Tottenham lose more ground in relegation race after Sunderland defeat

New Spurs manager Roberto de Zerbi tasted defeat in his first game in charge of the club as their relegation woes heightened on Sunday.

Hoping for a strong start to his new job, the task facing the Italian manager was laid bare as Tottenham struggled to make an impact on the game.

The loss leaves Spurs in the relegation zone, two points behind West Ham United in 17th place with six games of the season remaining.

Despite the narrow scoreline, Sunderland always looked like the stronger side and it came as no surprise when Nordi Mukiele's deflected strike gave them the lead in the 61st minute.

The home side had more of the possession with 52% and they created nearly double the xG despite only having two shots on target.

Tottenham had seven shots on target but most were from long range and posed little challenge to Robin Roefs in the Sunderland goal as they only accumulated 0.9xG from those chances.

It has to be said, though, that Roefs was superb when called into action and did not let anything by him. Brian Brobbey was one of the best players on the pitch and constantly caused problems for the Spurs defence.

Tottenham still have six league games to turn things around but De Zerbi will have no doubts about how difficult the task facing him will be after yet another abject performance from the north London club.