Roberto De Zerbi has won the Premier League Manager of the Month award for October, and the most striking thing about it is who he won it without.
The Italian collected Tottenham‘s first monthly manager prize since Ange Postecoglou won three in a row from August to October 2023. It is also his first ever: he was shortlisted twice at Brighton, in January and March 2023, and came away with nothing both times.
He beat a strong field to it. Mikel Arteta, Unai Emery, Xabi Alonso, Marco Rose and Fabian Hürzeler were all on the shortlist, with the winner picked from fan votes combined with an expert panel. The club say De Zerbi is the 10th different Spurs manager to take the award, more than any other Premier League club.
How did De Zerbi win Manager of the Month?
Spurs went into October bottom of the table, without a league win in five games. They came out of it in the top half, with 10 points from 12, eight goals scored and two conceded.
It started at Old Trafford, where Bryan Mbeumo put Manchester United ahead and Rodrigo Bentancur was sent off, only for Dominic Solanke to equalise in stoppage time. Coventry City were then beaten 3-1, with James Maddison, Omar Marmoush and Ben Davies scoring on the day Dejan Kulusevski returned after more than 500 days out.
The win at Stamford Bridge was the one that changed the mood. In a ten-against-ten game, a Mike Penders own goal and a solo strike from Mathys Tel gave Spurs a 2-0 win, only their second league victory there in 36 years. Crystal Palace were then beaten by the same score after Jean-Philippe Mateta was sent off in the 13th minute, with Archie Gray and Jan Paul van Hecke both scoring from set pieces.
De Zerbi, true to form, handed the credit straight back. “I feel good, I feel happy. I want to say thanks to my players, to my club because it’s not my credit,” he said after collecting the award.
A month of awards for N17
It was not only the head coach. Luca Williams-Barnett won the Adobe Express Creative Moment of the Month for his run down the left on his Premier League debut against Palace, a moment that deserved an assist and only missed out because the finish let him down. Tyrese Hall was named Premier League 2 Player of the Month, which gave Spurs three October prizes in all.
For a teenager with a handful of minutes in the first team, it is quite a start. We looked at what makes him so highly rated in our Luca Williams-Barnett scouting report earlier this month.
Why the award matters more than it looks
Monthly awards are easy to dismiss. Tottenham managers winning them early in a season has not always meant much by May, and the 1-0 defeat at Leeds on 7 November, decided by a Noah Okafor goal two minutes after he came on, arrived before the trophy had even been handed over.
But look at the team De Zerbi did it with. Savio’s last game was the draw at Old Trafford, so every one of the three October wins came without him. Xavi Simons has not played since rupturing his ACL in the 1-0 win at Wolves on 25 April. Wilson Odobert is still working his way back. And Maddison, who scored against Coventry, has barely been seen since.
That is a lot of the creativity in this squad sitting in the treatment room or on the bench, and Spurs still took 10 points from a run that included Chelsea away.
Is Savio fit to face Ipswich?
The Brazilian is expected to be available when Spurs host Ipswich Town on Saturday 21 November. He has missed the last four league games with a muscular problem, and De Zerbi had already said he expected him back after the international break.
Savio has dropped his own hint, too, posting a clip of himself running in a Spurs shirt on social media with a white heart and a pair of eyes. Anyone who followed his move to north London in the summer will know that is how he tends to announce things.
His return could not be better timed. Tel, the scorer of that Stamford Bridge winner, left Elland Road on crutches, and De Zerbi called it a “bad injury”. How long he is out is still not clear, which leaves the left side of the attack short just as Savio comes back to it.
We think Spurs have missed Savio more than the results suggest. People pick at his decision-making and his goal return, but he beats his man, his dribbling is a real threat and he creates chances. Since he went off injured, the attacking play has been more about set pieces and moments than sustained pressure. We made the case for a change of approach against Ipswich in our look at how De Zerbi should shape his midfield, and a fit Savio makes that far easier.
When will Xavi Simons be back?
Not for Ipswich, but he is getting closer. The club have shared footage of Simons doing individual work on the grass at Hotspur Way, and the footage shows him moving and changing direction freely. The next step is group training, which could come later this month.
Caution is still the right word. Ligaments need time to settle after an ACL reconstruction, and the risk of a second tear is higher if a player is rushed back too early. Simons will reach eight months since the injury around Christmas, so a return to matches in December or January looks the sensible target rather than anything sooner.
He has been honest about how hard the last few months have been. He spoke about crying at night during his recovery when he opened up at the Oxford Union, and seeing him back on the grass with a smile on his face is a lift for everyone at the club.
Verdict: De Zerbi’s Manager of the Month could be the start, not the peak
October was built on spirit, set pieces and a manager who got a struggling squad to believe again. That is worth an award on its own.
The exciting part is what comes next. Savio should be back for Ipswich, Simons is edging towards team training, and Odobert is not far behind. If De Zerbi can win Manager of the Month with that much of his attack missing, the second half of the season, with his best creators fit, could look very different. Spurs sit 11th on 12 points after 10 games. With this squad back together, we would not bet against them finishing a long way higher.
