Spurs boss out to quickly shift perceptions as West Ham defeat offers chance to escape bottom three
Defiant: Roberto De Zerbi believes that Tottenham can win all of their remaining games this season
Getty
Sam Tabuteau
COMMENTS
Your matchday briefing on Tottenham, featuring team news and expert analysis from Sam Tabuteau
I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.
The walls may be closing in on Tottenham, with just four games left to save themselves from relegation.
But Roberto De Zerbi wants to “silence the voice inside of us” and focus on “ourselves and the quality of my players” heading into the final month of the season.
Even after recording their first Premier League win of the calendar year against Wolves last weekend, the overwhelming feeling around the club has once again been one of negativity.
A season-ending injury for Xavi Simons, who became the third player to see his campaign prematurely curtailed since De Zerbi took charge, has been the main talking point ahead of Sunday’s trip to Aston Villa.
Spurs had seemingly found a solution to their creativity issues before Simons was stretchered off with an anterior cruciate ligament injury at Molineux. Not for the first time this season, it was one step forward and two steps back.
The idea of drafting James Maddison in for his first competitive appearance in 12 months has been floated, but De Zerbi is not convinced.
Read More
How to watch Aston Villa vs Tottenham: TV channel and live stream
De Zerbi names Spurs forward who will 'star' in relegation scrap
Spurs handed huge relegation boost as West Ham thrashed by Brentford
Sponsored
Discover a hidden island paradise in the Indian Ocean
“I would like to play with him, because he's a special player, he's a different player, but we have to consider the physical condition,” the Italian said in his pre-Villa press conference.
What De Zerbi is convinced of, however, is Spurs’ chances of staying up. He still believes they can win all of their remaining games.
“It is possible because we have good players,” he said. “We have Pedro Porro, we have [Destiny] Udogie, we have Micky van de Ven, we have [Rodrigo] Bentancur, we have [Joao] Palhinha, we have [Conor] Gallagher.”
De Zerbi’s belief has never waned since taking the reins from Igor Tudor. He knows how quickly things can change at the bottom of the table and West Ham’s 3-0 defeat at Brentford on Saturday has offered renewed hope.
At one stage last weekend, Spurs briefly smelled the rarified air of Premier League safety after Palhinha gave De Zerbi’s side the lead at Wolves before Everton equalised late on at the London Stadium to see Tottenham temporarily move out of the relegation zone.
Callum Wilson’s stoppage-time winner put a stop to Spurs’ celebrations. But having been offered a snapshot of what survival might look like, De Zerbi is keen to chase that feeling.
He is positive yet realistic, accepting of the club’s situation but unwilling to dwell on or “cry” about the past.
“I want to be realistic,” he said. “It's different being positive. (I am) not positive because today is sunny, it's Italian weather, and I'm positive, no, no.
“I want to be realistic, and for that, I feel this pressure to change the perspective. The same perspective you can see in different ways.”
De Zerbi admits the responsibility of keeping Spurs, a club who have not been relegated to the second division in nearly 50 years, in the Premier League is weighing on him.
He is watching everything. From Crystal Palace’s injury list ahead of their match with West Ham last Monday to the rolling news coverage on Spurs’ plight.
Ultimately, though, De Zerbi is not prepared to see his team branded as “losers” because “losers cry”, and, long-term, that is a habit that becomes hard to shake.
De Zerbi wants to end this torturous campaign with “no regrets”, so Spurs will “attack” the final four games of the season rather than accepting their fate.
With everything seemingly conspiring against them, De Zerbi is determined to shift the perception around the club.
Spurs have to face Villa, Leeds, Chelsea and Everton before the end of the season.
Their fiercest opponent, though, is in their heads. De Zerbi knows that personality can power Spurs over the line.
MORE ABOUT