A few weeks ago, the idea of Tottenham Hotspur being relegated still felt fanciful, but that is very much no longer the case. Spurs' latest defeat was completely as a result of a needless red card, this time not shown to Cristian Romero, but the Argentine's absence was very much felt.
On Thursday night, everything seemed to be going their way. One of Crystal Palace's best players Daniel Muñoz was forced off with a shoulder injury, following a challenge by Souza, before Ismaïla Sarr had an opener disallowed because his face was offside. Mere moments later, Dominic Solanke opened the scoring after some great work by Archie Gray, and everyone inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium could rest easy, or so they thought.
Five minutes later, as Sarr burst through on goal, he was hauled down by Micky van de Ven, with referee Andy Madley pointing to the penalty spot and, worse still, showing the Dutchman a red card, as he'd made no attempt to play the ball. Sarr converted the subsequent spot-kick and this commenced the complete Spurs capitulation. As we entered injury time, Jørgen Strand Larsen slotted through Guglielmo Vicario's legs, before that man Sarr burst through again to poke home a third.
It may only have been half time, but supporters headed for home in their thousands. The second half was a complete non-event, Igor Tudor's never threatened to get back into the game, as Spurs sunk to yet another defeat. Now without a win in 11 league matches, their longest such streak since 1935, the Lilywhites are just one point above the drop zone. By the time they're next in league action, they could find themselves in the bottom three.
Remaining fixtures for relegation candidates
Given that it is Anfield up next, with trips to Villa Park and Stamford Bridge to come in May, it doesn't get any easier for Spurs. That head-to-head encounter with Nottingham Forest on Sunday 22 March looks massive but, based on how they're playing right now, you would not back Tottenham to win it, would you?
The biggest problem facing Tudor is injuries. Djed Spence, Destiny Udogie, Ben Davies, Rodrigo Bentancur, Lucas Bergvall, James Maddison, Dejan Kuluševski, Wilson Odobert and Mohammed Kudus all missed the latest defeat, the majority of whom are sidelined long-term.
Tottenham fans point the finger at Cristian Romero
Thus, they can ill-afford unnecessary absences, especially to key players. Cristian Romero has not been available since being sent off at Old Trafford on 7 February. His four-match ban is now over, so he will return against Atlético Madrid on Tuesday and then against Liverpool the following Sunday.
Micky van de Ven, however, will not be making the trip to Merseyside, after his sending off that entirely swung the momentum of Thursday's game. Had Romero been available, who knows, there may not have been such a great sense of panic among the Spurs defence, not just against Crystal Palace but also during the preceding defeats at the hands of Newcastle, Arsenal and Fulham.
At a time when Tottenham are crying out for leadership and their big players to step forward and be counted, van de Ven, but particularly Romero have done the complete opposite. One Spurs fan labelled the Argentine a "liability", while another said they were "sick and tired of how many games he [has] costs us".
If Spurs' 48-year stay in the top division does come to an end on 24 May, Romero will be one of many figures to blame.