The iceberg cometh for the Premier League’s Titanic

Tottenham Hotspur are dreadful and only getting worse, writes Richard Jolly, a precarious one point above the drop zone after a trend of poor decisions both on and off the pitch

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It might not have been the wisest idea for Igor Tudor to opt for a nautical reference. “The boat is going in the direction I want,” said the Tottenham manager. The temptation was to reply that it is a sinking ship, that the vessel Tudor commands is the Titanic, with deluxe furnishings, but going down.

Thursday’s 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace suggested that, in 2026, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will host the NFL, Bad Bunny, Atletico Madrid and Lincoln City. It would be an eclectic assortment. Few go from Champions League to Championship in a few months. Tottenham might, and there would be something hubristic about a club that signed up for the Super League in 2021 descending to a very different division five years later. Although considering Spurs’ only wins in 2026 have come against German opposition, perhaps they should apply to join the Bundesliga instead.

The prospect of Tottenham going down, which first felt doom-mongering by some of the support, has started to look ever more realistic. A midweek in which West Ham won away from home, Nottingham Forest earned a surprise point at the Etihad Stadium, and Spurs lost at home ended with their chances of demotion – according to the Opta predictor – shooting up to 16.1 per cent.