Overview
There are only five coaches in history who have led a Premier League team for 50 days or less, but Tottenham Hotspur now has two such cases when Igor Tudor followed in Cristian Stellini's footsteps with a quick departure.
As soon as everything showed signs of improvement with the brave draw against Liverpool and the regrettable 2-3 defeat against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, the 0-3 defeat to Nottingham Forest and personal incidents made Tudor's position irreparable.
Instead of choosing a temporary option, Spurs decided to place long-term trust in Roberto De Zerbi with a 5-year contract.
The Italian coach took over the team only one point ahead of the relegation group before round 32 and is experiencing a 13-match winless streak in the Premier League. Notably, most of the Spurs' points this season come from away from home, instead of Tottenham Hotspur.
De Zerbi once impressed when leading Marseille, but the challenge at Spurs is completely different when the team is deeply mired in crisis.
On the opposite side, Sunderland is also not in stable form at home. Since the victory over Burnley in early February, they have not won any more matches at Stadium of Light, losing to Liverpool, Fulham and Brighton respectively, only scoring 1 goal and conceding 5 times.
Regis Le Bris's team is facing the risk of losing 4 consecutive home matches for the first time since 2017, causing them to fall to the bottom half of the rankings, although they still have a chance to compete for a European cup spot.
However, Sunderland showed a different face away from home when they just defeated Newcastle 2-1 in the Tyne-Wear derby, thanks to Brian Brobbey's late shining performance.
The European dream has not yet closed for the home team, as they have only lost one of their last 4 matches in the Premier League. In the first leg in January, Sunderland drew 1-1 with Tottenham. However, that result still extended Spurs' unbeaten streak against this opponent to 15 matches since the 2010 defeat - the match where Darren Bent scored the decisive goal.
Personnel situation
Even before leading the first match, De Zerbi faced an injury curse at Tottenham Hotspur.
The club confirmed that Mohammed Kudus is facing serious obstacles in recovering from a muscle injury - an issue that could require surgery and even affect the World Cup.
The Ghana international continues to be absent along with a series of key players such as Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison, Rodrigo Bentancur, Guglielmo Vicario, Ben Davies, Wilson Odobert and Yves Bissouma.
On the positive side, Mathys Tel and Pape Matar Sarr are expected to be able to play. In attack, Richarlison is facing a memorable milestone when he only needs one more goal to reach the 10 goals mark in five different Premier League seasons.
Before him, only Liverpool legend Roberto Firmino could do this among Brazilian players.
On Sunderland's side, Regis Le Bris brings both good news and worry. Number one goalkeeper Robin Roefs has recovered and is likely to return to starting, while Daniel Ballard is still not ready due to a hamstring injury.
During Roefs' absence, Melker Ellborg played impressively, but the number one position is almost certain to return to Roefs.
In addition, Sunderland is still missing a series of names including Nilson Angulo, Bertrand Traore, Jocelin Ta Bi and Romaine Mundle due to various problems.
Expected lineup:
Sunderland: Roefs, Geertruida, O'Nien, Alderete, Hume, Sadiki, Xhaka, Diarra, Rigg, Brobbey, Talbi.
Tottenham: Kinsky, Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie, Palhinha, Gray, Tel, Simons, Richarlison, Solanke.
The match between Sunderland and Tottenham takes place at 8:00 p.m. on April 12 (Vietnam time).
