New Tottenham interim boss Igor Tudor makes big relegation claim as Spurs face 'emergency situation'

Tottenham were hoping for a season of domestic improvement, having won the Europa League under previous manager Ange Postecoglou before the Greek-Australian was sacked and replaced by Thomas Frank.

The Dane got off to a decent start, but a poor run of form has seen Spurs slide towards the relegation places, with their last win in the English top flight coming at the end of January at Crystal Palace. Frank was given the boot after the most recent defeat to Newcastle United, with Tudor brought in with a reputation of firefighting and turning around dire situations.

It's a major gamble from those in charge of the north London side, who only sit five points ahead of 18th-placed West Ham United before the weekend's fixtures. Tottenham still have an incredibly long injury list, with neither James Maddison nor Dejan Kulusevski playing a single minute of football so far this season. The likes of Wilson Odobert, Mohammed Kudus, Rodrigo Bentancur, Ben Davies, Lucas Bergvall, Destiny Udogie, Richarlison, Pedro Porro and Souza are all currently unavailable, while Cristian Romero still has three more games to serve of a domestic suspension.

There are plenty of issues for Tudor to contend with, but the Croatian says he has been convinced by the pedigree of his squad and believes they can lift themselves away from danger over the next few months.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference before the north London derby against Arsenal on Sunday, Tudor said: “What I saw this week was the quality of the players. We have enormous quality in the squad.”

When asked whether Tottenham would be a Premier League team next season, he simply replied: “100%”

He added: “When you start pre-season and then you have 50 days in pre-season and you have 20 players, of course then we see the style. This is an emergency, an emergency situation, when you need to find fast what suits the 10 plus three players and it’s totally different.”

Spurs fans have certainly been concerned by their side's descent down the Premier League table, but Tudor has revealed he won't be keeping track of where his new team sit in the standings between now and the end of the season, saying he is more concerned about performances.

He said: “When I coach I never watch the classification. Maybe it sounds strange. I don’t watch where we are. It’s a process. If you ask me what we are going to see on Sunday, I believe that we are going to see something concrete, something good that the people will like.”

Tudor has most recently had spells in charge of Marseile, Lazio and Juventus, winning 10 of his 24 games in charge of La Vecchia Signora from March 2025 before his exit in October later that year.

Tudor arguably couldn't have been handed a more daunting first game in charge as Tottenham manager, with Arsenal visiting on Sunday for the north London derby. The Gunners currently sit at the top of the Premier League table but did slip up in their most recent outing, throwing away a 2-0 lead to draw with struggling Wolves on Wednesday night.

After the derby clash, Tudor will lead Spurs into fixtures against Fulham, Palace, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the remainder of March. They are also yet to discover their opponents in the last 16 of the Champions League, with Club Brugge, Galatasaray, Juventus and Atletico Madrid their potential challengers.