For the first time in 6281 days, stretching back to 2009, Tottenham Hotspur find themselves in the Premier League relegation zone, excluding the first three games of a season.
With West Ham United hitting bottom side Wolverhampton Wanderers for four on Friday night, Roberto De Zerbi will begin his Spurs reign in 18th, ensuring the pressure is well and truly on ahead of Sunday's trip to Sunderland.
As has been well documented, the Italian previously failed to win any of his first five league games in charge during his Brighton and Hove Albion stay, the type of form that would surely prove fatal considering the Lilywhites' current predicament.
The 46-year-old needs to get things right, and swiftly, with Spurs' attacking configuration - and the role of Xavi Simons - likely to be a key consideration ahead of the meeting with the Black Cats.
Simons in the Champions League vs in the Premier League
Having sparkled when Tottenham secured their only win under Igor Tudor against Atletico Madrid, eyebrows were raised when Simons was subsequently dropped to the bench for the most recent Premier League clash against Nottingham Forest.
That decision appeared egregious considering the Dutchman had netted twice in a statement display just days earlier, although was Tudor onto something with regard to the 22-year-old's impact domestically compared to in Europe?
In the Champions League, following the recent exit at the hands of Atleti, the former RB Leipzig had racked up four goals and assists in just ten outings, while creating five 'big chances', averaging an impressive 1.5 key passes per game and recording 1.4 successful dribbles per game.
Like against Diego Simeone's side, Simons seemingly flourished away from the physically demanding nature of the Premier League, with his best work arguably having come on the continent in his fledgling Spurs career.
Indeed, you only have to look at his top-flight record this season to see that is the case, with 25 league games seeing him rack up just five goals and assists, having created only six 'big chances', while averaging 1.2 and 1.0 per game for key passes and successful dribbles, respectively.
The decision to shift him over the left flank on occasion hasn't helped, with all four of his Spurs goals coming while starting as a number ten, yet there hasn't been the sustained impact that was expected from the club's £52m signing.
Under a new regime, Simons may well get his chance under De Zerbi, although the new boss could also look elsewhere for a solution in that attacking midfield role.
De Zerbi could replace Simons with £35m Spurs star
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, De Zerbi did provide an intriguing insight into his view of the players at his disposal, notably describing Simons as a "big talent", while revealing that he had tried to sign Mathys Tel while at Marseille.
Perhaps most interestingly, however, was his perspective on a man who has enjoyed a difficult start to his Spurs career, in the form of Conor Gallagher, having admitted that he "loved" the Englishman during his time at Chelsea.
"I want to see again the same Gallagher I loved in Chelsea at the time," he said.
Signed from Atletico Madrid on a £35m deal in January, after previously leaving Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2024, Gallagher hasn't exactly flourished in these first few months in north London, providing just a solitary assist from his first nine league games in Lilywhite.
Perhaps that fits with the view of the 26-year-old being something of a workhorse, rather than a man with real end product, yet as De Zerbi alluded to, he was a different beast back in west London.
In his final season at the club under Mauricio Pochettino, in particular, Gallagher was immense while deployed in a more advanced midfield role, scoring and assisting 12 times, while creating 11 'big chances' in the Premier League alone.
Just as he showed in the past after scoring eight league goals on loan at Crystal Palace in 2021/22, he is more than just a shuttler or 'piano carrier', having perhaps not been afforded the chance to showcase his best in a Spurs shirt to date.
With De Zerbi at the helm, however, that could be set to change if the Italian is to utilise the Three Lions star in that more advanced berth, having so far only operated as a central midfielder, a defensive midfielder or a right-winger this season.
Unleashing the ex-Blues man behind the centre-forward in something of a fresh role could be what is needed to spark Gallagher's Tottenham stay into life, having previously been hailed as looking like a "Poch-era Dele Alli" by journalist Jack Pitt-Brooke.
Dele, in his pomp, was an elite presence at crashing the box and operating almost as a second striker, with now the time to see Gallagher utilised in a similar role, ahead of the struggling Simons.
With the likes of Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall deployed behind them, there could be a real fresh feel to Spurs' midfield at the Stadium of Light.