Everton go to Tottenham Hotspur on the final day of the Premier League season on Sunday with the north London side fighting to stay up
Tottenham Hotspur could be relegated from the Premier League because of “fuming” Everton manager David Moyes.
That’s the verdict of former Spurs midfielder Jamie Redknapp whose father Harry Redknapp also managed the north London outfit between 2008-12. Tottenham, on 38 points, go into their final fixture of the season at home to the Blues on Sunday with their top-flight status still not secured.
West Ham United, on 36 points, who host Leeds United at the same time with a 4pm kick-off, just six-and-a-half miles away, know they must beat the Yorkshire side to have any chance of survival.
For Spurs, a win over Moyes’ mean would guarantee avoiding the drop while their superior goal difference of 12 better than the Hammers ensures that realistically, a draw would also be enough for them.
OPINION
The Blues have triumphed on seven occasions in Premier League away fixtures this term but last Sunday’s 3-1 home defeat to Sunderland extended their winless run to six matches, gave them a losing record for the campaign as a whole and effectively ended their hopes of European qualification with the Black Cats leapfrogging them in the process.
Chelsea’s subsequent 2-1 win over Tottenham at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday mathematically ended Everton’s chances but kept the visitors sweating going into the last day.
Both the Blues and Spurs are two of half a dozen clubs who are ever-presents in the Premier League since it was formed in 1992 (the others being Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United) and to date Everton have been the only one of the six to go into the final fixture of a season with their top flight status on the line (three times, in 1994, 1998 and 2023).
However, the boot is on the other now and Redknapp also fears Roberto De Zerbi’s side could be coming up against a dangerous, wounded animal when it comes to Everton while Tottenham though have won only two Premier League games at home all season at their 62,850 base and have not triumphed there since the turn of the calendar year.
Goodison News quote the 52-year-old as telling Sky Sports: “Tottenham are sleepwalking towards relegation. I said it earlier this season.
“The only thing that’s saved them is a couple of good results. When I say good, they beat Wolves, and they beat an Aston Villa side who had seven players out at the time.
“Now they’ve got to find a way to win a game at home. Their home form has been horrendous all season, they’ve had no quality and no character to win a football match.
“Now they’ve got to find a way to beat Everton. David Moyes will be fuming after the weekend and he’ll be going there thinking: ‘We’ve got to get something out of this game’. I’d rather be playing Leeds at home than Everton.”