Sean Dyche believes that Aston Villa will need to have a stinker against Tottenham Hotspur for Spurs to stand any chance of staying up.
Roberto De Zerbi secured his first win as Tottenham boss with their 1-0 victory at already-relegated Wolves last Saturday.
That ended a run of 15 games without a win for Tottenham but they may be running out of road as West Ham and Nottingham Forest also won last time out.
Spurs are still two points behind the 17th-placed Hammers and next up face a tough test at fifth-placed Villa on Sunday night.
Tottenham will come into this Villa game the fresher of the two after Unai Emery’s team were in Europa League action on Thursday. But Dyche still thinks the hosts will edge this one 1-0.
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Sean Dyche predicts Tottenham to go down
Dyche, who was linked with the Tottenham job after Igor Tudor’s departure, cannot see Tottenham staving off relegation to the Championship.
While the former Everton manager says Tottenham have moved on from hitting “rock bottom”, they are yet to find their “mojo” despite the win over Wolves.
Dyche also acknowledged Tottenham’s “horrendous” injury situation, which is nearly 10 players strong, and if they are to survive, they need wins, and fast.
He added that against Villa, Tottenham may need a lot of good fortune, and something like Sunderland’s 5-0 loss at home to Nottingham Forest would be very timely for Spurs against Villa.
He said on talkSPORT: “I do [think Tottenham will go down] now. They can’t find their groove. They can’t find that bit of mojo. I thought they’d bottomed out a few weeks ago when they just hit rock bottom, and that’s it.
“And the only way is up. You expect them to bounce and there’s just been no bounce. I’m looking at Spurs and going, ‘Who is going to pull them out of it?’
“Maybe Tottenham need something like that [the Sunderland loss to Forest]. They need maybe a Villa to have just one of those horrible days.”
What also doesn’t help is Tottenham’s patchy record against the Villans.
Tottenham’s rough record against Aston Villa
Villa won this exact fixture 2-0 last season. Moreover, Tottenham have lost six of their last 10 Premier League games against the Villans (four wins).
De Zerbi doesn’t have a great record against Villa in the Premier League, losing three of his four meetings while in charge at Brighton.
And the Italian will certainly be wary of one Villa player heading into this contest.
Ollie Watkins has scored goals in his three previous Premier League games against sides managed by De Zerbi, including a hat-trick in September 2023.
Tottenham, meanwhile, are aiming to secure successive league victories for the first time since the opening two matches of the season.
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