Spurs are in the relegation zone for the first time. How will they, West Ham and Wolves feel?

AFC BournemouthArsenalAston VillaBrentfordBrighton & Hove AlbionBurnleyChelseaCrystal PalaceEvertonFulhamLeeds UnitedLiverpoolManchester CityManchester UnitedNewcastle UnitedNottingham ForestSunderlandTottenham HotspurWest Ham UnitedWolverhampton WanderersScores & ScheduleStandingsFantasyThe Athletic FC NewsletterPodcastsPL PredictionsIntroducing 'The Ref'Analysing the Title RaceAnalysisSpurs are in the relegation zone for the first time. How will they, West Ham and Wolves feel?Spurs have dropped into 18th in the Premier League Ryan Pierse/Getty Images Share full article9For the first time this season, Tottenham Hotspur have dropped into the Premier League relegation zone. West Ham’s 4-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers means they have climbed above their London rivals into 17th in the Premier League. Spurs, two points behind West Ham and Nottingham Forest (16th), are 18th. They have not won in 13 Premier League games. It is the first time they have been in the relegation zone since 8 August 2015, after their first game of the 2015-16 season. There are caveats. Spurs have a game in hand over West Ham, and if they beat Sunderland away from home on Sunday, they will climb back out of the relegation zone. They have also just appointed Roberto De Zerbi as their new head coach, and will be hoping his arrival sparks an upturn in form. But how will they be feeling after seeing West Ham get the result over Wolves on Friday night? What about West Ham, now that Nuno Espirito Santo has navigated them out of the relegation zone? And what will be the Wolves perspective? The Athletic’s experts Liam Tharme, Roshane Thomas and Steve Madeley answer those questions. Pressure. Spurs will be feeling the pressure. Results are king in relegation scraps but performances matter too. West Ham took time to get going Friday evening, struggling initially to deal with their visitors’ back five shape and midfield three. They showed the resilience that Spurs have lacked recently and continued to build once Mavropanos headed in Bowen’s inswinging cross late in the first half. The worry for Spurs is how cohesive West Ham look. They have multiple goalscoring threats, two excellent wingers in Bowen and Cryscencio Summerville and an outstanding technical midfielder in Matheus Fernandes. One can only imagine how much Roberto De Zerbi would want him for Spurs’ build-up. Opta had the pre-match probability of West Ham surviving at just under 42 per cent. That figure has been on the rise all calendar year, and one pre-game stat stood out: Wigan Athletic in 2012-13 were the last instance of 18th place having as many points (29) as West Ham did after 31 matches. Spurs are going to need multiple wins to survive. Nuno’s side kept just a third clean sheet in the Premier League in 2026, but those are rarefied for Spurs. They have not shut an opponent out since Brentford in a 0-0 draw on New Year’s Day. The concern will be how — and if — an attack-minded coach like De Zerbi can elevate them going forward while fixing a leaky defence. He made the point in his first press conference that seven matches only give time for simple principles, not layers of tactical detail. West Ham are showing the kind of consistency, unity and identity Spurs desperately need. West Ham climbing out of relegation zone at the expense of rivals Tottenham Hotspur is a huge psychological boost for the players. The last time Nuno’s side were out of the drop zone was March 14th, but there will be renewed optimism that they can climb further up the table. Given West Ham’s disappointing FA Cup quarter-final exit to Leeds United last Sunday, they responded in clinical fashion against Wolves. The win was all the more satisfying considering they previously suffered losses to Wolves in August in the Carabao Cup and January in the league. Crysencio Summerville made his first appearance since sustaining a calf injury in the cup victory against Brentford. Taty Castellanos showed why he was a long-standing target by scoring his fourth goal since his January move from Lazio. Konstantinos Mavropanos continued his resurgence under Nuno. Club captain Jarrod Bowen registered two assists in a league game for the first time this season. Most importantly, West Ham kept their first clean sheet since the 1-0 victory against Fulham on March 4. It sets the club up nicely for forthcoming fixtures against Crystal Palace (a) and Everton (h). West Ham needed a morale-boosting performance at the London Stadium. It is a ground they will play in three of their remaining six games. If they continue to perform like this, then there should yet be scenes of jubilation in the final home game against Leeds United. Wolves will leave East London with a sense of frustration; not that their hopes of Premier League survival were shattered —  those hopes died realistically some while back. But they will leave frustrated that the momentum they have created in recent weeks, entirely unrelated to their chances of avoiding the drop, was halted by a game in which there was plenty for their fans and head coach Rob Edwards to like. They had lost just once in six Premier League games before the absurd 25-day break from football that preceded their trip to the London Stadium, and the confidence they had generated was there to see in a pleasing first 35 minutes. But they failed to make the most of their dominance and then lost the game to three moments of careless defending. In the end, it was the kind of trouncing that they became used to earlier in the season, when for much of the first half Wolves had looked like their more recent selves. But any hope of avoiding the drop to the Championship has been no more than theoretical for months, and even before this game, they needed to win a minimum of six games from their final seven fixtures to have any semblance of a chance. For a team whose previous six league wins have taken a year, it was never on the cards. So defeat does not change the overall mood at Molineux or among fans, who are already focused on a huge summer ahead of what they hope will be a promotion campaign. But West Ham will be hoping they have not inflicted too many psychological scars, bearing in mind Wolves play Leeds and Tottenham in their next two games. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms