After Newcastle United dismantled Tottenham Hotspur rivals West Ham United 3-1 on Sunday in the Premier League, all the Lilywhites need to ensure Premier League survival is a solitary point against either Chelsea or Everton to close the final two matches of this nightmare of a 2025/26 season. Then it will be all over and Roberto De Zerbi will have done his job in the short term of keeping Spurs alive so he can enact his long term goals of getting them back to being a contender again.
Easier said than done, sure, but De Zerbi has already successfully done the hard job of getting Spurs to believe again and getting the underperforming players in the squad to rebound. Rodrigo Bentancur and Micky van de Ven are back to being key players for Spurs, and even new signing Joao Palhinha is working himself back into the good graces. And Pedro Porro has been much, much better under De Zerbi as well.
But by far the biggest success story under the guidance of the former Brighton manager is the incredibly fine work done in the center of midfield by Conor Gallagher, the former Crystal Palace and Chelsea standout.
Conor Gallagher is ready for Chelsea
Loved by Mauricio Pochettino but not by his own fans, Gallagher was jettisoned by the Blues to Atletico Madrid so that Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo could create the axis behind Premier League Player of the Season candidate Cole Palmer in the middle of Stamford Bridge.
Gallagher was quite poor for Atleti, and he was even worse for Tottenham Hotspur when he arrived this winter transfer window, looking like a monumental waste of time and money. But against the odds, Roberto De Zerbi believed in him despite many wondering if he even fit the Italian manager's tactical ideas, and he has turned the hard working England international back into a bulldog.
So on Tuesday night when Tottenham take on Chelsea with Premier League survival on the line for De Zerbi's men and European football on the table for a squad that is soon to be Xabi Alonso's to rule, there is more than just revenge for Spurs as a team after the Blues embarrassed them 1-0 earlier this season.
Conor Gallagher has a chance to deliver cruel insult to Chelsea injury in a Spurs victory if he shines again in a Tottenham win. He has been the team's best player since De Zerbi's arrival, combining with Rodrigo Bentancur to dominate the midfield in very different ways. And with James Maddison as a 10 and Palhinha in the mix as well, Spurs have options. The change in narrative around Gallagher has been a huge story for Tottenham of late, and he can go mainstream on Tuesday night with another monster class to exact revenge on Chelsea.
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