Gary Neville has suggested that Tottenham Hotspur's relegation would be "very good for the Premier League". Spurs are precariously perched just one point above the relegation zone with nine league matches left to play.
The Lilywhites' performance has nosedived further under temporary head coach Igor Tudor, who has suffered defeats in his first four games at the helm. The pressure has intensified on the former Juventus and Lazio manager following Tuesday's 5-2 drubbing at Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
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Tudor is now poised to lead his team to Anfield against Liverpool on Sunday, with Tottenham potentially slipping into the bottom three by then if West Ham and Nottingham Forest secure victories in their preceding matches.
And former Manchester United defender turned pundit Neville has offered his opinion on The Overlap podcast - expressing his belief that Spurs facing relegation could benefit the English top-tier.
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He said: "I refuse to predict relegation. I hated it, the idea of seeing a club go down.
"But I must admit seeing Tottenham go down wouldn't be great for Tottenham fans and I think Tottenham are an amazing club, but it would be very good for the Premier League from a competitive perspective and the idea of Leeds staying up, of Sunderland staying up.
"I'll tell you what I was more worried about at the start of the season, that every club which came up was just going straight back down again.
"I think the Premier League doesn't necessarily need Tottenham to go down, but it needs clubs other than the ones that come up to go down.
"It would be sad to go down, but maybe they've had it coming."
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Despite expressing his thoughts on Spurs' potential relegation to the Championship, the 51-year-old does not foresee such a scenario unfolding for the Lilywhites.
He added: "I don't think they will go down. If you're going to make another change, that for me will probably need to be today or tomorrow because you don't wait."