Tottenham Hotspur suffered defeat in Roberto De Zerbi’s first game in charge and remain in the Premier League relegation zone with only six games remaining.
Sunderland were deserved winners at the Stadium of Light, winning 1-0 thanks to Nordi Mukiele’s heavily deflected effort in the 61st minute. His shot from the edge of the box flicked off the legs of Micky van de Ven and wrongfooted the Tottenham goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky.
Their captain Cristian Romero left the pitch in tears midway through the second half after colliding with Kinsky.
The defeat, Tottenham’s 16th in 32 league games this season, leaves them 18th in the table, two points below West Ham in 17th and three points below Nottingham Forest in 16th position.
At the same time as Spurs were beaten by Sunderland, Forest drew 1-1 at home to Aston Villa, while on Friday night, West Ham thrashed Wolves 4-0. All three teams have six games left to play.
Tottenham are without a Premier League win in 2026 and their next league match is against De Zerbi’s old side Brighton on Saturday, April 18.
Jack Pitt-Brooke analyses the key Tottenham talking points from the Stadium of Light…
How much trouble are Spurs in?
This defeat did nothing to help Tottenham’s miserable Premier League position and leaves them with only six games left to save themselves from relegation.
This was an ugly, scrappy game, with very little good football played by either side. The fact that Romero was substituted in tears in the second half, after a collision with Kinsky, could have even more bearing on the end of this season than the fact that Spurs lost the game.
If he misses more of the run-in, Spurs will be without their captain and arguably most talented player.
This was by no means the worst that Spurs have played in recent months. They worked hard as a team, they matched Sunderland for long periods and the only goal of the game was an unfortunate deflection off Van de Ven.
But Spurs cannot afford to be this unlucky when they are stuck in the drop zone with six games left. They need the ball to start bouncing their way if they are to play Premier League football next season.
Did anything look different under De Zerbi?
As De Zerbi had explained at length before the game, there was no chance for him to implement anything like his own distinctive style of play during his limited time with the Spurs players.
Tottenham were more positive than they had been for much of this season so far, but there was little by way of intricate press-baiting or complicated passing patterns. The goalkeeper Kinsky was often happy just to hit the ball long when he needed to.
(Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images)
De Zerbi went for Richarlison and Randal Kolo Muani as high, wide wingers, either side of Dominic Solanke. Conor Gallagher and Lucas Bergvall were brought into a high-energy midfield. And, in a throwback to the tactics when Ange Postecoglou was in charge, full-backs Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie often cut inside to attack when Spurs had the ball.
Tottenham were happy to go direct and play on the break, but they often looked short of quality in the final third. Richarlison struggled with his close control and Kolo Muani made too many bad decisions. And Spurs’ energy and commitment counted for very little, because they struggled to create, whereas Sunderland managed to get through in the end.
Have Tottenham forgotten how to create chances?
One of the stories of the season at Spurs has been their inability to create chances, especially in open play. This was the same for Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor, and is one of the most important issues De Zerbi has to solve if he is to keep Spurs up.
Of course, it does not help that Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison have not played at all this season, as they both recover from knee surgeries. Wilson Odobert is currently out with an ACL problem of his own, and Mohammed Kudus has just suffered another quad injury, leaving De Zerbi’s Spurs desperately short of players who can make things happen in the final third.
So De Zerbi today went for a front three made up of strikers, with three central midfielders. Mathys Tel came on halfway through the second half. But it left Spurs short, yet again, of ideas to create things. Their best fit creative player, Xavi Simons, only came on with six minutes of normal time remaining.
And while Spurs had a few half-chances — especially for Richarlison and Solanke in the first half — they needed one of them to go in. Even the pressure at the end of the game never really amounted to very much.
This is a team that looks like it has forgotten how to create, and that is a huge problem.
What did De Zerbi say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What next for Spurs?
Saturday, April 18: Brighton (Home), Premier League, 5.30pm UK, 12.30pm ET