Sunderland 1-0 Tottenham: De Zerbi in bottom three after first match in charge

Sunderland 1-0 Tottenham: De Zerbi in bottom three after first match in charge

A deflected strike from Nordi Mukiele condemned Roberto De Zerbi to a damaging 1-0 defeat in his first game in charge of Tottenham, keeping them mired in the Premier League relegation zone.

The French full-back’s second half effort ricocheting in off of centre-back Micky van de Ven completely wrongfooted stand-in goalkeeper Antonín Kinsky, after Spurs refused to make numerous chances pay before the break.

Having fallen into the bottom three for the first time since January 2009, the former Brighton manager’s task of ensuring their top flight status became all the more daunting as another victory in 2026 went amiss with just six games left of the season.

As it happened

Wing back Pedro Porro forced home goalkeeper Robin Roefs into a save inside the first minute after Dominic Solanke made an intelligent run in behind and found the Argentine from a cut back on the left.

Another chance would go amiss for Spurs when Richarlison found space in the penalty area after a good run forward by Randal Kolo Muani, but his low strike was easier for Roefs to gather to the grievance of De Zerbi.

The visitors had started brightly but were fortunate not to be behind when Cristian Romero made a mess of a backheeled clearance only for Kinsky to gather it, shortly before Brian Brobbey headed over Enzo Le Fée’s cross from close range.

Fortune looked like it would smile on them, though, when referee Robert Jones pointed to the spot following a sliding tackle on Kolo Muani from Omar Alderete, but VAR then correctly deemed that he played the ball and overturned the decision.

Sunderland dialed up the pressure crossing over the half-hour mark, as Mukiele was allowed a free header but could only glance a free kick wide of goal before another made its way through to Brobbey at the back post for Kinsky to keep out well.

The game was kept level heading into half time courtesy of a solid 45 minutes from both goalkeepers, the final save coming in stoppage time when Roefs got down smartly to keep out Solanke after Alderete’s clearance fell kindly to him at the back post.

Chances were few and far between for both sides in the second half, and Mukiele had a great deal of fortune when his shot from the edge of the box took a wicked deflection off of van de Ven on its way into the Spurs net.

It was a powering run through the middle from the Frenchman, which De Zerbi’s men simply failed to close down despite knowing full well the stakes at play and were staring at another game without maximum points this calendar year.

Tottenham weren’t helped by a lengthy stoppage for a collision between Romero and Kinsky in their own penalty area, with the goalkeeper sporting a bandage around his head for the remainder of the game.

The 11 added minutes at the end of the game weren’t enough for the strugglers to carve out any major chances to snatch a valuable point and retake 17th place from rivals West Ham, as the Black Cats held firm to deny them their first victory of 2026.

Tottenham analysis: De Zerbi under significant pressure already

Though very early on in his stint at Spurs manager, many judgements will already be cast on how Roberto De Zerbi’s team performed this afternoon. Time is very much not on their side and wins are more precious to them than ever before.

Yet it was an all too familiar tale for their travelling supporters, who saw numerous chances go to waste as Sunderland took their best opening of the second half when Nordi Mukiele’s strike looped in off of the unfortunate Micky van de Ven.

It was evident that Spurs were ruefully missing the attacking talent that remain sidelined through injury, especially the likes of playmakers James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski. De Zerbi needed to put out as much firepower as he could, yet this took the form of a flat front three consisting of strikers with a combined 17 goal involvements this season.

Considering players such as Brentford’s Igor Thiago has outperformed them with his 20 goals alone indicates a side that’s struggled for coherency in their attack for some time now, and this was the case again for Spurs today.

They were outdone in terms of expected goals, with their 0.85 lagging significantly behind the 1.79 produced by Sunderland. Régis Le Bris has made his Black Cats excellently well-drilled compared to the teams they were expected to do battle with in order to beat the drop at the start of the season, one of those being Tottenham.

De Zerbi is already under significant pressure to ensure survival for Spurs, and having been tied down under a long term contract it will be fascinating to see what the club’s plan of action will be in the event of the unthinkable.

Unfortunately for them, it’s a firm reality that they are running out of time to save themselves from.