Analytics & Stats
De Zerbi’s tactical choices to steady Tottenham for the run-in
Roberto De Zerbi must prepare Tottenham by April 12 for a run of fixtures beginning at Sunderland. .
Tottenham have moved decisively to appoint Roberto De Zerbi, offering the former Brighton & Hove Albion coach a reported five-year deal as the club seeks to preserve its Premier League status. The immediate task is stark: De Zerbi must prepare a squad that sees itself capable of European nights to avoid a slide that could leave trips to Portsmouth and Preston North End next season on the agenda.
He has until April 12 to ready the group for the slog ahead, with Spurs next visiting Sunderland in the Premier League. Tactical flexibility is likely, but a return to the 4-2-3-1 that has been his default across much of his career is a realistic baseline. That shape would place Xavi Simons in a No. 10 role to maximise the Dutchman’s creative influence between the lines.
De Zerbi’s football emphasises artificial transitions and progression through depth. Players must be comfortable on the ball and able to execute efficient passing sequences to escape pressure and create space for forwards. That places a premium on Tottenham’s most technically secure performers. Captain Cristian Romero and Pedro Porro, alongside Destiny Udogie when he advances, will be central to building from the back, with Micky van de Ven capable of covering when full backs push high.
Midfield options include Archie Gray as a current form pick, with Rodrigo Bentancur likely to be relied upon when fit. Bentancur performed well under Antonio Conte in a structure built on automatisms. Yves Bissouma offers bravery in the build-up and Lucas Bergvall provides carrying ability.
De Zerbi has varied his approach recently at Marseille and used a back three more often there than previously. A 3-4-2-1 is an option if three fit centre backs are available, with Kevin Danso as a useful third choice.
In attack De Zerbi must lean on Mohammed Kudus for the coming fixtures, pairing him with Xavi Simons between the lines and using Dominic Solanke as a reliable focal point. Randal Kolo Muani offers rotation but Solanke’s ability to retain possession and press is highlighted in this context.
De Zerbi’s admiration for Pep Guardiola is well known, and influences from narrow central combinations championed by others may also inform his set-up at Tottenham.
Analytics & Stats
Opta Model: Tottenham’s Survival Odds After Igor Tudor Exit
Opta gives Tottenham a 27.00% chance of relegation with seven games left after Tudor’s exit. Update.
With seven games remaining in the 2025/26 season, Tottenham Hotspur face a precarious run-in after Igor Tudor’s departure. Opta’s supercomputer has updated its projections and places Spurs with a 27.00% chance of relegation. That figure is nearly 24% higher than when former manager Thomas Frank departed the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in early February.
The model treats Burnley and Wolverhampton Wanderers as virtual certainties to drop. Burnley sit on a 99.90% chance of relegation, marginally above Wolves at 99.88%. Above those two, the table becomes far tighter. West Ham United are in immediate danger, with the supercomputer assigning a 57.03% probability that Nuno Espírito Santo’s side will go down.
Current points and expected points used in the projection show the narrow margins. Leeds have 33 points and expected points of 41.88 (7.21% relegation risk). Nottingham Forest sit on 32 points and 40.94 expected (8.83% risk). Tottenham have 30 points with 38.43 expected. West Ham are one point behind Spurs on 29 and 37.00 expected. Burnley are on 20 points with 26.17 expected and Wolves 17 points with 24.95 expected.
Fixture lists for both clubs help explain the probabilities. Both Spurs and West Ham still face Wolves and Everton at home in matches that could be decisive. Tottenham also have trips or fixtures against Sunderland, Chelsea and Aston Villa and home matches against Brighton, Everton and Leeds. West Ham’s schedule includes Wolves, Crystal Palace, Everton, Brentford, Arsenal and Newcastle, with several difficult games grouped together.
The model underlines how small margins can determine survival. With just one point separating Tottenham and West Ham, a single result could reshuffle expectations and change which team occupies the relegation positions as the season enters its final weeks.
Analytics & Stats
Study: Salah’s Presence Linked to Drop in Hate Crime and Hostile Online Remarks
Study finds Mohamed Salah cut hate crimes 19% on Merseyside and halved Islamophobic comments overall
Mohamed Salah’s influence at Liverpool has been visible on the pitch for nine years, and a new academic study highlights a significant off-field effect as well. Researchers from Stanford University measured changes in local behaviour and online sentiment after his arrival and reported substantial shifts among supporters on Merseyside.
The study found a 19% reduction in hate crimes on Merseyside since he joined Liverpool, alongside a halving of Islamophobic online comments among the club’s supporters. Those figures suggest an impact that stretches beyond goals and trophies to how fans interact in public life and online.
“We had been following with interest this rise to fame of Mohamed Salah, this Egyptian soccer player, and we were particularly interested in what was going on with fans on the field during these games,” said Alexandra Siegel , one of four academics involved in the study. The report went on to draw a broader conclusion about exposure and prejudice: “positive exposure to outgroup celebrities can reduce prejudice,” the study concluded.
Salah’s on-field record provides context for that visibility. After a difficult spell at Chelsea, he produced a 44-goal debut season for Liverpool, a campaign that announced his arrival in unmistakable terms. What followed was a consistency that matched the initial explosion of form; season after season he maintained high standards, with records broken and trophies added to the cabinet.
The authors of the study use this example to argue that familiarity with a high-profile, well-regarded figure from a different background can shift attitudes within a supporter base. For Liverpool fans, the combination of sustained excellence and repeated positive exposure appears to have created measurable social change in Merseyside and in the tone of online conversation linked to the club.
Whatever one’s view of his footballing legacy, the study presents Mohamed Salah as a rare example of a player whose presence has had measurable social consequences off the field.
Analytics & Stats
Salah’s 56: How Numbers Built an Era at Liverpool
Salah has scored against 56 opponents for Liverpool; 2024-25 produced 29 goals and 18 assists. 2025.
When Liverpool’s recruitment team handed Jürgen Klopp hours of footage in the summer of 2017, his early assessment of Mohamed Salah was cautious. Klopp’s initial view painted him as an interesting winger but definitely “not the finishing monster.” That view would be transformed by what followed on the pitch.
Across all competitions, 56 different opponents have been on the receiving end of Salah’s goals for Liverpool. The scale of that achievement is best understood alongside the figures he produced in the 2024-25 season.
After securing his second Premier League title with a 5–1 win over Tottenham Hotspur in April 2025, Salah offered a succinct response to critics and admirers alike: “You can see the numbers.” The numbers that season were remarkable. Salah became just the third player in Premier League history to finish as the outright leading scorer and assist provider in the same campaign, racking up 29 goals and 18 assists.
Those returns meant Salah directly contributed to 47 top-flight goals in 2024-25, which the draft notes is more than Manchester United managed as a team (44). The contrast underlines the individual influence he exerted through that campaign.
Manchester United also emerge repeatedly in the statistical narrative of Salah’s career. No team had conceded more goals at his feet than the Red Devils, and across the decade of the 2020s thus far Salah ranks as the eighth highest Premier League goalscorer at Old Trafford—including Manchester United players, as pointed out by The Athletic’s Duncan Alexander.
Numbers do not capture every subtlety of a player’s craft, but in Salah’s case the statistics trace a clear arc: a scouting report in 2017, sustained excellence, and a 2024-25 season that crystallised his value to Liverpool.
