Having written the Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor reports, let’s complete the Tottenham Hotspur set by assessing new head coach Roberto De Zerbi.
Five points from 13 matches have Spurs nosediving towards a catastrophic relegation, requiring immediate, drastic action.
They’ve successfully convinced the former Brighton and Hove Albion boss to take charge now rather than in the summer, so Tudor’s 44-day reign is over.
Let’s see what De Zerbi’s arrival could mean for Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers.
COULD SPURS GET RELEGATED?
Ever-present in the Premier League era, it’s been almost 50 years since Spurs’ last top-flight demotion. But fans of other clubs aren’t joking anymore – the North London side is in genuine trouble.
Currently one point above 18th-place, they’re winless since December 28. No team has fewer points at home, so maybe it’s a blessing that four of their final seven matches are on the road.
Our Fixture Ticker thinks they have the seventh-best run coming up. But there are worries at both ends of the pitch.
Under Frank, Spurs were in the third spot at Gameweek 9’s climax, suggesting that last season’s 17th-place finish was a freak outcome. Yet the subsequent 22 matches have seen just two wins and 13 points.
This is while being the league’s second-biggest expected goals (xG) overachievers – scoring on 40 occasions, rather than 32.51. And the inevitable recent regression has brought a mere five goals in their last seven outings.
However, it’s even worse at the back. From Gameweek 21 onwards, they’re the sole team without a clean sheet, and 10 of these 11 matches have seen them concede at least twice. A league-high total of 26 let in.
Although it should only have been 21.06, according to expected goals conceded (xGC) data.
They’re in freefall.
HISTORY OF DE ZERBI
| SEASON | TEAM | DIVISION | POSITION | POINTS PER GAME |
SCORED | CONCEDED |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 | Olympique Marseille | Ligue 1 | 4th** | 1.86 | 46 (2nd) | 27 (=7th) |
| 2024/25 | Olympique Marseille | Ligue 1 | 2nd | 1.91 | 74 (2nd) | 47 (=9th) |
| 2023/24 | Brighton and Hove Albion | Premier League | 11th | 1.26 | 55 (=12th) | 62 (=10th) |
| 2022/23 | Brighton and Hove Albion | Premier League | 6th | 1.63 | 72 (4th) | 53 (=10th) |
| 2021/22 | Shakhtar Donetsk | Ukraine Premier League | 1st* | 2.61 | 49 (1st) | 10 (2nd) |
| 2020/21 | Sassuolo | Serie A | 8th | 1.63 | 64 (7th) | 56 (9th) |
| 2019/20 | Sassuolo | Serie A | 8th | 1.34 | 69 (6th) | 63 (13th) |
| 2018/19 | Sassuolo | Serie A | 11th | 1.13 | 53 (9th) | 60 (16th) |
* Title was not awarded, with the season terminated due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine
** At the time of De Zerbi’s departure (end of Gameweek 21)
De Zerbi has a notoriously volatile and outspoken personality, one that brought nine yellow cards and two reds when at Brighton. Such self-destructiveness is hardly helpful for a squad whose players keep losing their heads.
His early managerial career was covered in our pre-Brighton Scout Report. Turning up as Graham Potter’s replacement, a brilliant first season ended in sixth-place and an FA Cup semi-final, while 2023/24 brought five wins in the first six, then Europa League victories over Ajax (twice) and Marseille. Unfortunately, things started to unravel, eventually falling out with Tony Bloom and finishing 11th.
Such explosive behaviour closed some doors at elite clubs, allowing Marseille to make a move. But, in another short experience, De Zerbi took Les Olympiens to second place in 2024/25 – bear in mind that Tudor’s whole season had them third – before a couple of deflating January and February defeats left them fourth and out of the Champions League.
“In all my discussions with the club’s leadership, their ambition for the future has been clear — to build a team capable of reaching great achievements, and to do that playing a style of football that excites and inspires our supporters. I am here because I believe in that ambition and have signed a long-term contract to give everything to deliver it.
“Our short-term priority is to climb the Premier League table, which will be the complete focus until the final whistle of the last game of the season. I’m looking forward to getting out on the training pitch and working with these players to achieve that.” – Roberto De Zerbi
TACTICALLY, WHAT DO WE KNOW?
Another risk in Tottenham’s move is that there isn’t much time for De Zerbi to implement his attack-minded tactics. A style that’s different to Frank and Tudor.
In fact, Brighton didn’t win any of their first five league matches under him. Speaking to the Telegraph in 2023, the Seagulls’ captain Lewis Dunk (£4.5m) said those initial weeks were tough.
“If I am being honest, the first couple of weeks were horrendous… I wouldn’t say horrendous; they were baffling. Training changed dramatically. We worked on a lot of different stuff, and the first couple of weeks were a really hard transition.” – Lewis Dunk
Then again, surely this emergency situation will stop the 46-year-old from overcomplicating things, even when the absence of other competitions gives him a full week to work with the squad.
Above: De Zerbi’s preferred tactics have similarities to Ange Postecoglou’s first season, according to Opta Analyst
We know from his spell on the south coast that 4-2-3-1 should be used, becoming 3-2-5 when on the ball.
Frank and Tudor were about direct play, long throws and set-pieces, relying on the latter for 35.0% of goals – a proportion that’s only second to Leeds United. But this wasn’t working, whereas De Zerbi’s mindset has more in common with ‘Angeball’ – the era of Ange Postecoglou.
Possession-heavy, he wants short goal-kicks and ‘press-baiting’ passes that tempt opponents to move forward, before a sequence of fast passes takes advantage of these newly-manipulated gaps.
However, Guglielmo Vicario (£4.7m) isn’t great with the ball at his feet and Antonin Kinsky (£3.9m), expected to fill in during his colleague’s hernia recovery, recently made two huge howlers against Atletico Madrid.
In Ligue 1, Marseille made 45 errors leading to a shot under De Zerbi, more than all but Nice (54).
Above: The Athletic’s graphic of how regularly Spurs lose the ball close to their own goal
Meanwhile, in attack, the Brescia-born boss also has a desire to press backlines man-to-man, seeking high turnovers.
ANY FPL OPTIONS?
As a consequence, his teams are open to being hit on the counter-attack. So it’s probably best to avoid defensive names like Kinsky, regular crosser Pedro Porro (£5.1m), and Micky van de Ven (£4.4m) – the sole Spurs asset to exceed 10% ownership, though it’s a popularity unseen amongst still-active managers.
After all, only they and Wolverhampton Wanderers are without a single player on 100+ points.
On a positive note, the crazy injury crisis is starting to ease up. We saw Cristian Romero (£5.0m) start in Gameweek 31, alongside cameo appearances from Destiny Udogie (£4.3m) and Lucas Bergvall (£5.2m).
To further build confidence that a corner can be turned, Mohammed Kudus (£6.4m), Rodrigo Bentancur (£5.2m) and Joao Palhinha (£5.5m) will potentially be back for the trip to Sunderland.
Nevertheless, it was already proving difficult to predict the Spurs starting XI. Now there’s another head coach to welcome, plus a few returnees.
Still, Xavi Simons (£6.5m) was great in the Atletico second leg and should be De Zerbi’s magical number 10. He took two of four Champions League penalties, but Spurs are yet to have one domestically.
The yellow-flagged Mathys Tel (£6.2m) is on our ‘Assists Imminent’ table, due to recently creating nine chances.
Up front, be cautious over forwards Richarlison (£6.3m) and Dominic Solanke (£7.2m), as they’re rotation risks.
FINAL THOUGHTS
It’s hard to reverse a slump like Spurs’ 2026 collapse, but they are still outside of the relegation zone. Scrape two or three wins together and a huge sigh of relief can be breathed before looking ahead to 2026/27.
Is there enough time for De Zerbi to implement a new system? Tudor reverted to four-at-the-back by the end, which should help. Perhaps the dramatic change that Dunk described needs to wait.
Defensive assets mostly need avoiding, but Porro takes some set-pieces and has a track record of being an FPL attacking threat.
As for midfielders and forwards, FPL managers should keep a curious eye on how ‘nailed-on’ Xavi, Solanke, Richarlison, and exciting dribbler Kudus soon become.
Hiring the Italian is a huge, controversial gamble, but one that’s necessary. Quite simply, there’s no time to waste. De Zerbi’s track record suggests he’ll depart well before the end of his five-year contract, but keeping them up is all that matters.
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