Mark OgdenMar 22, 2026, 02:00 PM ET
LONDON -- The thousand-yard stare has become the only thing you can guarantee at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and it is staring into the abyss of relegation.
Last season's UEFA Europa League winners -- one of the biggest and wealthiest clubs in the Premier League, who played a UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie against Atlético Madrid in midweek -- are in a fight for survival after a 3-0 home defeat against relegation rivals Nottingham Forest.
Spurs simply couldn't afford to lose. But, for the fourth successive Premier League home game, they did just that, and it wasn't even close.
- How did Spurs go from Europa League champs to relegation battle?
- 'You can't be a yes man': How assistant managers work for the boss
- LaLiga Confidential: Who's your first signing? Most annoying coach?
Forest's victory moved them two points clear of Igor Tudor's team -- they might be somebody else's team very soon -- and left Spurs in 17th position, just a point above West Ham United, who occupy the third and final relegation spot right now.
But while their narrow advantage over West Ham is keeping Spurs out of the drop zone heading into the international break, how much longer that will be case is debatable because Spurs haven't won a league game in 2026.
Not since a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace on Dec. 28 have Spurs collected all three points from a game. Their last home win in their magnificent £1 billion stadium came three weeks earlier against Brentford, and that was their first victory on home turf since beating Burnley 3-0 on the opening day of the season.
That's right. Spurs have won just two home games all season. They have collected a mere 10 points at home, which is the worst home record in the Premier League, so positives are thin on the ground.
The supporters might just be the only positive for the club to cling onto as they face seven games that will be the difference between survival and the doomsday scenario of relegation.
But although the fans canceled a planned prematch demonstration against the club's owners, the ENIC Group, in favor of a passionate, flare-filled welcoming of the team bus, those who remained at the end of the game loudly booed the players off the field.
They had unfurled a banner bearing the message "All Together - Always" just before kickoff. At the final whistle, it felt like more like "Us Against Them" as they jeered the players and Tudor.
Who could blame them? The fans had done their bit, but the players wilted under the pressure of having to win.
The team wasn't helped by the hapless Tudor, whose reputation as a so-called "firefighter" might well have been extinguished by his woeful seven games in charge. The Croatian coach has presided over one win in Europe, a draw at Liverpool and five defeats.
During that solitary win, a 3-2 second-leg victory against Atlético with the tie already out of their reach, midfielder Xavi Simons was outstanding, scoring twice in a player-of-the-match performance. Yet for a game that Spurs simply had to win, Tudor dropped the former RB Leipzig and Paris Saint-Germain midfielder to the bench, summoning him into action only at 67 minutes when Forest were ahead 2-0 and in total control of the game.
But Tudor is just one of many problems at Spurs. If he is still in charge after the international break, when Tottenham visit Sunderland, it will be a surprise. Indeed, it would probably be reckless for the club board to keep him any longer due to the minimal impact he has had since replacing Thomas Frank just over a month ago.
But Forest are proof that changing managers doesn't necessarily lead to an instant upturn in results. Vitor Pereira is the fourth boss employed by Forest this season, after Nuno Espírito Santo, Ange Postecoglou and Sean Dyche, and this was his first win in five league games since taking charge in mid-February.
Yet Forest played the game with more experience than Spurs, who ran out of ideas too quickly before Igor Jesus headed the visitors into the lead just before halftime. That was the worst-case scenario for a team bereft of confidence. Spurs needed to score first, both to boost their morale and harness the positivity among the supporters, but Jesus' goal absolutely killed the mood.
From that point on, Forest were in control, sensing the anxiety among the Spurs players and fans, and they made the game safe midway through the second half when Morgan Gibbs-White sent Neco Williams's cross past goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.
Spurs are not a team capable of overcoming adversity; they shrink in the face of it. Which is bad news for them as the first match after the international break sees West Ham host bottom side Wolverhampton Wanderers. So when Spurs kick off at Sunderland, they could be in the bottom three.
By the time Forest scored again, through Taiwo Awoniyi in the 87th minute, the stadium was virtually empty but for those Spurs fans who had decided to stay until the bitter end to make their feelings clear.
Bitter was the perfect word to describe the mood. But it could get even worse from here for Spurs.
