2 hours ago
22
Former Arsenal forward Samir Nasri has explained his surprising reason for wanting Tottenham Hotspur to remain in the Premier League next season.
It has been a terrible weekend for Tottenham Hotspur as West Ham thrashed Wolves, while Nottingham Forest earned a point against Aston Villa.
Spurs themselves were unable to match their relegation rivals, as they slumped to a 1-0 defeat against Sunderland.
The Black Cats created 1.02xG in the first half alone and got the job done in the second thanks to a shot which was heavily deflected by Micky van de Ven.
Now, Tottenham are two points inside the relegation zone and only have six matches remaining to turn things around.
Samir Nasri wants Tottenham to stay up
The fact Spurs could genuinely be relegated to the Championship has been met with jubilation from the supporters of rival teams.
This is particularly true of Arsenal fans who might only have Tottenham’s failings to shout about by the end of the season, considering their own team’s recent struggles.
Despite this, ex-Gunner Samir Nasri actually wants the Lilywhites to survive the drop in order to preserve the biannual North London derbies.
“Even though I played for Arsenal, I wouldn’t want Tottenham to be relegated. It’s too big a club… we’d lost the derbies,” he told the Canal Football Club programme (as relayed by Get Football).
Former Chelsea winger Eden Hazard responded: “Don’t say Tottenham is a big club, it’s a mid-table club.”
Spurs have been appalling in recent North London derbies
If there is one positive to take from a potential relegation, it is surely the absence of two fixtures against Arsenal. Tottenham have lost seven of their past eight fixtures against Mikel Arteta’s team, failing to beat them since Antonio Conte was in charge.
There were hopes Thomas Frank would end this streak, as the Dane oversaw a 1-0 victory over Arsenal in pre-season. However, both meetings between the sides during the 2025/26 campaigns ended in 4-1 defeats.
This is by no means a reason for Tottenham fans to favour dropping out of the Premier League, but fans need something to be positive about. After all, if Roberto De Zerbi cannot turn things around quickly, then the fate of this once great club has already been sealed.
READ MORE – Roberto De Zerbi reveals he has a plan for Conor Gallagher and Xavi Simons at Tottenham
Have something to tell us about this article?
English (US) ·