They’re not going down, right? They’re too big to go down.
With only six matches left in thePremier Leagueseason,Tottenham Hotspur sit 18th in the table, two points away from 17th-place West Ham, who hold the last survival spot to avoid dropping down to theEFL Championship.
Saturday, April 18 sees Spurs hostingmanager Roberto De Zerbi’sold club Brighton and Hove Albion, who have won four out of their last five games in the Premier League. Spurs, on the other hand, have not won a Premier League game in 2026, with the team from North London only getting five points in the last fourteen games.
Members of England’s ‘Big Six,’ last year’sEuropa League winners, dropped out of the top division with a 22nd-place finish in 1977. Before that, Tottenham hadn't beenrelegatedsince 1935.
Brighton's Danny Welbeck celebrates scoring his team's opener against Liverpool on March 21, 2026.
" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool reacts during the Premier League match against Brighton on March 21, 2026.
" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Harry Maguire of Manchester United celebrates his side's second goal against AFC Bournemouth on March 21, 2026.
" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
James Milner celebrates Brighton's win against Brentford on Feb. 21, 2026.
" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
West Ham United's Valentin Castellanos shoots against Chelsea on Jan. 31, 2026. Chelsea won the match, 3-2. " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Manchester United's Patrick Dorgu celebrates with teammates after scoring his team's second goal in a 2-0 win over Manchester City at Old Trafford on Jan. 17.
" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Manchester City's Rayan Cherki celebrates after scoring his team's second goal against Nottingham Forest on Dec. 27.
" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Manchester United's Patrick Dorgu celebrates after scoring the opening goal against Newcastle on Dec. 26.
" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Liverpool's Ryan Gravenberch celebrates scoring his team's second goal in a 2-0 win over Aston Villa at Anfield on Nov. 1. The victory ended a four-game losing streak in Premier League games for the defending champions.
" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Arsenal's Ethan Nwaneri (right) and Burnley's Florentino Luis battle for possession of the ball at Turf Moor. Arsenal won the Nov. 1 match, 2-0, to stay six points above Manchester City atop the Premier League table.
" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Erling Haaland of Manchester City competes for a header whilst under pressure from Sepp van den Berg and Kristoffer Ajer of Brentford at Gtech Community Stadium on Oct. 5, 2025. Man City won the match, 1-0.
" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Best Premier League action, scenes and drama from 2025-26 season
"The fact we are mentioning Spurs going down is unbelievable. It's absolutely ridiculous, really,” former Spurs playerDanny Murphy told BBC Sport back in February. “Whether you blame recruitment or the owners, it would be catastrophic for that club.”
Absolutely ridiculous or not, Spurs’ possible relegation is only the most recent example of a massive team’s unthinkable relegation both in Europe and outside of it. With Spurs teetering on the edge, these are some other teams that were “too big” to go down.
More:Tottenham relegation odds: Premier League standings, full table with Spurs in drop zone
River Plate: 2011
One of, if not the biggest, relegations in the history of South American soccer, River Plate's relegation shook an entire country.
River’s relegation was sealed in a promotion/relegation play-off that had to be abandoned as the crowd rioted with the home side 3-1 down. In the hours after River Plate’s relegation, more than 70 people were injured in incidents both inside River’s Monumental stadium and outside of it, according toreports from the Guardian.
“There’s a state of mourning,” Marcelo Roffe, president of the Argentine Association of Sports Psychology, toldArgentinian paper La Nacion in 2011. “Some face the situation, but many choose to shut themselves away, miss work, or not interact with their office colleagues.”
River bounced back immediately, winning the second division, spending only one year in the second tier of Argentinian soccer.
Atletico Madrid: 2000
Spain’s third-biggest team, behind Real Madrid and Barcelona,Atletico Madrid’srelegation at the turn of the century was a quick fall from grace.
Embattled by financial woes and a criminal investigation against itschairman, Jesus Gil, for corruption, Atletico fell out of La Liga after 65 years, finishing 19th out of 20 teams. The team’s fall came only four years after "los Colchoneros” won both La Liga and the Copa del Rey, securing a domestic double.
“It was a season so full of paradoxes,” DAZN commentator Fran Guillentold The Athletic. “It was a perfect storm caused by what happened with Gil, and it ended up pushing the project to the abyss.
Atletico’s return was not as quick as other members of this list, as the team from Madrid spent two seasons in the second division before returning to La Liga.
More:Soccer News, Scores, Standings and Team Info
Manchester United: 1974
Years before Tottenham’s last relegation,United’sdrop in 1974 is one of the most dramatic in the history of English football.
Only six years before, in 1968, United reached the pinnacle of European football, winning the old European Cup at Wembley against Eusebio’s Benfica. But the drama of dropping down to the second division was not enough.
Advertisement
The “Red Devils” relegation was sealed by United legend Denis Law, who scored the goal that secured their relegation while playing for city rivals Manchester City, according toUK publication The Times.
Manchester United returned in a flash, winning the second division on their first try.
Hamburger SV: 2018
Hamburg’srelegation was so unthinkable for its fans that the team proudly displayed a stadium clock that counted their uninterrupted time in theBundesliga.
But eventually, the clock froze as the "Die Rothosen" were relegated to the German second division back in 2018. Up until the moment of their drop, Hamburg were the only team in German soccer that had never been relegated from the Bundesliga since its creation in 1963.
European champions in 1983 and one of Germany’s most historic clubs, the team's relegation had been a real possibility for years as they survived the drop by the skin of its teeth both in 2015 and 2016
Hamburg’s time in the second division was not short-lived; instead,the team spent seven years struggling to get out,with heartbreaking incidents along the way.
Back in 2023, Hamburg thought they had earned automatic promotion when they beat Sandhausen 1-0 on the final day, before victory was snatched from their hands by Heidenheim, who scored a 99th-minute winner to send Hamburg to a promotion-relegation playoff.
Hamburg would go on and lose the playoff to Stuttgart, extending their time in the second tier until their promotion last May.
Schalke: 2021
Another German entry on this list, Schalke,had qualified for theChampions Leagueeight times since 2000 and even reachedthe semifinals in 2011. The team where Manuel Neuer, Mesut Ozil, Leroy Sane and more debuted professionally, Schalke’s drop to the second tier was a surprise to its fans, even to this day.
“When I speak to other fans about the relegation sometimes, we’re still not quite sure how it happened,” Niklas Heising, journalist for German newspaper Bild, toldThe Athletic.
More:Former Arsenal, Juventus goalkeeper Alex Manninger dies in car crash
Schalke’s relegation was confirmed by a 1-0 defeat to Arminia Bielefeld in 2021 in a mostly empty stadium due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After that result, they returned to their Veltins-Arena stadium to meet a group of 500 fans. The players were pelted by eggs and chased around the stadium by angry fans before police arrived to intervene,according to German website Sport 1.
“Die Königsblauen’s” time in the second division was short, winning it on their first try. But their time back in the Bundesliga lasted only a year, with Schalke dropping down again. Today, the team is leading the second division with hopes of being promoted once again.
Tottenham’s relegation odds
Odds via DraftKings, as of 11 a.m. April 17
-
Tottenham -110
-
West Ham + 175
-
Nottingham Forest +500
-
Leeds +1400
USA TODAY’s Jesse Yomtov contributed to this report.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Will Tottenham get relegated from Premier League? Other big clubs to all
