Tottenham vs Brighton in the Premier League from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium - Saturday 5.30pm
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Roberto De Zerbi has challenged Tottenham playmaker Xavi Simons to be a difference-maker in the club’s bid to avoid relegation ahead of today clash with Brighton.
Spurs slipped into the bottom three last weekend after West Ham’s 4-0 triumph over Wolves was followed by a debut defeat for De Zerbi at Sunderland to make it 14 fixtures without a Premier League win.
Tottenham’s £52million summer signing Xavi only got a handful of minutes off the bench at Stadium of Light, which continued a worrying trend for the Dutch international who has failed to start a league game since March 1.
It has been a difficult maiden campaign for Xavi after he struggled to gain the trust of Thomas Frank before he was quickly discarded by Igor Tudor during a disastrous seven-match spell, but the 22-year-old is one of the only creative players fit and available to ex Brighton boss De Zerbi.
Below par Xavi
A tally of four goals and five assists across 39 appearances is below par, but Xavi produced a man-of-the-match display against Atletico Madrid in his last start and has started 11 of Spurs’ last 12 wins.
Ahead of Saturday’s crunch fixture at home to Brighton, De Zerbi said: “Xavi has a big personality on the pitch and I want him to play with his personality.
“I don’t want to change nothing with my players, especially in this part. Character, personality and I think he can be important for us in this moment. I don’t know if for 30 minutes or 20 minutes, but I have this opinion about him.”
Pushed on what Xavi needs to do to become a top Premier League player, De Zerbi explained: “He has to score, he has to make assists and to run without the ball. Stop. It’s enough.
We need quality from him
“I am talking with him a lot of times. I was a player and I played in that position. I know before he speaks with me, that he can feel what he needs, like confidence.
“I know he can make some mistakes but right now, we need the quality from him.”
Xavi was present this week as De Zerbi arranged a night out for his low-on-confidence players in Mayfair and the Italian is eager to create a band-of-brothers mentality.
De Zerbi added: “Some of you can make a different opinion of the players. If I say the players are good people, it’s because it’s like this.
“Now is a tough situation because they have not so much confidence in themselves and are not able to show all their qualities.
Brothers on the pitch
“What I can ask is for them to be closer on the pitch, to consider their team-mates like a brother on the pitch. If you consider your team-mate like a brother you go to help him. If he is wronged, you hug him and you kiss him and we need this in this moment.”
De Zerbi brushed off a viral clip of Crystal Palace players dancing in Florence on Thursday night ahead of their Monday match with 17th-placed West Ham but will lean into a siege mentality if required.
“We can’t lose time thinking about other teams if we are not able to win a game since 2025,” De Zerbi pointed out before being asked if neutrals want Spurs to suffer relegation.
“The other teams, people, journalists, they can think what they want. For me, nothing changed. Maybe it’s better for me. It’s one motivation more.”