View: De Zerbi to worry as Tottenham handed unwanted hurdle after official PL announcement v Leeds

Roberto De Zerbi has been handed an unwanted headache with Jarred Gillett taking charge in Tottenham Hotspur’s game against Leeds United.

With relegation on the line, the Lilywhites will want to have any advantage they can get their hands on for the end to the season.

This will include things outside of tactics and team selection, with referees also holding the chance to change the course of a game.

De Zerbi has shown an upward trend at Spurs. winning seven points out of a total of 12 this campaign and guiding them out of the relegation zone.

Now, with Gillett appointed, ahead of Tottenham’s match versus Leeds United, there are many reasons for De Zerbi to be worried.

Jarred Gillett confirmed as referee for Tottenham vs Leeds

The Premier League has confirmed the officials for matchweek 36, with Australian Jarred Gillett set to take charge centre stage.

Tottenham have been involved in four matches this campaign with Gillett, with a record of two wins and two losses.

That win percentage is slightly higher than their all-time record with the referee, with Tottenham winning just 46 per cent of those 15 games he has officiated. That is a worrying record and one that De Zerbi will want to overcome.

Additionally, Tottenham are third in the Premier League for fouls per game as per Sofascore, with a total of 11.9.

One thing they may welcome is the leniency that Gillett tends to show.

The referee has a 0.54 fouls per tackle record this campaign, dishing out 3.55 yellow cards per game, according to Whoscored.

However, over his time refereeing Tottenham, he seems to be stricter with bookings, handing out 2.5 yellows to Spurs.

Tottenham to prove they have mentality for relegation battle

With Tottenham’s poor home record, they will need to overcome it to keep themselves on a strong path to survival but may have added pressure to do so.

The Lilywhites will have already learnt the result of West Ham’s game against Arsenal, knowing which type of pressure will be put on.

De Zerbi’s side will either know they must get a result to climb out of the relegation zone or create a sizeable gap with two games remaining.

It will remain to be seen if they can handle that, but if the performance against Aston Villa was a sign, they certainly can.

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