Roberto De Zerbi faces the bluntest of finales: Tottenham host Everton at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday with kick-off at 4pm, and a loss coupled with a West Ham victory over Leeds at the London Stadium would send Tottenham into the Championship. De Zerbi has repeatedly stressed that key names are fit enough to be picked; on Friday he told reporters, "Solanke is available for tomorrow."
The stakes are concrete. Tottenham limped through a season that followed a celebrated high — a year ago the club marked Europa League glory with more than 220,000 fans at the trophy parade — and last term finished 17th, becoming the first side in top-flight history to lose 22 games in a 38-game season and not be relegated. This Sunday is not academic: a single selection call could change the club's path.
De Zerbi confirmed more than one returning figure will be in consideration. "We have to decide if he starts in the first 11 or not. Maddison is available. It's always tough to decide before the game how many minutes he can play. Of course, he's a different player, he's a top player for us, but we have to analyse the physical condition, the Italian weather (he said, smiling) and a lot of things, but both are available," he said, naming Dominic Solanke and James Maddison among those ready to be used. The manager also reinforced availability for another option: "He's available, he's available," a terse affirmation that underlines how thin margins are.
The immediate puzzle for De Zerbi is medical and tactical. Solanke suffered a hamstring injury on 25 April in Tottenham's 1-0 win against Wolves at Molineux and missed the subsequent visits to Villa, Leeds and Chelsea before being declared available. Maddison has been working his way back from an ACL injury, while the squad has been hit across the season by problems to Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison and Mohammed Kudus. Djed Spence is also available for selection for Sunday.
There is a sharp contrast between Tottenham's recent past and present realities. The club that celebrated a continental trophy in front of 220,000 fans a year ago now arrives at a final-day fixture with relegation a real immediate possibility. The summer was disruptive: Ange Postecoglou left and Thomas Frank was installed as manager, and Heung-Min Son also departed. Those changes, and a season of injuries, have left De Zerbi and the players carrying consequences that a season ago would have been unthinkable.
Tension sits where selection meets circumstance. De Zerbi can play Solanke from the start, risking the forward's fitness after a hamstring problem that kept him out for three matches; or he can bring him off the bench and hope a shorter cameo changes the game. Choosing to start Maddison would demand careful management of minutes after his long layoff. That contradiction — players declared available but with question marks over how long and how quickly they can perform — is the match's real subplot.
A tottenham vs everton prediction built on the facts is less about scorelines than about decisions: De Zerbi's call on Solanke and Maddison is the single most consequential choice before kick-off. If he gambles and the pair deliver, Tottenham have a fighting chance; if fitness proves illusory, the club's season will end where it nearly did last term. Either way, Sunday turns on whether availability becomes usefulness — and on whether De Zerbi's selection reads as bold or cautious when the whistle blows.
