Had they lost to the Toffees and West Ham went on to beat Leeds United, it would be Spurs that would fall through the relegation trap door.
Mateus Fernandes has swapped East London for N17
As it turned out, despite a fraught and pressurised afternoon in N17, Joao Palhinha's 43rd-minute goal was enough to keep Robert De Zerbi's side up and send Nuno Espirito Santo's Hammers plummeting into the Championship.
For the Irons, there were always going to be repercussions, and one of the first of those has seen one of their best players of the season, Mateus Fernandes, swap East London for North London to join the De Zerbi revolution.
At a reported £85m, the youngster with only 72 Premier League appearances in his career to date, becomes Spurs' record signing.
Tonali next
The club could soon be about to break the record again, however, with news that they've agreed a fee of £92.5m (+ £7.5m in add-ons) for Newcastle's excellent midfielder, Sandro Tonali.
Once the latter deal has been rubberstamped, it will push Tottenham's summer spending well past the £200m mark, as the club have already signed Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton and Hove Albion for £52m, and also acquired Andrew Robertson, Martin Dubravka and Marcos Senesi on free transfers.
Even without any other potential comings and goings before the August kick-off of the 2026/27 campaign, that's some window from De Zerbi, and, after a couple of really rough seasons, the board deserve a lot of credit for backing the manager to the hilt, which is something they've been guilty of not doing in the past.
So, what do those players signed by De Zerbi give him that perhaps he identified his squad didn't already have?
Front foot, aggressive footballers
Aside from Dubravka, who has clearly been acquired as a back-up goalkeeper, he's signed a mix of not only those who have some excellent physical characteristics in terms of the way in which they play the game, but also attack-minded players who like to drive forward on the front foot whenever possible.
If there's something that De Zerbi can always be relied upon for, it's managing teams that play exciting, quick, pressing football, and, importantly, are brave in possession.
One always has the feeling that, much like Pep Guardiola, the Italian wants to see a great deal of expression in the way his teams play football, and mistakes are part of that. Rather than a reticence to go forward and move the ball, which is perhaps something Spurs were guilty of for large parts of 2025/26.
As long as injuries don't play a part in hampering the manager, as they arguably did in Ange Postecoglou's final season at the helm, De Zerbi is, brick by brick, building a dynamic and exciting Lilywhites first-team, and wider squad.
Tonali and Fernandes are perfectly complementary
Tonali showed at Newcastle how he can grab games by the scruff of the neck and make things happen.
Only Bruno Guimaraes created more chances than Tonali's 32, with Malick Thiaw being the one Newcastle player to attempt more than the Italian's 2,458 total passes.
In terms of passes ending in the final third, however, Tonali was out on his own with a total of 1563 attempted, 1319 of which found their target.
With the combative Fernandes sat alongside him in Tottenham's central midfield, that will allow Tonali licence to produce his best work.
Quite how West Ham will cope with the loss of the 21-year-old is anyone's guess.
384 one-on-one duels attempted were second only to Jarrod Bowen for the Hammers last season. A pass accuracy of 87% was the highest aside from Max Kilman's 88.88%.
Winning back possession on 193 occasions is also an acknowledgement of Fernandes' skill set, which will help give Spurs the 'spine' that they need in the team.
Van Hecke and Van de Ven are a dream pairing
A spine that will include De Zerbi's favourite from his Brighton days, van Hecke.
The 26-year-old Dutchman had the most headed clearances (121) and most clearances more generally (202) than any other Seagulls player in 25/26, whilst his 56 tackles attempted with a 55.36% success rate were the third-most from a squad perspective.
Another player who is incredibly comfortable in possession and can bring the ball out from the back with ease, his 2,670 attempted passes were, again, the most in the Brighton squad last season. Alongside countryman Micky van de Ven, they are going to take some beating.
Indeed, the entire outlook of the Spurs starting XI will change, and from a supporter perspective, the hope will be that the revolution, rather than a more gradual evolution, pays immediate dividends.
Jason Pettigrove has been the features writer for Flashscore since 2025, utilising Opta data to form the basis of his articles. He has previously worked for high profile football clubs, news and media outlets, both in print and digital, and can usually be found watching FC Barcelona when time permits. You can read more of his pieces here.
