Tottenham are now just one point above the relegation zone after a 3-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest on Sunday — the kind of result that turns anxious into genuinely frightened.
The match carried enormous weight at the bottom of the table. Both clubs arrived in the bottom half. Only one left with cause for optimism.
Spurs dominated the first half in terms of possession and hit the woodwork twice, but created nothing of real quality in front of goal.
Forest struck at precisely the worst moment. In the final minute of the first half, Neco Williams swung in a corner and Igor Jesus powered a header past Guglielmo Vicario.
Vicario was playing a day before a hernia operation. His positioning and decision-making looked affected throughout.
After half-time, Tottenham made a double substitution, bringing on Lucas Bergvall and Destiny Udogie. It made little difference. Forest were the better team.
Morgan Gibbs-White made it two in the 62nd minute, latching onto a low pass from Callum Hudson-Odoi and finishing first time inside the box.
Substitute Taiwo Awoniyi added a third in the 87th minute. By then, many home fans had already headed for the exits.
Bruno Saltor, standing in for the absent Igor Tudor who had received news of a family bereavement, was honest in his assessment: “Every small detail, every small mistake, we get penalised.”
Tudor has won just one point across five games as interim manager. That is the worst record of any Premier League manager in the same timeframe this season.
Forest, meanwhile, claimed their fourth consecutive league win over Tottenham and leapfrogged them into 15th place in the table.
For Spurs, the statistics are grim. They are now without a top-flight win since December 28, equalling their lowest points tally after 31 games since 1914-15 — a season that ended in relegation.
The next league fixture is a trip to Sunderland on April 12. On current form, that is anything but a straightforward game.