Tottenham Hotspur boss Roberto De Zerbi made a rallying cry for the team to “silence the voice” inside of them and focus on fighting against relegation from the English Premier League. Spurs sit 18th in the league, with two points behind 17th-placed West Ham.
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The North London side posted their first league win of 2026 against bottom side Wolves last weekend, but have four remaining games to avoid their first relegation since 1977. They will face fifth-placed Aston Villa on Sunday before playing Leeds United, Chelsea and Everton.
De Zerbi delivered a passionate press conference ahead of Sunday’s trip to Aston Villa, where he said negativity was Spurs biggest challenge in their fight against relegation.
“The most important challenge now is to silence the voice inside of us, inside of the players, inside the staff and the fans,” said De Zerbi via Sky Sports. “This voice produces negative thoughts and the voice says we are unlucky, we have too many injuries. We lost Xavi Simons and he was in the last two games one of the most important players for us.
“Our medical staff is not good enough, the pitch of the stadium is not good, our training pitch is not good. Winning two or three games in a row is impossible because we hadn’t won a game in 2026. I think it’s all negative things and it’s rubbish.
“It’s like we’re all crying and relegated. No, not yet. We have to die on the pitch.
“We have to play, we have to fight, we have two points less than West Ham. They have to play a difficult game like us.
“It’s not the best moment for us, a tough moment, but the losers cry, they think negative and I don’t want people close to me crying or to think a different way than me.”
De Zerbi was appointed Tottenham head coach in March, making him the third to manage the team this season. Spurs have endured a tough season, with key players like Ben Davies, Mohammed Kudus, Dejan Kulusevski, Wilson Odobert, Guglielmo Vicario and Cristian Romero being sidelined for the rest of the season due to injury. Dutch player, Xavi Simon became the latest player to join the list after he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) against Wolves.
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