Roberto De Zerbi has just six games in hand to decide Tottenham Hotspur’s fate.
For Roberto De Zerbi, the crystal-clear objective is to keep Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.
The Italian arrived at White Hart Lane over the March international break, taking over after Igor Tudor’s disastrous spell in charge. His spell in N17 did not start as Spurs fans would have hoped, with the North Londoners falling to a 1-0 away loss to Sunderland. Tottenham were unlucky to concede from a deflected goal in a game that had few clear-cut openings for both sides.
Roberto De Zerbi insisted that he saw encouraging signs in his side’s defeat at the Stadium of Light. However, the harsh reality at this stage of the season is that Tottenham need points to clinch safety, with just six games left.
Roy Keane gives verdict on Tottenham’s survival chances
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher thinks Tottenham will drop to the Championship and have “no chance” of beating Wolves at Molineux next weekend. On the contrary, ex-Manchester United right-back Gary Neville expects Spurs to just keep themselves up.
Now, Neville’s former Man United teammate, Roy Keane, insists that De Zerbi will be able to learn a lot from his first match at the helm. Despite the loss at Sunderland, the Sky Sports pundit backs the Italian tactician to continue learning more about his side in the coming weeks.
“The manager has only been there a week or two. How many sessions is that? You are not going to have a great reaction,” Roy Keane said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.
“It’s maybe next week, after learning from the game. You can do all the training sessions. He will learn more about the game now, but obviously, they are up against it.”
When asked if he expects Spurs to suffer relegation, Keane added: “I still think they are going to get out of it. I just have that feeling they will produce something. They have got to start quickly, and that is with Brighton at home.
“I think they are capable of beating Brighton. The manager used to manage Brighton. Sometimes you need something like that to kind of get you over the line. They are more than capable of getting some momentum and beating Wolves.”
Pressure on Tottenham to beat Brighton
As things stand, Tottenham sit 18th in the standings, with two points separating them and West Ham heading into what is set to be a massive home clash with Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday.
De Zerbi will be desperate to beat his former employers and guide the North Londoners to their first league win of 2026. At the same time, Brighton must be raring to compound misery on their ex-boss and create more issues for the Lilywhites. There were some positives to take from the Sunderland defeat, and De Zerbi will want to build on them when the Seagulls visit N17.
A win at the weekend would do wonders for the Tottenham players.