Here are our Tottenham talking points after their 2-1 victory at Aston Villa took them out of the bottom three in the Premier League
If Tottenham can complete their great escape, it will be because they remembered how to fight.
This battle will not be won by flair or magic. It will be won by those who leave everything on the field and for that Spurs have a core group of warriors. There's Conor Gallagher, who leaves no blade of grass untouched by his studs. There's Joao Palhinha, who will tackle anyone at any time and then roar about it.
There's Kevin Danso, who will put his head on every ball that sails into the Tottenham box regardless of whether it will cause him physical harm. He is a hugely positive influence on Micky van de Ven alongside him.
Rodrigo Bentancur fights through the middle and presses like a madman and if you look up the word 'battle', there's probably an image of Richarlison alongside it. Pedro Porro has his critics when it comes to his defending but you'll find few players at the north London club as invested in saving Spurs from the drop as him. It's written on his face.
Then there are the quiet warriors like Antonin Kinsky, who has fought through some tough weeks to get to where he is now, while younger players like Destiny Udogie and Mathys Tel feed off the example set by the older heads.
As did Randal Kolo Muani. Fans have claimed that the Frenchman has no skin in this fight as he does not belong to Tottenham. Tell that to Palhinha or Kolo Muani himself as he walked along the magnificent travelling Spurs faithful on the far side of the pitch on Sunday night, high-fiving and roaring at them after being substituted. He had just signalled 2-0 with his fingers and blew a kiss at a Villa fan who was being less pleasant to him.
For those who doubt his desire, Kolo Muani won more duels than any other player on the pitch on Sunday night. He had played his part.
It's all led by Roberto De Zerbi. If passion had a face it would probably be the Italian's. He snarls, he grins, he delights, he grimaces and he throws himself around like a rag doll in the technical area and beyond.
At the final whistle, he marched over to the Tottenham supporters and smacked the inside of his left arm repeatedly, as if saying 'inject this feeling into my veins'.
"My job is just to transfer the confidence [to the players], to believe in themselves and to try to be stronger than the defeat, stronger than the position of the table, stronger than the words all of you normally say about Tottenham, and to show passion, to show value, humility, pride," he said later in his press conference.
The players have bought into what De Zerbi is selling, because it's simply rediscovering what they once were.
They all want to be a part of it. Even Ben Davies, out injured since mid-January following ankle surgeries and out of contract this summer, travelled with the squad to Villa Park and could be seen watching the warm-ups before the game and among the players as they celebrated after with the supporters. He just wanted to be with this group and help in any way he can.
Unai Emery of course had made seven changes to his Aston Villa side for this game sandwiched between their two Europa League semi-final ties against Nottingham Forest.
Some fans suggested he was playing "4D chess" as the modern expression goes, letting Spurs win to ensure Forest were dragged back into the relegation fight, thus ensuring they had to put out a strong side to face Chelsea on Monday afternoon and be that bit more tired for the second leg at Villa Park on Thursday night.
The truth is, nobody let Tottenham win this game. They ripped it out of Villa's hands. The stats show they covered more ground, sprinted more kilometres, won more tackles, won more duels, had more shots, had double the touches in the opposition box of their hosts, made more interceptions and never allowed Villa a moment to breathe.
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"We were facing Tottenham, a Tottenham with the circumstances; they played a fantastic game. They competed fantastically," said Emery.
It's the De Zerbi effect. Spurs have won possession in the final third, on average, 5.3 times per game under the Italian so far - the highest average for any Premier League team under a manager this season.
West Ham fans will be aggrieved by Villa making those changes but star man Morgan Rogers was shackled from the start and when Ollie Watkins came on, he made no difference. The home side had just one shot on target all game, Emiliano Buendia's header after the referee's suggested five added minutes had gone at the end of the encounter.
Hammers fans will also be well aware that when Crystal Palace hosted them, Oliver Glasner had given his team a big night out in Florence to enjoy themselves and then rested a number of his key stars after European exploits, but the Stratford side did not take advantage.
Tottenham did on Sunday night. They controlled the game in the best example yet of De Zerbi football, as they baited the press and then passed around Villa brutally with an array of balls, short and long.
The formation was a fluid machine. At times it was a 4-2-3-1, others a 4-3-3 and often a 3-4-3 as Palhinha stepped back into the right of a back three to allow Porro to move higher up the pitch.
Both full-backs spent time inverted, Udogie chasing a couple of diagonal balls over the top from Palhinha.
The Portuguese has the potential to be De Zerbi's Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, a passionate jack of all trades who leads by example. The Italian and Hojbjerg worked well together at Marseille, he frequently made him his captain and Palhinha has a similarly underrated 'do what I do' mentality.
The 30-year-old made 10 defensive contributions on the night with two tackles, one block, three clearances and four ball recoveries. One of those tackles was a piece of defensive art as he slid in early towards Ross Barkley, scooped the ball away with his foot, jumped up and swivelled away from the Villa man only to be brought down. Palhinha celebrated the moment like he would a goal.
De Zerbi's face lit up when he was asked about that moment.
"Yeah, I love Palhinha like this (grabs his shirt and pulls it)," he said. "No [I don't tell them to do this], no, they have not to follow me in this but if I saw one player like passionate, I become crazy!"
After the game, Palhinha let the emotion spill out on to social media with a celebratory X-rated post that read: "What this (insert swearword here) mean! This is Tottenham , well done boys! Big proud COYS! Thank you for the huge support!"
The midfielder had also hit the left-hand post with a low effort in a first half in which Tottenham should have come in with a heavier lead than the two goals that had the Villa fans booing at the break.
Across 138 halves of Premier League football at Villa Park under Emery, the first half of Sunday night's game saw the fewest touches in the opposition box from Villa - just the one - and was one of only two occasions where they failed to register a single shot.
Spurs were utterly dominant and led by Gallagher in it all. The 26-year-old's heat map of the pitch looked like a child had taken a felt tip and simply coloured in the entire rectangle.
The former Atletico Madrid and Chelsea man led the defensive contributions of both teams with 11 and at the other end of the pitch he started the ball rolling 12 minutes into the night with a pinpoint finish into the bottom left corner after Danso's long throw bounced out to him on the edge of the box.
Fittingly, Gallagher's last away Premier League goal also came at Villa Park in April 2024 for Chelsea. In finding the net he joined Gus Poyet, Eidur Gudjohnsen, William Gallas and Timo Werner in becoming just the fifth player to score for both the Blues and Spurs in the Premier League.
When football.london asked De Zerbi if he was now getting the version of Gallagher that he loved at Chelsea, the Italian grinned.
"Yes, absolutely. When Gallagher plays like this we play with 12 players because you can find him as a striker, as a midfielder, as a full-back, everywhere on the pitch you can find him!" he said. "Great player, great passion, great qualities. Great player."
Gallagher would likely have had a second goal in the first half if the lively Tel had looked up and passed to him in space on the edge of the six-yard box rather than attempting an effort from a tight angle.
The second goal came from the head of Richarlison on 25 minutes as Tel picked him out with a perfect inswinging cross after his corner came back to him on the right.
Richarlison once again is coming up trumps for Spurs when they need him. That goal meant he has reached double figures in five different Premier League seasons, the joint most of any Brazilian player with Roberto Firmino.
The 28-year-old has notched 11 goals and five assists this season and has been available for 40 games after Sunday's efforts, which is the most matches he has played in a season since 2020/21 and he will hopefully surpass that in the weeks ahead.
The Brazilian's goal was also his first ever against Villa, meaning that he has now scored against 25 of the 31 sides he has faced in the Premier League since he arrived in the country back in 2017.
That second goal only cemented Spurs' superiority and you could see the confidence flowing through them. It was the earliest the north London outfit had scored two goals in a league game since December 2024 when they were 4-0 up at Southampton after the same amount of time.
This was as dominant a showing as that night but in a different way. Spurs controlled the ball and even if the second half brought a more natural tendency to drop back, they allowed Villa just eight touches in their box.
De Zerbi wants more and he knows that players like Danso are still adapting to playing his quick passing brand of football.
"He is playing very well. I think with the ball he can play better and he knows what I mean. Maybe he is not used to playing a lot of balls and to take control of the game but he is a great guy for sure. I have no doubt he will improve quickly," he said.
Villa's only shot on target all game - Buendia's late goal - robbed the visitors of a deserved clean sheet. It was the briefest of moments when a tired Palhinha switched off and let the Argentinean sneak in front of Van de Ven to head home.
"I didn't like the goal we conceded, but there are a lot of positive things today," said De Zerbi.
"I'm very happy, very pleased for the performance. We won a great game against a great Aston Villa [side]. They have to play on Thursday, a very important game for them. But anyway, it's always very tough playing against Emery, against Villa and in this stadium, a very nice stadium, and for that I'm really pleased.
"I'm really pleased for the performance with the ball, without the ball. Without the ball we showed great courage and with the ball great qualities.
"I'm happy for this type of performance, more than three points, because three points, ok we are one point more than West Ham. But the most important thing today, tonight, is to play a great game, to believe more and more in ourselves, to believe in our qualities. And then we have to keep the focus on the improvement we have to do, because we have to play like the first half for 90 minutes."
At the final whistle the noisy Tottenham fans sang De Zerbi's name. They had bellowed out songs throughout. Gallagher's name was chanted at points, as was "Super Kevin Danso", the Austria international quickly becoming a cult hero.
This was the first time Spurs had won back-to-back Premier League games since their opening two games of the season against Burnley and Manchester City, which only goes to show what a dreadful campaign it has been.
In fact, if you want to see how bizarre a season it has been, take a look at the home and away tables in the Premier League.
At home, Spurs sit second from bottom with just 11 points gained, the same as relegated Burnley. Yet have a look at the away table and Tottenham lie third, albeit with a game more played on their travels than some of the teams around them.
They have won seven of their 18 games on the road, drawn five and only lost six and the Spurs fans sang "Tottenham away, ole, ole" into the late hours in Aston.
The irony of course is that if they can win their final two games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium then Spurs probably stay up. They will have to turn around that home form when it matters if they are to survive.
"The crucial thing now is to keep in our heads what was the situation before the Wolverhampton game," said De Zerbi, flanked at his press conference by trusted colleague Enrico Venturelli after football.london revealed his compatriot finally got his work permit this week.
"This is the most important memory to keep in our heads because in football it's very easy to change. If you lose you are stupid, if you win you are a champion.
"We have to find the balance. We have to work this week because Leeds is another very tough game and to remember in ourselves what we have done in the past, in the last month."
The hope is that this feels like a different Tottenham, bonded once again by the injury hell and the experiences they have gone through but steeled by their growing understanding of the De Zerbi way.
The Italian has made an impact. His team should not have lost at Sunderland, they should have beaten Brighton and they have come away with six points from Wolves and Aston Villa.
The tide is hopefully turning at the right time and De Zerbi hopes on the injury front as well. He made it clear that Bentancur came off only because of tiredness and gave football.london a stern look over questioning whether Van de Ven had rolled his ankle late in the game.
"No, no, no! He's ok," he said, concerned that even the mention of an injury might force it into existence.
He will also have James Maddison to use at some point in the weeks ahead. The England midfielder was fully involved in the warm-up before the match and did his work down the sidelines at points during the game, even if he always had just short white Nike sport socks on rather than match ones.
At some point before this season is done, the 29-year-old will play his part in trying to keep Spurs up, even if it's just for a few crucial moments at the end of matches. Like Davies, he just wants to be involved in what is happening.
For De Zerbi has brought something back to Tottenham that the club have lost this season - an identity.
The players have something they believe in again, a way to play that works and is enjoyable. It only makes what came before and the decisions made by the club all the more ridiculous.
Spurs must harness this new identity for three matches that will define this season and beyond. Come through it and a far better Tottenham Hotspur will exist on the other side.
