Sleepwalking over: Tottenham stave off relegation after nightmare season

LONDON — Tottenham Hotspur finally woke up. Just as they looked in danger of sleepwalking over the precipice into relegation, manager Roberto de Zerbi and on-loan midfielder João Palhinha snapped the team back into life and ended this nightmare of a season.

The Tottenham players celebrated Palhinha’s first-half winner on Sunday like it had won them the Premier League, but the reality was this 1-0 win over Everton helped them secure just their third league win at home this season and saw them avoid relegation on the final day. That’s sheer relief and an explosion of pent-up tension, but when the adrenaline ebbs away, Spurs need to figure out why exactly they got into this mess, and how they can avoid being here again next term.

As one of the so-called “Big Six” clubs of the Premier League, two 17th-place finishes in consecutive seasons is not cause for celebration. Avoiding relegation on the final day of the campaign grants frustrated and exhausted supporters a chance to breathe, safe in the knowledge the ignominy of relegation has been avoided. But as the club execs watched on from the directors’ box, instead of popping champagne tonight, they should be drinking mineral water in their plush lounges, mapping out every single poor decision made over the past handful of years.

All week, Spurs fans have been reminded on the club’s official channels of what happened around this time last year. They won the Europa League in Bilbao. They finished 17th in the league, but yes, that was because of injuries and a divisive manager. Over the summer, Ange Postecoglou left, Thomas Frank was ushered in, £220 million was spent, and it was a chance to breathe easy. All with a Champions League campaign to look forward to. Normality.

But of course, it wasn’t. Because Spurs were still broken, their recruitment was off, the injury list was as lengthy as ever and confidence slowly evaded them. Frank was gone by February, and Igor Tudor the firefighter brought in. But he poured petrol on the flames rather than extinguishing them, and he was dispatched after seven games, 44 days and one point. Instead, the typically volatile De Zerbi was brought in to put an arm around this team.

The stick hadn’t worked; it was time for the carrot. And all the while, the supporters grew increasingly exasperated at life through the looking glass, and a suspended reality where they were sitting in this astonishing stadium, and hearing people talking about how big their club is, while plotting their away trips next season in the Championship.

By the time this part of London was melting in Sunday’s midday sun, Spurs fans knew a point would keep them up. A car of Arsenal supporters drove up and down the High Road outside the stadium playing “North London Forever.” Yes, it’s been bleak being a Spurs fan this season. But the Spurs fans knew a point against Everton would at least mean it’s Arsenal away next season, rather than figuring out how to get the train to Lincoln.

After their defeat to Chelsea on Tuesday, De Zerbi, referencing being a year on from the Europa League final in Bilbao, said his team were playing for something far more important than a trophy on Sunday: dignity. He repeated that sentiment again in the matchday program, one without comment from owners or other senior management. He wanted the fans to get this place going in a season where so often the supporters watched painful performance week after week.

They answered his call: the team bus was greeted by hordes of Spurs fans, blue flares choking the air. Somewhere inside, club captain Cristian Romero watched on — he wasn’t in Argentina, but here, instead.

Spurs bottled it up and threw all that emotion and adrenaline onto the pitch from the outset. De Zerbi had made one change, starting Djed Spence instead of Randal Kolo Muani on the right wing, leaving Mathys Tel to target Jake O’Brien on the other flank.

Everton’s season was already over in all but numbers, but still they battled valiantly; it was Spurs who played with far more urgency and vigor. They had chances — Conor Gallagher flashing a shot into the side netting, Kevin Danso dragging an effort wide, Palhinha scooping over from a few yards out. And then the breakthrough.

Back on April 25, Spurs traveled to Wolves. Wolves were already relegated at this stage, so all they had left was schadenfreude. “You’re going down with the Wanderers,” they sang at the Spurs fans. Tottenham were a defeat away from equaling their club’s worst return of 16 matches without a win. Then Palhinha scored in the 82nd minute with a scrappy effort.

A month on, it was another ugly, priceless effort which did it. Palhinha headed against the post and then scraped home the rebound, which just edged over the line far enough to trigger the goal-line technology and Michael Oliver’s watch to award the goal. The Spurs players ran to the bench, De Zerbi booted a ball into the crowd, and there was a chance to exhale.

But of course, there’s a neurosis here. There always is with this type of season. Remember Xavi Simons’ goal against Brighton and the scenes after that? Where Spurs players ended up in the crowd celebrating? They were seconds from victory. And then Georginio Rutter scored an equalizer five minutes into injury time. But not this time.

Everton offered little in attack, and every De Zerbi substitution brought renewed voice from the crowd. Kevin Danso was a rock in defense, Pedro Porro relentless, and Palhinha was outstanding in midfield. That spine saw them through.

As this match ticked into the nine minutes of injury time, the crowd groaned. They knew elsewhere, West Ham were 3-0 up. But Spurs just about played their way through the final moments. It was hardly them marching in, as their song goes, but them crawling, nervously over the safety line. Antonín Kinsky had time to pull off one more outstanding save off Everton attacker Tyrique George, and top-flight status was secured for another year.

Some players fell to the ground in tears. Others stood there in mild disbelief. Kinsky pointed to someone in the crowd who guided him through a whirlwind months from being substituted after 17 minutes against Atletico Madrid to pulling off key saves to keep Spurs in the league. Porro needed to be dragged off the floor.

Some Spurs fans allowed themselves to sing “We are staying up!” a song which was banned for so long by the elder Spurs supporters at away games as a means of self-preservation.

You can pinpoint various moments which led to this explosion of relief in salvation at full time: the appointment of De Zerbi, Palhinha’s goal at Wolves, Maddison’s return to fitness just when they needed that confidence and class, or perhaps it was down to dignity. Ultimately, this team should never have been here in the first place.

Perhaps that’s what went through the players’ minds as they stood as a collective in front of the south stand.

Celebrations among the players were more muted by that point, adrenaline abated, leaving relief and exhaustion. And dignity preserved, just.