BBC

Tottenham's heavy north London derby defeat by Arsenal on Sunday just confirmed what everyone already knew.

Igor Tudor's team are in serious trouble.

Perilously perched just four points above the Premier League relegation zone following the 4-1 home loss, Spurs have a multitude of issues to resolve.

They have not won a domestic league game in 2026 and only two since 26 October 2025, meaning that - aside from bottom club Wolves - 16th-placed Tottenham have the worst form in the division.

New interim head coach Tudor has a crippling injury list to contend with, plus a forthcoming Champions League last-16 tie to negotiate.

And all this is while he is attempting to implement new ideas and avoid the unthinkable scenario of dropping into the Championship.

Tottenham finished 17th last term, but were never really in danger of relegation as then-boss Ange Postecoglou juggled an injury-hit squad with a focus on Europe.

While their league form suffered, they still scored 64 times and the silver lining was a Europa League triumph over Manchester United last May, which also secured a coveted place in the Champions League.

However, their attacking output this season has been underwhelming and they would need to average 2.45 goals per game in their forthcoming fixtures to match the same tally as the previous campaign.

The long-term absences of Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison have hardly helped matters and a stretched squad was without a total of 11 players last weekend, considerably more than any other Premier League club.

With nearly a starting XI of unavailable players, who do you think Spurs need to return the most?

Make your choice here

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Tottenham paid Southampton more than £8m to sign Dean Richards in September 2001 and he made an instant impact at his new club.

The former Wolves defender scored 15 minutes into his debut against Manchester United - in a match perhaps best remembered for United turning a 3-0 half-time deficit into a 5-3 victory at White Hart Lane.

He was unable to feature in Spurs' run to the League Cup final that season, having appeared for the Saints earlier in the competition, but he was a regular fixture in the Tottenham side until the end of the 2003-04 campaign.

Sadly, Richards was forced to retire in March 2005 on medical advice, having suffered from headaches and dizzy spells for some time beforehand.

A club statement at the time said Richards had "undergone extensive tests" which "produced strong, conclusive medical evidence that it would be harmful to his long-term health to continue in the sport".

In all, Richards, who died exactly 15 years ago today, played 81 games for Spurs and scored four goals.

Thursday marks the 15-year anniversary of the death of former Wolves,Southampton and Tottenham defender Dean Richards.

Richards died on 26 February, 2011, aged 36, following a long illness. He had been forced to retire six years earlier because of ill health.

Richards, a cultured centre-back, began his career with his hometown club Bradford City before joining Wolves for a club-record fee in 1995.

After a four-year spell at Molineux, he moved to Southampton in 1999 and then Spurs in 2001.

A week after his death, Wolves and Tottenham met in a Premier League fixture at Molineux.

His widow and two sons, as well as representatives from his four former clubs, were present as the football world paid tribute to a player affectionately known as "Deano".

In the wake of every disaster, people search for the moment it all went wrong. As our fiercest rivals celebrated another derby win last Sunday, the Tottenham fanbase was left scouring the wreckage.

To outsiders, the scene looks surreal. They might blame a referee, a diving centre-back, or simply conclude that Arsenal are the better team. But we know the truth: the issues that got us here run much deeper than a 90-minute failure.

For a half-decade, this club has ignored the fissures splintering across the hull of the "Good Ship Tottenham". We aimed high without ever performing the maintenance necessary for the voyage.

Last year, the warning lights flashed but because we triumphed in Bilbao, the board dismissed it as a faulty sensor - arrogantly ploughing on into the storm.

Now, with the "plughole" of the Championship looming, we have moved past worry into existential dread.

The cliche that Spurs are "too good to go down" has been exposed as a myth. The reality is simpler: Spurs aren't very good.

Our club has been driven to the brink by corporate suits incapable of grasping the gravity of their responsibility. Tottenham is an institution - one of the Premier League's "Founding Five" - but institutions crumble when they aren't cared for.

This negligence isn't new. It precedes the dismal appointment of Thomas Frank and the failure to support Ange Postecoglou. It goes back to the decision to sell Harry Kane without a plan, and even further to 2018, when the club decided building a stadium was more important than building a team.

Our squad is now built in the board's image: fragile, incomplete and out of touch with reality.

While West Ham, Leeds and Nottingham Forest look built for the relegation grind, we are left hoping they simply "double-fault" to let us off the hook.

I am frightened. Relegation will haunt us for a generation.

The people that led us here won't go hungry, though - even as they drag this iconic institution to Loftus Road on a Tuesday night.

There have been a number of media reports, external outlining the calamitous cost that relegation would bring to Tottenham.

And the club would undoubtedly face a significant financial hit if they were to start 2026-27 in the second tier.

Broadcast, matchday and commercial incomes would all be squeezed, while the most recent wage bill sat at about £254m as opposed to the Championship average of £38m.

There would also be a knock-on effect on transfers, not only in the quality of players the club could attract but also in paying off £337m in outstanding instalments for current players.

BBC Sport's own analysis points to an estimated fall in annual revenue of about £261m as football finance expert Kieran Maguire said: "In 2023-24, the most Spurs generated an average of £84 per supporter per match, the highest figure in the Premier League.

"That figure would face significant downward pressure, not from the size of the crowd, but from what clubs can realistically charge.

"Corporate clients who pay a premium for a home fixture against Liverpool or Arsenal are unlikely to pay the same for a visit from Swansea.

"There is also great financial vulnerability around sponsorship. The front-of-shirt deal with AIA, worth about £40m a year almost certainly contains relegation clauses that could halve its value.

"The kit deal with Nike, estimated at £30m annually, is likely to take a smaller hit.

"Spurs supporters will still buy replica shirts regardless of division, but a reduction is likely. Broader sponsorship and partner agreements across the club would face similar issues."

He added: "For a club of Spurs' ambitions and financial scale, relegation would not simply be a short-term sporting setback. The economics of English football make recovery a multi-year project."

In Tottenham's remaining 11 Premier League games they will visit Wolves and have home fixtures against sides around them in the table - Crystal Palace, Brighton, Nottingham Forest and Leeds.

However, their record at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this season is frankly abysmal, so can they expect to turn their form around against fellow strugglers?

With just two wins and only 10 points accrued from a possible 42, only Wolves have collected fewer points on home soil.

While sports analytics and data experts Opta place their chances of relegation at just 4.84%, worryingly for Spurs supporters their team have collected just 0.67 points per game since defeating Everton on 26 October.

And unless Tottenham can arrest their slump, that would equate to a further seven points, taking them to 36 on the final day of the season.

"I would be really surprised if they weren't able to fight their way out of it," former Spurs midfielder Danny Murphy told BBC Sport.

"The games coming up are all huge. I think they will have just enough.

"The fact we are mentioning Spurs going down is unbelievable. It's absolutely ridiculous really.

"Whether you blame recruitment or the owners, it would be catastrophic for that club. I have heard some fans suggest going down could be the best thing. I just don't see that."

Liverpool,Manchester United and Tottenham are interested in RB Leipzig's Ivory Coast winger Yan Diomande - but a deal could be complicated by a dispute over who currently represents the 19-year-old. (Telegraph - subscription required), external

Tottenham's owners are planning to rip up the club's rigid wage structure before a major overhaul of the squad this summer if the team avoid relegation. (Guardian), external

Juventus have opened discussions with Tottenham's Italy goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, 29, but the Serie A club are also interested in Liverpool's 33-year-old Brazil international Alisson. (Gazzetta, via Standard), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip column

Tottenham have four Premier League games remaining before next month's international break.

We asked you how many points you think Igor Tudor's men can get - and need - to steady the ship for the end of the season.

Here are some of your comments:

Andrew: Spurs need nine or 10 points from the next four matches. They have to win all the remaining home games. If they fail to get this then the pressure will be huge and not sure they have the grit to grind out results to avoid relegation.

Harry: The scoreline from Sunday flattered Arsenal massively given the disallowed goal and goalline clearance. Spurs looked a lot better after just a week with Tudor and should do the business against most of these clubs.

Atul: One win, two draws and one loss is the best Spurs can hope for. Anything less and I think they will drop.

Seb: We will lose them all.

JP: Minimum of six points from these games, else we're for the chop.

Colin: Spurs have four must-win games from now until the end of the season - Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest and Leeds - all at home - plus Wolves away. Win those and they stay up. Anything less than four wins from those games and the task of staying up becomes virtually impossible. Simple.

Tottenham's heavy north London derby defeat against Arsenal on Sunday just confirmed what everyone already knew.

Igor Tudor's team are in serious trouble.

Perilously perched just four points above the Premier League relegation zone following the 4-1 home loss, Spurs have a multitude of issues to resolve.

They have not won a domestic league game in 2026 and only two since 26 October 2025, meaning that - aside from bottom club Wolves - 16th-placed Tottenham have the worst form in the division.

New interim head coach Tudor has a crippling injury list to contend with, plus a forthcoming Champions League last-16 tie to negotiate.

And all this is while he is attempting to implement new ideas and avoid the unthinkable scenario of dropping down into the Championship.

Since 1950, Spurs have only spent one season outside the top flight, which was back in 1977-78.

BBC Sport assesses their precarious situation, what relegation might bring and if they are too good to go down?

In Tottenham's remaining 11 Premier League games they will visit Wolves and have home fixtures against sides around them in the table - Crystal Palace, Brighton, Nottingham Forest and Leeds.

However, their record at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this season is frankly abysmal, so can they expect to turn their form around against fellow strugglers?

With just two wins and only 10 points accrued from a possible 42, only Wolves have collected fewer points on home soil.

While sports analytics and data experts Opta place their chances of relegation at just 4.84%, worryingly for Spurs supporters their team have collected just 0.67 points per game since defeating Everton on 26 October.

And unless Tottenham can arrest their slump, that would equate to a further seven points, taking them to 36 on the final day of the season.

"I would be really surprised if they weren't able to fight their way out of it," former Spurs midfielder Danny Murphy, told BBC Sport.

"The games coming up are all huge. I think they will have just enough.

"The fact we are mentioning Spurs going down is unbelievable. It's absolutely ridiculous really.

"Whether you blame recruitment or the owners, it would be catastrophic for that club. I have heard some fans suggest going down could be the best thing. I just don't see that."

Tottenham finished 17th last term, but were never really in danger of relegation as then-boss Ange Postecoglou juggled an injury-hit squad with a focus on Europe.

While their league form suffered they still scored 64 times and the silver lining was a Europa League triumph over Manchester United last May, which also secured a coveted place in the Champions League.

However, their attacking output this season has been underwhelming and they would need to average 2.45 goals per game in their forthcoming fixtures to match the same tally as the previous campaign.

The long-term absences of Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison have hardly helped matters and a stretched squad was without a total of 11 players last weekend, considerably more than any other Premier League club.

Former full-back Stephen Kelly believes the "only reason" Tottenham may stay up is that other teams are even worse.

"You look at the fixtures coming and you feel like they are ones they could absolutely lose," he said.

"They need a mentality to be able to perform at home. If you can get back to winning some games that can make a huge difference, but it just doesn't feel like that is going to change between now and the end of the season.

"I don't really want to admit it, and still feel there are teams that are really poor and won't get themselves out of it [relegation], but the only reason Spurs will be OK is that other teams will do worse.

"It is not a great thing to be talking about, but is probably going to be the case. It is not looking very good at all."

There has been a number of media reports, external outlining the calamitous cost that relegation would bring to Spurs.

And the club would undoubtedly face a significant financial hit if it was to start 2026-27 in the second tier.

Broadcast, matchday and commercial incomes would all be squeezed, while the most recent wage bill sat at around £254m as opposed to the Championship average of £38m.

There would also be a knock-on effect on transfers, not only in the quality of players the club could attract but also in paying off £337m in outstanding instalments for current players.

BBC Sport's own analysis points to an estimated fall in annual revenue of around £261m as football finance expert Kieran Maguire said: "In 2023-24, the most Spurs generated an average of £84 per supporter per match, the highest figure in the Premier League.

"That figure would face significant downward pressure, not from the size of the crowd, but from what clubs can realistically charge.

"Corporate clients who pay a premium for a home fixture against Liverpool or Arsenal are unlikely to pay the same for a visit from Swansea.

"There is also great financial vulnerability around sponsorship. The front-of-shirt deal with AIA, worth around £40m a year almost certainly contains relegation clauses that could halve its value.

"The kit deal with Nike, estimated at £30m annually, is likely to take a smaller hit.

"Spurs supporters will still buy replica shirts regardless of division, but a reduction is likely. Broader sponsorship and partner agreements across the club would face similar issues."

He added: "For a club of Spurs' ambitions and financial scale, relegation would not simply be a short-term sporting setback. The economics of English football make recovery a multi-year project."

Fabricio Coloccini, Obafemi Martins, Michael Owen, Damien Duff and Nicky Butt were part of the Newcastle squad relegated in 2008-09.

On paper the Magpies also looked relatively strong in the 2015-16 campaign, with Aleksandar Mitrovic, Georginio Wijnaldum and Andros Townsend in their ranks.

Again, that wasn't enough and they joined another former European Cup-winning club, Aston Villa in going down that year.

The basic premise appears to be that the scrap for survival takes no account of big names - once you're down there anything can transpire.

"If you keep losing games and confidence drops, it doesn't matter how many good players you have, it gets hard," added Murphy.

Sheffield Wednesday have never returned since losing their top-flight spot in 2000, with their sorry plight well documented.

Like the Owls, Leeds United have dropped down as far as the third tier since being crowned English champions in 1992, while former Premier League winners Blackburn are currently fighting to preserve their Championship status.