The Tottenham Hotspur head coach takes his team across the capital for a crunch game against Chelsea on Tuesday evening
12:00, 17 May 2026
Roberto De Zerbi will be looking to put aside Tottenham Hotspur's history at Stamford Bridge when they travel there on Tuesday night
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Roberto De Zerbi will be looking to put aside Tottenham Hotspur's history at Stamford Bridge when they travel there on Tuesday night
Anywhere but Stamford Bridge would be Tottenham's preferred destination for the final away day of their relegation battle but Roberto De Zerbi must put history aside to help save the north London club.
Ask any Spurs fan where their team just cannot win in the Premier League and the answer would either be Stamford Bridge or the Emirates. Take Tottenham out of the capital and no venue brings fear but mention Chelsea's stadium and the word 'hoodoo' follows swiftly behind.
For the Lilywhites have won just one solitary game in the Premier League era at that West London ground. It came in 2018 during the peak Mauricio Pochettino years, with Dele Alli scoring twice after Christian Eriksen's stunner from 25 yards had cancelled out Alvaro Morata's headed opener.
That victory represented the first time in more than 28 years that Tottenham had gone across the capital in the league and beaten Chelsea on their own turf. It has not been repeated since, with 21 defeats and 11 draws in all for Tottenham at that venue in the Premier League era around that sole triumph.
The Spurs team that day boasted the likes of Vertonghen, Trippier, Dembele, Son, Dele, Eriksen and Harry Kane even came off the bench. What De Zerbi would do to have the England captain on hand for this current iteration of Tottenham Hotspur.
But this is a very different Spurs, one that has lost its way and is left hoping that the Italian, as its fourth head coach in the past year, can get them punching again before they hit the canvas.
The early signs have been promising. They are unbeaten in four games with two wins and two draws, and those two stalemates at home against Brighton and Leeds would have been victories but for individual errors late on from Kevin Danso and Mathys Tel.
Even De Zerbi's opening narrow defeat at Sunderland could have gone either way and the Premier League's Key Match Incidents panel later admitted that Brian Brobbey should have been sent off for shoving Spurs skipper Cristian Romero into goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, putting the Argentine out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.
Romero has cancelled plans to recuperate back home in South America so he can stay around the team for the fight ahead. He could be seen on Monday night racing out of the dugout to tackle set piece coach Andreas Georgson amid the celebration of Tel's goal.
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De Zerbi's biggest problem is the lack of attacking options at his disposal. He could have Dominic Solanke back in the frame for Tuesday night but remains without Xavi Simons, Mohammed Kudus, Wilson Odobert and Dejan Kulusevski. The Swede's one year anniversary of his knee injury at Selhurst Park was marked by the news that he had been left out of Graham Potter's World Cup squad after repeated setbacks meant he is yet to play a single minute of football this season.
Tottenham at least have James Maddison back in the fold. The England international played 20 minutes against Leeds on Monday night after nine months out with a cruciate ligament injury. De Zerbi will be hoping his midfield magician rediscovers his sharpness just when the north London club needs it the most.
Maddison has recorded five goal involvements in 13 games against Chelsea in the Premier League so he knows how to hurt the Blues, but he has a lot of cobwebs to shake off.
Spurs will be hoping for help from elsewhere. West Ham travel first to Newcastle late on Sunday afternoon and De Zerbi will be praying that Eddie Howe's men sign off at St James' Park in a positive fashion after their own stuttering season.
Then Tuesday brings the trip to Stamford Bridge. Tottenham will have had eight days to prepare while Chelsea come in three days after the cup final.
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It is almost exactly a decade since the 'Battle of the Bridge', when Spurs' title hopes ended amid a flurry of yellow cards and melees. Present day Tottenham are fighting for something very different and they need to find a way to consign history to where it belongs - the rearview mirror.