The New York Times

Tottenham Hotspur go to Wolverhampton Wanderers this weekend with their season and future on a knife-edge.

Win this afternoon (Saturday) and Spurs could end the day outside the bottom three, depending on results elsewhere, bringing a renewed sense of optimism. Lose away to already-relegated opposition, combined with the possibility of West Ham United beating visitors Everton in a match happening at the same time, and the writing of the north London club’s first relegation since the 1976-77 season is on the wall.

It means yet another game watched through their fingers or from behind the sofa for the millions of Tottenham fans unable to make the trip to Molineux, as relegation to the Championship becomes an ever more likely prospect.

“All of a sudden, the fate being so disastrous has made games not even including Spurs incredibly stressful. Like, unbelievably stressful,” says Adam, 38, who has been a season-ticket holder for 20 years.

“On Monday night (when West Ham got a point from a 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace), I was on the floor, practically hyperventilating, watching the (West Ham attacking) corner at the end. From a physiological perspective, the lack of sleep… During the Sunderland game (a 1-0 away defeat two weeks ago), I ended up with a massive migraine. I had a friend around to watch it, but we didn’t speak for about 40 minutes after we conceded. We were in a haze.”

Off the back of ending a 17-year trophy drought by winning the Europa League last May, many Tottenham fans went into this season with excitement.

While they missed out on influential creative midfielders including Morgan Gibbs-White and Eberechi Eze in the transfer market, which has undoubtedly contributed to their calamitous season, Spurs strengthened their attacking ranks with Mohammed Kudus and Xavi Simons, and began life under new head coach Thomas Frank with back-to-back league wins, beating Burnley at home before an impressive 2-0 win away at serial champions Manchester City.

But after that decent start, their form collapsed. Tottenham have picked up just two league wins from 24 league matches since the start of November, and are yet to record one this calendar year. Frank was sacked after a 2-1 home defeat to Newcastle United on February 10, with match-going fans having long grown tired of the continued poor performances and results.

“It was towards the end of the Thomas Frank period when I really just tuned away from football,” says Gary, 26, who now only watches Spurs’ fixtures. “Partly because it’s hard to watch other teams do well, and the other part is that even thinking about football was getting me in a bad mood. I just wanted to get away from it all, really.

“During the international break that just came up, I didn’t watch any of the England games. Then I didn’t watch any of the FA Cup quarter-finals weekend after it. So it was nearly a month off football. Those three weeks were bliss — not thinking about Spurs, not thinking about football, just getting on with life.

“I watch every Spurs game with my dad, but since we’re not watching any other football, I’m not spending time with him. I go out for lunch on the weekends with my mum, because I see it as free now. I’m going to the gym more — it’s probably having quite a positive impact on my life. It’s made me realise there’s more to life than football, and how much football has impacted my life.”

While Gary has been able to extricate himself from following every Spurs-related game or update, some fellow fans, including Ben, 45, who has had a season ticket since 1989, have been consumed by the team’s protracted slide in recent seasons and struggle to escape from thinking about it.

“I’m a pessimist,” says Ben. “I’ve seen this slippery slope coming. Every single week, hoping for a lucky win, but it’s just been bad luck — injury after injury. Every Saturday night or Sunday, I’m in a vile mood, trying to get a Monday off work, because of the Arsenal, Chelsea, and West Ham fans. It’s just been playing on my mind all the time.

“I haven’t got kids, Spurs are everything in my life. I’m Spurs-mad. I’m turning Twitter off next week; I’ve already planned when Instagram and Facebook are going off. I’m meeting a Spurs fan today who was at the last relegation in the ’70s, and it’s affecting him massively. He said his wife is struggling to handle his emotions right now.

“It’s making me feel physically sick. I’ve got a few days’ holiday held back if I need to take it. I’m due for a sabbatical and was thinking whether this is a good time…”

Tottenham saw no new-manager bounce when Frank was replaced with Igor Tudor, and the Croatian was sacked after just 44 days in charge without delivering a single win. Performances have improved under Tudor’s successor Roberto De Zerbi, and the Italian’s upbeat messaging has encouraged the fanbase, but Spurs cannot hope to stay up unless they can win some matches. This wait for a first Premier League victory in 2026 has become one of the run-in’s biggest stories, making the topic even harder for their fans to avoid.

“It’s such a bizarre situation to find a club of our stature in a relegation fight that everyone wants to talk about it,” says Gary. “It’s not just after the game when you get banter from your friends. If the game’s on Saturday and I see friends on Sunday, they’ll speak about it. I go to work on Monday, and people want to speak about it.

“By the time people stop speaking about the game from the Saturday before, we lose again on the Saturday after — rinse and repeat. It’s in almost every aspect of my life at the moment. People want to talk about the situation, and I don’t blame them, because obviously, it’s a big talking point for everyone, but it means that it’s so hard to get away from.”

For some Tottenham fans, the prospect of relegation was so ludicrous that they would entertain thoughts and conversations about it.

Spurs were 12 points ahead of third-bottom West Ham on New Year’s Day, and even if rumblings and fears about tumbling out of the Premier League were starting to spread online and through the terraces, few actually believed it was a possibility.

“Initially, it was a perverse mix of wanting to experience it without actually wishing to experience it,” says Darryl, 38, whose father bought him a Tottenham season ticket before he was born, and has had one ever since. “You’re peering through the looking glass and wondering what would happen if we did go down. ‘Could they? Would they have financial issues with the stadium debt? How many players would leave? Could it even be a good thing?’. Like wondering what would happen if I were the last person alive. ‘What would I do?’. ‘Oh, it would actually be really grim’. And it would be a grim reality to go down. It could be a hell of a long time before we get back to where we would want to be.”

The majority of Spurs fans will have no memory of relegation, and it is an entirely different prospect these days than it was in 1977. At that time, it was not uncommon for clubs to win promotion from the Second Division and be immediately competitive at the top end of the First Division, as the domestic elite was then known.

Derby County, for example, won the title in 1971-72, two seasons after being promoted. Brian Clough went one better with Nottingham Forest in 1977-78, winning the league and then the European Cup with Derby’s East Midlands neighbours and arch-rivals immediately upon earning promotion.

Now, those stories are far more uncommon. Leicester City achieved a similar feat 10 years ago, but that’s considered the greatest shock in modern football history. Wolves, who immediately finished in the Europa League places in 2019 after a six-season spell away from the top flight, offer a more realistic target.

Having no reference point for their own club, however, is a primary driver of the anxiety for Tottenham supporters.

“It’ll be very hard to feel that connection with them again, because I see this relegation as the ultimate betrayal,” says Adam. “To allow themselves to be in this situation is categorically unacceptable. I think the reason I’m so angry and stressed about it is that it feels like our relationship with the club and that thing that we’ve always loved doing, and the thing that you do with your mates, and you talk to everybody about — my dad calls me about it after every final whistle — will change negatively forever, and it’ll never be the same again.”

“It’s the fear and stress of that, the anxiety of everybody looking at you slightly differently because you no longer support Spurs, this big club that you can be proud of; you now support this national embarrassment, who have gone through probably the worst thing that any club of our size will ever go through. That will forever tarnish us, and our children will be tarnished by that.”

For other fans, it’s the worry of having to wait longer for the ninth-richest club in the world to fulfil their great promise.

“I’m an optimist at heart, and the most disappointing thing about a potential relegation for me is that I see the potential with Spurs,” says Gary. “I see how we could challenge for the very top honours, and I see how we could become an elite football club. A potential relegation puts that back so many years.

“I don’t really care what other people say. I’ve always hated the ‘Big Six’ label. I don’t think it does anything for us. If anything, it brings more negative eyes on us than anything else. For me, the thing that keeps me up at night is thinking we could be great, and us being relegated sets us back so many years. I’m quite optimistic about where we can go if we stay up, and going down muddies that vision so much.”

One thing almost every Spurs fan can agree on is that today’s game at Wolves will have a significant bearing on their Great Escape prospects.

Should a win lead to them avoiding the drop, Tottenham have the ability to bounce back from all this next season with a clean bill of health and aspire to qualify for Europe — though few will be surprised if they struggle again. If they do get relegated this season, the implications will be sizeable. However, it may also finally provide some solace, allowing fans to process the reality without the hope of survival.

“If it actually happens, it will be a huge relief,” says Adam. “I don’t think it will be that stressful. It’ll be upsetting for a couple of days, but I think we’ll move on pretty quickly.

“And when you think that this has been an emotional struggle every day for the last three or four months, it will be a huge relief not to be going through that anymore, because it’ll be done one way or another.”

Ever wondered what it is like to be a Premier League referee?

The ref cam, attached to the match official’s right ear, showing their point of view, has given a new insight into a referee’s perspective in the top flight this season.

After trials in pre-season friendlies during the United States-staged Summer Series two years ago, and a league match between Manchester United and Crystal Palace in May 2024, this campaign’s rollout has been more comprehensive.

As well as brief cuts to the camera during live game coverage, we are now seeing mic’d up edits posted to the social channels of the Premier League and its broadcast partners, which often feature confrontations and decisions that have become larger talking points.

It is content we are likely to see more of, with FIFA deeming its own ref cam experiment at last summer’s revamped Club World Cup in the U.S. to have gone “beyond their expectations”. Those cameras will be used at all 104 World Cup matches in the U.S., Canada and Mexico this June and July, while it has also been introduced in the NWSL, the U.S. women’s top-flight, and featured last weekend in the final of Spain’s Copa del Rey between Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad.

From dealing with West Ham United winger Adama Traore bulldozing Chelsea players to intriguing exchanges in the Merseyside and north London derbies, here are eight things it has shown us from behind the curtain.

The human side of referees

Nobody thought officials were aliens, but the ref cam puts you in their shoes.

You see the impressive speed at which players get around the pitch and decisions on incidents get made, and the task facing referees, who have to keep up with moves being executed by people who are often many years younger than them and in their physical prime.

We have even seen some banter between referees and players. During Manchester United’s 2-0 home victory against Tottenham Hotspur in February, Michael Oliver joked with Spurs midfielder Conor Gallagher that he might have scored from one chance if he’d taken a better first touch, as seen below.

Another example came in last weekend’s Merseyside derby.

After James Tarkowski disputed a foul given against his Everton side, Chris Kavanagh jokingly asked the 33-year-old centre-back if he is going to become a referee once he retires as a player.

The players who test officials’ patience

From the footage released so far, West Ham’s Matheus Fernandes and Victor Lindelof of Aston Villa have had the frostiest confrontations with referees.

During Chelsea’s 3-2 comeback victory against them in January, West Ham won a free kick on the edge of the penalty area. Fernandes began pestering the players forming the wall and was met with an “Oi, excuse me” intervention from referee Anthony Taylor.

“Do not come here causing problems. Stand there, and don’t speak to anybody,” Taylor continued, with Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo also berated during that incident.

At one point in Villa’s 2-1 defeat of his previous club Manchester United in December, Lindelof could be heard saying “I didn’t touch him” to Oliver, not realising the official had penalised another player. As Oliver explained the situation to Lindelof, the Swedish defender walked away.

@premierleague

This is amazing insight 😮 Watch a Premier League match from the referee’s POV, when Aston Villa hosted Man Utd in December 🤳 #PremierLeague

♬ original sound – Premier League

Ninety-plus minutes of match footage gets edited down to about two minutes before it’s released, so the fiercest protests are unlikely to make the cut. We saw Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford booked during last Sunday’s defeat against Liverpool for dissent, but the mic did not pick up what the England No 1 said.

Equally, there is clearly respect between the players and the officials. Mohamed Salah and Kavanagh shared a nice exchange at the end of the same match. The referee told the soon-to-depart Liverpool forward “(A) pleasure, Mo,” to which Salah replied, “If I don’t see you, it was a pleasure.”

What really happens in heated moments

One feisty moment caught on ref cam during that same Chelsea-West Ham game was when Traore tussled with Marc Cucurella and Joao Pedro.

The first question Taylor asked the VAR officials via their audio link was if Traore had pulled Cucurella’s hair (he did not; he just helped him to the ground). Joao Neves of Paris Saint-Germain was sent off in the Club World Cup final for pulling the Spanish defender’s hair last July, as was Southampton’s Jack Stephens in the Premier League in December 2024.

All this happened towards the Chelsea corner flag, but West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek saw the funny side of it and asked the ref if it was a possible penalty. “Come on, Tomas,” Chelsea captain Reece James responded.

During the ensuing melee, West Ham defender Jean-Clair Todibo grabbed Joao Pedro’s neck. “You’ve gotta check VAR though,” Chelsea’s Cole Palmer told Taylor.

We then saw Taylor go over to the monitor. “Oh, yeah. Grabs him round the throat,” he said, before showing Todibo a red card.

The best view of the goals

Referees have to try to position themselves in line with play to keep up with the unfolding match action.

This has meant they have regularly enjoyed the perfect vantage point for some of the best goals scored this season, such as Dominik Szoboszlai’s winning free kick for Liverpool against Arsenal in August.

In the mic’d up content, Oliver was right on top of Morgan Rogers’ two goals for Villa in that December match against Manchester United, both scored from the left side of the box. So much so that he could see the flight of the shot and said “Goal” on each occasion before the ball had hit the back of the net.

Over recent weeks, there have been similarly satisfying angles of Alex Scott’s winning team goal for Bournemouth against Arsenal and Cody Gakpo’s inch-perfect pass to Salah against Everton.

Kolo Muani controversy

In the footage from the north London derby in February, we saw the disallowed Tottenham goal against Arsenal in which Randal Kolo Muani was deemed to have pushed Gabriel in the back before putting the ball in the net.

His team-mates Micky van de Ven and Gallagher protested the decision, but referee Peter Bankes ended the discussion by saying, “It is a clear foul. End of.”

Some fans reshared the images and said the referee’s view of the incident was not clear. This is where ref cam has its limitations, as it does not have full peripheral vision.

Whether you believe it was a foul or not, Bankes’ on-field decision was that it had been, and VAR did not deem it a clear and obvious error — even if Gabriel’s fall from the push appeared rather soft.

VAR is all-encompassing

Watching just the ref cam clips, which are sometimes less than two minutes long, gives you an indication of how much refereeing now centres on VAR.

Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on your view of the technology, but every goal being met with the statement “on-field decision is goal/no goal” gives you a sense of where things stand.

In the clips, referees can be heard giving small updates and communicating with their VAR colleagues, who can be hundreds of miles away, as much as they do with the players surrounding them on the pitch.

Romero predicts the future

At the start of Premier League games, referees carry out a coin toss with the two teams’ captains to determine who kicks off and which end of the pitch they want to attack to start.

At the start of that Manchester United win against Tottenham in February, Oliver took out a coin with red and silver sides. Referring to Romero by his nickname, ‘Cuti’, Oliver asked the Argentina centre-back to pick a side. He opted for red, with a grin on his face.

Twenty-nine minutes later, Romero was shown a red card for a high challenge on Casemiro.

“It’s finished — red card,” Oliver said. “They’ve already checked it?” asked Van de Ven, Romero’s fellow defender. Oliver repeated his initial statement three or four times afterwards.

Should it be used more?

At the end of Manchester United’s Villa Park defeat in February, an out-of-view player for the home side could be heard telling Oliver, “Hey, you should have a camera at every game. You’ve been flawless.”

In other sports, such as rugby union, referees have been mic’d up in matches since the early 2000s, and it has proved a popular and successful development.

Football has been late to the party, but the fact that it will be used at the upcoming World Cup, among other competitions, suggests it is now here to stay.

Tottenham Hotspur will be without Destiny Udogie, Guglielmo Vicario and Pape Matar Sarr for Saturday’s game against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Head coach Roberto De Zerbi also confirmed that James Maddison will be included in the squad but is unlikely to feature.

Spurs have not won a game since December and are two points away from safety before this weekend’s trip to Wolves. Rob Edwards’ side are bottom of the table and their relegation was confirmed following last weekend’s defeat to Leeds United.

Udogie has found it difficult to stay fit throughout the season. The left-back missed six weeks of action after suffering a hamstring injury in February’s 2-0 defeat to Manchester United and returned as a substitute in last month’s 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest.

The Italy international started both of new head coach Roberto De Zerbi’s first two games in charge before breaking down again. He will not play against Wolves but could return for next week’s fixture against Aston Villa.

“Destiny has a problem,” De Zerbi said during his pre-match news conference on Friday. “I think he can’t play tomorrow. I’m sorry because he played a great first-half, the second-half as well, but the first one was great (against Brighton). But we have Spence, Souza is available to come with us. It’s not a big problem. I hope Udogie can be available in the next week at Villa Park.”

Vicario had a hernia operation during the March international break. De Zerbi hoped the goalkeeper would return this week but now expects him to be back in training on Monday. Sarr was left out of the squad for last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion. De Zerbi revealed the Senegal international is struggling with a shoulder issue and has not recovered in time to feature at Molineux.

Maddison suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury at the beginning of August and was expected to miss the entire season, but appeared in the squad for the Brighton draw Maddison’s return was a boost for the supporters but he did not warm-up during the game.

“He is not available yet, especially in this week,” De Zerbi said. “He felt pain but not so important problem. Tomorrow he will come with us on the bench because he is important if he plays or not it doesn’t matter. Better if he plays, for sure, but as a guy, as a leader, he is a positive guy.

“Inside of my dressing room I want to see nice people, positive people and this is important also for his team-mates.”

Tottenham’s injury crisis

Analysis by Tottenham Hotspur correspondent Jay Harris

Thomas Frank, Igor Tudor and De Zerbi have all been affected by Tottenham’s crippling injury crisis this season. Spurs have the numbers in midfield to cope with Sarr’s absence while Kinksy has performed well in their last two games. The Czech Republic international has bounced back from his difficult evening in the first leg of Spurs’ Champions League tie with Atletico Madrid.

Even if Maddison features again this season, it is hard to see him making a huge impact after spending so long on the sidelines. However, losing Udogie to another muscular injury is a huge blow for Spurs.

They do not have a natural, quality replacement for him at left-back. Souza is highly-rated but raw and Ben Davies is recovering from ankle surgery. Spence has covered Udogie for a significant chunk of the season. Spence is right-footed though and Spurs lack the same fluency going forward when he plays on that part of the pitch.

Udogie’s latest setback presents Spurs with a dilemma heading into the summer. The 23-year-old is excellent when he is fully fit but has never played more than 28 league games since he moved to north London from Italian side Udinese. He is not reliable enough and the club need to decide whether they should persist with him or make the difficult decision to sell.

Matchweek 34 is underway, with five games remaining for most sides.

Manchester City have overhauled a nine-point deficit to go top, level with Arsenal on goal difference and ahead on goals scored. At the bottom, West Ham have dragged themselves out of the relegation zone. Tottenham are fighting to preserve a 49-year top-flight run.

In between, 10 points separate sixth-placed Brighton from 15th-placed Leeds, with European places still in play.

Here are four matches from the next round of games, and what the numbers tell us about them.

Fulham v Aston Villa

Saturday, April 25, 12:30pm UK

Fulham have taken 71 shots and scored three goals in their past five Premier League games, a conversion rate of 4.2 per cent, and were goalless in four of those five. An xG of 6.89 over that stretch says the chances have been there; the finishing has not.

Their 10-game rolling points-per-game average, plotted below, tracks the slide.

Marco Silva has rarely had a full forward line since the turn of the year, with injuries and AFCON thinning one of the smallest squads in the Premier League. Over the first half of the season, only seven teams had scored more first-half goals than Fulham’s 11. Since the turn of the year, though, they have managed four — level with Wolves for fewest.

Harry Wilson is Fulham’s most reliable route to goal and boasts 10 league goals and six assists, both team-leading, with eight of those 10 coming at Craven Cottage. His contract expires on June 30 and no extension has been signed. With Arsenal, Bournemouth and Newcastle still to come, a strong finish would strengthen his hand this summer.

Aston Villa, level on points with third-placed Manchester United, should capitalise, but their defence invites trouble.

They have conceded three or more in three of their past five, as many as in their previous 38 combined. Pau Torres did not start any of those three (against Chelsea, Manchester United and Sunderland). When he starts, Villa concede 0.93 goals per game and win 62 per cent of their matches. Without him, the numbers are grimmer: 1.5 conceded, 41 per cent.

Ollie Watkins has six goals in nine Premier League appearances against Fulham, and six in his past five in all competitions, including a brace last time out. The striker will cause issues for the Cottagers.

Unai Emery has won all eight of his league matches against Fulham. It is a 100 per cent record that only Pep Guardiola has bettered against a single opponent. Villa’s six-game winning streak began on April 25, 2023, three years ago to the day.

West Ham United v Everton

Saturday, April 25, 3pm UK

Eight of the past 10 Premier League meetings between West Ham and Everton have produced under 2.5 goals. But, in a game likely to be decided by a single moment, Everton have a finisher in form.

Beto has scored seven goals from 19 shots in 2026 — a 37 per cent conversion rate, or one every 81 minutes. Before the turn of the year, he had 12 from 111 (11 per cent), striking once every 271 minutes.

But Beto faces a defence that has improved of late.

They have collected two clean sheets in West Ham’s past three at the London Stadium, as many as in their previous 41 combined. Axel Disasi, on loan from Chelsea since February, has been at the heart of it. There have been five clean sheets in nine Premier League games since he arrived.

Two points above the relegation zone with five games remaining, Nuno Espirito Santo has built West Ham into a survival side from the back.

Everton are a different side away from home. They cede possession, averaging 39.6 per cent, and attempt more long passes, and fewer passes overall than at Hill Dickinson. They are direct, low-block, and it has worked well for them this season.

Only Arsenal, Crystal Palace and Manchester City have a better defensive record on the road. Everton have conceded just 18 goals in 16 away games. London has been the outlier. Everton have won only three of their past 15 league games in the capital (D5 L7). The picture is complicated further by Jarrad Branthwaite’s hamstring injury, suffered against Liverpool, which weakens a defensive spine that has travelled so well.

Everton sit 10th, one point behind eighth-placed Chelsea. West Ham are two points above the drop. Neither side can afford a draw, but their past three meetings have ended level.

Wolverhampton Wanderers v Tottenham Hotspur

Saturday, April 25, 3pm UK

Two of the Premier League’s poorest sides over the past two seasons meet at Molineux on Saturday.

Wolves are already relegated. Tottenham could still follow them down. Over that period, the two ever-present teams with the fewest Premier League points are Wolves (59) and Spurs (69). The two with the most defeats are Wolves (42) and Spurs (38).

Injuries, poor recruitment and managerial churn have brought them here.

Tottenham are without a victory in 15 Premier League games in 2026. If they fail to win, they will equal their all-time longest winless run in league competition: 16 matches, set between December 1934 and April 1935. Only Derby in 2007-08 (18) and Sunderland in 2002-03 (17) have had longer winless starts to a calendar year in Premier League history.

Both were relegated.

Wolves are bottom of the table, their season having effectively been settled long before Rob Edwards’ appointment. On paper, there is no easier fixture left on Spurs’ schedule. But Wolves’ players still have reasons to perform, whether to secure a summer move or a starting place in the Championship.

There is one positive for Wolves: they are unbeaten in their past six against Spurs (W4 D2).

Tottenham showed signs of life against Brighton, outshooting them 13 to 10 and producing a higher xG (1.09 to 0.82). But signs of life have come before and led nowhere. They have won none of their past five league games after going 1-0 up, conceding 11 from winning positions.

Head coach Roberto De Zerbi has won one of his past 12 league matches across two clubs. Xavi Simons, their best player in the draw against Brighton, has scored all five of his Spurs goals at home. He has taken 20 shots on the road without scoring.

With Aston Villa, Leeds, Chelsea and Everton still to come, this is a must-win game in the run-in for Spurs. The past 20 meetings between these sides have never finished 0-0. Both teams have scored in each of the past five.

Arsenal v Newcastle United

Saturday, April 25, 5.30pm UK

Arsenal’s win ratio with Bukayo Saka in the starting XI this season is 73 per cent (16 wins in 22), but without him it drops to 45 per cent (five in 11). Over a full season, that gap is worth roughly 27 points. He missed the game against Manchester City, and Arsenal will be desperate to have him back as soon as possible.

Saka alone may not be enough. Arsenal have lost four of their past six games across all competitions, more than in their previous 52 combined. Under Arteta, April is their weakest month with an average of 1.48 points per game, the lowest of any month in his Premier League tenure.

The scoring has dried up, too: they have managed only four goals in their past five games. They have not scored from a corner or free kick in 10 matches, despite set pieces accounting for 40 per cent of their Premier League goals this season.

Declan Rice is lethal from dead-ball situations, but in open play, Saka is still the player Arsenal rely on most. When they need something from nothing, it usually runs through him.

Newcastle arrive in a fragile state.

They have dropped 25 points from winning positions this season, five more than any other team and a stark contrast to 2024-25, when they dropped just seven — the fewest in the league. Their past nine league matches have all been decided by one goal: three wins and six defeats. Only Tottenham have lost more Premier League games in 2026.

The attack has not adjusted since Alexander Isak’s departure. Nick Woltemade, the £69million ($93m) summer signing, has not scored in his last 14 Premier League appearances. Yoane Wissa has one goal from 14. Their most in-form striker is also their cheapest: William Osula.

The bigger miss has been Bruno Guimaraes. Newcastle’s win percentage drops from 45 to 18 without him, goals scored fall from 1.5 per game to 1.1, while goals conceded rise from 1.3 to 1.8. He is their top scorer with nine and leads the squad with four assists.

A hamstring injury has kept him out of 12 games this season, and his first appearance since 11 February came off the bench against Bournemouth, where he had a hand in Newcastle’s equaliser. He could return to the starting XI here.

Joelinton will not be available, having missed Bournemouth while serving the first game of a two-match suspension for his 10th yellow card of the season. He will miss the Arsenal game as well, and the preferred midfield trio of Joelinton, Sandro Tonali and Guimaraes has not started together since 18 January.

Newcastle are winless in 13 away games at Arsenal. They have scored one goal in their past nine visits to the Emirates. That does not bode well.

With Blank and Double Gameweeks continuing to shape the Fantasy Premier League season’s run-in, the Free Hit chip is about to become one of the most powerful tools at your disposal.

Blank Gameweek 34 is the biggest blank of the 2025-26 FPL campaign and, naturally, is going to be a very popular time for the game’s managers to play their Free Hit chip if they still have it.

The challenge, however, isn’t just picking the obvious names — it’s finding the right balance between reliable, highly-owned assets and the differentials who can shoot you up the ranks. With many FPL managers likely to build similar squads, identifying those less-owned players with big upside could be the key to climbing the table.

In this article, we’ll explore some of the best differential options to consider on a Free Hit, and discuss strategic approaches depending on your risk appetite and overall goals for the final stretch of the season.

The best Free Hit differentials

Mohamed Salah (£14.0m) — Liverpool

It feels strange to call a £14million player a differential but Salah’s ownership, due to his loss of form across this season, has fallen far enough to put him in that category.

He has been quietly returning well for those managers who have stuck with him, though, with goals in back-to-back matches, and has a nice home game this weekend against Crystal Palace, who look to be prioritising the UEFA Conference League over the Premier League and have the first leg of a semi-final in that competition coming up following this trip to Anfield.

Salah was owned by only 15.4 per cent of FPL managers at the time of writing, and it’s likely that those not on Free Hit either won’t buy him now or will struggle to fit him into their squad at that price.

Liverpool will be fully focused on finishing the season strongly and securing Champions League qualification, and they have no other competitions to distract them over the campaign’s remaining weeks.

It’s not often we get a premium like Salah at this ownership rate and ahead of a plum home match. He is a great option to have this week, and also a genuine captaincy candidate.

Cody Gakpo (£7.3m) — Liverpool

Salah’s fellow Liverpool midfielder hasn’t been a consistent pick this season, which naturally keeps his ownership low.

However, Gakpo has started 14 league games in a row and assisted in the past two, and with Hugo Ekitike (£9.1m) out for the season and Alexander Isak (£10.3m) still being bedded back in following a long injury absence, he could be played up top as well as in his natural position on the left.

Gakpo is also likely to be used in attack for a period of Saturday’s match if Isak starts and then gets substituted.

Despite Liverpool having a poor season by their standards, they still have the fourth-most goals (54) in the Premier League and an xG of 54.29 (sixth-best), so could well score a few times this week.

Gakpo has six goals and five assists this season and, just like team-mate Salah, has posted attacking returns in each of their past two games and looks good in terms of expected minutes, too.

The Dutchman was owned by just under six per cent of managers at the time of writing, and I don’t expect that rate to increase much before the deadline. In a one-week punt scenario, the combination of upside and low ownership makes him a fine differential.

Crysencio Summerville (£5.5m) — West Ham United

Summerville is the kind of differential who can define a Free Hit.

West Ham are one of the teams with everything to play for on the run-in as they fight to avoid relegation, and the Dutchman has been one of their best attackers. Before the calf injury that kept him out of Gameweeks 30 and 31, he was on a run of five goals in eight league matches. He has now regained fitness, starting the past two matches and playing the full 90 minutes in Gameweek 33.

West Ham play Everton at home this weekend. It’s one of the most favourable games of the five they have left, so they will see it as a must-win. The 24-year-old looks to be one of their main goal threats and with an ownership rate of only 1.4 per cent at time of writing he can be the one who makes a huge difference.

I don’t see many managers going for Summerville, regardless of chip strategy.

Pedro Porro (£5.1m) — Tottenham Hotspur

Spurs haven’t kept a clean sheet since Gameweek 19 or won since Gameweek 18. However, they looked much better in their most recent outing against Brighton & Hove Albion.

Fixtures breed form, and it doesn’t get much better than a game against bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers. Spurs are the third favourites to keep a clean sheet (36 per cent) in Gameweek 34 and full-back Porro’s real appeal lies in his attacking output.

He takes the majority of Tottenham’s set pieces and looks to be cutting in from the right and playing a lot more centrally under new head coach Roberto De Zerbi, which we saw with his goal against Brighton last weekend. Porro has also created the most chances (four) and ranks second for shots (six) among his team-mates since the Italian’s appointment.

Wolves are the lowest scorers in the division (24), have the second-worst xG at 29.12 and were officially relegated on Monday when West Ham got a draw away to Palace.

Dominic Solanke (£7.2m) — Tottenham Hotspur

Solanke hasn’t had the best season but is most definitely worth considering. He has managed just three league goals, though that return needs context given he’s missed a bunch of games through injury, starting only 10 times in the top flight.

Spurs showed clear improvement in attack in Gameweek 33 compared to recent performances and with Solanke being their first-choice No 9, he is sure to get chances. He has started their past six matches and completed the 90 minutes in five of those, which suggests his game time is secure under De Zerbi.

Despite their struggles overall, Tottenham will be strong favourites to win at Wolves, who have conceded the second-most goals in the league (61) and rank second-worst for xGC (expected goals conceded) at 52.8. This is arguably their most favourable remaining game as they fight to avoid relegation.

With 28 Premier League goals across the previous two campaigns, Solanke knows exactly where the net is and the fact he is Spurs’ first-choice penalty-taker further boosts his appeal. He is also one of the favourites this gameweek to score anytime (42 per cent) according to bookmakers, and with an ownership of under two per cent at time of writing, is a no-brainer pick in my opinion.

Free Hit draft and strategies

This is a good, balanced Free Hit draft, with the main players and some quality differentials:

It’s a fairly safe selection, so you may want to ramp up the risk by picking a few more differentials, or a differential as captain.

There are also alternative approaches you can take, such as doubling or even tripling up on specific clubs — for example, going with a triple Arsenal defence and/or triple Liverpool attack, and backing them heavily.

When using the Free Hit chip, it’s important to remember that this is a one-week punt.

In a single gameweek, variance plays a much bigger role and outcomes can be far less predictable. Because of that, trusting your instincts becomes far more justifiable. It’s a very different mindset compared to long-term planning, where decisions are typically driven by data, fixtures and consistency.

There’s more freedom to take risks and back the players or clubs you feel will deliver on the day.

Cathinka Tandberg is cheerfully examining the racks of Tottenham Hotspur’s official club shop. The 21-year-old striker admires a sweatshirt and sweatpants, a plush white bathrobe emblazoned with the cockerel crest, making a point to extol its supple texture. As far as club content goes, this is easy money.

Then Tandberg, who joined Spurs last summer from Swedish side Hammarby, catches a glimpse of the keychains, specifically the one bearing the Champions League logo. The Norway international gambols in that direction, beckoning the camera into her orbit. “This,” she whispers, “is what we’ll be playing in next season.”

There’s a 100 per cent chance that you’ve never seen this clip. “It’s him that says no!” Tandberg laughs, pointing to the media officer sitting behind us in the dugout at Spurs’ training ground four days before Spurs host Manchester United in the Women’s Super League (WSL). She knows the filtering is not from a place of personality policing, so much as protection. The internet is forever, and there is a particular titillation that accompanies a Tottenham Hotspur player publicly making bold claims about the future.

Not that any of that has stopped Tandberg. In fact, she has been making such claims since September, after she lobbed Everton goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan from the halfway line to help secure Spurs’ second win of the season, declaring live on the BBC that Spurs were Champions League contenders and she intended on being the best striker in the world.

At that point, Spurs had only played Everton and West Ham (both of whom spent dalliances on the table’s bottom this season). Since Liverpool’s 2014 WSL title victory, a combination of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City have finished in the top three every season barring two, when Manchester United claimed second and third in the 2022-23 and 2024-25 seasons respectively. Excusing those two flickers of broken hegemony, the WSL’s highest echelon has been an unassailable strongbox.

The closest Spurs have edged towards it was in 2024, finishing a club-record sixth and reaching a first FA Cup final (losing 4-0 to United). The very next season, Spurs dissolved into an 11-game winless run, finished second from bottom and sacked head coach Robert Vilahamn one year into a new three-year deal.

“Obviously people will think [this season] is lucky because that’s what people think about when they think about Tottenham’s women’s team because it’s been like that,” she says, her voice carrying a begrudging edge. In the hours after her lob against Everton, many questioned its authenticity, ignoring that she executed the precise goal 24 hours earlier in training. The same doubts have followed Spurs, even when they were as high as third in the table under new manager Martin Ho earlier this year.

Spurs have since tapered to fifth, a three-match losing streak in the league (including successive 5-2 defeats to City and Arsenal), sending them seven points adrift of United in fourth and, for some in the game, to a part of the table that makes more sense.

“I’m actually going to say I’m really disappointed because there are loads of games where we should have taken three points against teams that are below us,” Tandberg says.

“That’s s*** when you sit there and think we could actually have already beaten our record points total, given all that we have here; the infrastructure, the belief of what this club can achieve. Of course, we can sit there and say we’ve done well because we did better than last year but there’s some games we’re like f***, why didn’t we take three points? Because we should.”

Tandberg has always been a vault of self-belief (“I play with a lot of personality and to do that I need to have confidence,” she says), but this season she has come to embody the new vintage of Spurs Women: young, hungry and brash enough to declare its intentions, even if it means reckoning with failing to reach them publicly.

Spurs’ recent losing streak represents the first time under Ho, who joined Spurs in July from Norwegian side Brann, that they have lost successive league matches. They have conceded 36 goals, the third-worst in the league, with a third arriving in just their last three matches.

No one expected Spurs to solve all of last season’s foibles. They have made inroads on the pitch, appointed smartly off it and shattered their club-record transfer fee three times, for defender Toko Koga, Tandberg and Norway midfielder Signe Gaupset in January.

But Ho has emphasised that while Europe is an ambition, achieving it would always take more than one season. Considering Spurs’ record against the WSL’s top four sides this season (two draws and five defeats with an aggregate score of 8-21), it’s difficult to disagree.

Building on this year is paramount, an ambition despite having to contend with the men’s first team’s potential relegation from the Premier League and the financial implications that accompany a behemoth trying to fit into the shoes of a Championship club.

Spurs Women, like almost all women’s teams in the UK, remain heavily reliant on the revenue of their men’s team. While their budget, like most, pales in comparison to the men’s senior team — in their most recent financial accounts published in March, Spurs women’s total salaries, including bonuses, amounted to £3.73 million last season — and any expenditure on the women’s section is classed as an add back in Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) calculations, the team still affect the club’s overall bottom line. There are plenty of cautionary tales, most recently Blackburn Rovers, Reading and even Everton, of suffering a financial clampdown amid the men’s team’s struggles.

Those internally insist that the women’s team’s future is secure. The summer’s budget has been confirmed, they say, and the club are actively working on securing multiple signings, while more investment is planned for the academy infrastructure. Ho signed a new long-term deal last month, as have key midfielders Olivia Holdt and Matilda Vinberg. “We’ll be in a good place [even if the men’s team suffers relegation],” Ho says. “The leadership want to support the team, make sure we’re progressing so that won’t affect us.”

For Tandberg, the image of Spurs sitting in the Premier League relegation zone is complicated by her own perception of the team she has supported since childhood, travelling over the North Sea to accompany her dad to matches at White Hart Lane. She’s watched Harry Kane score in the Champions League and Gareth Bale order Maicon a taxi.

“I didn’t know what Spursy meant until I moved here,” she says. She’s since learned. “I’ve always watched Spurs, but for me, Tottenham, it’s a Champions League club. They’ve just been unlucky this season. Of course, I have to separate it because I can’t be sad every day because they’re being threatened with relegation, which of course is s***, but I don’t think it’ll happen. I really don’t. I just try to stay positive.”

Ho had thrice before tried to cajole Tandberg to Brann during his two seasons there, only for Tandberg to feel she was better served by other clubs. It is a sign of the distance travelled under Ho that Spurs cut itself as the destination for Tandberg.

“When he contacted me to come here, he was, like, I’m not going to speak to you again if you say no to this one,” she laughs.

“I trust him a lot,” she adds. “I can talk to him about anything that’s happening, on the pitch or off it, and he can talk to me about what he expects.

“I’m also a really passionate player, and he’s a passionate guy. He can feel what I feel. I’ve been really open about my ADHD and he’s been so easy to talk with about that. Sometimes on the pitch I can make an aggressive tackle or get yellow-carded and I’m like, ‘f***’ . That was my ADHD coming out too much. But Martin’s really good at being like ‘Tinks, come on,’ and turning my head back on.”

Conveniently, on Tandberg’s right thigh, the words One Day At A Time shout back in black ink. For a kind of media-trained anarchist, the sight of football’s most reliable interview cop-out (“one game at a time”) burnished into her thigh muscle triggers a smile.

“I’ve been thinking about taking it away,” Tandberg says of the tattoo she got two years ago. “You know when you get older and you know all those things?”

But even the most ambitious occasionally require a reminder of something so basic. The past month has been that for Spurs and Tandberg, who has failed to score since her brace in the 7-3 thrashing of Aston Villa in February. Her strong start to the season stuttered after suffering an undisclosed injury in November.

Tandberg was forced to miss the reverse fixture against United, watching helplessly from home as United – the former employers of Ho, assistant manager Lawrence Shamieh and new goalkeeping coach Ian Wilcock – salvaged a breathless point after going 3-0 down before the hour mark.

“Half of our staff has worked at United so this one means a little bit more for everyone,” Tandberg says of Sunday’s match. “We know what it means when you play against your old team. You want to prove them wrong, to show that we’re the better team.”

Victory would also close the gap to United to five, shifting Spurs closer to the top four and their best finish as the season comes to a close. Doing so won’t be easy, but Tandberg refuses to unsubscribe from bold dreams.

“We’re such a great group, so we need to have something to reach for,” she says. “And if you don’t reach it, it’s not like the world is going under.”

Welcome back to The Athletic’s relegation battle tracker, where our data and tactics writers examine the key trends behind the fight for Premier League survival.

With some teams playing two games in the past week, there has been plenty of change. Two of the three relegation places have been confirmed, as other sides have clambered further towards safety.

With the help of many numbers — including some from Opta’s supercomputer — our analysts assess the latest twists and turns.

What has changed since the last gameweek?

The headline news is that Wolverhampton Wanderers and Burnley will play in the Championship next season.

The writing had been on the wall for both sides since the turn of the year, but West Ham United’s goalless draw with Crystal Palace confirmed Wolves’ relegation on Monday, while Burnley’s 1-0 defeat against Manchester City made it two clubs slipping through the trapdoor in three days.

Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-2 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion got a point on the board, but the stoppage-time concession made it feel more like a loss for Roberto De Zerbi’s side as they remain below the dreaded dotted line.

West Ham are treading water, with Monday’s stalemate keeping them two points above the relegation zone, leaving Nottingham Forest and Leeds United as the two happiest teams.

Forest’s 4-1 victory over Burnley on Sunday extended their unbeaten Premier League run to five games, ensuring relegation drifts further away in the rearview mirror.

Meanwhile, Leeds reached the once-heralded 40-points mark on Wednesday evening — Sean Longstaff’s stoppage-time equaliser gave them a 2-2 draw at Bournemouth. Daniel Farke’s side have played one game more than their relegation-battling rivals, but that result also makes it five games without defeat.

Leeds are nine points away from the drop zone, meaning they can breathe a little more comfortably in the final few weeks of the season. Given they are only two points from 14th-placed Newcastle United and three points from 13th-placed Crystal Palace, they have every reason to be looking up the table rather than down it.

Who is looking stronger?

When you are languishing near the relegation spots, having a player who can provide a genuine attacking threat is worth their weight in gold. Nottingham Forest have that man.

Chris Wood’s return from injury comes at a welcome time, but Morgan Gibbs-White has been carrying the fight at the sharp end of the field, with six goals in his last six Premier League games.

An excellent hat-trick against Wolves inflated that record, but only Danny Welbeck has bagged more non-penalty goals (12) than Gibbs-White’s 11 finishes among all English Premier League players this season.

It risked being an unwelcome distraction, but Forest’s Europa League campaign — which has seen them reach the semi-finals against Aston Villa — has helped Vitor Pereira’s side build confidence and form at a crucial stage of the season.

With some tricky upcoming fixtures against Chelsea, Aston Villa and Newcastle, Friday clash at Sunderland could be a huge opportunity for Forest to go all in and make a big push to land the three points that should be enough for safety.

At Leeds, Noah Okafor is in similar goalscoring form to Gibbs-White after a brace against Manchester United was followed by a sharp finish against Wolves last weekend. It was a good time for Leeds to put back-to-back league victories together for the first time this season.

Farke’s side have regained some attacking potency, scoring seven goals in their last three games, after a spell of just one in their previous five. Okafor hit the post against Bournemouth, but neither he nor Dominic Calvert-Lewin found the back of the net on Wednesday. Still, they are keeping Leeds afloat, with 41 per cent of the team’s goals coming from their finishes.

Who has the tougher schedule?

Already feeling confident, a glance at Leeds’ remaining four games will give them confidence that a late drop is unlikely.

Using Opta’s Power Rankings, a proxy of each team’s strength, Leeds have the easiest run-in of any Premier League side, with their upcoming home game against Burnley almost guaranteed to secure safety if they clinch three points.

After facing Sunderland, Forest have some nasty fixtures, with Chelsea, Newcastle, Manchester United and Bournemouth in their final four games.

West Ham have been steadily building momentum with just one loss in their last five league games, but a look at their remaining fixtures suggests that they are not out of the woods.

Statistically speaking, their fixture list is the third-most difficult among all teams. Their home game against Leeds on the final day could prove decisive.

What does the supercomputer say?

Look away now, Spurs fans.

Last weekend’s draw — coupled with favourable results for Leeds and Nottingham Forest — added further jeopardy to their survival chances, with time rapidly running out.

Opta’s supercomputer gives Spurs a 59 per cent probability of relegation going into this weekend — up from 49 per cent last week. Mirroring their terrible run of form in 2026, that spike has steadily risen to alarming levels since the turn of the year.

The graphic above will make for positive reading for Leeds and Nottingham Forest, with relegation probabilities of 0.3 and 4.3 per cent. For West Ham, a 36 per cent probability is a marginal reduction from last week’s 39 per cent, but Nuno Espirito Santo’s side will be desperate to secure three points at home to Everton this weekend and keep their destiny in their own hands.

“Hours ago… Minutes ago… These men were behind barbed wire, locked in the strongest cage that man could devise. These men plotted, these men dared, these men lived, The Great Escape.”

You can picture it: Roberto De Zerbi standing in front of an interactive whiteboard at Hotspur Way with a video compilation of Tottenham Hotspur’s greatest moments playing in the background, featuring these iconic words from The Great Escape, the 1963 adventure and war film starring Steve McQueen.

In Tottenham’s case, it’s the gilded cage on White Hart Lane that will be the scene for their great escape, should they manage to beat the drop on the final day at home to Everton.

But Spurs are in a race against time to start picking up points — and crucially, wins — if they are to remain as one of the six clubs never to have been relegated from the Premier League. In De Zerbi’s mind, the mountain is clearly surmountable, but they will have to overcome a psychological mountain first.

There have been several so-called great escapes in the Premier League, but none more famous than West Bromwich Albion’s in 2004-05.

Managed by England and Manchester United icon Bryan Robson, who took over from Gary Megson in October 2004, West Brom became the first team in Premier League history to survive after being bottom on Christmas Day.

De Zerbi cannot go to the January market for mid-season reinforcements as Robson did, but uniting the squad off the pitch can help to build camaraderie in the group.

“When I spoke to Bryan about coming in, we never spoke about football,” former West Brom, Arsenal and Everton forward Kevin Campbell told The Athletic in 2020. “We spoke about family and about leadership, and he said, ‘Right, I’ll see you at the training ground tomorrow’. That was it.

“We started to do things as a squad as well. We went to the races and went out for meals. A few beers — nothing in the papers — but we started to do things as a squad, and that helped us grow.”

It was a February trip to Orlando that did the trick for that West Brom squad, who delighted in using Campbell’s American Express platinum card in the Florida nightclubs. De Zerbi took the Spurs players to the Bacchalia restaurant in Mayfair to try to build that unity within a group that hasn’t won a league game in 2026. It was almost as lavish as that West Brom trip, too, with a leg of lamb priced at £130.

There has been a discernible lift at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium since De Zerbi’s arrival. His faith in the team — trusting them to take possession of the ball and building confidence in their technical quality — is being held back only by their lack of confidence in themselves and the unit. More time spent together, both on the training pitch and away from it, and a much-needed three points could give them that psychological boost they need.

“The connection then was great — we just clicked as soon as we got back from the trip and it took off,” said left-back Paul Robinson, part of that West Brom team in 2004-05. “It just took someone like Kev to come in and make us realise what we needed to do. It gave us a bit more leadership, a bit more togetherness and a bit more drive. That’s all we needed.”

West Brom won three of their four games after that Florida trip, boosted by the January loan signing of Kieran Richardson from Manchester United, who brought quality to a midfield short on creativity. Survival remained unlikely going into the penultimate week of the season, when they travelled to face United, needing to avoid defeat to stand a chance. They drew 1-1 at Old Trafford before beating Portsmouth 2-0 on the final day, whose fans delighted in the relegation of rivals Southampton.

Tottenham appear to be in a showdown over the remaining five games with London rivals West Ham United, who are two points ahead of Spurs in 17th. It is a remarkable turnaround from their perspective, considering they were 12 points behind Tottenham on New Year’s Day, with the north Londoners picking up just six points across their 15 league matches in 2026.

After Monday’s 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace, West Ham face Everton and Brentford, who are both chasing European spots, before hosting title-challengers Arsenal. It’s a difficult run, but they can take inspiration from the 2006-07 side, who won seven of their final nine games, including a 1-0 win at Old Trafford on the final day, to beat the drop.

“We looked doomed at one point, and people outside the club didn’t think we’d stay up,” Teddy Sheringham, a Spurs legend who played for West Ham between 2004 and 2007, told The Athletic last month.

“There’s a saying in football that when you’re winning games, you can’t see yourself losing, and when you’re losing games, you can’t see yourself winning. That’s how it felt, because we went on an 11-game winless run, then won seven of our last nine.”

The final game of that winless run was against Tottenham, who beat West Ham 4-3 at Upton Park. Spurs came back from 2-0 down and 3-2 down to get back on level terms, before Paul Stalteri scored an added-time winner for the visitors.

“I think most of the fans were convinced we’d get relegated,” says former West Ham midfielder Hayden Mullins. “The loss to Tottenham was another blow, but we just felt there was nowhere else for us to go. It united the team, and I remember we had a chat among ourselves in the training ground afterwards. We were in a really bad place.”

It’s a position Tottenham can surely relate to. They are without a win in 15 league matches, and will match the club’s longest winless run in history (16 in the 1934-35 season) if they fail to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.

Through all the league’s great escapes, there is an individual whom fans point to as the inspiration for their survival. In West Brom’s case, it’s Richardson; in West Ham’s, it’s Carlos Tevez. For Everton, there have been multiple saviours over the years, from Richarlison to more unlikely heroes such as Barry Horne.

Even for a club with a history as rich as Everton’s, beating Wimbledon 3-2 on the final day of the 1993-94 season to secure Premier League status remains one of the most fondly remembered days at Goodison Park.

Like Spurs now, Everton were firmly established as one of the biggest clubs in England at the time, having been crowned champions of England just seven years earlier. Their slide towards a relegation scrap was more gradual than modern-day Tottenham’s, but that didn’t make it any less of a shock for them to be in the drop zone with one game to play that season.

Everton were 2-0 down after 20 minutes that day, before Graham Stuart pulled one back to go in level at the break. On the 67th minute, Horne brilliantly levelled for Everton, firing in on the half volley from 30 yards.

“Anyone who’s played sport will understand,” Horne told The Athletic in 2025. “If you’re not confident, you don’t do things like that. At this point in the season and in the game, I was playing well after a poor start at Everton.

“But the fact that it was such a ridiculous goal — I say ridiculous because I only scored three for Everton in my four years — the effect it had on the crowd and on Wimbledon meant it was more than just a goal.”

With the wind in their sails, Everton got the winner in the 81st minute through Stuart, who sidefooted into the back of the net from the edge of the box, but it was Horne who went down in club folklore.

“Now we’re leaving Goodison, and people are starting to put books and videos together,” Horne said as the club prepared to move into Hill Dickinson Stadium. “You realise it’s been 133 years (at Goodison Park) and when people talk about events, that’s usually one of them. It means I’m part of Everton’s history and that’s brilliant.”

Judging by his performance on the weekend, perhaps Xavi Simons is the character to stand tall for Spurs, a side who are not a typical ‘great escape candidate’.

However, Tottenham, in their current situation, would love to have their name alongside the league’s famous great escapers.

Tottenham Hotspur have held discussions with Sebastian Kehl about their vacant co-sporting director role, with the German currently the leading contender for the job.

Kehl has been out of work since leaving a similar role at Borussia Dortmund in March. Spurs are searching for a replacement for Fabio Paratici, who left the club in February to take up a position at Serie A side Fiorentina.

According to sources familiar with the situation, who were not authorised to speak publicly, Spurs aim to appoint someone alongside current sporting director Johan Lange, who has been part of this recruitment process.

Lange and Paratici briefly had a job share, from the Italian’s return to Spurs in an official capacity in October until his departure to Fiorentina.

No formal offer has been made to Kehl yet and, for now, he remains undecided on his career’s next steps. The former Dortmund midfielder and long-time captain, worked for the club in several non-playing roles following his retirement in 2015, before succeeding Michael Zorc as sporting director in 2022.

Kehl has other options and has consistently been linked with a move to Bundesliga side Hamburg, where there is another sporting director vacancy. However, sources close to Kehl, granted anonymity to protect relationships, have told The Athletic that he remains unsure about an immediate return to football.

It’s also uncertain what impact Spurs’ potential relegation would have on the situation, with Roberto De Zerbi’s side two points from safety with five league games to play.

Kehl’s Dortmund legacy a mixed bag

Analysis by Germany correspondent Seb Stafford-Bloor

Kehl’s four years at Dortmund were difficult. The period marked a significant shift away from their traditional recruitment strategy, with the focus moving towards mid-career players and away from the elite, younger prospects with which the club was more often associated. They wanted to become more emotionally stable and less dependent on volatile young careers.

The results were mixed. Dortmund came extremely close to winning the Bundesliga in 2023, losing out to Bayern Munich on the season’s final day. They also reached the Champions League final in 2024, losing 2-0 to Real Madrid at Wembley. However, there has been a lack of coaching stability, with Dortmund employing four head coaches (Marco Rose, Edin Terzic, Nuri Sahin and Niko Kovac) across Kehl’s four years, and supporters have frequently bemoaned the club’s transfer policy and a perceived loss of technical identity.

Are those criticisms fair?

Yes and no. There have been some significant recruiting misses. Dortmund came close to signing Rayan Cherki in January 2025, only to fail in a late bid. In addition, moves this season for Jobe Bellingham and Yan Couto are yet to pay off. At the same time, Kehl has moved quite well through the market: the signing of wing-back Daniel Svensson, initially on loan last season, has proven extremely smart and big money purchases of Serhou Guirassy, Felix Nmecha and Nico Schlotterbeck have all been relative successes.

The wider context matters, too. Kehl was sporting director at Dortmund during a period of significant political upheaval. In 2024, Lars Ricken, formerly the club’s head of academy, was promoted into a newly created sporting CEO role, in preparation for the departure of Hans-Joachim Watzke, who had been CEO since 2006.

It was a role that Kehl wanted, but which he was overlooked for. The resulting dynamic between him and Ricken was tricky. Externally, it was never quite clear who held ultimate authority for recruitment, and while the club always denied that there was any friction between the two, stories about the relationship were regularly published in the German media.

Kehl’s departure from Dortmund, while abrupt, had long felt politically inevitable, even if no fair assessment of his role can ever be truly binary.

Roberto De Zerbi had a clear message to Tottenham Hotspur’s players after Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion: if they didn’t come to training on Monday with a smile on their face, they would be sent home.

“I have no time to see sad players or sad assistants,” said De Zerbi in his post-match press conference, having just seen his team pegged back by a 95th-minute equaliser. “We are lucky because we are working at a big club. We have the qualities to win the game (against Wolves), so we have to be positive because I don’t like the people who cry and think in a negative way.”

“We have another five games,” said De Zerbi. “Everyone of us knows it’s a tough moment, a difficult situation. But we have another five games, for 15 points. And this team is able to win five games in a row.”

Two points behind 17th-place West Ham United, Spurs’ remaining matches are against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Aston Villa, Leeds United, Chelsea and Everton, and they will need as many of those 15 points as possible to ensure their survival in the Premier League.

Here, The Athletic breaks down five tactical points which Tottenham should look out for in their upcoming run of fixtures.

Spurs’ first test on the road to survival is against recently relegated Wolves, who, despite losing 3-0 against Leeds last weekend, have gradually improved under Rob Edwards.

It took Edwards a couple of weeks before Wolves’ performances got better at the turn of the year, drawing away at Old Trafford in December, before beating Villa and Liverpool at Molineux in the last couple of months.

Wolves’ pressing and intensity off the ball have been a feature of the side in recent matches, as illustrated in the below graph, which is a 10-game rolling average of their passes per defensive action (PPDA) in the Premier League since 2022-23.

With the pressure of a relegation battle now gone, Wolves have nothing to lose in their match next Saturday. An aggressive display without the ball will play to the demands of the home fans.

De Zerbi’s side need to be patient in possession and try to entice Wolves’ press before combining to play through it. Tottenham’s performances on the ball against Brighton and Sunderland weren’t encouraging, but there were brief moments in De Zerbi’s first match where they cut through the opponent’s block.

Besides, if there’s one man to coach a team to beat a high press, it’s De Zerbi.

Another area where Tottenham can hurt Wolves is on the transition. Edwards’ side have looked vulnerable on defensive transitions in their defeats against Leeds and West Ham this month.

Being quick and sharp on the counter-attack will also be important in Tottenham’s following match against Villa. Unai Emery’s side have been found wanting on defensive transitions this season, which is visible in the number of direct attacks they are conceding.

These are defined as possessions that start in a team’s own half and result in either a shot or a touch inside the opposition’s penalty area within 15 seconds. In other words, a counter-attack.

Villa’s rate of 2.7 direct attacks conceded per 90 in the Premier League this season is the joint-sixth worst in the league — the highest figure under Emery.

Villa threw away a 3-1 lead against Sunderland on Sunday because of their sloppiness on the ball and porous structure on the transition, before Emi Martinez saved a Habib Diarra effort on the counter-attack and Tammy Abraham scored the winner in added time.

On the other hand, Spurs need to watch out for Ollie Watkins, who is returning to his normal level of form, with six goals in his last five games in all competitions.

Another England centre-forward to be worried about in this run-in is Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who Tottenham will face when they host Leeds on May 11.

Calvert-Lewin has scored 11 goals in the Premier League this campaign, with Daniel Farke’s mid-season switch to a back-three system helping the striker.

De Zerbi’s side needs to be aware of Calvert-Lewin’s movement inside the penalty area, especially when defending crosses from Leeds’ wing-backs, Gabriel Gudmundsson and Jayden Bogle.

Calvert-Lewin is also Leeds’ main outlet when going direct and fighting for the second balls. Spurs need to focus on winning the duels against Leeds, before facing a different test in their next game…

Tottenham’s penultimate match is away to Chelsea, who are enduring their own turmoil after losing five consecutive Premier League games without scoring a single goal, a run which has resulted in Liam Rosenior being sacked.

Even if the match is at Stamford Bridge, Spurs need to smother Chelsea’s build-up and force them into mistakes, as Lucas Bergvall did in the lead-up to Xavi Simons’ goal against Brighton on Saturday.

This season, Chelsea have lost the ball in their defensive third at a rate of 4.4 times per game — the joint third-worst rate in the Premier League after Villa (4.7) and Tottenham (4.9).

On the defensive side, Chelsea’s back-post threat needs to be accounted for. In the Premier League this season, they have created the most back-post chances (37), scored the most goals (12) and accumulated the highest xG (11.3) from these situations.

Tottenham’s last opponent in this Premier League campaign are Everton, who also pose a threat from attacking the back-post area. Only Manchester United (seven) and Chelsea (12) have scored more back-post goals than Everton (six) in the Premier League this season.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s runs into the left half-space, before playing the ball towards the back post for Thierno Barry, Beto or Everton’s right-winger has been a feature of David Moyes’ side in 2025-26, as seen in their most recent goal in the 2-1 defeat against Liverpool last weekend.

It is an aspect of Everton’s attack that Tottenham’s players need to be wary of, considering one goal could be the difference between relegation and survival in the final Premier League match this season.

Before the tactics and technicalities, though, Spurs need to have the right mindset and emotional stability because — as De Zerbi knows —succeeding in the former isn’t possible without the latter.