Crisis facing Roberto De Zerbi deepens as Tottenham hit rock bottom in Premier League

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Ferridge, A. (2026, September 20). Crisis facing Roberto De Zerbi deepens as Tottenham hit rock bottom in Premier League. Evening Standard. https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/de-zerbi-tottenham-crisis-premier-league-b1297694.html

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Evening Standard · collected 2026-09-20 · by Arthur Ferridge

Quick Summary

Roberto De Zerbi's Tottenham Hotspur face a challenging start to the Premier League season after spending heavily in the summer transfer window on players like Sandro Tonali and Omar Marmoush. Despite significant investments, Tottenham have accumulated only two points from their first five matches, drawing against Nottingham Forest and Everton while suffering heavy defeats by Brentford, Aston Villa, and Newcastle with an aggregate score of 8-2. This poor performance has left the team in last place, second worst goal difference in the league, behind only Coventry City's -9.

Written by AI on 2026-09-21, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Tottenham Hotspur are struggling at the bottom of the Premier League table after five matches into the season, with just 2 points from a winless start. They have drawn goalless matches against Nottingham Forest and Everton but suffered heavy defeats to Brentford, Aston Villa, and Newcastle by an aggregate score of 8-2. The recent point picked up by Fulham has lifted them above Tottenham on goal difference, leaving Spurs in the last position in the league table. With only Coventry City having a worse goal difference of -9, Tottenham's stands at -6. This poor performance follows two consecutive seasons where Tottenham narrowly avoided relegation, finishing 17th each time.

Written for “Tottenham Premier League Struggles” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Tottenham Premier League Struggles

Sports · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.

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Who wrote this

Arthur Ferridge

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Topics

Fulham London Nottingham Forest Premier League Tottenham

Subjects

Fulham ORG · 2× Premier League ORG · 2× Tottenham ORG · 2× London GPE · 1× Mateus Fernandes PERSON · 1× Nottingham Forest ORG · 1× Omar Marmoush PERSON · 1× Roberto De Zerbi PERSON · 1× Sandro Tonali PERSON · 1× Savio PERSON · 1×

Narrative

The point Fulham picked up in their 1-1 draw with Manchester United on Sunday evening lifted them into 19th place on goal difference, leaving Spurs to languish on the bottom rung of the table until the Premier League reconvenes in three weeks, after the extended international break. Tottenham now boast the second-worst goal difference in the league - only Coventry’s -9 is worse than their -6.

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-21

2026-09-21 · Evening Standard

Crisis facing Roberto De Zerbi deepens as Tottenham hit rock bottom in Premier League · assertive framing

Claims (9 extracted, 0 hedged)

A free-spending summer in north London has not been mirrored in success on the pitch. asserted

summer → spend → pitch

Despite the eye-watering amounts spent to add the likes of Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes, Savio and Omar Marmoush to the squad, Roberto De Zerbi is yet to get his new-look side on song. asserted

side → water → song

The opening five matches of the Premier League campaign have yielded just two points. asserted

matches → yield → points

Those were the product of goalless draws with Nottingham Forest and Everton, which have come amid galling defeats by Brentford, Aston Villa and Newcastle, which have come by an aggregate score of 8-2. asserted

which → come → 8

difference → pick → -6

They join Fulham and Bournemouth as the only teams yet to win a match. asserted

They → join → match

They have finished 17th in each of the last two Premier League campaigns, and did not secure safety last season until the final day, with West Ham condemned instead. asserted

Ham → finish → day

A busy summer in the transfer market designed to back new head coach De Zerbi was supposed to see them easily into the Champions League places, but the much-changed side has yet to click. asserted

side → design → places

Now, at least, it can only improve. asserted

it → improve → ?

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