Roberto De Zerbi delivered a fiery call to his Tottenham players, staff and supporters ahead of Sunday’s trip to Aston Villa, insisting that complacency is the biggest threat to his club’s survival and refusing to accept that relegation is inevitable.
Spurs sit 18th in the Premier League with four games remaining, two points adrift of safety following their first league win of 2026 against relegated Wolves last weekend – a result that came at a heavy cost, with Xavi Simons suffering a hamstring injury and Dominic Solanke ruled out for the foreseeable future.
De Zerbi was in no mood to dwell on this misfortune.
“Listen, I want to be clear one more time, the most important challenge now is to silence the voice within us, within the players, within the staff, the fans, this voice brings out negative thoughts and the voice says that we are unlucky, we are very injured.
“We lost Xavi Simons and in the last two games he was one of the most important players for us. Our health staff is not good enough, the stadium is not good, our training ground is not good. Winning two or three games in a row is not possible because we have not won a game in 2026. I think it is all negative and rubbish.
“I want to focus on ourselves and the quality of my players. We will play one of the best teams at the moment in the Premier League but if Tottenham win at Villa Park it is not a surprise. We may have lost but we have the quality to win this game. It is not a surprise. We have to have a positive attitude.
“If Xavi and Solanke are injured we can play with Kolo Muani, Tel, Richarlison etc. They are different players but very good. All these things – I don’t have much time to hear these things.”
‘We must die on the pitch’
De Zerbi was similarly defiant when addressing a growing group of voices writing for Spurs, with two points and two places separating his side from West Ham in the table.
“I’ve heard that no, it’s not possible, we’re all crying, we’ve been cut down by the ax, no?
“We are ready to win these games and we have to wait and see because that is the only way. The way I know is to work hard, to give my best, to trust my opinion of the players, their confidence and to be honest. I think there are not many people who are honest now.”
‘Take it one game at a time’
The Italian admitted the damage done by a string of brutal results, citing the draw against Brighton and the loss to Sunderland as moments when his side deserved it most. But he said the only way forward is to wipe the slate clean.
“We lost a lot of injuries, players, we lost two points against Brighton and at Sunderland we conceded one stupid goal and it wasn’t worth losing the game, in my time. It’s just one way if you want to not have regrets in the future, you have to get everything out of our heads, out of our memories and take it one game at a time, one training at a time training and getting what’s right, confidence and the team.
“I want to be honest – it is different from good. Not good because there is sun, Italian weather, no no, I want to know that. I feel this pressure to change the opinion – the same opinion that you can see in another way. One way is that we are unlucky, we are at the bottom of the table and the other view is that we are playing with these players. We can do this quality.”
