Another Premier League loss for Spurs: will they get relegated?
Roberto De Zerbi took charge of his first game as head coach of Spurs, but was unable to stop the slide.
The gap to the drop was what everyone was talking about. It was how close they were to the gap, how little difference there was between Spurs and the teams set to go down.
Smaller and smaller the gap got, and more the pressure grew.
Now it’s not even a gap to the relegation zone. It’s worse. There is not even the comfort of their not being a gap at all: it has inverted. The gap for Spurs is now now a gap to relegation, but a gap to safety.
Roberto De Zerbi is not the story. The story is not that the Italian head coach has been brought in on what is reportedly a huge financial package, tasked with saving the club from a potential relegation. The story is that this tailspin is terminal, and Spurs’ fall cannot be stopped quickly. If they survive from here, it is a miracle.
Sunderland battled against them at the Stadium of Light and went close a number of times before going ahead. It’s true that Spurs also went close, in a back-and-forth game that could have gone either way. But things aren’t going well for this Tottenham team, and at the bottom of the table luck is a rarity.
Nordi Mukiele’s deflected strike was, in the end, enough to give Sunderland all three points and hand Tottenham their 16th loss this season. Having not had a victory since December, they are winless in 14 and have picked up 1 point from their last 24 available.
Spurs’ Premier League run-in:
vs Brighton & Hove Albion (home), Apr 18, 10:00 AM ET
vs Wolves (away), Apr 25, 10:00 AM ET
vs Aston Villa (away), May 2, 10:00 AM ET
vs Leeds United (home), May 9, 10:00 AM ET
vs Chelsea (away), May 17, 10:00 AM ET
vs Everton (home), May 24, 11:00 AM ET
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