West Ham concern as Spurs close in on game-changer boss Roberto De Zerbi

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There was a time in the not-too-distant past when Roberto De Zerbi was being linked with West Ham but now he could help send them down as the new manager of bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

The Hammers pulled level on points with Spurs in the Premier League relegation battle after a hard-fought point in a 1-1 draw against Man City.

Now West Ham have a watching brief as Tottenham face a daunting trip to Anfield to face Liverpool.

Since Nuno Espirito Santo’s side beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 at the start of January, West Ham have closed a 12-point gap.

West Ham concern as Spurs close on De Zerbi

It is West Ham’s form which has piled the pressure on Spurs and made them favourites for the drop in the eyes of many.

There is a four-way fight between West Ham, Tottenham, Leeds and Nottingham Forest to avoid joining Burnley and Wolves in the Championship.

Finish this sentence!

Mavropanos' performance is the best by a West Ham defender since… ?

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With the Hammers in fine form and Tottenham’s performances and results desperately bad, interim boss Igor Tudor is already in line for the sack.

Tottenham’s crisis should be music to West Ham’s ears.

But the reality could now be very different given developments out of north London.

West Ham will be concerned as Spurs close in on game-changer boss Roberto De Zerbi.

When the Hammers’ hierarchy were looking at candidates to replace David Moyes, hot-headed Italian tactician De Zerbi was on West Ham’s shortlist.

However, fiery De Zerbi’s fallout at Brighton put off a number of potential suitors such as West Ham and he ended up taking over at Marseille.

Fiery De Zerbi can change relegation picture at Tottenham

A tempestuous tenure in France came to an end when De Zerbi left Marseille by mutual consent a month ago, following a 5-0 defeat to rivals Paris Saint-Germain and amid a poor run of form.

Now, though, De Zerbi looks set to return to England as Tottenham’s last roll of the dice to stay in the Premier League.

They say never fall in love with a loan player, but we’ve all done it before 😂

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The Telegraph recently claimed talks have been held at Spurs about appointing De Zerbi if they manage to avoid relegation with Manchester United also lurking.

Fabrizio Romano has also claimed De Zerbi is Tottenham’s “dream candidate” to take over from Tudor.

The Sun reports Tottenham are ‘in the process of replacing Tudor’ with the Liverpool match expected to be the Croatian’s last in charge.

That could be bad news for the Hammers with Manchester United site The Peoples’ Person reporting that personal terms are the final hurdle for Tottenham before De Zerbi takes over.

One thing that is assured with De Zerbi is that he will get his team fired up, pressing hard and working tirelessly.

That has been a feature of all his sides from Sassuolo to Brighton and Marseille.

Regardless of Tottenham’s terrible form, the north Londoners clearly have quality players.

So West Ham and co will be justifiably worried about De Zerbi’s impact if he gets those players grafting for results in the last eight games of the season.

One look at the remaining fixtures suggests Tottenham have several winnable games in order to fend off the threat of West Ham.

Tottenham have winnable matches against Forest, Sunderland, Brighton, Wolves, Leeds and Everton to come during the run-in.

De Zerbi-ball – and the Italian’s clear passion on the side line – would also likely be a hit with Spurs fans so he could lift the whole club at the worst possible time for West Ham.

Assuming personal terms won’t be an issue, the Hammers will just have to hope Tottenham are a lost cause for any manager right now.

Relegation run-in remaining fixtures: