Preview: Sunderland vs Tottenham Hotspur

The third managerial era of the 2025-26 Tottenham Hotspur season is about to commence, as Roberto De Zerbi makes his second Premier League debut on Sunday, away to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

The ex-Brighton & Hove Albion boss inherits a squad still searching for their maiden top-flight win of 2026, while the Black Cats seek a third triumph in four Premier League games after stunning Tyne-Wear adversaries Newcastle United a few weeks ago.

Match preview

Only five managers in history have been in charge of a Premier League team for 50 days or fewer, but Tottenham have now been responsible for two such appointments, as Igor Tudor followed in Cristian Stellini's footsteps with an incredibly swift departure.

Just when things appeared to be looking up for the Croatian, who oversaw a gritty draw at Liverpool and praiseworthy - yet inconsequential - 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, an embarrassing 3-0 home loss to Nottingham Forest and family bereavement made his position untenable.

Rather than opt for another stop-gap appointment in Sean Dyche, Harry Redknapp or Ryan Mason, Spurs put a lucrative, five-year contract on the table for De Zerbi, who has vowed to remain in charge of the Lilywhites even if they are facing Lincoln City away next season.

The admired yet volatile Italian takes over a Spurs side who remain just one point above the Premier League relegation zone and are now without a win in 13 straight top-flight matches, although two-thirds of their 30 points have been won away from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Furthermore, De Zerbi masterminded a win in his first match in charge of Marseille, Sassuolo and Shakhtar Donetsk, and their upcoming foes have seen the Stadium of Light walls crumble over the past few weeks.

Winless on home soil since taking down Championship-bound Burnley in early February, Sunderland have succumbed to defeats to Liverpool, Fulham and De Zerbi's former club Brighton at home in recent weeks, conceding five goals and scoring just one in that time.

The Black Cats are running the risk of losing four straight home league games for the first time since September 2017 in the Championship, and their shoddy Stadium of Light sequence has contributed to their bottom-half ranking in the Premier League table, although they are still within touching distance of seventh-placed Brentford at the time of writing.

Furthermore, Sunderland's home woes counted for nought at St James' Park, where Brian Brobbey popped up with more last-minute heroics to propel Regis Le Bris's men to a famous 2-1 derby victory, one that saw the Black Cats complete the double over their Tyne-Wear foes.

The European dream is certainly not dead and buried for the home side, who are chasing back-to-back Premier League victories for just the second time this season and have lost just one of their last four games in the first division.

Le Bris also oversaw a hard-fought 1-1 draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in early January, albeit one that extended Spurs' unbeaten Premier League run against Sunderland to 15 games since a Darren Bent-inflicted 3-1 loss in 2010.

Sunderland Premier League form:

Sunderland form (all competitions):

Tottenham Hotspur Premier League form:

Tottenham Hotspur form (all competitions):

Team News

De Zerbi was struck by the Tottenham injury curse even before taking charge of his first game, as the club confirmed on Thursday that Mohammed Kudus had suffered a serious setback in his recovery from a quadriceps injury, one that may require World Cup-threatening surgery.

The Ghana international remains on the sidelines with Dejan Kulusevski (knee), James Maddison (knee), Rodrigo Bentancur (thigh), Guglielmo Vicario (hernia), Ben Davies (ankle), Wilson Odobert (knee) and Yves Bissouma (muscle), but Mathys Tel and Pape Sarr are expected to be available.

Chasing a slice of personal history, Richarlison is just one goal away from reaching double figures in a fifth different Premier League campaign; the only other Brazilian to achieve that feat is Liverpool great Roberto Firmino.

Meanwhile, Le Bris reported good and bad news in his pre-game press conference, revealing that number one Robin Roefs is fit again but Daniel Ballard (hamstring) is still not ready.

Second-choice goalkeeper Melker Ellborg has performed admirably in Roefs's absence, but the latter is sure to win his place back in between the posts this weekend.

Nilson Angulo (unspecified), Bertrand Traore (knee), Jocelin Ta Bi (ankle) and Romaine Mundle (hamstring) make up the remainder of the Black Cats' absentees.

Sunderland possible starting lineup:

Roefs; Geertruida, O'Nien, Alderete, Hume; Sadiki, Xhaka, Diarra; Rigg, Brobbey, Talbi

Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:

Kinsky; Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie; Palhinha, Gray; Tel, Simons, Richarlison; Solanke

We say: Sunderland 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur

Glowing reports have already emerged from De Zerbi's first training sessions, with Tottenham players purportedly waxing lyrical about the Italian's methods in these early days.

Expect to see a strong reaction from the Lilywhites on the field as a result, albeit not a strong enough reaction to translate into all three points, as a rejuvenated Sunderland side should hold out for a share of the spoils.