Victory for Newcastle United at Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday lifted pressure off manager Eddie Howe, but left counterpart Thomas Frank’s future looking increasingly precarious.
Newcastle won 2-1 for only their third away success of the Premier League season, moving up to 10th place in the table and ending a run of three successive defeats.
Howe had said after their home loss to Brentford at the weekend that he would step aside if he did not believe he was the right man for Newcastle, but Tuesday’s win means talk about a possible departure will be tempered.
But for Frank, the future looks bleak unless he can quickly turn things around.
Tottenham supporters left no doubt about their feelings at the end of the encounter with jeers ringing out around the stadium as they suffered an 11th league defeat since the manager arrived from Brentford, slipping to 16th in the table and closer to the relegation zone.
“It’s been better, of course. It hurts massively that we couldn’t get the win today,” Frank said.
“I understand the frustration and the easiest thing is to point at me. That’s part of the job, unfortunately. I will work day and night to turn this around, but it is not just one person. There is no doubt we need to improve, and I need to be part of that.”
But he said he had spoken to the club’s owners on the eve of the game and was confident his job was safe despite Spurs’ winless run in the league stretching to eight games.
Frank now has the lowest win percentage of any Spurs manager in the Premier League era, with a win rate of just 26.9% and it also does not get any easier for him as they next play a derby against North London rivals, and league leaders, Arsenal on Sunday, February 22.
“We need to be doing better, and the next game will be another tough one. We’ve got time to get that right, but we’ve got great players on the team,” said Spurs striker Dominic Solanke.
“We don’t want to be anywhere near the bottom of the table, but we know we can turn it around. It’s a matter of when. We have a while until the next game now.”
Yet another Premier League home defeat left Spurs looking over their shoulder at the relegation zone and Frank nearer the exit door.
Last season’s Europa League winners and qualifiers for this season’s Champions League last-16 were booed off after Jacob Ramsey sealed a rare away win for Eddie Howe’s side.
Tottenham would have found themselves only three points above the drop zone had it not been for Manchester United’s Benjamin Sesko scoring a stoppage-time equaliser to deny 18th-placed West Ham United a 1-0 win.
The 1-1 draw kept United in fourth place though it ended caretaker manager Michael Carrick’s 100% record since taking over in January.
Another unblemished record went at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior dropped his first league points since replacing Enzo Maresca, his side drawing 2-2 at home to Leeds United having led 2-0.
Tottenham have not been relegated from the top flight since 1977 but such is the present malaise at the club it is now becoming a genuine fear as they are in 16th place, five points above West Ham whose form is on the up.
They have not won a Premier League game since December 28 and have managed only two victories from their 13 home league games this season. To make matters worse, their next fixture is at home to north London rivals and leaders Arsenal.
Newcastle completely dominated the first half and the only surprise was it took them until stoppage time to get ahead as defender Malick Thiaw stabbed home a rebound.
Injury-hit Tottenham were marginally better after the break and Archie Gray levelled. But Newcastle deservedly took the points when Anthony Gordon teed up Ramsey for a cute finish, his first goal since joining from Aston Villa.
Newcastle moved up to 10th in the table on 36 points. Tottenham have 29 points from 26 games, with Nottingham Forest, who play bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers on Wednesday, on 26 from 25. West Ham have 24.
West Ham were seconds away from a fourth win in five league games as they led with Tomas Soucek’s strike early in the second half after good work by Jarrod Bowen.
United had an effort from Casemiro ruled out but salvaged a point when substitute Sesko struck at the death.
Carrick’s side have 45 points, one more than Chelsea who will be kicking themselves after drawing with Leeds.
Chelsea appeared to be cruising with goals either side of the interval from Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer who scored his third penalty in two games.
But they threw away two points as Moises Caicedo fouled Jayden Bogle and Lukas Nmecha converted a penalty before Noah Okafor poked in an equaliser after Chelsea failed to clear a ball into the area.
The draw lifted Leeds above Tottenham into 15th.