Tottenham now know exactly what they must do in the final week of the Premier League season after West Ham's defeat on Sunday
Roberto De Zerbi knows that his Tottenham players have to bring in one point from their final two games to all but guarantee their Premier League safety.
West Ham fell to a 3-1 defeat to Newcastle at St James' Park on Sunday evening to make it three consecutive losses, after going down to Arsenal and Brentford in the previous fixtures. In contrast, Spurs have picked up under De Zerbi with a four game unbeaten run and seven points from their past three matches.
The result on Sunday leaves the Hammers two points behind Tottenham with just a single game to play, while the north London outfit have two matches to go, starting with Tuesday night's trip to Stamford Bridge.
In essence, Spurs need a point from either of their remaining games to stay up, barring a ridiculous set of results, for West Ham have a goal difference of -22 and that is 13 worse than De Zerbi's men's on -9.
Tottenham could guarantee their Premier League place next season if they could win at Chelsea in midweek. That is easier said than done because the Lilywhites have won just a solitary game in the Premier League era at that West London ground. It came in 2018 during the peak Mauricio Pochettino years, with Dele Alli scoring twice after Christian Eriksen's stunner from 25 yards had cancelled out Alvaro Morata's headed opener.
That victory represented the first time in more than 28 years that Tottenham had gone across the capital in the league and beaten Chelsea on their own turf. It has not been repeated since, with 21 defeats and 11 draws in all for Tottenham at that venue in the Premier League era around that sole triumph.
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Chelsea, who will have Xabi Alonso take over as manager in the summer, come into the game just three days after losing the FA Cup final to Manchester City while Spurs have had eight days to prepare and recover and they must make that count.
If they lose on Tuesday night then it all goes down to the final day of the season. West Ham face a home game against in-form Leeds United, who beat Brighton on Sunday and have not lost a Premier League game since March 3. The Hammer have to win to stand any chance of staying up if Spurs lose both their remaining games, and will have the London Stadium crowd behind them, but their visitors will not be on their holidays just yet.
At the same time on Sunday Spurs host Everton, who can still mathematically just about sneak into eighth place and a Conference League spot unless Chelsea were to win in midweek which makes it even more unlikely. Tottenham have had their struggles at home this season but have improved under De Zerbi and should have won both games against Brighton and Leeds.
So the route is clear for Tottenham. One point will do it, three will guarantee it and no points gained will leave their fate left to what happens across the capital. After a wretched season, Spurs have one job to do and that is to give something back to their suffering fans. They have to deliver.