Tottenham Hotspur suffered late agony as their first three points of 2026 were ripped away from them by Georginio Rutter on Saturday evening.
Tottenham went into the clash with Fabian Hurzeler's Brighton and Hove Albion side knowing that only a win would take them out of the Premier League relegation zone, as they look to avoid a devastating fall into the Championship.
Spurs were on course to do exactly that as Xavi Simons' excellent strike restored their lead after Kaoru Mitoma's brilliant volley had levelled the scores in the second half.
The north London outfit only had to hold on for 13 minutes plus injury-time after Simons' goal, but Rutter broke the hearts of the majority of people at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium with a fine strike of his own in the 95th minute.
The result leaves Spurs in the bottom three ahead of their trip to face almost-relegated Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux next weekend, and De Zerbi will know they won't have many better opportunities to win a top-flight match than that one.
Tottenham could be four points adrift in the relegation zone by the time they kick off in the Midlands though, if Nottingham Forest and West Ham United beat Burnley and Crystal Palace respectively by the end of this matchday.
Danso Moment Costs Tottenham and De Zerbi
With captain Cristian Romero ruled out for the rest of the season, De Zerbi doesn't have a host of centre-back options to choose from at Tottenham.
Kevin Danso has been one of the club's better performers in what has been a truly terrible campaign, but it was his error in possession that led to Rutter's equaliser.
Despite the mistake, it wouldn't be a surprise if the Austria international is given the chance to redeem himself against Wolves, given the other options to replace him would be Radu Dragusin, or Joao Palhinha and Archie Gray playing out of position.
Ben Davies could be an option to play alongside Micky van de Ven, but he is still yet to return to the matchday squad after injury.
De Zerbi Must Axe Kolo Muani From the XI Permanently
Randal Kolo Muani has been a huge disappointment in a Tottenham shirt this season.
Given his pedigree, there was hope that he would arrive and contribute goals and assists for Spurs during his loan spell from Paris Saint-Germain.
While he has performed decently in the Champions League, it has been a different story in the Premier League.
The France international has just one goal and one assist to show in his 25 top flight appearances this term, and he was given a 1/10 rating by talkSPORT pundit Jamie O'Hara for his display against Sunderland on De Zerbi's bow.
It wasn't much better this time around, with Football London giving him 4/10 after another largely anonymous display.
If Kolo Muani is bringing little to the table when he is starting matches, then De Zerbi simply has to axe him from the XI permanently - starting against Wolves.