Roberto De Zerbi isn't losing any sleep over how his Tottenham side got their vital win against Aston Villa. After criticism that Spurs capitalized on a heavily rotated Villa team, the Italian manager fired back with a simple message: every point counts in a relegation battle.

Last weekend's 2-1 victory came against a much-changed Villa side, with Unai Emery resting key players to focus on their Europa League semi-final against Nottingham Forest. The move sparked plenty of debate about Villa's influence on the relegation dogfight—especially after West Ham's defeat to Brentford pushed Spurs out of the drop zone. But De Zerbi wasn't having any of it.

"First of all, we are playing against one of the best teams in the league right now," he said, pointing to his own injury crisis that has sidelined key names like Cristian Romero, Dejan Kulusevski, Mohammed Kudus, Dominic Solanke, Xavi Simons, and James Maddison. "We played without more players than Villa. It's better if people talk about us than we talk about them."

With just three games left in the survival battle, Tottenham sit one point above third-bottom West Ham. The math is simple: if West Ham beat league leaders Arsenal on Sunday, Spurs drop back into the relegation zone. But a West Ham loss would give De Zerbi's men a chance to open a potentially decisive four-point gap.

Next up for Tottenham is a Monday night clash against Leeds United—a team De Zerbi refuses to underestimate. "In the last five or six games, Leeds won against Manchester United and drew at Bournemouth playing well. We have big respect for them."

After Leeds, it's a trip to London rivals Chelsea on May 19, followed by a season finale at home against Everton on May 24. For a team fighting to stay in the Premier League, every match is a cup final now. And for De Zerbi, the only thing that matters is getting the job done—no matter how the points come.