A hand grenade has just been rolled into the Premier League relegation battle by a mystery Spurs star and rivals West Ham and Nottingham Forest will be rubbing their hands with glee.
With nine games to go in the Premier League relegation battle, it looks like a four-way fight between West Ham, Tottenham Hotspur, Nottingham Forest and Leeds to avoid the dreaded drop.
Spurs and the Hammers were fortunate the three promoted clubs were so woeful last season as they finished 17th and 14th respectively without ever being in any real danger of going down.
This season is a different story altogether and rejuvenated West Ham’s remarkable turnaround since January is piling pressure on Nottingham Forest and Tottenham.
West Ham and Forest the big winners after Spurs civil war claim
The Hammers have closed a seven-point gap on Forest and a 12-point gap to bitter rivals Spurs in the last two months.
Ironically, Nuno Espirito Santo’s Irons started their turnaround with a last gasp win at Tottenham.
Now West Ham can climb out of the relegation zone with a positive result against Man City, for 24 hours at least.
With Forest and Tottenham not in action until Sunday and facing Fulham and Liverpool respectively, West Ham can rise above both with a victory.
The Hammers are undoubtedly the form team in the relegation scrap. But Forest are capable of picking up positive results too as their 2-2 draw at Man City last time out has proved.
Spurs, though, are in freefall and are a complete crisis case on all fronts.
With 12 injuries, suspensions, the crowd up in arms, another manager on the brink and players at their lowest ebb, Tottenham are fast becoming favourites for the drop in the eyes of many.
In fact Spurs are the only English top-flight club yet to win a league match in 2026, having gone 11 games without victory.
While Hammers are on the up, mystery Spurs star ‘isn’t bothered’ about relegation
The Champions League offered no respite in midweek with the disastrous 5-2 defeat at Atletico Madrid.
Hammers fans would love nothing more than to stay up at the expense of their rivals.
How would YOU set the Hammers up against Man City? ⚒️ v 🩵
Three at the back? Another start for Kante and Pablo?
So West Ham and Nottingham Forest will relish a mystery star’s Tottenham row leak which has emerged in the wake of their Madrid mauling.
Teams scrapping to survive will take any potential advantage or edge over their opponents at this stage of the season.
Tottenham, Forest and Leeds will be delighted Crysencio Summerville has picked up a knock for example.
But the news seems to go from bad to worse for Spurs – and that is music to the ears of Nuno and Vítor Pereira.
According to The Athletic journalist Jay Harris, something of a civil war is breaking out in the Tottenham dressing room.
While West Ham’s players were filmed celebrating together in the dressing room after making the FA Cup quarter-finals this week, it seems Tottenham’s changing room is at loggerheads.
Harris claims some Tottenham players who are ‘determined to arrest the team’s decline’ are angered by the lack of application from some of their teammates, who ‘they believe are not motivated to help their cause’.
The report even contains a leak from a mystery player revealing one of his team-mates is not worried about Tottenham being relegated – because he believes he ‘can and will leave the club this summer’ regardless.
West Ham and Forest are the big winners as chaos reigns supreme at Spurs.
Tottenham seem to be the team circling the Premier League plughole right now.
And as the Hammers and Tricky Trees show unity and fight, Spurs lack leadership and togetherness just as the season enters the most important final furlong.
Relegation run-in remaining fixtures: