'Salvation in sight' for De Zerbi's Spurs

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Roberto de Zerbi had called on Tottenham to silence the voices as this traumatic and turbulent season reached the point of no return.

The new head coach referred to the negativity surrounding Spurs as he attempted to mount a late salvage operation to avoid the prospect of the most embarrassing relegation in Premier League history.

And how his players responded to his emotional call to arms, with their finest display of the campaign to secure a hugely deserved 2-1 victory at Aston Villa that leapfrogged them over West Ham and out of the relegation zone.

This was so emphatic and so transformed from what had been served up before De Zerbi's appointment on 31 March, that it's fair to ask pertinent questions.

Not just where has this version of Spurs been all season, but - more significantly - was this the moment the tide turned for them as they bid to dodge the drop?

After last weekend's vital win at Wolves, De Zerbi said: "It's like we are all crying and relegated. No, not yet. We have to die on the pitch. We have to play and we have to fight.

"It's not the best moment for us, it's a tough moment, but the losers cry. They think negatively. I don't want people close to me crying or thinking a different way to me."

Every word hit the bullseye as self-belief, unity, fierce competitiveness, quality, fight and sheer bloody-mindedness - words that have been like a foreign language at Spurs in this torrid campaign - surged through De Zerbi's side at Villa Park.