Liverpool make new Arne Slot sack decision as successor tipped for take over
Liverpool make new Slot sack decision as successor tipped to take over
Liverpool make new Arne Slot sack decision as successor tipped for take over
Liverpool make new Slot sack decision as successor tipped to take over
How to sleep in a heatwave: 10 tips to cool down at night
How to sleep in a heatwave: 10 tips to cool down at night
Woman who claimed she could not walk jailed for benefit fraud after 10k race
Woman who claimed she could not walk jailed for benefit fraud after 10k race
Woman who claimed she could not walk jailed for benefit fraud after 10k race
Woman who claimed she could not walk jailed for benefit fraud after 10k race
Woman who claimed she could not walk jailed for benefit fraud after 10k race
Woman who claimed she could not walk jailed for benefit fraud after 10k race
Sport | Football
Roberto De Zerbi makes huge Tottenham admission ahead of Premier League relegation decider
Spurs still in danger of the drop after derby defeat at Chelsea
Sam Tabuteau
COMMENTS
Your matchday briefing on Tottenham, featuring team news and expert analysis from Sam Tabuteau
I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.
Roberto De Zerbi believes Tottenham’s final-day relegation showdown against Everton is more important than last season’s Europa League final.
Spurs’ 2-1 defeat by Chelsea on Tuesday night ensured their safety in the top flight would not be decided until the final day.
Spurs remain two points above the relegation zone but have handed West Ham a lifeline in their bid to beat the drop as their unbeaten run came to an end at Stamford Bridge.
Spurs host Everton on Sunday, knowing that defeat could see them relegated to the Championship.
De Zerbi has described the game as “the final for Tottenham” and said beating Everton was more important than winning a trophy.
“My focus is to prepare the next game and to make points. Because Sunday is the final for Tottenham, not Bilbao against Man Utd [in the Europa League final],” De Zerbi said post-match.
“The most important game is Sunday, because last season they played for the trophy, now we play for something more important than the trophy.
“Because the pride, the history of the club, the dignity are more important than the trophy. The trophy you can win, you can lose, nothing changes in your life.
“You can have one trophy more, but the most important is to keep the dignity, to keep the pride, not to go on holiday like this [head up], and not like this [head down].”
Tuesday’s match saw a flashpoint when Micky van de Ven was wrestled to the ground in the box by Marc Cucurella, but was not awarded a penalty as the Premier League Match Centre deemed the ball was not yet in play at the time of the incident.
“The referee’s call of no penalty to Tottenham Hotspur was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed that the action from Cucurella had ended before the ball was in play,” the statement read.
Roberto De Zerbi fumed with the referees after losing to Chelsea
Getty
Asked about the decision, De Zerbi was dismissive, stating that the focus was on Sunday as Spurs try to “stay alive” in the Premier League relegation battle.
Read More
McFarlane in three-man Chelsea injury update as finale doubts emerge
Arteta sends first message to Arsenal stars after title win
Chelsea vs Tottenham LIVE: Latest score and updates from Premier League
Sponsored
Rediscover your adventurous side on an exotic getaway
“The fans today have been fantastic, fantastic, and we have to say thanks because they were incredible,” De Zerbi continued.
“If we speak about the penalty with Leeds, today we can speak about what you want but we lose focus and we lose energy.
“My focus is to stay on the pitch, to stay in the best first XI I can decide for Sunday, and to transfer what I think about this game, about the football and to prepare in the best way the players.
“I think we played a final, we played an important game, but in our stadium, and we have two results out of three, so we have to stay alive, but anyway, it is a big day for us.”
MORE ABOUT
Woman who claimed she could not walk jailed for benefit fraud after 10k race
Woman who claimed she could not walk jailed for benefit fraud after 10k race
Sport | Football
Chelsea stars could be playing for their futures with Xabi Alonso message clear
So much still riding on Blues’ final fixtures against Tottenham and Sunderland, despite what their Premier League position might suggest
New boss: Xabi Alonso will officially take charge at Chelsea on July 1
London Standard
Dom Smith
COMMENTS
Your matchday briefing on Chelsea, featuring team news and expert analysis from Dom Smith
I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.
To glance at the Premier League table and find Chelsea down in 10th place might be to assume there is little left for them to play for. How wrong it would be to draw that conclusion.
The visit of Tottenham to Stamford Bridge is invariably a huge occasion for Blues fans, and it will be no different this evening.
Firstly, it must be acknowledged that while there is plenty at stake, this one could admittedly have meant even more. A game earmarked for weeks as the night Chelsea could relegate Spurs to the Championship could now be the night Spurs confirm survival.
Given their huge goal-difference advantage over West Ham, a point would do - a reminder that football is no exact science, that trying to get ahead of the game and predict permutations is almost always futile.
If that were not motivation enough, there is still the (admittedly remote) possibility of qualifying for the Champions League. They need practically every result to go their way, including Aston Villa winning the Europa League and finishing exactly fifth in the Premier League, but it remains mathematically possible.
Read More
Maresca agrees terms on Man City contract to replace Guardiola
Spurs ready for another Chelsea battle as De Zerbi rallies the troops
Chelsea XI vs Tottenham: Predicted lineup and confirmed team news
Sponsored
Art After Dark is back with an exciting calendar of cultural events
Until it isn’t, there is a target for Chelsea to chase. Even if one part of the puzzle goes awry and the Champions League does pass them by, there is Europa League or Conference League football to be had.
Bournemouth, Brighton, Brentford and Sunderland - in that order - are in the ascendency, with Chelsea distant chasers, but stranger things have happened. And they have arguably the most talented squad among those European hopefuls.
The managerial appointment of great cachet that immediately followed defeat by Manchester City in the FA Cup final adds a whole new layer of complexion to Tuesday’s game.
Xabi Alonso is a real coup. Chelsea’s next chapter will be fronted by one of Europe’s leading managers from the next generation, a modest but highly-driven coach who players will immediately respect for what he has achieved in management as well as during a glorious playing career.
Once Alonso begins his role on July 1, he will have recruitment powers that work both ways. Just as he can suggest signings to the club, he can also name the players he would encourage Chelsea to evolve beyond and sell.
This all feeds a school of thought that indicates Chelsea’s players will, to some degree, be playing for their futures against Spurs on Tuesday and Sunderland on Sunday. Alonso will be keeping an eye on Chelsea’s performances in both remaining games and making notes.
The message is simple: impress, and the likelihood of an integral role under the new manager increases.
Some individuals have their own further reasons, specific to them, to stand out against Spurs. Monday evening brought confirmation that Joao Pedro had been inexplicably left out of Brazil’s World Cup squad.
Was the news on Tuesday morning that he’d received more than 60 per cent of the votes as Chelsea’s player of the season a silver lining or rubbing salt in the wound?
Either way, starring tonight would be a pertinent way of proving to Carlo Ancelotti that he has made the wrong call. It was Joao Pedro who scored the only goal in Chelsea’s win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium back in November.
As significant as any of these reasons is the historic meaning of this fixture.
Tottenham have twice relegated Chelsea by beating them, first in 1910 and then in 1975. In more recent years, the rivalry has grown even stormier, culminating in the brutal and bruising ‘Battle of the Bridge’, 10 years ago this month, when Eden Hazard’s sublime late goal ended Tottenham’s hopes of winning their first Premier League title and crowned 5000-1 outsiders Leicester champions instead.
When Chelsea’s players emerge from the tunnel to the famous ‘Liquidator’ tune, chants of “we hate Tottenham” supersede professions of their love for Chelsea, whoever the opponents, whatever the game. That sentiment is supercharged when Spurs themselves are the visitors.
And Chelsea usually cash in. In their last 40 trips to Stamford Bridge, Tottenham have won once.
MORE ABOUT
In the now infamous ‘Battle of the Bridge’, Spurs came up short, as they always tend to do in this corner of west London, extending their winless run at Chelsea’s home ground to 26 years and handing Leicester City the most improbable of title victories.
A decade on, and the stakes have shifted dramatically, with Spurs needing a win at Stamford Bridge tonight to secure Premier League survival and complete a remarkable turnaround in fortunes under Roberto De Zerbi.
But some things never change. Spurs have won just one of their last 40 trips to Stamford Bridge, and three points at the home of their London rivals remains as scarce now as it did in 2016.
This record is something De Zerbi has been keen to address, and he spoke to his players at Hotspur Way on Monday morning about changing the narrative around a fixture where Spurs have historically been second best.
Motivation is not in short supply for either team, and De Zerbi says his side must embrace the pressure of being the club that so many rival fans want to see relegated.
“I am Italian, and in Italy, it’s the same. For the biggest teams, it’s the same. We have to accept the pressure. We have to enjoy this pressure. We have to find new motivation from this pressure. I think it’s a good thing for us. If everyone wants Tottenham relegated, it’s a big motivation for me, and I hope for my players as well.”
At the end of a tumultuous season, there is something cathartic about Spurs being able to put their relegation fears to bed against Chelsea.
A win would prove to be a huge statement of intent for De Zerbi and justify the faith he has shown in his squad, who he believes are capable of far more than they have produced this season.
History, though, is not on their side, and De Zerbi admits that cool heads, the right blend of “calm with blood”, is the only way Spurs can arrest their Stamford Bridge hoodoo.
The Italian must lead by example, if Spurs, who rank second-bottom to Chelsea in the disciplinary table this season, are to avoid a repeat of the scenes that made the ‘Battle of the Bridge' one of the most instantly iconic games of the Premier League era.
Nine Spurs players were awarded a yellow card that evening - the most by a single team in Premier League history - while Mousa Dembele was retrospectively banned for six games after gouging Diego Costa’s eye.
The relegation race is “not finished yet”, according to De Zerbi, and he is determined to get the job done tonight to avoid a nail-biting final day.
Any talk of Spurs playing for a draw against Chelsea, which would effectively keep them up due to their superior goal difference, has been dismissed.
De Zerbi wants Spurs to play without fear. This, after all, is a Chelsea side that has lost six of their last seven league games and were beaten by Manchester City in the FA Cup final.
Not once in 10 years has this fixture had so much weighing on it. Victory for Spurs could be transformative.