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Tottenham Hotspur fans will not want to get relegated. Absolutely not.

Dropping out of the Premier League brings a whole world of uncertainty - from finances to star players leaving and the prospect of not immediately returning. The Championship is an unwieldy beast.

But, and this is a big but, should the worst happen over the next five games and the north London outfit drop into the English second tier for the first time in almost 50 years, supporters will have to look for some solace, reasons to embrace life in a new division.

With that in mind, here are five things fans may be able to look forward to should Spurs fail to beat the drop this term.

OK this one's obvious - there's no VAR.

You can get lost in the wild emotion of celebrating a goal without wondering whether it's going to get chalked off because Lucas Moura was bundled over in the build-up and had the ball smashed against his tricep by an opposition defender.

And in general, the Championship feels like a throwback to simpler footballing times.

It's considered one of the most competitive leagues in the world, you get packed away stands, games that are impossible to predict, more goals and eight extra league matches to enjoy. What's not to love?

Talking of away trips. Bored of doing Manchester and Liverpool twice a season? How about Lincoln for a night out instead - there's a good Popworld, apparently.

It's a historic cathedral city - Tom Hanks stayed there while filming The Da Vinci Code - and very walkable, so would make a decent day trip if you're not one for cheesy 90s anthems.

Enjoy a weekend in Wales? Wrexham, Swansea and Cardiff could all be on the cards, too. And Bristol's just the other side of the Severn Bridge, by far the biggest English city to never have a Premier League team.

It's a good opportunity for the ground-hoppers among you to tick off some new spots.

On the flip side, if you're a Tottenham fan who enjoys keeping it local, then there are currently four clubs in the London region in the Championship.

Charlton, Watford, QPR and Millwall could be the local derbies on offer, although the Lions do have their sights set on the Premier League next term.

But don't discount Stevenage, hanging on to a League One play-off spot at the moment. Much of the town is made up of Tottenham and Arsenal fans anyway, so it could prove a pretty tasty trip down the A1 to the Lamex.

Then there's Tottenham's abundance of promising youngsters - many fans would relish seeing them given a good crack at the Championship.

The club already boast a number of regulars under the age of 21 in Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, Mathys Tel and Wilson Odobert, while goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky has just turned 23. Spurs would surely love to keep hold of those.

Meanwhile, homegrown starlet Mikey Moore has impressed on loan at Rangers this season and teenage centre back Luka Vuskovic has been a revelation for Hamburg in the Bundesliga. Will Lankshear is scoring goals in the Championship, too.

And supporters always want to see local academy prospects flourishing.

Next off the "he's one of our own..." production line could be the much-lauded Luca Williams-Barnett, who made his debut earlier this season, while defenders Jun'ai Byfield and James Rowswell and midfielder Callum Olusesi have also featured.

Indeed, my dad and uncle still talk about being wowed by a young Glenn Hoddle when they first started going to White Hart Lane regularly as teenagers during the 1977-78 season, the last campaign Spurs spent in the second division.

The playmaker turned 20 that season and, despite having featured regularly in Spurs' relegation year, his 12 league goals and majestic displays inspired the north London outfit to promotion at the first time of asking.

Maybe a year in the second tier could see a 'new Hoddle' really come of age?

And then there were two?

Nottingham Forest stunned Sunderland with a sensational 5-0 win on Friday to put some serious distance between themselves and the bottom three.

It moved Vitor Pereira's side on to 39 points, eight clear of 18th-placed Tottenham and six clear of 17th-placed West Ham.

It is 15 years since a team was last relegated from the Premier League with 39 points.

So, with Forest unbeaten in eight games in all competitions, is it time to call the battle to avoid the Premier League's final relegation spot a two-horse race?

Forest boss Pereira was quick to tell BBC Match of the Day that his side's tally "isn't enough" to stay up quite yet.

"We need more points, we need to win more games and we need to keep our mentality," he said.

But is Pereira being needlessly cautious?

Twenty-three teams have been on exactly 39 points after 34 games across Premier League history - and none of them have gone down.

There is a strong argument to be made that Forest, and by extension Leeds on 40 points, already have enough to stay up.

When looking at 38-match seasons the average points tally of the side finishing 18th is 34.5 - so 35 points is, on average, good enough for survival.

And, in even better news for Forest and Leeds fans, over the past five seasons the average points tally for 18th has dropped to 29.6.

Only six teams have ever been relegated from the Premier League with 39 or more points in a 38-game campaign.

The last two were Birmingham and Blackpool, who both went down with 39 in 2010-11.

"Is 39 points enough to keep you up? Yes, but you have to work on the basis that anything is still possible," former England midfielder Jamie Redknapp told Sky Sports after Forest's win.

"You are asking Tottenham to win four games... is that going to be possible? We don't know. Back-to-back wins and it all changes."

Mathematically, eight more points ensures next season will be Forest's fifth consecutive campaign in the top flight.

In theory Tottenham could finish on 46 points, but that would require them to win all five of their final five games.

Forest's remaining league matches are against Chelsea, Newcastle, Manchester United and Bournemouth.

Tottenham are up against Wolves, Aston Villa, Leeds, Chelsea and Everton.

And West Ham still have to play Everton, Brentford, Arsenal, Newcastle and Leeds.

In six first-half minutes Forest went from 1-0 up to 4-0 up by capitalising on some Sunderland errors and displaying a ruthlessness in front of goal not seen in the first half of the season.

Chris Wood scored for the first time since a double on the opening day, having been sidelined for most of this campaign with a knee injury.

Goalscorer Igor Jesus impressed, former Newcastle midfielder Elliot Anderson was also on the scoresheet and Morgan Gibbs-White netted again to extend his superb goalscoring run to seven goals in seven games.

Redknapp described it as "the result of the season".

"In the predicament Forest are in, to go to Sunderland and win 5-0, yes Sunderland's home form hasn't been great of late but this is still a difficult place to go, and they had real quality," added Redknapp.

"An unbelievable result. I can only imagine what Nuno Espirito Santo and Roberto de Zerbi are thinking. They are probably watching from behind the sofa thinking, 'we've got it all on now'."

Forest striker Wood added to BBC Match of the Day that survival "is in touching distance".

He said: "I don't think it's done. But it's a big mental one and back-to-back wins puts us in a good position."

According to Opta's supercomputer, it is now 99% likely the final relegation spot will be taken by either Tottenham or West Ham.

Spurs are now 61.01% favourites to go down, while the Hammers have a 37.98% chance of being relegated.

Opta thinks both Leeds and Forest are all but safe - their chances of relegation have narrowed significantly to less than 1%.

So if, indeed, it is down to Tottenham and West Ham - which one will it be? You can predict their remaining results below to see how many points each would end up on...

Brian Brobbey should have been sent off in Sunderland's recent win against Tottenham, the Premier League's key match incidents (KMI) panel has ruled.

In the 63rd minute of the 12 April fixture, just after Sunderland had taken the lead at the Stadium of Light through Nordi Mukiele, home forward Brobbey chased a ball through the centre with Cristian Romero.

Tottenham defender Romero slowed down to shield the ball into the gloves of goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, but he was nudged in the back by Brobbey.

Romero collided with Kinsky, suffering a season-ending knee injury in the process.

Referee Rob Jones gave a foul against Brobbey, who had already been booked after a first-half altercation with Pedro Porro, but opted not to show a second yellow card and subsequent red.

The KMI panel voted 3:2 that the decision by Jones was a mistake, with the majority view being that "there is a two-handed push which is an unnecessarily reckless action".

Tottenham, who lost the game 1-0, would have played the final 30 minutes against 10 men if Brobbey had been dismissed.

Netherlands international Brobbey received racist abuse on social media following the game, with Sunderland reporting the targeting of their player to the Premier League, social media platforms and the police.

KMI panel statistics show that Jones has been responsible for five of the 12 errors this season regarding second yellow cards not being shown. All of his mistakes should have resulted in red cards.

The other cases listed to involve Jones are Malick Thiaw (Newcastle at Bournemouth), Ruben Dias (Manchester City at Nottingham Forest), Rodri (Manchester City at Tottenham) and Cole Palmer (Chelsea v Leeds United).

Jones has the joint-most errors on second bookings in the past two individual seasons, with three recorded in 2024-25 and two in 2023-24.

Of 42 cases regarded as mistakes across the three campaigns, Jones has made 10 of them.

Tottenham manager Martin Ho wants to use this season to "build foundations" for a tilt at Women's Champions League qualification next season.

After a promising first half to the season, Tottenham have lost four in a row in all competitions to slip out of contention for a top-three spot.

Ho is targeting a strong end to the season starting on Sunday with a home game against the side immediately above them in the Women's Super League table, Manchester United.

"I don't come into any season just to take part," said Ho. "I want to make sure this club can be where it should be, competing for honours domestically and European honours, getting in those qualification spots.

"We know that's difficult because it's only three teams but this year gives us a really good opportunity to build foundations for where we want to go.

"I have no doubts next year we can be more competitive."

Meanwhile, up against his former side, Ho is expecting "a bit of bite and a bit of needle" at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.

The two sides met twice in four days in December, United rescuing a point after being 3-0 down in the Women's Super League fixture, before beating Tottenham in the League Cup quarter-finals 72 hours later.

"It will be a competitive game and definitely one of high quality," he said. "Both teams possess really good qualities and really good players."

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Two down, one to go.

Burnley's loss to Manchester City meant they joined Wolves in having their relegation from the Premier League confirmed.

For the past couple of weeks, it has looked like being four teams - Leeds, Nottingham Forest, West Ham and Tottenham - scrapping it out to avoid the remaining spot in the drop zone.

But, following Sean Longstaff's dramatic late equaliser at Bournemouth, Leeds have taken seven points from three games to reach the magical 40-point mark, and many will be starting to exclude them from any relegation conversations.

"I am experienced long enough in this world, we will celebrate when it's mathematically done. It's too early," Leeds boss Daniel Farke told BBC Match of the Day.

"We are on 40 points, seven games unbeaten in all competitions, so I am confident. Why should we lose the last four games?"

Victory over Championship-bound Burnley at Elland Road might be enough to make Leeds mathematically safe.

Until then, there is still work to do before Farke will let himself celebrate and - certainly for the other three sides in the mix - it could go down to the wire...

Big celebrations after a 97th-minute equaliser are usually to be expected but, for the Leeds players at the Vitality Stadium, it was about more than just the point.

That draw takes them nine points clear of Tottenham in 18th and, with so few games remaining, that gap will almost certainly be enough to keep them in the top flight.

According the Opta Supercomputer, the chances of Farke's side being relegated from this position are a mere 0.21%.

Still mathematically possible, as the Leeds manager said, but barring the most remarkable turn of events the Whites have done enough.

It is good news, too, for Forest. Following their win over Burnley at the weekend, Opta gives them just a 4.27% chance of being relegated.

As far as the supercomputer is concerned then, it is between West Ham and Tottenham for that unwanted 18th place.

The Hammers are given a 38.58% of ending the season in the bottom three, while it is seen as more likely than not that Spurs will go down for the first time since 1977.

Roberto de Zerbi's side are the 56.93% favourites to be relegated from here.

Tottenham boss De Zerbi was bullish about his side's chances of staying up after Saturday's draw with Brighton, claiming they are "able to win five games in a row" to end the season.

But for all De Zerbi's faith in his players' capabilities, the evidence of this season does not suggest a team capable of such a feat.

Spurs have not won any of their past 15 league games, meaning they are without a top-flight victory in 2026 and have managed only two since 26 October.

They must beat bottom side Wolves on Saturday to avoid equalling the club's worst winless league run - set some 91 years ago, between 1934 and 1935.

Nottingham Forest have two wins in their past three games and are unbeaten in five, and West Ham have won two of their past five.

Zoom out a little further and the Hammers have taken 19 points from their past 12 games, Forest have 18 from their past 13 and for Leeds it is 19 from 15.

Since beating Crystal Palace on 28 December, Spurs have taken six points from 15 matches.

Every year when the fixtures are announced you hear the familiar refrain that "it doesn't matter, you play everyone twice".

But there is no doubt that when you face a certain team can make a big difference across a 10-month campaign.

With five games remaining Spurs will definitely think their run-in, at least on paper, gives them every chance of staying up.

Next up is a trip to Wolves, whose relegation to the Championship was confirmed on Monday.

A home match against Leeds on 11 May is another Tottenham will view as an opportunity, especially if Farke's side have ensured their safety by then.

Even a tricky-looking match at Champions League-chasing Aston Villa on 3 May comes at a good time for Spurs, as it falls between the two legs of the Europa League semi-final for Unai Emery's men.

A visit to rivals Chelsea before hosting Everton on the final day is not a straightforward way to finish, given both teams seem likely to be fighting for European places.

But, given how tight things are, that is something all the relegation candidates will have to deal with.

West Ham host Everton on Saturday before an away game at Brentford - and it only gets tougher with title-chasing Arsenal the visitors to London Stadium on 10 May.

Even with Newcastle enduring a disappointing season, an away game at St James' Park on the penultimate weekend is far from simple and there could be plenty riding on the home match against Leeds on the last day.

Forest arguably face the toughest last five with away games at Chelsea and Manchester United in May - the former coming just three days before the second leg of the Reds' Europa League semi-final against Villa.

Home games against Newcastle and Bournemouth, on the last day, could be crucial but getting a result at Sunderland on Friday would help alleviate a lot of stress for Vitor Pereira's side before the remainder of the run-in.

It is 49 years since Spurs found themselves in the relegation zone after 33 league games and, in that 1976-77 season, they were unable to save themselves.

Given only Sheffield Wednesday, already relegated from the Championship, have a worse home record than Spurs' two wins in England's top four tiers this term, significant improvements will be required.

The numbers don't get any more encouraging for De Zerbi's side with only Derby (18) in 2007-08 and Sunderland (17) in 2002-03 having longer winless runs to start a calendar year than Spurs' current streak of 15 - and both were relegated in those years.

Forest can take some comfort from the fact 36 points has been enough to survive in every Premier League season since 2015-16.

Even more encouragingly for the Whites, only six teams have been relegated with 39 points or more in a 38-game season and not in the past 14 seasons - since Birmingham and Blackpool both went down on 39 points.

This year might be one in which the traditional claim of 40 points being required for safety proves true, but West Ham know that sometimes even that is not enough.

The Hammers hold the unwanted record of the most points achieved by a relegated side - the 42 they mustered in 2002-03 was not enough to spare them from the drop.

No wonder Farke and Leeds are taken nothing for granted just yet.

Tottenham are looking to appoint a lead psychologist for their men's first team after boss Roberto de Zerbi said they need to "change the mentality".

Spurs have slipped into the Premier League's bottom three, having gone 15 league games without a win.

De Zerbi was appointed as Tottenham's third head coach of the season at the end of March but has picked up just one point from two games.

The Italian said his job is to give the players the "right mentality" and it appears the club is taking steps to help him achieve that goal.

In an advert posted by Spurs on social media platform LinkedIn, external, the club said they are seeking an "outstanding performance psychologist" to deliver "evidence-based psychological support to elite players".

"The role encompasses individual player support, systemic work across the coaching and performance staff, and the ongoing development of a psychologically informed performance culture throughout the team," the advert added.

"This role demands a practitioner who is credible, discreet, and highly effective in a Premier League environment, capable of building trust with players and coaches while operating with the professional rigor expected at the highest level of the game."

Former Manchester United goalkeeping coach Ian Willcock has joined Tottenham.

He reunites with Tottenham manager Martin Ho and assistant Lawrence Shamieh, who both came from United.

Willcock joins from Canada Women’s national team and replaces Chris Williams, who departed Tottenham in April.

It is understood Williams is set to join Chelsea.

Willcock worked closely with England goalkeeper Mary Earps while at United and was heavily praised by the former Lioness star in her autobiography.