Tottenham seasons are not supposed to feel like this.
They’re supposed to be about the geometry of the top four, the soft arithmetic of “if we win our game in hand,” the occasional delusion that a cup run might turn into something cinematic. Instead, here we are in February, staring at 14th place and quietly opening the league table like it might contain bad news.
Not doom. Not disaster. But discomfort.
And when a club the size of Tottenham Hotspur spends long enough in the bottom half, one question inevitably crawls into view.
Could they actually go down?
Let’s treat it seriously, not dramatically.
Recent Premier League years have not been kind to Tottenham
The reality check first
Tottenham are not in the relegation zone.
They have a nine-point cushion to 18th and a roughly neutral goal difference. Those two facts alone matter more than any vibes, podcasts, or group chat spirals. Teams that go down usually look worse than this on paper. They leak goals. They lose heavily. They feel brittle every week.
Spurs are not that.
They’re just… uneven.
Which is its own kind of frustrating.
Because uneven keeps you stuck in the mud. Not bad enough to reset. Not good enough to breathe.
What has actually gone well
It hasn’t all been bleak. That part gets lost.
There are genuine positives that suggest Tottenham’s floor is still too high for a real relegation scrap.
Xavi Simons has changed the tempo
The biggest bright spot has been Xavi Simons.
He has brought something Spurs have badly needed for stretches of the past two seasons: unpredictability.
Simons doesn’t just recycle possession. He accelerates games. He carries the ball through lines, commits defenders, and forces matches to tilt forward. Tottenham often look most alive when he receives on the half-turn and drives. Suddenly the whole pitch stretches.
It’s not just flair for the sake of it. It’s functional chaos. The good kind.
When he plays well, Spurs look like a team with ideas rather than one waiting for something to happen.
That matters more than any single stat.
Our Most Impactful Player of the Week is Xavi Simons who has taken Tottenham’s game vs Man City by storm!
— 365Scores (@365Scores) February 4, 2026
Spurs’ star was EVERYWHERE on the pitch, being instrumental in his team’s 2-2 draw vs the Cityzens pic.twitter.com/Qm72moeOtV
The attack still has match-winners
Even in a stuttering year, Tottenham have not become toothless.
They still create chances. They still score enough to stay competitive most weeks. They are rarely shut out or dominated for 90 minutes straight. There’s still enough talent in the front third that a game can flip with one run or one shot.
That’s a huge difference between Spurs and the true relegation candidates. Teams that go down often need five things to go right to score. Tottenham usually need one.
That gives you random wins, and random wins keep you safe.
They’re not getting battered
This is boring but important.
Spurs are not being routinely smashed 3-0 or 4-0. Their goal difference hovering around even tells you most matches are close. Close games are survivable. Heavy defeats are not.
If you’re consistently in matches, you tend to pick up points by accident over a 38-game season.
Relegation teams rarely have that luxury.
So why are they 14th?
If there are positives, the obvious question follows.
How are they still down here?
This is where the problems stack up.
Injuries to the spine
Tottenham’s season has been repeatedly interrupted by injuries in the worst possible places.
Not just rotation pieces. Core pieces.
When you lose central creators or key defensive organisers, you don’t just lose quality. You lose structure. The relationships that make passing patterns automatic disappear. Suddenly everything takes an extra touch.
Spurs have had too many matches where the team looks like it’s been assembled that morning rather than built over months.
That’s how you end up with draws that should be wins and losses that feel avoidable.
Over time, those little margins drag you into the bottom half.
Too many draws, not enough edge
This might be the simplest explanation.
Tottenham haven’t been terrible. They just haven’t been ruthless.
Games that sit at 1-1 tend to stay 1-1. Matches that need a nasty, set-piece goal or a scrappy rebound often drift away.
Mid-table seasons are built on converting fine margins. Spurs have dropped too many of those 50-50s.
It’s not collapse. It’s leakage.
And leakage over 24 games is how you wake up in 14th.
Control problems late in matches
There’s also been a pattern of Spurs struggling to manage games.
They’ll play well for an hour, then lose grip. Lines get stretched. The press gets half-hearted. Suddenly the opposition is camping in their half.
That lack of game management costs points quietly. One late concession here. One cheap transition there.
Add it all up and you’ve probably left six or seven points on the table.
Six or seven points is the difference between 14th and flirting with the top half.
Identity wobble
There’s a stylistic tension too.
Tottenham want to be proactive and front-footed. That’s great when confidence is high. When confidence dips, it can look naive. The same risks that create chances can create chaos at the other end.
Sometimes Spurs look caught between two versions of themselves. Not aggressive enough to dominate, not pragmatic enough to grind.
Relegation battles reward clarity. Spurs have looked a bit undecided.
The next five games that shape everything
This is the stretch where the relegation question either disappears or gets louder.
Manchester United away – hard
A top-four side chasing Europe. Points here would be a bonus, not an expectation.
Newcastle United home – medium-hard
A strong, physical team around Spurs in quality. Very losable. Very winnable. Exactly the kind of game that defines seasons.
Arsenal home – very hard
League leaders. High intensity. Emotionally draining. Even a good performance might not equal points.
Fulham away – medium
Dangerous but beatable. The kind of fixture good mid-table teams quietly win.
Crystal Palace home – medium with pressure
Same points, same part of the table. This is the tone-setter. Win and the mood lifts. Drop points and the anxiety returns.
If Spurs take seven or eight points from this run, nobody mentions relegation again. If they take two or three, suddenly it becomes a weekly topic.
That’s how thin the margins are.
So, could Tottenham really go down?
Technically, yes. The Premier League punishes complacency and weird things happen every year.
But the bigger picture still says unlikely.
Tottenham have too much attacking quality, too much baseline talent, and too much of a points buffer to be genuine favourites for the drop. They look like a flawed mid-table side, not a sinking one.
Right now, this feels like a season of frustration rather than survival.
Annoying, not existential.
Still, if they want this question to disappear completely, they don’t need magic. They just need competence. Fewer injuries. Fewer sloppy late moments. A bit more ruthlessness.
Turn three draws into wins and the whole conversation evaporates.
That’s the difference between 14th and calm.
Below Brighton and Bournemouth in the premier league. Above Real Madrid and Barcelona in the Champions League. Tottenham Hotspur ladies and gentlemen
— Billie (@Billie_T) January 28, 2026
FAQs
Are Tottenham actually in danger right now?
Not immediately. They’re clear of the bottom three and still competitive in most matches.
What has been the biggest positive?
Xavi Simons’ creativity and ball carrying have added tempo and unpredictability to the attack.
What has hurt them most?
Injuries to key players, too many drawn games, and lapses late in matches.
Which upcoming game feels most important?
Every game, but particularly Crystal Palace at home. It’s a direct table neighbour and a psychological swing match.
Most likely finish?
Somewhere in the lower middle, closer to 11th or 12th than 18th, followed by a summer rebuild and a collective sigh of relief.
By Nicky Helfgott – NickyHelfgott1 on X (Twitter)
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