De Zerbi could bench Spurs star who’s gone 20 league games without a goal

There have undoubtedly been bright moments for Tottenham Hotspur so far this season, yet this is a results business. The start to the campaign just hasn’t been good enough.

Roberto De Zerbi has earned a bit of breathing space after steering the club to safety, but the fact remains that he’s won just three of his first 12 Premier League games in charge.

The circumstances are different, of course, but even Thomas Frank had registered five wins in his first 12 league games last term.

REUTERS/Ian Walton

De Zerbi has a full pre-season behind him and has been backed significantly in the transfer market. Saturday’s trip to Old Trafford feels crucial to defining his future.

Why Spurs vs Man Utd could be make or break for De Zerbi

Manchester City’s trip to Anfield is the key talking point this weekend, but there narratives aplenty ahead of Spurs’ pivotal encounter with Manchester United.

Firstly, De Zerbi was notably offered the United job back in 2024, only to spurn those advances ahead of joining Ligue 1 side Marseille that summer.

Secondly, it will be a return to north London for former Spurs man, Michael Carrick, the Englishman under pressure himself after overseeing the Red Devils’ joint-worst start to a Premier League campaign.

Most importantly, however, it feels like a defining fixture for De Zerbi, with the Lilywhites currently winless, left sitting bottom of the table having also been dumped out of the Carabao Cup.

With the likes of Eddie Howe and Arne Slot out of work, the latter having come close to joining back in 2023, there are options on the table for Spurs if they do decide to make a change.

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It does all feel a little too similar to the meeting between the two sides at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium back in October 2021, with an under-fire Ole Gunnar Solskjaer steering United to a 3-0 win over a Spurs side then led by Nuno Espírito Santo.

That was Nuno’s fifth defeat from ten league games, having won the other five, with the club ruthlessly making the decision to shake things up in the dugout.

De Zerbi will be hoping to avoid a similar fate, ensuring he may well need to shake up his playing ranks to spark Spurs into life again.

The key change De Zerbi needs to make against Man Utd

The international break might have come at a good time for De Zerbi and his charges, but the halt to club action wasn’t exactly kind to the club in terms of injuries.

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There were concerns surrounding both Micky van de Ven and Jan Paul van Hecke, the pair sustaining setbacks while on Netherlands duty, although the pair are “available to play”, according to De Zerbi.

The defensive unit might still need a significant change in personnel, amid Pedro Porro’s absence, but it is in attack where the Lilywhites really look short of inspiration right now, having scored just two league goals all season.

Things just aren’t clicking in that department, with the deployment of Mateus Fernandes in a number ten berth arguably central to that, the £85m man looking ill-suited to that advanced role.

With De Zerbi persisting with Sandro Tonali alongside the impressive Rodrigo Bentancur, Fernandes has been bumped out of what would be his preferred starting position as a number eight.

Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge

With Dejan Kulusevski still sidelined, and with James Maddison not yet at full fitness, the Portuguese playmaker has been expected to be the club’s chief creative force, a decision that has backfired thus far.

By his own admission, De Zerbi wasn’t impressed by what he saw from the 22-year-old against Aston Villa last time out, withdrawing the £175k-per-week midfielder at half-time.

That outing had notably seen Fernandes fail to register a single key pass, having not exactly shown himself to be a reliable provider of assists back at West Ham United either.

Indeed, he only registered four and created just three ‘big chances’ last season, while in terms of getting in on the act himself, his last Premier League goal came way back in January against Sunderland.

Including the first five games of 2026/27, it’s now been 20 games without a goal for the youngster, memorably missing that gilt-edged chance against eventual champions Arsenal at the tail-end of last term.

Of course, it would be fitting for Fernandes to come alive at Old Trafford, having been so heavily linked with a move to Manchester this summer, but as it stands, it might require a Lucas Bergvall or a Mohammed Kudus to line up in his place instead on Saturday.

Let’s face it, De Zerbi can’t afford to get his team selection wrong ahead of what is such a vital fixture for both managers.