Tottenham would probably have been relegated from the Premier League if Roberto De Zerbi had not been brought in for Igor Tudor, with the club clinging to survival after a 1-0 home win over Everton on Sunday. De Zerbi was hired with seven games left in the season, after Tottenham had taken one point from their previous six matches under Tudor.
The result lifted Tottenham above West Ham, who were relegated, and gave De Zerbi a record of three wins, two draws and two defeats in charge. James Maddison said the new manager had stopped the club from sliding into disaster, adding that without the appointment “doom and gloom” might have followed and that De Zerbi deserved a lot of credit for steering the ship clear.
That sense of rescue matters because Tottenham were in freefall before De Zerbi arrived. The late change did not just steady results; it changed the mood around a side that looked headed for a collapse. The win over Everton secured survival, and now the club turns to a summer that is already shaping up to be a major reset.
Tottenham are expected to sign Marcos Senesi on a free transfer from Bournemouth and Andy Robertson on a free transfer from Liverpool, while Cristian Romero is poised to leave and Guglielmo Vicario could also depart. The squad around De Zerbi is unlikely to stay intact for long, which leaves the club facing a rebuild after barely escaping the drop.
Conor Gallagher said the new coach was the reason both the team and his own form turned around. Gallagher, signed in mid-January by Thomas Frank from Atlético Madrid, said it had been “really tough” for him and the whole team before De Zerbi arrived, and recalled being shown a YouTube video titled “Bossing the midfield, Conor Gallagher” as part of the manager’s approach. De Zerbi has also made tactical tweaks, including more effective pressing and a fixed midfield setup using Gallagher as a No 10, and those changes helped Tottenham find enough stability to survive when it mattered most.
Dejan Kulusevski’s name will sit near the center of Tottenham’s next chapter, but the bigger story for now is simpler: De Zerbi walked into a club in crisis and kept it in the league.
