Spurs won 2-0 at Stamford Bridge on 24 October, their first league victory at Chelsea since April 2018. Mike Penders put the ball through his own net in the 77th minute and Mathys Tel added a second three minutes from time, with Chelsea reduced to 10 men after Cole Palmer’s dismissal. Five days earlier, Tottenham had beaten Coventry City 3-1 at home to climb off the bottom of the table.
The underlying numbers explain the turn. Only three Premier League teams have forced more high turnovers or won more possessions in the final third than Spurs since De Zerbi took charge, and only Arsenal are conceding a lower xG.
Over the last three matches his players have covered an extra 3.7km per game and completed 12 more sprints per game than in the opening five fixtures of this season, with the team’s conversion rate climbing from 2.8 per cent to 14 per cent.
616 days without a three-game run
A win over Crystal Palace on Saturday, 31 October, would be a third consecutive Premier League victory for Tottenham for the first time in 616 days, a drought that has outlasted three different managers.
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Ange Postecoglou was dismissed at the end of 2024/25 despite winning the Europa League final, after Spurs finished 17th in the league. His successor Thomas Frank was sacked on 11 February 2026 after two wins in 17 league games. Igor Tudor’s interim reign ran to seven matches before Daniel Levy turned to De Zerbi, who signed a five-year deal at the end of March and took charge away at Sunderland on 12 April.
A team meeting that “removed the masks”
De Zerbi credits a dressing-room meeting before the 1-1 draw at Manchester United earlier in October, when he told the squad to drop the pretence. Seven league points have followed.
“We removed the masks,” he told Yahoo Sports, describing the shift as “not a different attitude, but different relationships with the players, different relationships within the group.”
James Maddison’s return has given him a controlling midfielder again. The England international’s first start in 18 months set up the win over Coventry, and only Arsenal have won more Premier League points than Spurs since he came back. Dejan Kulusevski, out since May 2025, came off the bench in the same match.
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Tottenham host Crystal Palace at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with kick-off at 5:30pm local time on Saturday, 31 October.
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