Roberto De Zerbi admits his Tottenham side are not in the best of shape as their hot start to the Premier League season continues.
Tottenham’s 0-0 home draw with Everton on Saturday was their first goalless draw in the league at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (the 140th game), and it was also Spurs’ first 0-0 draw at home in a game since they faced Swansea City at Wembley Stadium in September 2017.
It has been 407 minutes since Spurs last scored in the Premier League and they have gone four consecutive top-flight games without scoring for the first time since September 2006.
Spurs took the lead against Everton with Jan-Paul van Herk missing a good chance early on, but the Toffees grew into the game.
But De Zerbi urged his side not to lose any further confidence and insisted they would improve over time.
“This is a moment in football when you rebuild a team, you start late because we started together [Omar] Mamouche, Savio, [Dominic] Solanke, [James] Madison two Thursdays ago,” he said.
“Now I think we played well in the first 30 minutes. Then maybe we lost energy because we were not in the best physical condition and we were struggling with that.
“We weren’t shooting for the quality of play we showed. We had to devote more time to shooting. We had to work hard and analyze our decisions because we made too many wrong decisions, but I thought we played well.
“We played as a team. We didn’t score, we didn’t win, but today with Nottingham I thought we played as a team.
“As an attitude, as a behavior as a player, I can’t say anything, no, no. I say stay calm and maybe don’t lose confidence because we didn’t score, we didn’t win.”
“Keep calm, progress, work hard and individually try to understand where the progress is, isn’t it?”
4 – Only Crystal Palace in 2017-18 (first 7 games) has experienced a longer start to the Premier League season without a goal than Tottenham Hotspur in 2026-27 (first 4 games), and this is Tottenham’s longest opening goal drought in the top four leagues.
desolate. pic.twitter.com/uBicemETFW
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 12, 2026
Meanwhile, Everton have avoided defeat in their first four games of the Premier League season for the first time since 2021-22, while drawing three consecutive draws in the competition (out of four games) for the first time since March 2025.
Jordan Pickford kept his 100th Premier League clean sheet, becoming the fifth English goalkeeper to do so in the Premier League after David James (166), David Seaman (135), Nigel Martin (131) and Joe Hart (127).
David Moyes praised Pickford and the rest of Everton’s squad for their resilience against Tottenham.
“We were in trouble from the first minute. But the players held on,” Moyes told Sky Sports.
“Tottenham Hotspur were desperately looking for a win. We were too, but they put pressure on us at home. We coped really well.
“I think the goalkeepers didn’t have many chances to save. We had to fill up the box and reduce their space. Tottenham played well and made it difficult for us.
“With the lads at the back and the goalkeeper we have real resilience to make sure we don’t concede goals. The goalkeeper [Pickford] He has a great record of keeping clean sheets and he achieved that today. “