Sunday can't come soon enough, and Tottenham Hotspur will start again under a new manager, as Roberto De Zerbi will face his first match at Sunderland.
Spurs are unbeaten in their last 15 Premier League games against the Black Cats, although the north Londoners are a wounded beast these days, so they lack confidence after a turbulent season in N17.
Seven games into the 2025/26 campaign, on aggregate, the Lilywhites sit comfortably in third place on 14 points, just two points behind leaders Arsenal.
With seven games remaining, the gap to the Gunners stands at 40 points, with De Zerbi inheriting a team that is groaning above the relegation zone in 17th place.
|
PL Top Ten – after 7 games |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Position |
The club |
Points |
|
1 |
Arsenal |
16 |
|
2 |
Liverpool |
15 |
|
3 |
The Spurs |
14 |
|
4 |
The mouth |
14 |
|
5 |
Man City |
13 |
|
6 |
Palace |
12 |
|
7 |
Chelsea |
11 |
|
8 |
Everton |
11 |
|
9 |
Sunderland |
11 |
|
10 |
Man Utd |
10 |
A quick fix is needed, and nothing beats a field unit…
Why De Zerbi should find a midfield solution, and quickly, at Spurs
According to Sky Sports reporter Lyall Thomas, the club's “biggest problem” this season has been midfield, with recruitment in that department a particular problem recently.
Not since the departure of Mousa Dembele in January 2019 have Spurs had a significant amount of strength in the middle of the park, enduring the unlikely pairing of Oliver Skipp and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg under the likes of Antonio Conte.
With De Zerbi in charge, the club's long-time recruits will be under scrutiny, with Bayern Munich loanee Joao Palhinha giving the ball, a consistent quality the Italian is after.
The £27m Spurs star must be furious that ENIC hired De Zerbi
The arrival of Roberto De Zerbi could have an impact on the current Spurs squad.
That, more worryingly, could also be a problem with £34m January arrival Conor Gallagher, the 26-year-old recording just an 80% pass accuracy rate on average in the Premier League this season, losing the ball 9.3 times per game in his midfield position.
From the days of seeing the technical brilliance of Dembele or a young Luka Modric shine, Tottenham have taken a real step back from that, leaving De Zerbi with a real headache to solve as he looks to find his next Moises Caicedo or Alexis Mac Allister at N17.
Under his predecessor, Igor Tudor, the young pair of Pape Matar Sarr and Archie Gray have been the preferred player in each of the last five games, however the new manager could settle on the new axis of Dembele or Modric.
De Zerbi can still free Dembele and the new Modric
If they face a Black Cats team that boasts the signing of the season in the Premier League, Granit Xhaka, De Zerbi will not be able to make a mistake with his first game in charge this weekend.
First appearances mean everything, and the 46-year-old could soon endear himself if he is to replace two of the most exciting midfielders on Spurs' books, in the likes of Gray and Lucas Bergvall.
As noted above, the former has been a mainstay of the team in recent weeks under Tudor, looking particularly impressive in a solo win during the Croatian's spell at Atletico Madrid.
That outing saw the 20-year-old England man hailed as “a little Declan Rice” by The Athletic's Duncan Alexander, and there was certainly a Rice or Dembele quality to his performances throughout.
The way the former Leeds United star can cover the world and carry the ball forward from deep is very similar to the Belgian in his brilliance, although he doesn't have that powerful body.
That doesn't mean it's easy to get past defensively, as he's been tackled 0.07 times per game all season in the Premier League, a world-high 2.4% of that.
Gray could provide a stable defensive base, in the mold of Dembele, while Bergvall could be a more attacking presence, a creative presence around him, with his quality on the ball previously described as “Modric-like” by The Athletic's JJ Bull.
Still just 20 years old, the classy Swede has endured an injury-plagued campaign in north London, although his ability is not in question, especially as he ranks as high as 1.6% for dribbling success in the top flight.
Journalist Alasdair Gold also pointed to the way he 'uses his body' as further evidence to the idea that he 'looks like' a young Luka Modric, and there is real silk in his game in that number eight or number ten.
The aforementioned Sarr has been painfully up front of late, however the arrival of a new, forward-thinking manager could finally see Gray and Bergvall form a stable partnership in the middle of the park.
While Dembele and Modric's paths may not have crossed in north London, the potential successors could now form a formidable pairing under De Zerbi's watch.
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