal Kolo Muani as players who have not performed to their potential.

“I think I’m lucky, because I have a big confidence in my players, their qualities,” he added, “and for me, my target is to help them to play well, to enjoy (themselves) with the ball because their characteristics are very clear for me.”

Ultimately, Sunday’s first game in charge away to Sunderland could provide the same rude awakening experienced by his predecessors.

But De Zerbi, unlike those before him, seems genuinely enthused by this team’s ability to win matches — and, having not picked up three points in any of their 13 fixtures this calendar year, perhaps that refreshed belief is what they need.

Tottenham Hotspur are in pole position to sign Andy Robertson as a free agent this summer, subject to retaining their Premier League status.

Liverpool announced on Thursday evening that Robertson, 32, would be leaving the club when his contract expires at the end of the season after nine glittering years at Anfield.

The Athletic reported in January that Spurs had held talks over recruiting the Scotland international but Liverpool were ultimately unwilling to sanction a mid-season departure.

Robertson’s professionalism and commitment to Liverpool were never in question, so a switch would only have materialised if it suited all parties.

His focus on Liverpool means nothing is finalised and there remains strong interest from elsewhere in Europe, but the groundwork undertaken by Tottenham in the winter market and the appeal of the opportunity to Robertson leaves the north London side poised to complete a deal if they avoid relegation.

Spurs are currently 17th in the Premier League table and one point above the relegation zone with seven games of the campaign remaining.

Robertson has been Liverpool’s first-choice left-back for the majority of his time since joining from Hull City in 2017, but has fallen down the pecking order following the summer arrival of Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth.

He has made 31 appearances in all competitions this season, but started only six matches in the Premier League.

The Scot is expected to captain his country at this summer’s World Cup, where they will face Brazil, Haiti and Morocco in Group C.

Robertson would help address cultural issues at Spurs

Analysis by Tottenham Hotspur correspondent Elias Burke

Tottenham are short on leadership, left-back depth and winners at the elite level — Robertson helps to solve all three areas. The Athletic reported Tottenham’s strong interest in the Scotland captain in January, and they could have done with his qualities in the second half of the season, with injuries to Ben Davies and Destiny Udogie leaving Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor short of depth on the left side of defence.

Robertson has won every major trophy at Anfield, and would therefore bring a winning know-how to a squad who has underperformed significantly in the Premier League for consecutive seasons. While, at 32, he may not be the player he was in his prime, his experience in helping to drive a winning culture in the Liverpool dressing room under Jurgen Klopp and Arne Slot could prove invaluable as Spurs aim to restore their position as a club competing for European places.

He could also help with the development of 23-year-old Udogie, who has been in and out of the Tottenham side this season with injury, and 19-year-old Souza, who was signed from Santos in Brazil in January and has made four league appearances.

Experienced players were important for new head coach Roberto De Zerbi at Brighton & Hove Albion, and Robertson could assume a similar role. And, given he is seemingly keen to play more football after having a reduced role at Liverpool this term, Spurs, providing they beat the drop, should offer Robertson the chance to share minutes with Udogie and Souza in the coming years.

What is Robertson’s Liverpool legacy?

Analysis from Liverpool correspondent Gregg Evans

Although this comes as no real surprise, it’s still a sad moment for supporters as they prepare to wave goodbye to a club legend.

Robertson’s journey at Liverpool is the embodiment of grit, leadership, and star quality. He was signed with little fanfare but quickly silenced any doubters with his determination and consistency.

His tireless running down the flank, pinpoint deliveries, and defensive tenacity made him indispensable during one of the most successful periods in Liverpool’s history, but beyond achievements and trophies, it’s his character that cements his legacy.

Vocal, passionate, and fiercely committed, he has helped set the standards for years, and even in more recent weeks, he’s continued to remain the ultimate professional with his attitude towards playing and the future.

Roberto De Zerbi’s Premier League experience before his appointment by Tottenham Hotspur amounts to 70 games and 20 months in charge of Brighton & Hove Albion.

It was a rollercoaster ride under the Italian at the Amex Stadium. He steered the club to Europe for the first time in 2022-23, but his departure at the end of the 2023-24 campaign was rooted in disagreements over recruitment policy.

There are pointers to De Zerbi’s playing and leadership style, outlined here by Brighton correspondent Andy Naylor, which fans can expect to see at Tottenham. They start with the last line of defence — or, in De Zerbi-speak, ‘the first line of attack’.

The goalkeeper is an 11th outfield player

“I remember him telling me very early on, the goalkeepers didn’t need to wear gloves in training, I didn’t need to wear gloves and he wanted everything to be with the feet and in possession,” Jack Stern, Brighton’s former goalkeeper coach, says of De Zerbi.

De Zerbi promoted Jason Steele over Robert Sanchez at a crucial moment during the push for Europe in April 2023, due to the former’s precision in possession and better understanding of the best passes to play through the opposition press.

De Zerbi sanctioned the signing of Bart Verbruggen from Anderlecht in the summer of 2023 when Sanchez moved to Chelsea. He rotated Verbruggen and Steele in the 2023-24 season (Verbruggen played 27 times across all competitions, Steele 23) to give the Netherlands international time to bed into his demands.

In the first eight games of that season, 96 per cent of Brighton’s goal kicks ended in their own penalty area, an indication of how important the goalkeeper is to De Zerbi’s build-up patterns. De Zerbi said at the time: “Bart can become one of the best keepers in Europe, but Jason knows better our idea of football.”

Verbruggen has gone on to become Brighton’s established No 1 under De Zerbi’s successor Fabian Hurzeler, while Steele was called up to the England senior squad by Thomas Tuchel for the first time at the age of 35 for recent friendlies against Uruguay and Japan.

Considering Tottenham’s goalkeeper issues and De Zerbi’s high regard for Verbruggen and Steele, it would not be a surprise if he tries to sign one of them in the summer.

Set plays are not De Zerbi’s style

De Zerbi had a lot of support staff at Brighton, many of whom had worked with him at other clubs. They did not include a specialist set-piece coach.

Set plays were not ignored by De Zerbi in preparation, but the main concentration was on build-up and open-play scenarios. This was reflected by the figures for his only full season in charge in 2023-24. Brighton ranked 15th in the table with 10 goals scored from set pieces. They also conceded 10 goals, so there was no net gain.

Neighbours Arsenal have amplified the mounting significance of set plays in the Premier League during the period that De Zerbi worked in France with Marseille. De Zerbi has only added fitness coach Marcattilio Marcattilii and development coach Marcello Quinto to his support staff, suggesting he will lean heavily on Andreas Georgson’s existing expertise for set pieces.

Touchline antics

His teams are fun to watch and De Zerbi’s activity in the technical area is equally entertaining. Exasperated yelling when one of his players chooses a bad passing option, rows with officials and the rival bench and extravagant goal celebrations are all part of the theatre.

At least one touchline ban is almost sure to happen at Tottenham. De Zerbi was shown a red card together with Cristian Stellini, Spurs’ interim at the time, after heated exchanges with his opposite number before and during Brighton’s 2-1 defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in April 2023.

De Zerbi had been banned twice that season after four yellow cards and an earlier red card at the end of a 1-0 home defeat by Fulham for arguing in the tunnel with referee Darren England. De Zerbi was in the stands again for Brighton’s 2-1 defeat away to Tottenham in February 2024 after racking up another three bookings.

How he gets on with players

Most players love playing for De Zerbi because his coaching methods improve their understanding of the game.

Former England midfielder Adam Lallana, a Premier League and Champions League winner before joining Brighton, said during an interview with The Athletic in March 2023: “He’s just made football (make) so much more sense to me since he’s been here. I knew what I enjoyed about football and the feeling I got when I was doing it or was involved in a team doing it, but he’s given me reasons for that.”

Lallana’s sentiments were echoed at the end of that 2022-23 season by central defender Levi Colwill, who was on loan from Chelsea as De Zerbi’s side finished sixth in the table to qualify for the Europa League. “His mentality as a manager is world class and he is definitely going to be one of the best managers in the world — if he’s not already,” Colwill told The Athletic.

De Zerbi fostered relationships away from training and matches by inviting his players to his home for dinner on a rota basis and cooking pasta. But with every carrot, a stick is never too far away. De Zerbi does not shy away from big calls. The aforementioned Sanchez refused to sit on the bench after Steele usurped him.

Leandro Trossard went from scoring a hat-trick in De Zerbi’s first game in charge in a 3-3 draw against Liverpool at Anfield to a move to Arsenal four months later. De Zerbi fell out with the Belgium forward over his attitude. “He changes the team, but he has to understand and to work with my attitude, in my way, because I am the coach, I decide the rules inside the dressing room, only this,” De Zerbi said shortly before Trossard’s departure in January 2023.

Relationship with the top brass

Although it ended badly, De Zerbi generally had a good relationship with Brighton owner-chairman Tony Bloom, chief executive Paul Barber and other executives. His passion for the game is laced with warmth on a personal level.

He has strong opinions about the types of players he wants. At Brighton, he wanted more ready-made, established players in their mid-to-late-twenties age bracket. That did not fit with the club’s model of developing young players, aided by a core group of thirtysomethings to show them the ropes.

Tottenham have more spending power than Brighton (both transfer fees and wages) to attract players, but they are competing with other big clubs to land targets. That could become a problem if De Zerbi’s wish list is not delivered.

Enjoy it while it lasts

Tottenham’s desire to appoint De Zerbi immediately to rescue them from the threat of relegation, rather than his preferred option initially of taking over in the summer, put the Italian and his representative in a strong bargaining position.

A five-year contract is extreme — he signed with Brighton for four years. De Zerbi has lasted no longer than 120 matches in top-flight posts in Italy, Ukraine, England and France.

Thrills, spills and entertaining football are virtually guaranteed — but do not expect longevity.

Tottenham Hotspur’s appointment of Roberto De Zerbi as their new head coach last month has led to discussion and reporting in the UK of his comments about Mason Greenwood.

De Zerbi coached Greenwood at Marseille until the 46-year-old left the club in February. Greenwood, meanwhile, has not played for an English team since departing Manchester United, initially on loan, in September 2023.

Greenwood’s United exit came after a charge of attempted rape — among two other charges, all of which he denied — was discontinued by the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service a few months earlier.

While at Marseille, De Zerbi spoke about Greenwood, who the French club signed in September 2024, a few months after appointing the Italian. “I feel sad for what happened in his life, without getting into the details,” De Zerbi said. “Because the person I know here is very different to the one that has been described, especially in England.”

De Zerbi’s backing of Greenwood prompted multiple Tottenham supporters’ groups to protest against his appointment before and after a deal was agreed.

In The Athletic’s reporting of this, we closed the comment sections. Here, we want to explain why.

What happened with Greenwood while he was at United?

On January 30, Greenwood was suspended by United. A day later, he was arrested on suspicion of rape and assault, and then further arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and making threats to kill.

Greenwood was charged in October 2022 with one count of attempted rape, one count of controlling and coercive behaviour and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. All three charges related to the same woman.

He had been due to stand trial in November 2023, but the charges were discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in early February 2023. Upon the discontinuation of the charges, the CPS said “a combination of the withdrawal of key witnesses and new material that came to light meant there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.” Greenwood denied all allegations against him.

As revealed by The Athletic, United initially planned to reintegrate Greenwood back into the first team after the charges were dropped, before protests by fans and staff saw them publicly commit to parting ways with the Englishman in August 2023. He joined Getafe on loan at the start of September, then completed a €31.6million (now $27.5m; $36.9m) permanent move from United to Marseille in the summer of 2024.

Why comments may be disabled on any article

We will always turn comments off on stories where reporting restrictions are in place, out of respect for the legal process in the UK and the individuals involved.

We will also turn comments off on stories that involve ongoing criminal proceedings, because commenters may inadvertently identify individuals who have a right to privacy or pass judgement on the guilt or innocence of an alleged perpetrator, potentially breaching the UK’s contempt laws.

The UK and the US have different laws relating to libel, privacy — including arrests — and contempt of court. Stories relating to the UK legal system must respect those laws.

In the UK, in cases relating to sexual offences, the alleged victim is entitled to anonymity for life, regardless of the outcome of any police investigation.

Why this relates to Greenwood’s case

Due to the sexual nature of the attempted rape charge against Greenwood, the alleged victim is entitled to anonymity. The only exception to that would be if she had waived their right to anonymity, which has not happened. She has not given her written consent and we have to respect that.

Therefore, despite the charges against Greenwood being discontinued, leaving comments open on articles relating to him runs the risk of a commenter trying to identify the woman, which would be an invasion of her privacy and right to lifelong anonymity.

Individuals or publications can face legal action over breaching an individual’s right to privacy and anonymity.

Tottenham travel to Sunderland on Sunday to play their first game under their new manager, Roberto De Zerbi.

His first training session, filmed and posted online, has been pored over as desperate fans look for signs that the club, in 17th position in the Premier League and only one point above the relegation zone, will make immediate progress under the Italian. Players, we’re told, provided glowing reports. Many fans are as upbeat as they have been all season.

But others cannot shake their sense of discomfort at the appointment of De Zerbi, the manager who was in charge when Marseille signed Mason Greenwood from Manchester United in July 2024, restored the forward to a prominent first-team position and frequently backed him during their two seasons together.

Greenwood was arrested in January 2022 and did not play for Manchester United again. He resumed his career away from Old Trafford, first on loan at Getafe, then at Marseille, after the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) discontinued the case against him for attempted rape, assault and coercive control. The CPS said “a combination of the withdrawal of key witnesses and new material meant there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction”. Greenwood denied all the allegations against him.

Why does it matter who De Zerbi signs and backs elsewhere, especially since the Greenwood charges were dropped?

Significant judgment calls are important because a Premier League coach is not some faceless operator. He is the club’s public representative — the face of Spurs. And the board have decided that not only is De Zerbi a suitable figurehead for the next crucial months, but for the next five years.

As one of the 10 richest football clubs on the planet, Tottenham Hotspur, despite their on-field woes, have an outsized opportunity to shape fan culture. They recognised publicly last month that Spurs’ internal culture “requires improvement in a number of areas”. Your leader has to set the tone.

When an appointment like this triggers ‘banter’ in relation to the multiple charges of rape against the former Arsenal player Thomas Partey (charges Partey has denied), you know the concerns raised by fan groups such as Proud Lilywhites and Spurs REACH are legitimate.

Football is a place of escapism. Every football fan has at some point had to choose blindness to the nastier realities of their heroes’ moral codes. One of my favourite players is Paul Gascoigne, a man with a conviction for assault and the subject of a memoir by his former wife Sheryl, subtitled ‘My Life Surviving Gazza’.

I often wonder if I am letting myself off the hook by retaining that awe of Gascoigne, a product of watching and hearing about him in my earliest childhood — long before I could understand topics like these. How much better would it be if there was no need for wilful ignorance, for the suspension of morality? We can and must move towards zero tolerance on this.

People I know and care about in the Spurs community have called, emailed, and direct-messaged me on social media about how much they’re struggling with De Zerbi’s appointment. Ali Speechly, who co-founded Women of the Lane, has spoken out beautifully about her intention to stay away until he leaves.

She says her position is not just theoretical, since his words indicate what Spurs will get as a head coach too: “I do not wish to separate the coach from his attitudes because, in my experience, a person’s values are also a key indicator as to how they will train, manage and lead players.”

Her point is a brilliant one because it emphasises that she understands our fans’ yearning for a saviour, but explains that he is not it.

Certain people will always be hit harder by conversations like these.

One in four women in the UK has been raped or sexually assaulted as an adult. Football fans are not distinct from that group. If you’re reading this on your phone in a public place, look up: you’re almost certainly looking at someone who’s been forced to deal not only with a harrowing violation of human boundaries, but also with managing that for the rest of her life.

Roberto De Zerbi has not inflicted this wrong. But look at the way he repeatedly praised Greenwood during their time at Marseille, and the role he played in bringing the forward to the club. Upon signing, Greenwood said De Zerbi had a huge influence on him moving to the Ligue 1 side.

In his very first interview for Tottenham, he was asked to address this. This was a good step — as was his choice to answer in Italian “because I want to be clear” — indicating he was taking the question seriously. He came across on video in a kindly and empathetic way.

For an apology to provide catharsis, it needs to recognise the hurt caused, express contrition, and show how you won’t let it happen again. Let’s examine his words with that in mind.

He began: “I have never wanted to downplay the issue of violence against women or violence against anyone more broadly.” Seems like a good start, but it has already lost its way. Why add “or violence against anyone more broadly”? Nobody is accusing him of that. But the phrase plays to all comers. All Lives Matter.

What followed appears comforting but raises more questions than it answers.

“In my life, I have always stood up for those who are more vulnerable, more fragile. I’ve consistently fought and taken a stand to be on the side of those who are most at risk. Those of you who know me well will know that I am not the kind of person who makes compromises to win more games or to win an extra title.”

The first two sentences are statements of character presented with little evidence. After fairly serious digging online, I couldn’t find any public examples of De Zerbi personally standing up for women’s rights.

De Zerbi’s Sassuolo teams were part of Serie A’s league-wide campaign with charity WeWorld about violence against women and girls, which was launched in 2018. For one round of fixtures each season, many players and staff at Serie A clubs paint red marks on their faces to draw attention to the issue.

When contacted by The Athletic, Tottenham said there were several public and private examples of De Zerbi going above and beyond his coaching roles to support those who are vulnerable, but did not provide any.

The Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust called on De Zerbi to show “visible and sustained support for women’s charities and organisations working to combat violence against women”. This would have been a perfect moment to announce a partnership with or donation to Women’s Aid, say, particularly given that his appointment at Tottenham has enriched him beyond nearly all supporters’ wildest dreams.

There have not yet been discussions at Tottenham about any partnership or donation.

De Zerbi concludes with non-apology bingo.

“I am sorry if I offended anyone’s feelings with this subject matter — I have a daughter and I’m very sensitive to these things, and I always have been. I hope that, over time, people will get to know me better and will understand that, at that moment, I didn’t mean to take a stance.”

When did you last feel better after someone told you they were sorry if you felt offended? Having bred a woman, met one, or been born to one provides no evidence of your views — women are everywhere, you know?

And to conclude, a little gaslighting: you didn’t understand because you didn’t interpret me correctly. But then, “I didn’t mean to take a stance”.

That is precisely the problem. You should, Roberto.

Comments on this article have been turned off for UK legal reasons.

Kate Mason is a TV presenter and documentary maker who is sitting in for Danny Kelly as host of The Athletic’s Tottenham podcast, The View From The Lane. She has been shortlisted for Columnist of the Year at this year’s SJA British Sports Journalism Awards.