WOLVERHAMPTON, England — Roberto De Zerbi says Tottenham’s 1-0 win at Wolves could be transformative for the club’s fortunes and although he’s adamant the club will retain their top flight status, he remains concerned over the severity of the injuries Dominic Solanke and Xavi Simons picked up at Molineux.
João Palhinha‘s 82nd-minute goal gave Tottenham their first win in 16 matches, and their first in 2026. But along with West Ham’s 2-1 win over Everton, the result means Spurs are still in 18th place, and two points off safety. But the victory snapped their winless run and De Zerbi hopes it’ll ease their mental strain.
However, the win came at a cost. Solanke was forced off with a muscle injury in the first half, while Simons picked up a knee injury in the 63rd minute and departed the pitch on a stretcher.
De Zerbi says Solanke’s muscle injury is hopefully “not a big problem” while they wait on news regarding Simons’ knee.
“I’d like to know the real situation with him as the knee is always difficult to work out,” De Zerbi said. “I spoke with him, he feels better than at the beginning of injury.”
When asked whether the win could be transformative for his team’s fortunes and battle against the drop, De Zerbi said: “I hope so but I wouldn’t like to lose any other players; [Cristian] Romero, [Mohammed] Kudus, now Solanke and maybe Xavi… I want to be positive but we still played the first 45 minutes very well.
“I think in the first half we played well, we didn’t create big chances to score but anyway we had control of the game. And then, [in the second half] maybe the pressure… We lost distances on the pitch and every one of us wanted to go one-to-one. I’m happy for the result. I hope this result can change something in our head and mentality.”
De Zerbi said if his team started to pay attention to West Ham’s fortunes then the mental load would become “too tough for us” but he does hope this win brings some relief at Spurs and can kickstart their revival, although he wasn’t happy with their second-half showing.
“I believe we will stay up,” he said. “The most important thing is the quality of the team and human level of the team. That was a surprise for me [when I joined] and when I knew my players better, I knew we had the chance to stay up. We are two points behind West Ham, they are a good team, but also we have very good players and a good team.”
De Zerbi also praised the performance of goalkeeper Antonín Kinsky. He only had one save to make, but it was a key one: keeping out João Gomes’ goal-bound freekick in the 97th minute. Kinsky is back in goal for the injured Guglielmo Vicario just seven weeks after he was hauled off by previous manager Igor Tudor after just 17 minutes against Atlético Madrid following a string of errors.
“The save was his day — today he was crucial for the result,” De Zerbi said. “It was everything. He’s a good guy and good keeper and after Madrid, he deserves one day like today.”
– Wolves 0-1 Tottenham: Palhinha hands Spurs first win of 2026 – as it happened
– Tottenham claim much-needed win at Wolves but remain in relegation zone
As the team turns attention to Aston Villa, De Zerbi is also focused on getting France international Randal Kolo Muani back to top form. He was named on the right wing on Saturday and was substituted at the break for Mathys Tel. De Zerbi saying Kolo Muani’s still trying to re-find his rhythm.
“Muani started well, but he lost confidence, I’ll go for lunch with him every day — breakfast, lunch and dinner — he’s a top player with potential and he played better, and he feels better on the pitch and he tried to win one to one, and shoot and played with more energy, he can do it.”
And when asked whether Solanke and Simons’ injuries could cause a tactical rethink, De Zerbi said: “We can play with Souza, Tel, [Lucas] Bergvall, Muani — I don’t want to change too much. I don’t want to put more confusion on the players as they’ve already changed a lot tactically — I want to be clear and simple. But we need to stay strong in the head, positive in ourselves.”
