Roberto De Zerbi had said he wanted no crying in his camp, after Brighton scored their late equaliser last week. It was just as the Wolves fans had started chanting: “You’re going to cry in a minute,” that the substitute João Palhinha struck the goal that, briefly helping Tottenham climb out of the relegation zone, at least keeps them in the hunt for Premier League survival.

West Ham’s late victory over Everton dropped Spurs back into 18th place but, in claiming his first win as Spurs manager, and the club’s first of 2026 in the league, De Zerbi has continued the team’s improvement. This fraught and low-quality victory means they avoided equalling the club record of 16 consecutive league games without a win, set in 1934-35.

The Spurs manager ran on to the pitch, pumping his fists, after the Portugal midfielder, played onside by the former Spurs defender Matt Doherty, slid in to score after Richarlison had scuffed a shot goalwards when Pedro Porro’s corner fell his way in the 82nd minute.

When news of Everton’s equaliser at West Ham then broke, the Spurs fans were celebrating as if final-day salvation had been secured. Their joy was short-lived, as West Ham then went back in front to remain two points ahead in the tussle to avoid the final relegation berth, but at least De Zerbi has the first of the five wins he is targeting to keep his team in the Premier League.

Losing Dominic Solanke and Xavi Simons to injury, taking the number of absences to 11, means that next Sunday night’s trip to Aston Villa remains trepidatious. But De Zerbi has been preaching positivity – again naming James Maddison, still recuperating from his ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, as a substitute for good vibes – and even if Spurs were not better than Wolves for much of the game, they can now boast four points from two games.

“I think the players know what they are and what they can do on the pitch, especially this season,” De Zerbi said. “Because it’s true: we didn’t win a [league] game in 2026, but in the Champions League table, they finished in [fourth] place. In the Champions League I think it’s not so easy. So they have to be positive. They have to feel full confidence because they are good.”

Perhaps the Spurs players were mentally boosted by seeing an advert for a performance psychologist appear on their LinkedIn feeds a month from the end of the season. Certainly, buoyed by their performance against Brighton, they were the better side for half an hour against a Wolves team whose relegation was confirmed earlier in the week.

Only one enforced change – Djed Spence replacing the injured Destiny Udogie at left-back – allowed Spurs to start building team understanding. But Wolves, having lost three successive games to bottom-six sides since the unwanted three-plus weeks out of action, could easily have gained at least a point, Antonin Kinsky producing a superb fingertip save in the 98th minute from João Gomes’s 25-yard free-kick.

“He played very well. He was crucial for the result,” De Zerbi said of the goalkeeper who was substituted after conceding three goals in 15 minutes of the Champions League thrashing by Atlético Madrid during Igor Tudor’s calamitous, short-lived reign. “Especially after Madrid, he deserves a day like today.”

Wolves have looked like a decent mid-table team for much of this second half of the season, but their disastrous start (after a bungled summer transfer window) has left relegation a formality for some while. After resounding home results against Arsenal, Aston Villa and Liverpool, and having overcome Derby’s record low Premier League tally of 11 points, there is only so much glamour in the challenge of trying to pip Burnley to 19th place. West Ham, Leeds and now Spurs have had so much more to play for.

“It’s been hard this week,” Rob Edwards, the Wolves head coach, said. “The final nail in the coffin, relegated. Maybe other teams would have just gone, completely, today and it might have been a complete shambles. It wasn’t. Those boys out there today gave everything.”

As Wolves prepare for a summer rebuild, João Gomes showed the class on the ball in tight spaces that has led to strong interest from Atlético Madrid. “There’ll certainly be interest in João,” Edwards said. “He’s a phenomenal player. You saw from his commitment out there that … whatever’s going on off the pitch, it won’t affect him.”