Roberto De Zerbi was minutes away from pulling Tottenham out of the Premier League relegation zone before Brighton’s late equaliser led to a 2-2 draw in North London.
The home side fared quite well on the night and went ahead through Pedro Porro before a fantastic strike from Kaoru Mitoma restored parity at the stroke of half-time.
Xavi Simons scored a wonder goal to give Tottenham the lead, but with just three minutes left on the clock, Georginio Rutter tucked home from close range to give the Seagulls a point.
Michael Dawson feels the manner of the draw will be gutting for Tottenham as they remain in the relegation zone.
And now, De Zerbi has sent a strong message to his players as they only have five games left to save their Premier League status.
De Zerbi orders Tottenham players to stay clear of ‘negativity’
Tottenham produced arguably their best Premier League performance of 2026 but came away with just a point.
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However, De Zerbi feels his players showed a lot of character to get a draw and ordered them to remain positive as they still have time to save themselves from relegation.
“Today I saw signs, I saw blood, character, qualities, organisation with and without the ball. Everything to reach our target,” said De Zerbi after the game via Sky Sports.
“We have to improve a lot of things. The crucial part is to keep this mentality and I told the players to come on Monday afternoon with the same behaviour they showed today.
“I don’t want to work with sad people, with negative people. They have to believe in myself. If I am here, it’s because I am positive to stay in the Premier League next season.”
Too little, too late for Tottenham?
The performance was good, but the manner of the draw will surely hurt Tottenham.
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Most of the players – particularly Simons – looked distraught after the game as they knew they should have got all three points.
However, as De Zerbi rightly pointed out, the Lilywhites can still pick up points in their remaining five games if they perform the way they did against Brighton.
The game against Wolves next week is an absolute must-win. Elsewhere, Tottenham will keep an eye on West Ham and Nottingham Forest’s fixtures and will hope for them to lose as the relegation battle edges closer to a dramatic climax.
