Tottenham survived but this is still their most embarrassing day in the Premier League

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There should be no cause for celebration. You can understand the huge overwhelming sense of relief in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at the final whistle.

The stadium began to chant “We are staying up” after Roberto De Zerbi did his best David Pleat impression as the Spurs boss ran onto the pitch with echoes of Luton’s great escape at Manchester City all those years ago. The players then went round the pitch to whip up the fans to celebrate with the long-suffering fans as if it was some sort of miraculous great escape from relegation.

And when they began to play “Glory, Glory Tottenham Hotspur” it showed that this great club has truly forgotten what it stands for. Maybe you can indulge the fans this time - but rival supporters will be looking on to see how far this great club has fallen.

No-one should remember this day as anything other than the lowest, most embarrassing point for Tottenham in the Premier League era.

It has been an utter shambles on the pitch, off the pitch and this must serve as a warning to the club’s hierarchy this can never be allowed to happen again.

You have to credit the Tottenham fans because they were so loud before kick-off and they created a remarkable atmosphere to lift and inspire the players.

Incredibly, this was Tottenham’s first home win in the Premier League in this calendar year, a run which stretches back 170 days to December 6 when they beat Brentford 2-0 under Thomas Frank’s reign.

They have had two managers since then and, after Igor Tudor’s disastrous caretaker spell, De Zerbi has finally managed to lift this group of underperforming players to safety.

Ultimately, Joao Palhinha scored the goal to secure the win, Spurs’ safety and yet really far too many of them should hang their heads in shame.

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This is no one-off freak of a season. They finished fourth from bottom last season and have finished 17th again. This whole club needs a reset.

Six years ago, they had pretensions of being part of the European Super League and, from there, they have become perennial strugglers who have survived by their skin of their teeth. Again. They built their magnificent 60,000 stadium to become one of the biggest clubs in Europe and yet so nearly dropped into the Championship. They were lucky West Ham were even worse.

Frankly, they were also very lucky they faced an Everton side who looked like they were already on the beach and had two players - Jordan Pickford and James Garner - papped coming out of a strip club this week.

There was never really a sense of jeopardy in the stadium because it was always going to take Tottenham to lose, West Ham to win and Spurs never went behind. The news filtered into the stadium that West Ham were ahead and you could sense the nerves and tension. When the board went up to show nine minutes of added time, there were huge groans

However, Tottenham have been so bad this season they still thought one Everton goal might change all that. That is how bad Spurs have been. The fans feared they could still lose it.

Spurs keeper Antonin Kinsky made a sensational save from Everton substitute Tyrique George deep into injury time. Kinsky, the fall guy in the Champions League at Atletico Madrid, made another incredible stop to deny Leeds victory two weeks ago. He did similar at Wolves.

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Those are the small margins which have Tottenham in the top flight. Last season, Tottenham at least won the Europa League. But they still did not learn their lesson.

If they do not improve this summer then they only have themselves to blame. De Zerbi looks to have the energy and hunger needed.

But when the TV cameras panned to the directors’ box during the game, you could see the nerves etched over the faces of the hierarchy. No wonder.

It would have been a disaster on every level and one of the biggest stories in the history of the Premier League if they had gone down. It cannot happen again.

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