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Given the challenges that Tottenham have faced since Mauricio Pochettino’s 2019 departure, the better the Argentine’s five-year tenure in charge of the club looks.

Appointed by chairman Daniel Levy as Spurs’ tenth manager in a 12-year span in May 2014, Pochettino departed in November 2019, having led the club to top-five finishes in each of his seasons in charge and came close to leading the club to their first Champions League final, when his side were beaten by Liverpool in the 2019 final.

This combination of progress, promise and near-misses made his spell one of the most debated managerial stints in recent history, one which Pochettino himself still reflects on.

Pochettino on his Tottenham highs and lows

“It was almost six years of work in which I wasn’t just a coach,” he tells FourFourTwo when asked how it felt to be sacked just five months after the Champions League final.

“I’d arrive with my staff at 7am and leave at 10pm, often alongside Daniel Levy. We’d walk out asking ourselves how we could improve this or that. Our life was Tottenham, but that level of intensity also contributed to how it ended.

“I felt disappointed, of course, but I understand that for him it was also a difficult decision to make.”

As well as making the final of Europe’s biggest competition, Pochettino’s Spurs also lost the 2015 League Cup final and were Premier League runners-up in 2016/17, adding to the club’s near-misses under the former Southampton boss.

“It hurts because of the expectations and the momentum that built around us,” Pochettino adds when asked if failing to winning a trophy hurt.

“However, when we first spoke with Levy about the project, the plan was to equip the club with the best facilities in the world. At the same time, we wanted to build a team capable of challenging the biggest clubs in England within five years. Because we were so far ahead in the sporting process compared to the infrastructure side, huge expectations were created – and perhaps not enough value was given to what we actually achieved.

“For a period of time, having a new stadium was more important than winning a title – the club’s financial focus was on that. Even so, we delivered strong results. In my view, those years should be spoken about as a huge success.”

That elusive trophy came in Pochettino’s next managerial stint, when he won the French Super Cup shortly after his appointment at Paris Saint-Germain in January 2021.

“It wasn’t a relief – it came with the responsibility of having to win it with the players I had at PSG,” he continues. “The external perception of a coach changes once he wins a trophy, but that doesn’t always reflect his journey.

“It’s a bit unfair to draw that parallel – that the one who wins does everything right and the one who loses does everything wrong.”

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Mauricio Pochettino may well have inadvertently put his finger on where things have gone wrong at Tottenham - by discussing what the club got right during his time there.

The Argentine oversaw Tottenham's best spell in a generation or two during his five and a half years in charge from 2014 to 2019.

Spurs finished in the top five in each of Pochettino's seasons in charge, including coming second once and third twice - as well as reaching the 2019 Champions League final.

Mauricio Pochettino: 'Tottenham had talented players, but no real balance'

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Pochettino had taken the step up from Southampton soon after the end of the 2013/14 season, largely thanks to the greater opportunity for success he and his staff saw at Spurs.

He told FourFourTwo: "[Spurs] was a club that offered a chance to compete for bigger objectives. It meant stepping up another level. When [Daniel] Levy’s call came, we didn’t have many doubts."

Although his spell at Spurs ended without a trophy, Pochettino had the side competing at a level they would now be desperate to reach again.

The now-United States manager believes chairman Daniel Levy was a key part of that, saying: "Levy is a genius when it comes to man management, business and negotiation – someone we learned a great deal from.

"Over 25 years, you only have to look at where he found Spurs and where he took them. It became a model club, with an incredible stadium and facilities.

"He didn’t get the reward in terms of trophies, but Levy’s legacy is admired all over the world for his management ability and long-term vision. You can have good ideas, but he made them happen.

"The main thing was having the backing of the club and Daniel Levy, who believed in a sporting rebuild that also included the manager.

"When we arrived, there was an excess of players – many of them talented, but there was no real balance. It was hard to build a competitive team. Reconstructing with a medium-term vision was fundamental.

"Pep Guardiola was given that opportunity, Jurgen Klopp had it, and so did we. There are many very good coaches, but you have to be at the right club, with the right people supporting you to develop what you want to achieve.

"It’s a complex puzzle, because in football there’s always the temptation for people to interfere in areas that aren’t their responsibility. At Tottenham, we were allowed to work."

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From 2003/04 to 2008/09, we lived firmly in the Big Four era. Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool had a near-monopoly on the four Champions League places, with just one exception: Everton beat Liverpool into fourth place in 2004/05.

Manchester City and Tottenham joined the party to make it a Big Six from 2009/10 onwards. In the 13 seasons between then and 2021/22, those six teams made up the top six on six occasions.

Five of them were in the top six a further five times. Liverpool finished outside the top six three times from 2010 to 2013. Manchester United finished seventh under David Moyes in 2013/14. Liverpool (eighth) and Chelsea (tenth) both had bad years in 2015/16 to help open the door for Leicester’s title triumph. Arsenal finished eighth in 2019/20 and 2020/21, with Spurs one place ahead of them in the latter season.

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Then came Saudi-owned Newcastle United and Aston Villa, who seemingly pushed us into the Big Eight era, as we here at FourFourTwo claimed in summer 2023. That was seemingly confirmed the following season: the top eight places were all filled by those eight teams.

Only it’s not quite worked out that way.

The Big Four era and - to only a slightly lesser extent - the Big Six era were both extremely entrenched.

Even those aberrations in the 2010s were down to the elite clubs having a transitional period – especially Liverpool’s wilderness years in the latter days of the Hicks and Gillett regime, when they were certainly not behaving or spending like an enormous club.

Let’s not get this wrong: Big Eight clubs have eaten up every top five place for what now looks like being five seasons in a row, with Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool joined on a rotating basis by Aston Villa, Chelsea, Manchester United, Newcastle and Tottenham.

But at the same time, those clubs have lost the aura of invincibility that was enjoyed by the financially-backed elite over the past two decades. Simply put, you still need bags of money to succeed, but it is no longer a guarantee against failure to anything like the degree it once was.

No Big Four or Big Six club ever finished far from their ‘place’ in their respective eras. To repeat: Liverpool were the only Big Four club to ever finish as low as fifth. Chelsea were the only Big Six club to ever finish outside the top eight, coming tenth in 2015/16.

But if the table stays as it is now, at least one Big Eight club will have finished in the bottom half of the table in three of the past four seasons. Chelsea came 12th in 2022/23. Manchester United and Tottenham came 15th and 17th respectively last season. Newcastle are now 14th – and most remarkably, Spurs are on course for relegation.

That has come in spite of the tighter PSR regulations that coincided with what is meant to be the Big Eight era. Those rules, which limit the losses clubs are able to make, should in theory have entrenched the richer clubs even further. Leicester’s dramatic decline after years of recklessly overspending on wages shows the perils of trying to keep up with the Joneses.

So what is happening? Why is it that money talked so loudly in the Big Four and Big Six eras that those clubs were virtually completely insulated against serious failure – but now it is possible for some of the richest clubs in the country to find themselves battling it out in the lower reaches of the Premier League table?

The answer, we think, is twofold. One is that the TV rights for the Premier League took a massive, massive hike in from 2016/17 onwards. That meant that the rich got richer – and have continued to do so by having Champions League money on top – but so did the rest of the division.

That’s important, because when it comes to player recruitment in a global market, Premier League clubs are not only competing with each other: they’re up against big teams from other countries, too.

Suddenly, even a fairly middling Premier League side could afford to pay more than almost any club in Italy, Germany or Spain bar the absolute powerhouses like Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Wolves are the best early example of the effect that had. They finished seventh in 2018/19 and 2019/20, largely thanks to their ties to Jorge Mendes allowing them to sign some of Portugal’s hottest young stars even when they were still a Championship club gambling on getting promoted to the top tier.

Even still, there was an upper limit. But what we have seen over the past few years is less about pure financial might: it’s been about the Premier League’s middle-class clubs spending the last decade getting much smarter about how they spend their money.

While some of the big eight have wasted their wealth on incoherent recruitment and inappropriate managerial appointments, there is a clutch of clubs who have excelled at getting the absolute most out of their squads.

Tottenham have been fined €10,000 (£8,656) and handed a warning by UEFA following events during the first leg of their 7-5 aggregate defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League round of 16.

Much of the fallout from Spurs’ 5-2 defeat in Madrid centred on Antonin Kinsky’s comedy of errors, which allowed Atletico to race into a three-goal lead inside 17 minutes at the Metropolitano.

But on a night where everything went wrong for Spurs, they have now been fined £8,656 for delaying kick-off, while former interim manager Igor Tudor has been given a warning.

During the match, Spurs were awarded five yellow cards to players in their starting lineup, and on top of the fine for the delayed kick-off, UEFA have provided a warning to the club for "improper conduct of the team".

Spurs ultimately crashed out of the Champions League despite a spirited 3-2 win over Atletico in the second-leg at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Tudor was replaced as manager shortly after the victory over Atletico as Spurs’ league form continued to dip, with Roberto De Zerbi taking the reins on a five-year deal.

Attention is now fixed solely on staying in the Premier League, with Spurs two points from safety with five games to go ahead of this weekend’s trip to bottom-of-the-table Wolves.

Spurs are still searching for their first win of the calendar year, and De Zerbi knows it is imperative that his side get three points against Wolves, whose relegation to the Championship was confirmed earlier this week.

James Maddison has been backed to make an impact in Tottenham’s relegation battle, but he might not return to his best form until the 2027-28 season.

Maddison was surprisingly named on the bench by new Spurs boss Roberto De Zerbi for Saturday’s 2-2 home draw with Brighton and even though he was not used, it provided a boost to a disgruntled fanbase.

The England playmaker has not played for Tottenham competitively since May 1 and not during this campaign after he suffered anterior cruciate ligament damage on August 3, but his presence in the dugout has raised the possibility of a key role in the club’s final five fixtures.

Ben Dinnery, an injury expert and founder of the widely-renowned Premier Injuries website, has admitted expectations on Maddison should be low given his eight-and-a-half-month absence with a serious knee injury.

However, Dinnery pointed out Maddison should be able to show flashes of his best even ahead of Saturday’s trip to Wolves.

Dinnery told the Press Association: “As far as the medical department, the sports science department and everyone involved in his recovery and rehab, James Maddison is in the best possible physical place to be able to contribute to the team.

“The next question is does Roberto De Zerbi believe that James Maddison can start a game and contribute to the success of Tottenham from the first minute or is James Maddison in a place where realistically we’re looking at him being an impact player from the bench?

“Ideal scenario you’re doing that careful reintegration, you’re maybe doing some bounce (warm-up) games, some under-21 games, you’ll maybe be doing 10, 15 or 20 minutes coming off the bench for the first team and then you’re gradually building it up.

“However, given the demands and the pressure and limited amount of time Tottenham have to try and maintain their Premier League hopes, then nothing would surprise me! It is whether or not they feel Maddison can contribute from kick-off for 45 minutes or for 60 minutes.

“James Maddison is a leader, players will be looking up to the likes of Maddison for that moment of brilliance and is he capable of doing it in a one-off moment in games? Absolutely. It is just those levels of consistency optimally over long periods.”

Spurs will hope Maddison – who did not warm-up during Saturday’s game – can make his mark over the next month, but data suggests it will take longer for the 29-year-old to get back to pre-injury levels of performance.

“Being involved is great, but what you’re looking at for James Maddison is a really good and solid pre-season being under his belt,” Dinnery explained.

“If he gets a few minutes between now and the end of the season, and he makes one or possibly two goal contributions and Tottenham stay up, great and everyone is a winner.

“Ultimately, you’re looking towards the 2026-27 season for James Maddison to really start to perform regularly at somewhere near those pre-injury levels and it could even be beyond and in the 2027-28 season before he is back, hopefully, to pre-level (form).”

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Tottenham’s nightmare season has seen them suffer another blow with news that one of their defenders has suffered a ‘severe’ injury blow.

Spurs’ winless run continues on Saturday, when Brighton’s Georginio Rutter scored a 95th-minute equaliser at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, as Roberto De Zerbi’s side twice threw away a lead in their latest quest to secure a first Premier League win of 2026.

That draw, coupled with Nottingham Forest’s 4-1 victory over Burnley on Sunday, means that Spurs could find themselves four points off safety with five games to play, should West Ham United win at Crystal Palace on Monday.

Spurs defender suffers ‘severe’ injury

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Injuries have played their part in Spurs’ recent woes, with skipper Cristian Romero last week being ruled out for the rest of the campaign, while goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario is recovering from hernia surgery.

Dejan Kulusevski, Ben Davies and Mohammed Kudus remain sidelined long-term, and although Rodrigo Bentancur returned to action on Saturday and James Maddison was back in the matchday squad, a Spurs loanee is the latest to suffer a fresh injury blow.

Tottenham loaned 19-year-old centre-back Luka Vuskovic out to Hamburg in the summer, shortly after the Croatia international joined the club in a £12million deal.

He would quickly make an impact in Germany, making 27 appearances for the Bundesliga side in all competitions as he established himself as a key part of the Hamburg defence.

Vuskovic was again called up by the Croatia national side during the last international break, winning his third and fourth international caps when he started the friendlies against Colombia and Brazil, but has made just one appearance since his return.

Hamburg boss Merlin Polzin last week confirmed that Vuskovic had undergone intensive treatment for a knee injury and again missed out at the weekend, when Hamburg lost 3-1 to Werder Bremen. Now, German outlet Bild reports that the injury is ‘much worse’ than originally feared, claiming that the teenager’s knee joint is more ‘severely damaged than previously thought’.

They add that the Spurs man has not trained with his team-mates since April 7, with Hamburg clearly missing him in his absence, as they have shipped in seven goals in their last two matches. The report does not indicate when Vuskovic is expected to return.

While news of the injury will be a blow to Hamburg and Vuskovic ahead of this season’s run-in, it will also be of concern to Tottenham ahead of what will be a crucial summer for the team, whatever happens over the next few weeks.

Vuskovic - who is valued at €60million by Transfermarkt - has enjoyed an impressive season in Germany, which has seen the likes of Barcelona and Bayern Munich monitor his progress.

The Tottenham defence is likely to undergo significant changes this summer, whatever division the club finds itself in, and if the young Croatian is not part of the Spurs back-line next term, he could be a valuable asset in the transfer market.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Roberto de Zerbi believes he has seen enough from his side to convince him they will win their relegation fight. Spurs are still in the drop zone after former Leeds United star Georginio Rutter scored an injury time equaliser to deny the new Tottenham boss a much-needed win and secure a 2-2 draw for Brighton on Saturday evening.

It leaves Spurs eight points behind Leeds after the Whites won 3-0 earlier on Saturday at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Spurs still have five games to play, including a game against Leeds which would cut the gap should they win.

Whether Spurs can catch Leeds is up for debate, with overhauling Daniel Farke's side unlikely at this stage with five games to go, but it's catching West Ham and Nottingham Forest directly above them which will be the primary target no doubt.

Leeds United's final five fixtures compared to relegation rivals after back-to-back wins

Daniel Farke responds to Roy Keane's comments on Leeds United after win vs Manchester United

And the new boss has every confidence from what he has seen from his players. "I am positive but I am proud of my players," said the Spurs boss.

"They played a fantastic game with character and spirit. We have to be stronger than this result, we have to move on and prepare the next game and try to win the game at Wolves. I think we can compete again.

"I saw signs, I saw blood, character, qualities, organisation with and without the ball. Everything to reach our target."

Leeds can go 11 points clear of Tottenham should they win at Bournemouth on Wednesday evening, with Spurs facing Wolves this weekend while the Whites are in FA Cup semi-final action.

Tottenham manager Roberto De Zerbi said his side are "not finished yet" despite a bitterly disappointing 2-2 draw against Brighton on Saturday to leave them mired in the Premier League relegation zone.

Spurs twice took the lead in front of passionate home fans and Xavi Simons' wonderful strike in the 77th minute appeared to have earned a precious three points as the clock ticked down.

But wild scenes of joy among the fans turned to disbelief when Georginio Rutter slotted home to ensure the spoils were shared at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The result left Spurs 18th in the Premier League, one point behind West Ham and two behind Nottingham Forest with five games remaining.

The spectre of a first relegation since 1977 looms large for last season's Europa League winners, who are ranked by Deloitte as the ninth richest club in the world.

Former Brighton and Marseille boss De Zerbi, taking charge of his first home game, admitted the draw felt like a defeat but said his team had the quality to win all five of their remaining games.

"It's not finished yet, we have another five games, it's tough," he said.

"Everyone of us knows it's a tough moment, it's a difficult situation, but we have another five games, 15 points.

"And this team is able to win five games in a row."

The Italian urged his players, who looked distraught at the end of the match, to believe in him.

"They have to follow me, they have not to think, they have to follow me and to listen to me," he said.

"I'm proud of their performance, they have to be stronger and to be focused just on the Wolverhampton game (next week).

"And to come to the training ground on Monday afternoon with a smile, because otherwise they go home immediately.

"I have no time to see negative people, to see sad players or sad assistants. No, we are lucky because we are working in a big club, a big stadium, we are working in the Premier League."

After the game at Wolves, Spurs have matches to come against Aston Villa, Leeds, Chelsea and Everton.

The squad is packed with quality but despite De Zerbi's positive words, their chances of survival look increasingly bleak.

- Winless Spurs -

Tottenham have forgotten how to win in the league -- failing to pick up a victory since December.

Adding to their problems, Forest, who host relegation-bound Burnley on Sunday, and West Ham, who travel to Crystal Palace a day later, are regularly picking up vital points.

Leeds beat Wolves 3-0 on Saturday and are now eight points clear of danger.

De Zerbi, brought in earlier this month as Tottenham's third head coach of the season, has an incredibly difficult task despite encouraging signs against Brighton.

But he urged his men to have belief and play with adventure.

"Now we need courage, now we need to win the game and to win the game we have to be positive and to play football with the ball and not stay just to defend 11 players and going counter-attack," he said.

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler, who is chasing a European spot next season, certainly feels the London side have the quality to survive.

"They have unbelievable players in their squad," he said. "They have in their front line players who can make a difference with one action, and that's what they showed today.

"Therefore, I think they have enough quality in their squad to make it happen."

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Catastrophic revenue drop for Spurs

According to BBSportNews, football finance expert Professor Rob Wilson has warned that Tottenham face an unprecedented financial crisis if relegated. The club would experience an immediate and severe reduction in their broadcasting and commercial income. Detailing the exact financial damage, Wilson explained: “In terms of revenue, you’re looking at an initial swing of around £250 million. That’s on the basis for Spurs and a full Premier League cycle down to Championship level income. That factors in broadcast revenue, commercial revenue and matchday reductions albeit they’ll be playing a few more games in the Championship.

“That headline number doesn’t all land at once because you’ve got parachute payments, those payments will give the club an additional payback of around £45m in year one. This is designed to soften the impact for them.”

Drastic squad wage reductions required

To survive this potential revenue collapse, the club have to drastically restructure their outgoings, specifically regarding player salaries. Most current contracts likely include relegation clauses, which typically reduce wages by up to 50 per cent. However, this alone will not be enough to balance the books. Wilson highlighted the brutal reality of adapting to the Championship, stating: “That’s a fairly standard and quite a meaningful reset on a wage bill that’s been running into nine-figures annually but the reality is you need to cut your wage bill by about 75 per cent if you’re going to slot into Championship revenue.”

The stark relegation reality

The threat of this financial ruin is imminent, with Spurs currently languishing in 18th place on 30 points after 32 matches. They sit two points behind West Ham United in 17th, while Nottingham Forest and Leeds United are slightly ahead on 33 and 36 points respectively. If they fail to bridge this gap, a mass player exodus is inevitable. Elite European teams are ready to capitalise on their misfortune. Wilson warned: “You’ll see clubs circle like vultures around Spurs given the massive drop off in revenue they’ll get. The likes of Archie Gray and Cristian Romero, you can be sure that they will move.”

Survival mission and fixture run-in

To avoid this catastrophic reset, Tottenham must urgently secure points from their final six fixtures. Their ultimate survival mission begins on Saturday against Brighton, followed by daunting away trips to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Aston Villa, and Chelsea. Crucial home clashes against relegation rivals Leeds and Everton will definitively seal their Premier League fate.

Winless in 14 league matches, Tottenham incredibly finds itself in the Premier League's relegation zone with just six matches left to play.

The North London club hosts Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, April 18 hoping to lock in for the stretch run and escape a drop – which would go down as a historic humiliation for a team that had qualified for the Champions League six times since 2016.

"We have to find the right energy, the right spirit. When they stay with me during the week, they will find a positive coach because I believe in them," said manager Roberto de Zerbi, Spurs' third manager of the season. "They are human and maybe they are suffering too much. We have to stay all together and close and improve in the details of the football, but to be better as a mentality."

Tottenham was last relegated from England's top division in 1977. Meanwhile, Brighton enters Saturday's match having won three Premier League, including a 2-0 win over Burnley last time out.

Heres's what to know for the relegation battle:

Best Premier League action, scenes and drama from 2025-26 season

Tottenham standings: Premier League table

Premier League relegation odds

(Odds via DraftKings, as of 11 a.m. April 17)

Tottenham: -110

West Ham: +175

Nottingham Forest: +500

Leeds: +1400

Tottenham schedule

April 18 vs. Brighton & Hove

April 25 at Wolverhampton

May 3 at Aston Villa

May 11 vs. Leeds United

May 17 at Chelsea

May 24 vs. Everton

When was Tottenham last relegated?

Tottenham was last relegated in 1977, dropping out of the top division with a 22nd-place finish. Prior to that, Tottenham hadn't been relegated since 1935.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tottenham standings, Premier League table and relegation odds