Tottenham Hotspur have been horrendous this season and would merit relegation from the Premier League solely on the basis of the merits of their performances, so, by and large, they can have no complaints about going down if that is indeed their destiny on Sunday when they battle Everton in the final Matchday of the nightmare 2025/26 season.
However, Spurs fans are not wrong in their belief that a lot of things have worked against them this season. The sheer number, magnitude, and character of the players injured this season has been devastating and irrecoverable, but Spurs fans are also upset at a lot of the calls that have gone against their way.
And on Sunday with everything on the line against the Toffees, Tottenham Hotspur will have to put their faith in the hands of a referee who has already made a couple of major, highly controversial calls against them on the big stage.
Tottenham and the refs do not have a good relationship
Michael Oliver will officially be the referee for Tottenham vs. Everton on Sunday afternoon, and he is one of the biggest names among officials in the Premier League, getting to preside over some of the biggest matches in international football as well.
But Oliver is also one of the most controversial refs. Perhaps that is because he is in the spotlight so much due to the profile of matches he officiates, but Tottenham fans will tell you that it's also because he has missed some big calls.
Oliver was the one who made the infamous Randal Kolo Muani "push" call on Gabriel Magalhaes in the North London Derby that led to a disallowed goal. He also gave Cristian Romero a red card against Manchester United that totally derailed things, which many Spurs fans viewed as being a soft call against their captain.
Although Tottenham fans have legitimate gripes about the refs, which occurred again last week after James Maddison was clearly fouled in the box for a potential penalty that never went to VAR, Michael Oliver is not going to be the reason why Spurs are relegated - just as those calls are not the reasons why Tottenham failed to win any of those aforementioned games.
Still, when it rains it pours, and every single person is liable to get backlash from Tottenham supporters when things don't go their way, and it's not like they have needed any extra help in losing. But when so many in the media are openly rooting against Spurs and so many want to see the monumental moment of such a big club going down, it's hard not to wonder if it's not an outright conspiracy, that implicit bias is dealing an unjust hand to the Lilywhites.
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