Spurs were dealt another humiliating blow in their ever-growing relegation battle, falling at the hands of Arsenal and Eze once again. Igor Tudor took charge of Spurs for the first time since his emergency arrival. He only has one job, to keep us up. Were there any signs of promise on Sunday evening
When the Croatian got the job last Saturday there was a fair bit of speculation regarding his credentials, with questions about whether Spurs had sealed their fate as a Championship side. Nevertheless, fans needed to get behind him and the way he spoke in his opening interviews was enough to galvanise the supporters for the North London Derby.
🚨🎙️ Igor Tudor on whether it's a good time for #thfc to play Arsenal:
— Daily Hotspur (@Daily_Hotspur) February 21, 2026
"Playing against Arsenal at home? It's always a good time to play against Arsenal at home." pic.twitter.com/NenTl0bqZJ
The build-up to the fixture was immense, with the fanbase pumped the most I've seen all season. Arsenal's wobble in the title race and a new manager bounce was spelling out a perfect upset to start the Tudor era. Despite this, we fell at the first hurdle, disappointing in front of a lively Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Injuries continue to plague the squad, with roughly 14 senior players being available for the game, but the lack of fight shown by the available players was shameful and looked like a squad that gave up at the first thought of the game slipping out of our hands. Dominance from Arsenal was expected and we were penned in for most of the first half, with glimmers of hope coming from the Gunner's blips in possession.
Although, it was written in the stars when regarding who would have a big say on the occasion yet again, as Eze found himself free in the box to open the scoring and gloat to the South Stand. An instant impact was needed, and it came with the help of Declan Rice sloppiness, giving Kolo Muani the chance to finally score his first Premier League goal. It really seemed to liven up the already boisterous Spurs fans, who put pressure on Arsenal until the end of the first half.
I told myself that we couldn't concede early in the second half, to bring some fight into the next 45 minutes, but myself and the crowd were silenced almost instantly as Gyokeres fired the ball past Vicario to regain the lead. From that point on, it seemed that the game was lost. Kolo Muani was robbed of a brace by the referee as he declared that the big baby Gabriel had received enough contact from the Frenchman to go flying to ground. Seeing that the Brazilian is 6'4 and no slouch, it was the most obvious example of theatrics, yet it worked a charm and the diver got away with one. It was a truly disgraceful decision, with these incidents usually being ignored at every set piece and even against us earlier in the season. Typical.
From then on, the game fell out of our control as the players looked unbothered, whilst the visitors capitalised and ran out as 4-1 winners yet again. Being handed this result twice in a season is disgraceful and a representation of the quality and mentality of Spurs players. I was disappointed by Spence and Simons, who seemed weak today and often lost the ball. Meanwhile Van De Ven seems checked out of this team, despite being given the armband. I suspect he will be leaving in the summer regardless of whether we survive or not. Its disappointing to see his mentality completely go, but his heart doesn't seem to be at the club. To be honest a lot of players seem to look that way as the game became a matter of lazy damage limitation. Igor Tudor has some job on his hands.
This next month is vital to our survival- pretty much make or break. I would like to think that Tudor can pump up the players to get vital wins against the likes of Fulham, Palace and Forest, but I struggle to see where the quality is going to come from. The players need a real kick up the backside and need to understand the huge task that is required of them. I don't think we're going to get a sudden surge of players returning from injury so they're going to have to trust their own ability and prove that they're worth getting behind. I'm hoping to see some aggressive football under Igor Tudor, brave in our press and willing to take risks. It might not be pretty, but we just need to stay up.
I am optimistic in the idea of us surviving mainly because I can't begin to imagine us in the Championship. Tudor knows what he has to do in his time here and doesn't have very long to turn it around. After the game he stated, 'Now in this moment, the team is full of problems. The only key is to work on the training day by day and be humble.' He has so far been very sincere and confident about his role, but he hasn't got much time to settle in. Obviously, you'd like to think that it can't get much worse than the last guy, who was probably celebrating the result of Sunday's game.
COYS
