Forest are battling with Tottenham, West Ham and Leeds United to stay in the Premier League
By Rory Dollard Press Association Sport
09:06, 08 Apr 2026
Former Nottingham Forest head coach Sean Dyche(Image: PA)
Sean Dyche has predicted relegation-threatened Tottenham will rally under new boss Robert De Zerbi, insisting their dire form has “bottomed out”.
Spurs are winless in their last 13 Premier League fixtures and sit 17th in the table, just a point above the bottom three with seven games remaining.
Dyche was one of the names linked with replacing Igor Tudor after the Croatian’s short, calamitous reign but told talkSPORT he never held talks with the club.
Instead they appointed former Brighton man De Zerbi and Dyche expects to see a badly needed upturn in form.
“Tottenham have bottomed out, I’m sure, which means they can only get better,” he told the radio station.
“I’d be amazed if they don’t have a bounce. But I don’t think you can call it (the relegation battle). I have no clue who’s staying up.”
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Former Burnley and Everton boss Dyche, who was sacked after 18 games in charge of Spurs’ fellow strugglers Nottingham Forest earlier this year, had been touted as a short-term fire-fighting option for the London club.
And, while he suggested the idea did not appeal to him, he offered some advice to De Zerbi about what would be needed to stay in the top flight.
“For me it would be: strong, fit and organised. That keeps you up, not just relying on talent,” he said.
“What’s the framework of the side? What’s the energy, what’s the output? What’s the hard yards and how much of those are you putting in?
“You are going to find it very hard to stay in the Premier League if you don’t get the framework and the basics right.”
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Reflecting on the concerns he would have harboured had Tottenham approached him, Dyche added: “I wouldn’t go in there looking for money.
“They could offer me a massive amount of money, I’m sure they’re capable of it, and allegedly they’ve offered De Zerbi a massive amount of money. It would have been about what are you going to help me gain as a human being. What would I gain?
“Let’s say you go in there and get the job done, then next season if you’re not in the top four and the football’s not what they want, then you’re rubbish and they want you out. If you don’t get the job done, then somehow it’s on my neck that I took Tottenham down.”