LONDON -- The good news for Tottenham is the gap to 18th-placed West Ham has been doubled and their Premier League future is in their own hands. The bad news for Tottenham is their last two matches are at a stadium in which they've won once in 34 matches, and at another where they've not won in their last 10 attempts.
The trip to Stamford Bridge to take on a Chelsea team that, for all their issues, will surely get up for a match their own fan base has long had circled as 'relegate Spurs day', feels ominous. But that other place. That feared mausoleum of pain and despair -- the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium -- might be filling Spurs fans with more dread.
That likely defeat in west London, coupled with Monday's home draw with Leeds, leaves Spurs, who are without a league victory at their £1 billion home this year, probably needing to achieve the seemingly impossible and win at home on the last day of the season against Everton to ensure they avoid relegation to the Championship.
- Tottenham 1-1 Leeds: De Zerbi's side blow another chance to move towards safety
It needn't have been this way. In fact, with 20 minutes remaining against Leeds, you could feel the demons being driven away from the stadium and new life welcomed in. Mathys Tel's delicious goal had them ahead on the night and within reach of a probably unassailable four-point lead over West Ham in the relegation battle. After months of tension, here surely was the moment of hard-earned triumph.
But then Tel did a bicycle kick in his own box and kicked Ethan Ampadu in the head and Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored the resulting penalty. Damn.
The ghosts duly did a quick about turn on the High Road, flooding back into a stadium which duly collapsed into 20 minutes of screams and fear until James Maddison's penalty appeals were waved away and the full-time whistle solidified the sense of something being lost.
"He is young and is a talent," De Zerbi said of Tel when asked by Sky Sports. "I will kiss him and hug him. He doesn't need too many words. He was sorry for the mistake, it can happen to a young player."
Apparently transformed after the full-time whistle, the irascible De Zerbi was incensed from the off in this game. He pointed and shouted and he did little sprints up to, and beyond, the confines of his technical area in his impossibly white trainers - an offence which saw him booked (De Zerbi later complained that the officials were not being "calm" enough in their treatment of the game).
The Italian's actions stem from knowing how galvanising the sense of opportunity might prove for Nuno Espirito Santo's West Ham. He was in his opposite number's position only 24 days ago when West Ham missed the chance to open up a four-point gap over Spurs as they were held to a goalless draw at Crystal Palace which opened the door for Tottenham's recent revival.
And yet, rather than invite West Ham back into the fight, Spurs' point might be one that keeps them at arm's length. After all, Nuno's team need to better Spurs' results.
"I think we are in the right way," De Zerbi insisted.
"It will be tough until the last minute against Everton, for sure but after the Sunderland game, it was a difficult to imagine ourselves before the last two games to stay up two points of West Ham.
"I remember very well the game in Sunderland was my first game and we can't forget what was the situation just 15 days ago. We can't forget after four games in a row we made eight points."
Spurs had hoped to be running into a Leeds team with their bodies and minds magically retuned from Bielsa ball to happy hour. It quickly became clear Spurs' hopes were misguided with Antonin Kinsky making the first of two stunning saves in the match, the first to deny Joe Rodon a goal against his former team.
A flurry of Spurs chances followed as João Palhinha, Richarlison and Rodrigo Bentancur all aimed shots at the Leeds goal, but lacked that bit of finesse required to beat Karl Darlow.
It was Tel who eventually provided the necessary quality as he touched down a loose ball on the edge of the area and swapped power for precision to bend the ball delicately around Darlow's fingertips and into the top corner from the edge of the area.
From there it all fell apart for Spurs with Richarlison's finishing, Tel's exuberance and, most importantly, VAR all conspiring against them.
If the last two days have taught us anything, it's that the VAR must smile down upon you, and in Tel's bicycle kick and Lukas Nmecha's late challenge on the returning Maddison, it didn't for the hosts.
"Maybe they [the officials] suffered the pressure of yesterday in the Arsenal game," De Zerbi suggested afterwards.
Some of Spurs' home defeats have been, at least in part, decided by big decisions that have gone against them this season. But being unlucky is often a trait of a relegated team. Now, they look to Newcastle for some much-needed good fortune.
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