Leeds United head to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for what looks set to be a huge Premier League game in May.
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The visit of Leeds United to North London in May is one of seven ‘finals’ Tottenham Hotspur have to save their season, according to captain Christian Romero.
Tottenham fell closer towards the bottom three following Sunday’s crushing 3-0 defeat at home to relegation rivals Nottingham Forest. A late first-half Igor Jesus header sent Romero’s side into the break behind before second-half goals from Morgan Gibbs-White and substitute Taiwo Awoniyi.
Forest leapfrogged Spurs with the points from that win as the North London side dropped down to 17th, just one point above West Ham in the final relegation place. They now have just seven games to save their Premier League status, including at home to Leeds in early May.
“This season is tough, especially in this moment, another loss at home,” Romero told Sky Sports. “The first thing for the fans is thank you for today because they stayed with us.
“The first half was good but in the second half we lose confidence, lose the ball, concede another stupid goal. This is difficult but now it is finished. it is painful and a bad but the most important thing is go to national team and then back here for seven finals.
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"It's like this, it's very tough and it's [been] a bad season. Honestly, me, the first responsibility. Football is sometimes like this. The most important thing is staying together."
After scoring late to earn a point at Liverpool and beating Atletico Madrid in the Champions League last-16 second-leg - albeit losing on aggregate - there was renewed hope at Spurs. The team coach was greeted by thousands of fans heading into the stadium on Sunday in a concerted effort to get behind the team.
Renewed Spurs hope quickly disappeared
Spurs started the better side too but failed to convert their dominance into goals. Jesus’ headed goal came from a corner and felt all too easy while Gibbs-White was left in acres of space on the penalty spot to make it 2-0. The game was gone when Awoniyi netted a third.
Tottenham head coach Igor Tudor went straight down the tunnel after full-time and did not carry out any post-match media duties after being informed of an immediate family bereavement. His assistant Bruno Saltor was left to dissect the defeat.
“I think in the small details, I thought for 44 minutes in the first half we were the better team,” he said. “And again, I think any mistake that we make, any small detail goes against us and we're not able to capitalise on the opposition's mistakes.
“Probably that affected the team. As you can see, the players, they care and they are 100% trying their best. But at the moment, it's not enough. We need to minimise any mistakes because we know that we're going to concede a goal.”