Sky Sports

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Sunday’s Premier League home match against Everton is Tottenham’s biggest game in recent history.

It is not just about 11 players on the pitch. This is a club and business with hundreds of employees who are worried about their jobs and their futures.

Only one scenario can send Spurs into the Championship on Sunday, and that is if Roberto De Zerbi's side lose at home to Everton and West Ham beat Leeds at the London Stadium.

Transforming Tottenham: How owners and hierarchy are reshaping club

Spurs news & transfers⚪ | Spurs fixtures & scores

Live Premier League table | Watch FREE PL highlights

Got Sky? Watch Premier League games LIVE on your phone📱

Not got Sky? Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW 📺

Should Tottenham avoid relegation, the home fans will be celebrating - but it will be relief rather than euphoria.

Whatever the result on Sunday, fans will be angry because this has been a disastrous campaign.

A year ago, Spurs were celebrating Europa League glory with more than 220,000 fans at the trophy parade. But ending the club's 17-year trophy drought was not enough for Ange Postecoglou to keep his job after the club fell to its lowest Premier League finish of 17th.

The message then was that the club needed to compete on all fronts, not just one. Well, it has been only one front this season with the aim on the final day to keep the club in the top flight.

It is clear Tottenham desperately needs a reset - but it needs a reset with the club being in the Premier League.

It is incomprehensible that Spurs should fall into the Championship. This is the ninth richest club in the world, after all.

So, how have we got here this season?

Wrong managers, poor recruitment and a losing culture

Well, this all started in the summer. Postecoglou's successor, Thomas Frank, was not the right fit for the club. Some players liked him, but others did not take to the Dane.

Ultimately, he outstayed his welcome, and he should have been sacked earlier. The West Ham loss in January was the time for him to go.

Then the injury malaise has deepened with this season's crisis proving even more catastrophic than the last campaign.

Losing key players such as Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison and Mohammed Kudus to injury, combined with the summer loss of club legend and captain Heung-Min Son, was always going to make this season challenging.

Losing regularly has also become an expected outcome with this group of players. Last season, the Europa League was the main focus, with the Premier League taking a back seat as Spurs became the first side in top-flight history to lose 22 games in a 38-game season and not be relegated.

Spurs turning it on in Europe at the expense of their domestic campaign has continued this season. The top-four finish in the Champions League phase table under Frank did not help these players - it created a false confidence because, truthfully, the opponents they were beating were Europa League-level teams.

What the players have had no control over are decisions from the top.

Frank should have been sacked earlier, while the signings have not been good enough.

The lack of substantial business in the January window was alarming. To have only brought in Conor Gallagher as the major winter signing amid a crippling injury list and in a position the club was already well covered in was poor.

Not replacing Brennan Johnson, who was sold for £35m to Crystal Palace, was a big mistake.

So, the January transfer window will be one of major regrets should Tottenham fall into the Championship.

Another will be the misguided appointment of Igor Tudor. The problem with the Croatian was that he came in and told the players they were not good enough. No wonder he only lasted seven games.

De Zerbi has made the desired impact, and I have no doubt that had he taken charge sooner, then Spurs would be 12th or 13th.

Spurs' safety may have already been secured had it not been for some controversial VAR calls lately that have not gone their way. In fact, the north London club are yet to win a penalty in the Premier League this season.

Nonetheless, officiating is only a minor factor in their plight as they head into the final day in 17th, needing a point to guarantee their safety.

Maddison's role on defining day for Spurs

Spurs will be looking for a hero on Sunday and it feels set up for Maddison.

He has made a huge impact off the bench in his only two appearances of the season, and, understandably, fans have been asking the question: Can he start against Everton?

What I am led to believe is that he cannot give much more than what he has already given in the past two games after returning from a serious knee injury.

If Tottenham had nothing to play for, we might not even be seeing Maddison play at all right now.

But the situation Spurs are in, they desperately need his quality. He is not only giving a lot as a player, but he is also a real leader and presence off the pitch.

He spoke well after Tuesday's Chelsea defeat - he just gets it. He was right to be "embarrassed" by Spurs' struggles.

I expect Maddison to start on the bench on Sunday in what will be a very tense day.

It would not surprise me if both Tottenham and West Ham draw, but I expect the Hammers to take the lead at some point.

And if Tottenham are relegated after a defeat, they have only got themselves to blame.

What will make it even more painful is their north London rivals Arsenal lifting the Premier League trophy on Sunday.

Only four years ago, Spurs beat Arsenal 3-0 to secure fourth under Antonio Conte, but now the two sides could be playing in different divisions next season.

Tottenham avoided Premier League relegation but Gary Neville has branded their season "pathetic" and called on the ownership to conduct a thorough review of what has gone wrong.

For the second season in a row Spurs have finished 17th in the table. But while last year came with the bonus of a Europa League triumph, Spurs supporters have endured a miserable campaign this time around.

Joao Palhinha's winner against Everton at least saved their top-flight status but Neville is clear major surgery is required to return Tottenham back to the top end of English football.

"Is it too far to say that they've been pathetic? That they should be ashamed of themselves? Probably not," said the Sky Sports pundit.

Final Premier League table | Top scorers | Watch FREE PL highlights

Premier League 26/27 dates - when are fixtures released?

Window opens June 15 - follow Transfer Centre LIVE!

"This is Tottenham Hotspur. I know sometimes I get mocked for saying this is Manchester United, but this is a football club steeped in incredible traditions.

"Now they've not won trophies for a long time regularly, even though they won a Europa League last year, which was fantastic. It was great for this fanbase to celebrate a trophy.

"But they've been underachievers and underperforming for a long time. This is another level underachievement and hitting new lows. The last two years in the Premier League."

On the overhaul required, he said: "There's got to be a massive reset; there's got to be an autopsy that goes really deep right the way through the club.

"When you're owners of a football club - and I'm an owner of a football club - sometimes you have to start by looking in the mirror yourself.

"Success sometimes doesn't come in a football club because of the decisions that you [the owner] make, because of what you do. Not because of what the fans, what the players, or what the coaches do.

"I mean, appointing Igor Tudor and having to sack him within a few weeks - he didn't feel right; that appointment from day one, did it? It just didn't connect.

"Sacking Ange Postecoglou and bringing in Thomas Frank, someone who's highly respected, bringing in Igor Tudor, now bringing De Zerbi in.

"What a rollercoaster of a season. [The owners] have lost a lot of credibility and trust. You can see the signs that are up against the owners, and I'm not surprised."

De Zerbi wants to build 'dream' team - but only 12 good enough to stay

After securing Tottenham's Premier League status, head coach Roberto De Zerbi set out his vision for next season, describing how he will try to build the "team I have in my dream". But he warned only a dozen of Spurs' players are of the level to continue the journey with him.

"From tonight, we have to start to organise and to build a new team," he said. "I think we have not to change too many players.

"We have 10, 11, 12 players good enough to stay. And then we have to complete the squad with first level of players.

"First level of players because we suffered too much. I suffered a lot but the fans, the club, the board, the players, they suffered too much. We are Tottenham and we can't suffer like this until the last second of the last game to stay up.

"And I will be stronger. I don't want to decide alone because football is a group.

"Sport director, scouting, CEO, but my target now is finished to stay up. My target is to start the pre-season with the team I have in my dream, in my head."

Asked if Joao Palhinha is part of those plans, following the crucial goals he has scored against Wolves and Everton, De Zerbi said: "I would like to keep him 100 per cent.

"For sure I would like him to stay with me. Like Conor Gallagher. Like Kolo [Randal Kolo Muani]."

Van de Ven: We have the right people now, the right manager

Spurs centre-back Micky van de Ven believes the club are now on the right path, with De Zerbi leading the team.

"Really confident [there will be improvements next season]," he said. "I think we have the right people now here, the right manager. So yeah, I'm confident that we can do more next year.

"Two years in a row we end up 17th, which is unacceptable, especially for a club like Spurs. So things are going to need to change next season and we're going to see if that's going to happen.

"We're going to do everything about it and I'm confident that we're going to do way better than we did the last two seasons."

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player