Tottenham manager Roberto De Zerbi has issued an impassioned shout in the club’s fight to avoid relegation, declaring: “We are not relegated yet” and hopes to end the “negative” voices around Spurs.
Despite Spurs picking up their first Premier League win of 2026 against Wolves last weekend, they are still two points away, with injuries to Xavi Simmons and Dominic Solanke making their task of breaking up the table even tougher.
But De Zerbi has no time for negative thoughts ahead of Sunday’s game against Aston Villa, as Spurs could move five points clear of West Ham if they win against Brentford on Saturday.
In response to a question from Sky Sports News’ Michael Bridge, the Italian said: “I watched it on TV and it’s not a debate. I heard ‘it’s impossible (to stay up)’. We’re crying, everyone is (saying) ‘we’re relegated’.” still.
“We have to die on the pitch, and to die on the pitch we have to lose games. We have to play and fight before we lose games.
“We have two points less than West Ham so they will have to play a difficult game as well.
“This is not the best moment for us, but a tough and difficult moment.
“But people who lose cry, and people who lose think negative things. I don’t want people close to me to cry or think differently than me.”
He added: “The most important challenge now is to silence the voices of our hearts, the voices of our players, staff and fans.”
“This voice is creating negative thoughts, saying we are unlucky, we have too many injuries, we lost Xavi Simmons, he was one of our best and most important players in the last two games.
“We don’t have enough medical staff, the pitches at the stadium and training ground are not good. We haven’t won many games in 2026, so it’s impossible to win two or three in a row.”
“I think all of this is negative and rubbish because we want to focus on ourselves and the quality of our players.
“We’re playing against one of the best teams in the Premier League at the moment. I have a lot of respect for[Unai]Emery as a coach, but if Tottenham win at Villa Park it won’t be a miracle.”
“We might lose, but we have the quality to win this game and it’s not a miracle.
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Tim Sherwood admits he is ‘down’ despite Spurs’ win over Wolves as they aim to avoid relegation
“We work at a big club so we have to be positive and feel lucky.
“If Solanke and Simmons are injured, we can play (Randall) Kolo Muani, (Mattis) Tell and Richarlison. They are not worse players. They have different characteristics, but they are very good players.”
“We have Pedro Polo, (Destiny) Oudogui, Micky van de Ven, (Rodrigo) Bentancur, (Joao) Parinha, (Conor) Gallagher.
“Because of all these things, there’s not enough time to listen to this and listen to these things.”
Sky Sports News reporter reveals about Dezerbi exchange!
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Michael Bridge shares his thoughts on his interaction with Roberto De Zerbi after claiming the Spurs manager was ‘watching’ him
Michael Bridge on Sky Sports News:
“I thought De Zerbi was going to say something to me because he was looking at me like that.
“I was about to ask, ‘It was a great win for Spurs, but did it come at a heavy cost with injuries to Simmons and Solanke, putting a cloud on their much-needed win?’ So I got to that question, and then De Zerbi said he was looking at me!
“I think he mentioned me on Monday, along with Tim Sherwood and Tom White, when he read out the injury situation on Sky Sports News Fan Club.
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Tim Sherwood feels Spurs need to review why so many players are injured as they could lose their place in the Premier League
“The graphics were not good because there were too many injuries. These injuries are not one- or two-week injuries. These are long-term absentees like Wilson Odbert, Dejan Kulusevski, Mohamed Kudus, Cristian Romero and now Simmons.”
“When De Zerbi first joined, he said he wanted to rely on Kudus, but then he injured his quadriceps. He wanted to rely on Romero, but he got seriously injured at Sunderland. He wanted to rely on Simmons, but he got seriously injured at Wolves.”
“So what I wanted to say on Monday was that he was so unlucky to have sustained such a serious injury that it could ruin Tottenham’s chances of staying in the Premier League.”
“But he doesn’t want negativity and he accepts it. So my message back to him is: ‘You’re absolutely right, fair play.’
PL prediction: Spurs will take a hit at Villa
Sky Sports tipster Lewis Jones said:
If it looks like a relegation season, smells like a relegation season, and smells like a relegation season, it’s probably a relegation season.
It seems that the soccer gods have decided on the Spurs. Despite not playing well in the 1-0 win against Wolves, that mindset was shut down.
West Ham’s stoppage-time winner was brutal, with yet another injury to their key player in Xavi Simmons, the only truly creative player in form, and Dominic Solanke making an already difficult task even harder for Roberto De Zerbi.
But there’s one place I still believe in this Tottenham team. It’s a gambling market. And this is really great news as you can back Aston Villa to win with Sky Bet at odds of 21/20 at an amazing price.
The market has gotten so wrapped up in the Spurs’ desire to win that it has ignored the key factor that the Spurs are an inferior team in every department.
It will be very difficult to beat Aston Villa at home, managed by manager Unai Emery. This season they are the team that beat Man City, Arsenal and Man United at Villa Park. Beating Spurs should be easy.
