Tudor's nightmare first game paints an even clearer picture: Spurs are in serious trouble

Tottenham Hotspur arrived at kick-off against Arsenal on Sunday hoping a new voice might scramble the script. Instead, Igor Tudor’s first afternoon in interim charge turned into a brutal audit of the club’s deeper malaise as Arsenal swaggered to a 4-1 derby win that felt every bit as chastening as the scoreline suggests.

Appointed only five days earlier after the sacking of Thomas Frank, the Croatian coach discovered quickly that optimism has a short shelf-life in N17. Dominic Solanke, the club’s record signing, spent the week battling a sore throat; several first-team regulars remained in the treatment room; and league-leading Arsenal arrived wounded after dropping points at Wolves. The circumstances were forbidding, yet for 45 minutes Spurs hinted at a pulse. Randal Kolo Muani, reunited with the coach who revived him at Juventus, levelled within two minutes of Eberechi Eze’s opener and tormented Gabriel with raw pace. The crowd, energised by Paul Coyte’s pre-match rallying cry and a South-Stand tifo proclaiming Spurs “north London originals”, roared its approval when Micky van de Ven hammered an early clearance into the stands. The stadium, toxic for months, briefly felt like a 12th man.

The reprieve did not last. A disallowed Kolo Muani goal, which Tudor appeared to deem soft, prevented Spurs from turning territorial pressure into a second-half lead. Within minutes the match, and perhaps the season, unravelled. Eze, who rejected Tottenham last summer, ghosted through midfield to punish Yves Bissouma’s lapse and set Viktor Gyokeres free to torment Radu Dragusin. Bukayo Saka embarrassed Djed Spence and Van de Ven down the right; Spence’s late attempt to dribble out of trouble ended with possession lost and Gyokeres sealing his brace. Xavi Simons, so influential in recent weeks, was muted, as were Conor Gallagher and Pape Matar Sarr. Deployed in a 5-3-2 without the ball, Spurs looked anything but secure, surviving only because Dragusin blocked a Gyokeres header bound for the corner in the third minute.

The 4-1 defeat is the second time this season Tottenham have shipped four to their neighbours, a statistic many supporters will deem unforgivable. More importantly, it leaves them four points above West Ham in the final relegation berth and only two clear of Nottingham Forest in 17th. Fortunate results elsewhere offered brief respite, but the table does not lie: Spurs have won just twice at home in 14 league attempts this campaign and have not recorded a league victory since late 2025.

Tudor, a serial short-term fixer at Lazio, Juventus and Udinese, admitted the chasm between the sides was “very evident” and questioned the mentality of his squad. “I’m very sad and very angry,” he said. “The medicine is you look in the mirror. Each of us must change habits. Working hard is the only way.” With 11 fixtures remaining, beginning at Fulham on Sunday, the 46-year-old must somehow conjure cohesion from a fragmented squad and reconnect with a fanbase that has endured months of disappointment.

Sunday’s brief flurry of togetherness proved Tottenham can still stir the blood, but the subsequent collapse underlined the scale of reconstruction required. Tudor’s honeymoon never left the runway; instead, his maiden voyage revealed a club in genuine danger of slipping toward the Championship. Unless the interim boss can translate urgency into points, and quickly, Spurs’ season risks sliding from crisis to catastrophe.

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