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Ange Postecoglou is facing unwanted history on Thursday.
Defeat at Chelsea, live on Sky Sports, would see him become the first Tottenham boss to lose his first four league games against the Blues.
It would be yet another damaging stat for the under-pressure Australian.
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The 2-0 loss at Fulham before the international break saw Tottenham fall to a 15th league defeat of the season - their joint-most at this stage of a Premier League campaign (29 games). It leaves them 14th in the table and in danger of their lowest-ever Premier League finish (15th in 1994).
"Ange is clinging on to his job right now," ex-Spurs midfielder Jamie O'Hara told Sky Sports News in the wake of the Fulham defeat.
A day after the loss at Craven Cottage, a report in The Daily Telegraph claimed Bournemouth's Andoni Iraola and Fulham's Marco Silva are among the leading candidates to replace Postecoglou if Spurs decide to make a managerial change in the summer.
The next day, ex-Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino told Sky Sports News he wants to "one day" return to the club and has a "very good relationship" with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy.
The warning lights have never been brighter for Postecoglou. So is his only fix to win the Europa League and end Spurs' 17-year trophy drought?
"I think it is, I really do," O'Hara said. "Tottenham fans are booing them off the park [at Fulham]. If you take Europa League out of it for a second, if you're looking at the Premier League table and you're looking at the performances and the output from the players, it's not good enough.
"[Postecoglou] is riding on the Europa League now. All the eggs are in that basket. If we get knocked out, he's going to lose his job."
Poor London derby record and lack of first-half threat
Before that crunch Europa League quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt, Postecoglou has a chance to not only pick up his first points against Chelsea, but to improve on Spurs' miserable London derby record this season.
No side has earned fewer points in Premier League London derbies this term than Tottenham, who have lost five of nine such games this campaign (W3 D1).
Stamford Bridge is a graveyard for Spurs - and it proved so for Postecoglou last season.
A limp 2-0 defeat in west London saw him fume at his players on the touchline in an explosive rant (watch below) as the visitors failed to have a shot on target in the first half.
Nearly a year on, and a lack of first-half goal threat remains.
No shot on target in the opening 45 minutes at Fulham meant it was the ninth time Spurs have failed to register a shot on target in the first half of a Premier League match under Postecoglou, which is more than Spurs' last two permanent managers combined - Antonio Conte (6) and Nuno Espirito Santo (2).
The free-flowing 'Angeball' that dazzled Spurs fans at the start of Postecoglou's tenure has fizzled out.
"I don't really understand the credit that Ange has got in the bank, I really don't," O'Hara said. "This is meant to be a football team and a football club that's trying to get Champions League football, and one of the most profitable clubs in the world.
"I get it when Ange Postecoglou came in. We had 10 games unbeaten, top of the league and we had this exciting football and everyone loved it. Well, I haven't seen that really since."
Chelsea architects of Ange's struggles
It was, in fact, Thursday's opponents Chelsea who were the team to trigger Spurs' decline in Premier League form.
The Blues' 4-1 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last season in a chaotic Monday Night Football (relive the Premier League classic below) inflicted a first league defeat for Postecoglou.
It also sparked a seemingly never-ending injury and suspension list that has hugely hampered Postecoglou.
Nonetheless, from that infamous November defeat to Chelsea, Spurs have suffered more league defeats (27) than wins (22). And, as illustrated in the table below, only four ever-present Premier League clubs have taken fewer points than Spurs from then.
Their away form has also been alarming. Only relegation-threatened sides Leicester (10) and Southampton (12) have lost more Premier League away games this season than Tottenham (8).
"Ever since we lost to Chelsea, we've just been exposed and teams have figured Spurs out," O'Hara said.
"I think the problem he's had is that managers in the Premier League are top managers. Players are top players, they will adapt and they will figure out how to beat you.
"The first 10 games was a bit of an unknown quantity with Tottenham because you didn't know what you were going to get from Ange Postecoglou.
"But since then, teams and players have figured you out, and Tottenham since then haven't had a Plan B.
"Yes, they've had injuries, but I think we're still trying to believe that we can be that team from those first 10 games that Ange had.
"For 18 months, it's been really truthfully shocking."
But with a near-fully fit squad at his disposal and hopes of winning silverware still firmly alive, Postecoglou now has the chance to recapture that magic from his first two months in charge.
A first victory over Chelsea would be a much-needed step in the right direction for the 59-year-old in a defining two months ahead.
Ange Postecoglou says his response to the booing Tottenham fans in their 1-0 defeat to Chelsea was misinterpreted.
Spurs fans chanted "you don't know what you're doing" at their under-fire boss as he replaced Lucas Bergvall with Pape Sarr just past the hour with their team trailing and yet to register a shot on target.
When Sarr scored from range just five minutes later, Postecoglou turned to the Spurs fans and appeared to cup his ears in what was perceived by some to be a response to the boos. The goal was ruled out after a lengthy VAR check.
But Postecoglou was bemused by this suggestion and insisted he just wanted the fans to enjoy the moment, sensing that if the goal had counted the momentum of the game would have turned for his team.
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Asked about the incident, the Spurs boss said: "It's incredible how things get interpreted. We just scored, I just wanted to hear them cheer.
"We've been through a tough time and I thought it was a cracking goal. I wanted them to get really excited.
"I felt at that point we could potentially go on and win the game.I just felt momentum was [going] our way.
"It doesn't bother me. It's not the first time they've booed my substitutions or my decisions. That's fine, they're allowed to do that, but we just scored a goal, we just scored an equaliser."
Asked if he risked alienating the fans by having that response, Postecoglou added: "You know what? I'm at such a disconnect with the world these days that who knows, maybe you're right. But that's not what my intention was."
Postecoglou, who is a vocal critic of VAR, was furious with the length of time referee Craig Pawson spent mulling over whether to give Sarr's goal.
The on-field official was sent to his monitor after Sarr connected with the leg of Moises Caicedo in the moments just before his strike for what would have been Spurs' equaliser.
It took referee Pawson four minutes to come to the decision that the goal should be overturned, which made Postecoglou question if it was a clear and obvious error.
"Who cares if it's a foul or not? There's so many incidents that are very similar out there," said Postecoglou.
"What's the point of having a referee there? Clear and obvious to me is you go to the screen, you see it, 'Oh my God, I've missed that'.
"I mean, we're all - not me, because I'm very vocal about it - but everyone accepts it. It's going to be refereed by AI pretty soon.
"We may as well dispense with the players at some point. Some guy will come up with a genius way of just having a game of football with no participants because referees aren't refereeing."
"If anyone believes that when VAR was brought in that we would be sitting around for six minutes with a microscope, it's irrelevant whether it's a foul or not. It's totally irrelevant."
Posteocglou suggested there was a lack of consistency over decision-making as he seemingly referred to the decision not to award Everton centre-back James Tarkowski a red card in the Merseyside derby after a VAR review.
He added: "Jared Gillett was on VAR tonight. Maybe if Jared Gillett was on VAR last night, it would have been a different outcome because, again, it comes down, I guess, to everyone's interpretation. But I don't like it, mate. I never liked it."
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Tottenham supporters chanted 'You don't know what you're doing' at Ange Postecoglou as their side fell to a 1-0 defeat at Chelsea.
As their fierce local rivals boosted their Champions League qualification chances at Stamford Bridge thanks to Enzo Fernandez's free header, frustration boiled over in the away end as the Spurs fans, who had been chanting against the club's board throughout the game, turned their ire on their manager.
Postecoglou's call to switch Lucas Bergvall for Pape Sarr drew boos from the travelling fans - and Postecoglou appeared to respond by cupping his ears. It follows Mathys Tel going into the away end to talk with supporters after the defeat at Fulham last time out, when Postecoglou was also caught on camera having a row with a fan.
Spurs are languishing in 14th in the Premier League and as a result their priority is their Europa League quarter-final with Eintracht Frankfurt next week. But any hope of building confidence and momentum from a big derby day performance disappeared. Tensions between fans and manager are now an issue too.
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The visitors were better after the break, following a first half in which Nicolas Jackson troubled Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven from the first minute, Destiny Udogie denied Enzo Fernandez on the goal-line, Guglielmo Vicario had to save brilliantly from Jadon Sancho and Spurs failed to have a shot on target.
However, after Sarr's long-range strike was ruled out following a VAR check and Sanchez saved from Heung-min Son, it was Chelsea celebrating an important result and looking forward to their run-in with relish.
They had seen a goal ruled out of their own - Moises Caicedo's crisp volley scrubbed off after a four-minute VAR check judged Levi Colwill offside - but were deserved winners. A fifth home win on the spin has lifted Chelsea up to fourth in the table and their Champions League chase is looking good.
A Conference League tie with Legia Warsaw is also coming up and their fans will look to their decisive games ahead with more confidence now than their Spurs-supporting counterparts.
More to follow...
Story of the match in stats...
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