Roberto De Zerbi wants his Tottenham Hotspur players to get fans off their seats on Saturday, September 12, 2026, when they take on Everton at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
As he continues to mould his squad together, De Zerbi is asking the team to raise their levels again as Spurs move onto matchday four of the new Premier League season, seeking their first victory of the new campaign.
It goes without saying that it has been a slow start to the 2026/27 season for Tottenham as they continue to search for their first Premier League goal, but their head coach is seeing progress in the group.
Now, with the Toffees making the trip to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Italian wants his players to take the game to David Moyes’ side from the off, demanding that they play with courage and show the passion, bravery and qualities they all possess to ignite the noise in N17.
“I would like to see my players playing with courage, with personality, with energy – what we are doing on the pitch on the training ground,” he said as he spoke to the SPURSPLAY cameras on Friday.
“I would like the players start the game, the first 10 minutes, with energy to deserve the support of the fans, I can say I know this stadium, especially after last season, the last games with me in my time, they were fantastic in our stadium.
“And now, I think they are waiting for a signal from us. And for that, I would like to start the game with personality, with energy, with pressure, with qualities to bring them inside of the pitch.” De Zerbi said.
De Zerbi provides injury boost update
Roberto De Zerbi gave an update on club’s new loan signing Mykhailo Mudryk. A deadline day loan arrival from Chelsea, the winger played his first competitive minutes in 20 months when he came on for his debut during the second half of last weekend’s goalless draw at Nottingham Forest.
But after subsequently picking up an ankle issue, he’s now been ruled out of action and will miss Saturday’s clash.
“It was a stupid injury for Mudryk and we hope he can be back soon as possible, for him and for us,” said Roberto at Friday’s pre-match press conference. “For him because he has suffered too much and for us because we have lost one player, an important player.”
De Zerbi has also confirmed that Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie will be assessed ahead of Saturday’s game.
Speaking to SPURSPLAY to look ahead to Spurs’ latest match at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Italian has revealed that World Cup winner Pedro had “felt a small muscular problem” and said he doesn’t want to risk the long-term fitness of both the right-back and also left-back Destiny, who has had injury problems over his own in 2026.
“Pedro Porro felt a small muscular problem, we have to see tomorrow if he’s available or not but in this moment I don’t want to take any risks. The same (with) Udogie,” De Zerbi stated.
“Pedro Porro and Udogie are similar players because one, Pedro played a World Cup, a long World Cup and we already knew after the World Cup it could be a difficult management for him and for Udogie, last season (he) suffered many injuries, he played 60 minutes in Nottingham and we have to manage also Destiny in the best way we can.” He said.
James Maddison, however, is back in the frame after missing the club’s last three matches with a shoulder problem.
