De Zerbi: One win can change everything for Tottenham Hotspur

Stadium of Light, Sunderland — Roberto De Zerbi strode into the press room insisting that Tottenham Hotspur’s season is not yet beyond salvation, despite watching his side sink to a 1-0 defeat that leaves them anchored in the Premier League relegation zone and still searching for their first league victory of 2026.

A cruel 78th-minute deflection, Nordi Mukiele’s strike clipping Micky van de Ven on its way past keeper Guglielmo Vicario, condemned Spurs to a 16th league loss of the campaign and stretched their winless run to 14 matches — the third-longest such sequence from the start of a calendar year in top-flight history.

Yet De Zerbi, who has overseen five of those defeats since taking charge, refused to accept that relegation is inevitable.

“I think we played a good game, not enough to win but we didn’t deserve to lose,” the Italian told Sky Sports. “We have to accept and move on. We played a good game. We have enough quality to come out from this difficult moment.”

The visitors’ afternoon grew darker when Cristian Romero was stretchered off with an ankle problem; the defender will be assessed on Monday. Still, Spurs fashioned three or four clear openings, only to falter in the final 15 metres. “We can be better especially to find the play between the lines,” De Zerbi admitted. “We made two or three mistakes in the last 15 metres and we have to move on into the next game.”

The wider picture is bleak. West Ham United’s 4-0 rout of Wolves nudged Tottenham into the bottom three, while Nottingham Forest’s 1-1 draw at Aston Villa extended the gap between Spurs and safety to four points with ten fixtures remaining.

De Zerbi, however, believes a single victory could flip the narrative. “My opinion is that we have big players who are in a bad moment in terms of results,” he said. “We have to work on one win because with one win we can change everything this season. The players of the quality are great but we have to believe more in ourselves and the crucial part is to win one game.”

Pressed on whether time is running out, the head coach replied: “I have 24 hours per day and it is not a problem of time. All together we have to stay focused to win one game.”

Tottenham return to Hotspur Way on Monday to prepare for next weekend’s visit of Brentford, aware that anything less than three points could leave their survival hopes hanging by the thinnest of threads.