Sunderland 1-0 Tottenham: I am going to become the Joker

SUNDERLAND, ENGLAND - APRIL 12: Referee Robert Jones shows a yellow card to Micky van de Ven of Tottenham Hotspur during the Premier League match between Sunderland and Tottenham Hotspur at Stadium of Light on April 12, 2026 in Sunderland, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) | Getty Images Tottenham Hotspur are not a good team this season. This has been conclusively proven.

However, it’s very difficult to win a football match when you’re playing against not only the other team at their home ground, but also the match officials. Spurs endured what was an absolute horror of an officiating performance from Rob Jones, including declining to issue a second yellow to Brian Brobbey for both elbowing Pedro Porro in the face, and shoving Cuti Romero into Antonin Kinsky, a play that injured them both. It’d be hard to say that Tottenham played WELL, but they certainly didn’t play poorly enough to lose this match.

The only goal in the match was a heavily deflected goal from Nordi Mukiele that went off of Micky van de Ven and unluckily looked into the top corner over Kinsky. Spurs had a legitimate penalty waved off by VAR, and had a couple of other half chances that were squandered by poor finishing from starter Dominic Solanke. Pedro Porro fired over bar in injury time, but for the most part Spurs rarely looked like they were going to score, which has been an issue the entire season.

Spurs got 11 minutes of extra time after an extended injury pause to attend to Romero and Kinsky, but the end result was still a catastrophic 1-0 loss that keeps Spurs without a Premier League win since December 28, and that keeps them in 18th place, two points behind West Ham. It’s bleak, folks. Extremely bleak.