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Tottenham Hotspur have sacked interim boss, Cristian Stellini, just days before entertaining Manchester United later this week.
As reported by the BBC, Stellini was given his marching orders by Spurs chairman, Daniel Levy, after overseeing a damaging defeat at St. James’ Park, at the weekend.
Newcastle dismantled Stellini’s men by six goals to one, with five coming before the 20 minute mark in a woeful defensive display by the away side.
The defeat has all but ended Spurs top four hopes, giving both Newcastle and Manchester United healthy respective cushions in the race to qualify for the Champions League.
Ryan Mason is set to take charge of Spurs for the rest of the season, starting with the visit of United on Thursday night.
The sacking continues a curious trend this season, with Stellini becoming the latest boss to be sent packing with United round the corner.
United have already faced the “new manager bounce” twice in the Premier League this season, with neither game ending in a win for Erik ten Hag.
Aston Villa replaced Steven Gerrard with Unai Emery, who masterminded a 3-1 win at Villa Park against United, in his first game in charge.
Leeds replaced Jesse Marsch with under 23 coach Michael Skubala before their visit to Old Trafford in February, which resulted in Leeds taking a two goal lead before being pegged back, thanks to second half goals from Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho.
Similarly, Sevilla parted ways with Jorge Sampaoli just a couple of weeks before facing United in the Europa League.
New boss Jose Mendilibar settled the ship in Seville before eventually dismantling United in the second leg of the quarter-final to end Ten Hag’s European dream.
United will be hoping to buck the trend of failing to win when faced with new boss and in doing so, cement their place in the top four.
If United were to beat Tottenham on Thursday, it would take an disastrous end to the campaign for them to finish outside the coveted Champions League spots.
Qualification for Europe’s premier competition was the brief for Ten Hag’s first season at Old Trafford and with a trophy in the bag and a cup final on the horizon, a win at Spurs would underpin a season of progress under the new boss.
