Tottenham Hotspur are involved in a fierce relegation battle with London neighbours West Ham United, but they have been boosted by the fact that one player wants to stay regardless of if they survive or not, according to GIVEMESPORT senior correspondent Ben Jacobs.
Tottenham knew they had to react to West Ham's 3-0 defeat to Brentford on Saturday with a positive result away at Aston Villa on Sunday, and Roberto De Zerbi and his players delivered with a 2-1 win against Unai Emery's much-changed side.
Tottenham moved out of the relegation zone as a result and on to 37 points, with the Irons a point further back in 18th position with three games to go.
Nottingham Forest and Leeds United had looked set to be involved in the battle to avoid dropping to the Championship too a few weeks ago, but fine runs of form for both mean they lie on 42 and 43 points respectively, and are surely both now safe.
Tottenham host Leeds in their next match on Monday night, with West Ham welcoming Champions League finalists and Premier League title-chasing Arsenal to the London Stadium 24 hours before.
Joao Palhinha Producing Heroic Tottenham Displays
Expectations were high when Tottenham signed Joao Palhinha on a season-long loan deal, with an option to buy, from Bayern Munich last summer.
While the 30-year-old had struggled to make a big impact for the Bundesliga giants, he had established himself as one of the best in his position in the Premier League for Fulham previously.
The Portugal international started off positively but, like many of his new Spurs teammates, his form dropped off of a cliff and he often saw younger players like Archie Gray selected ahead of him in the XI.
The midfielder has bounced back and after three substitute appearances under De Zerbi, and a crucial winning goal against Wolves, the Portuguese was selected in the XI for the visit to Villa Park.
He didn't let his Italian manager down either, with a fully committed display that even saw him celebrating winning challenges and free-kicks.
Joao Palhinha Wants to Stay at Tottenham
It's been a roller-coaster season for Palhinha with Spurs likely to have changed their mind more than once about signing the player on a permanent basis this summer.
What is clear is that, according to GIVEMESPORT senior correspondent Ben Jacobs, the player is keen to stay even if the club does go down to the Championship.
Speaking to GMS about the situation, the journalist said:
"Joao Palhinha has kind of come full circle. So it's very difficult to predict. In the first few months, Tottenham were adamant they were going to trigger the option to buy because he started really well, then it tapered off, and it was trending towards not signing him permanently.
"Now in these last few games and under De Zerbi the mood has shifted again. What I can tell you with Palhinha is, if it's up to the player, he wants to stay, and that will likely also be the case, even if Tottenham go down, because Palhinha's move to Tottenham was about returning to England. It was about being in London.
"There's family reasons why he wants to stay too. So Tottenham can feel very in control of that situation, because Palhinha doesn't, I'm told, fall into the category of a player that will just want to jump ship."