Tottenham Hotspur’s dreadful Premier League season hit a new low on Sunday afternoon as Sunderland beat the Londoners 1-0 at the Stadium of Light, leaving them stuck in the relegation zone.
Faced with the threat of relegation from England’s top division for the first time since the 1970s, Spurs sacked Igor Tudor during the international break, with Roberto De Zerbi taking his place.
De Zerbi’s first assignment in charge of the London club was to end Tottenham’s longest winless league run in the 21st century, stretching back to Boxing Day.
Indeed, they have failed to win each of their last 13 Premier League outings, including an embarrassing 3-0 home defeat to fellow survival hopefuls Nottingham Forest on the stroke of the international break.
West Ham United’s 4-0 rout of relegation-bound Wolverhampton Wanderers yesterday plunged Tottenham into the bottom three before the afternoon kick-off, heightening the pressure on De Zerbi ahead of his touchline debut.
Despite sharing the spoils with Sunderland in January’s reverse fixture in the capital, Spurs’ last league loss to the Black Cats came in April 2010, inspiring belief that the Italian could [get his tenure off to a flying start](https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/2026/april/sunderland-vs-spurs-premier-league-key-stats-april-2026/).
Tottenham kicked things off on the front foot, with Lucas Bergvall nearly breaking the deadlock after just two minutes, but the Swedish talent couldn’t connect with an overhit pass.
Sunderland fired back seven minutes later, as Granit Xhaka tried to beat Antonin Kinsky directly from a corner, only for the Czech goalkeeper to punch the ball away over the top.
Regis Le Bris’ side mustered the first clear-cut chance of the game in the 19th minute. Bryan Brobbey latched onto Enzo Le Fee’s cross, but his close-range header flew inches away from the frame of Kinsky’s goal.
A moment later, referee Robert Jones pointed to the spot for a risky tackle on Randal Kolo Muani. Yet, Tottenham’s celebration was short-lived, as he overturned his decision after consulting with the side-pitch monitor.
The Black Cats continued to dominate the game in terms of chances created, with Nordi Mukiele and Xhaka spurning two good-looking opportunities in quick succession.
Perhaps the two most promising chances of the first half came in the stoppage time.
Habib Diarra found himself unmarked inside the six-yard box, pouncing on a flicked header, but Kinsky came up huge to thwart his first-time attempt from close range.
Spurs could’ve immediately punished Sunderland for several wasted opportunities had Dominic Solanke kept his cool. However, the English striker powered his point-blank shot straight at Robin Roefs.
Action was back and forth at the start of the second half, with neither side offering much in the front third. Still, Sunderland benefited from a scrappy 15-minute sequence after the break.
Mukiele took a hopeful shot from the edge of the box. Though Kinsky would’ve probably made a comfortable save, the ball took an awkward deflection off Micky Van de Ven and finished in the back of the net.
As if De Zerbi’s first game in charge could not have gone any worse, starting centre-back Cristian Romero suffered an injury shortly after Sunderland’s opener and had to leave the pitch in tears (via [Express Sport](https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/2193152/Cristian-Romero-tears-Tottenham-Sunderland)).
More importantly, Tottenham struggled to generate any meaningful response, as the stubborn home defence kept the visitors in check, preventing them from producing a single shot on goal.
In fact, Spurs seemed closer to conceding the second goal than finding an equaliser, as Sunderland looked dangerous in transition.
However, Pedro Porro came agonisingly close to drawing De Zerbi’s side level deep into second-half stoppages, with Roefs pulling off a stunning save to parry away his thunderous attempt.
As a result of a 14th consecutive winless league match, Spurs will end the round two points adrift of safety.