From manager of the month to third favourite for the SACK… in less than three weeks! Nuno Espirito Santo’s odds to leave Tottenham are slashed by the bookies after humbling defeat by Arsenal
- Tottenham were beaten 3-1 in Sunday’s north London derby with Arsenal
- Questions are beginning to be asked of Spurs manager Nuno Espirito Santo
- He won Premier League Manager of the Month in August but form has tailed off
- Oddschecker now have the ex-Wolves manager as third favourite to be sacked
Nuno Espirito Santo now finds himself as third favourite among Premier League managers to be sacked after Tottenham’s humiliating North London derby defeat to Arsenal.
Spurs found themselves blown away at the Emirates in half an hour with goals from Emile Smith Rowe, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bukayo Saka securing bragging rights in the capital.
It seems a long time ago that Nuno was holding the Premier League manager of the month award for August – awarded on September 10 – having made a flawless start to life in north London.
Nuno Espirito Santo is third in bookmakers odds to be the next Premier League boss sacked
Less than three weeks ago he was crowned as the Premier League’s manager of the month
Only Newcastle’s Steve Bruce and Norwich’s Daniel Farke are seen as more likely to be sacked at this moment.
SkyBet have Nuno at 7/2 to be axed by ruthless Spurs chairman Daniel Levy while William Hill have got odds of his sacking at 7/1, according to Oddschecker on Monday morning.
Only 24 hours earlier, Nuno was not even in the conversation, finding himself outside the top seven most likely Premier League bosses to face the sack.
But a hefty defeat to Arsenal, who have eased the pressure on manager Mikel Arteta immensely, has seen odds dramatically shorten on the former Wolves manager.
Only Steve Bruce (left) and Daniel Farke (right) are viewed as statistically more likely to be axed
‘The performance was not good, the game plan was not good, the decisions were not good, it was not a good day for us, definitely not a good day,’ Nuno said following the 3-1 loss.
‘A lot of things went wrong, starting with the decision that I made. I will not judge my players in front of you, I refuse to do that.
‘I decided bad, I didn’t take the right decisions I won’t go further that that – whatever I have to say I will say it directly to the players.
‘I’m going to be honest with you, when you have a game plan you have to make the right decisions in terms of who you want to put on the pitch to develop the plan, the decisions were not according to the game plan.’
The Spurs boss has seen his side fall after the international break with three straight defeats
Nuno enjoyed a dream start to his tenure at Tottenham, winning all of his first three league games in charge as Spurs went into the international break top of the table.
Tottenham beat Premier League champions Manchester City in the first game of the season and defeated Nuno’s former club Wolves and Watford by the same scoreline.
But things have gone awry since that international break with successive 3-0 defeats to Crystal Palace and then Chelsea, before the latest harrowing display came in the derby with Arsenal, where Son Heung-min’s goal was no more than a consolation.
‘Spurs look like a beaten bunch,’ Gary Neville, who covered the game for Sky Sports, said.
‘They look like a team that don’t believe in the plan. They look lethargic. From minute one in that first 10 minutes, Spurs were just lumping it forward. I’ve not seen that in the Premier League in 15 years.
‘It’s almost as if they’ve built the game up to be something it’s not – “let’s not take a chance and try and counter-attack” – and they forgot to play. They’ve got no idea how to break this deep-lying Arsenal team down.’
Son Heung-min (right) scored Spurs’ only goal of the game but it was too little too late
