Roberto De Zerbi will be aiming to make a winning start to his Tottenham tenure when his side faces Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
Tottenham Hotspur saw Roberto De Zerbi as their ‘dream appointment’ and threw the kitchen sink to get him during the March international break after parting ways with interim boss Igor Tudor. Now the Italian has seven games to make sure the North London club beats the drop, starting with the Sunderland away fixture on Sunday.
On Friday evening, Spurs dropped to 18th in the table for the first time this season following West Ham’s 4-0 thumping of Wolves at home. By doing so, West Ham are momentarily out of the drop zone, putting the pressure firmly on Roberto De Zerbi’s boys to respond against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
In his first press conference as Tottenham head coach, De Zerbi confessed he inherited a squad packed full of quality and that he sees stars such as Cristian Romero, Pedro Porro, Dominic Solanke and Micky van de Ven as key men. The 46-year-old also had Mohammed Kudus as a “crucial player in his head”, but he will not be able to use him this season as the Ghanaian international suffered a setback in his recovery from a quad injury.
Paul Merson makes Sunderland vs. Tottenham prediction
Spurs remain the only team in the Premier League yet to win a league game since the turn of the year. It has now been more than 100 days since their last Premier League victory, which came against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in their final game of 2025 in December.
BBC Sport pundit Chris Sutton has predicted a difficult first game for Spurs boss De Zerbi. Now, Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has delivered his prediction on the Sunderland vs. Tottenham fixture. He has backed Regis Le Bris’ side to edge the Lilywhites 2-1, purely because of their great result against Newcastle United at St James’ Park in the derby before the international break.
“I don’t think Roberto De Zerbi can turn it around this weekend,” Paul Merson wrote in his column for Sportskeeda.
“I say that because De Zerbi is not Sean Dyche or Sam Allardyce. He’s a guy who is quite complex with his approach, and that style of play could make Tottenham very open at the back. It won’t be an overnight success for De Zerbi at Spurs.
“I’m going to back Sunderland to win for what they did against Newcastle. If it goes like I predicted, Tottenham will be two points adrift off safety with six games left to go, including matches against Chelsea and Aston Villa.
“So basically, Tottenham have four games to turn it around. I think Spurs have a better chance of beating Brighton next weekend than Sunderland here.”
Pressure firmly on Spurs to perform
De Zerbi will have to produce miracles if he is to keep Spurs in the Premier League, given their domestic form since the start of 2026. The North Londoners are winless in their last 13 league matches, while having dropped to the relegation zone following West Ham’s big win over Wolves on Friday.
With the likelihood of relegation already looming large, Tottenham simply have to beat Sunderland. The squad’s form and confidence look to be on the floor, but the onus is now on De Zerbi to pick his players up and motivate them to produce a positive result at the Stadium of Light. The Italian has to demand 100 per cent from his players in training and matches.
That said, it will be intriguing to see the tactics our gaffer uses against the Black Cats.