View: Tottenham star may be Igor Tudor's only hope of salvation in relegation fight

Tottenham Hotspur‘s chances of staying in the Premier League will be bolstered by having a fit Richarlison around.

Less than a year ago, Tottenham were lifting the Europa League title, albeit after having a wretched Premier League season.

That ultimately cost Ange Postecoglou his job, and fast forward to the present, interim boss Igor Tudor has now been tasked with keeping Spurs up following Thomas Frank’s dismissal.

On Wednesday, Tottenham face the seemingly impossible task of overturning a 5-2 first-leg deficit to Atletico Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League.

That challenge may be a bridge too far but Tottenham can certainly stay up, particularly if Richarlison recaptures the form that kept Everton in the Premier League in 2022.

Richarlison may be the key to Tottenham’s survival

On the face of it, a return of 30 goals in 126 Tottenham games for Richarlison makes for sombre reading.

For a player who cost Spurs £50million, plus £10m in potential add-ons, in 2022, the Brazil international hasn’t lived up to that hefty price tag.

Despite struggling with a hamstring injury earlier this year, Richarlison is on course to have his best goalscoring season in Tottenham colours. So far, he has 10 goals and four assists in 36 games – just two off his haul of the 2023-24 campaign.

And in Tottenham’s battling 1-1 draw at Liverpool, Richarlison proved to be the difference as he grabbed a late and crucial equaliser.

This is not the first time the Brazilian has put in clutch displays during his career. Indeed, when he kept Everton up in 2022, Richarlison was their talisman.

The former Watford man scored 11 goals and added five assists to keep the Toffees in the division, with a whopping six of those strikes coming in his last nine matches for the club.

Richarlison has lived and breathed relegation battles before. He knows what to do to keep a team up. And he has delivered when it mattered most for Everton.

Richarlison was Everton’s main goal threat that season. This term, he is flanked by Randal Kolo Muani and Dominic Solanke, and while neither has set the world alight, many teams would like that sort of attack to call on in this relegation battle.

If Tottenham stave off relegation to the Championship, Richarlison will likely have played a big role in that.

Tottenham can salvage some pride in Champions League

During their humbling loss in Madrid last week, Tottenham set all kinds of unwanted records.

For instance, Antonin Kinsky’s 17th-minute substitution made him the first starting goalkeeper in Champions League history to be replaced for non-injury reasons within the first 20 minutes of a match.

The defeat was also Tottenham’s sixth consecutive loss in all competitions for the first time in the club’s 144-year history.

And Atletico’s opening three goals against Tottenham were the earliest a side had ever been three goals ahead in a Champions League knockout stage encounter.

Naturally, Tottenham’s chances of progress are slim, according to Opta’s Supercomputer.

It states that Tottenham have a 4.3 per cent chance of progressing to the quarter-finals at Atletico’s expense, a 1.2 per cent chance of reaching the last four, and a 0.2 per cent likelihood of reaching the final.

A Tottenham exit beckons, but if Spurs can put on a good display against the Spanish side, that may boost morale ahead of their relegation fight.

But a damaging defeat could send them into a negative spiral ahead of a crunch Premier League six-pointer with Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

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