James Maddison urged his Tottenham team-mates to "give everything for the club" after a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea sent their Premier League survival battle to the final day.
Spurs found themselves two goals down in the 67th minute, when Enzo Fernandez's strike from distance was followed up by Andrey Santos' fine finish.
Richarlison halved the deficit, but Roberto De Zerbi's side were unable to draw level, which would have been enough to all but secure their top-flight status for next season.
Instead, they must now beat Everton to be absolutely certain of their place in the Premier League in 2026-27, though a point should be enough given their superior goal difference over West Ham, who face Leeds United on the final day.
The Opta supercomputer has backed Spurs to get over the line, assigning them an 86.7% chance of staying up, compared to 13.3% for Nuno Espirito Santo's side.
"We have to give everything for the club, for the badge, for the fans. It's a bit embarrassing that we're in this position," Maddison told Sky Sports.
"We're going to need our fans, who were unbelievable tonight. I think we have the best away following in the league.
"We knew any sort of result would be very beneficial for us in the battle. It wasn't to be.
"We pushed hard in the last 20 minutes. It was probably a pretty even game. I don't remember them having many chances."
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Spurs' defeat means they have now lost 39 Premier League matches against Chelsea, only losing more against Manchester United in the competition (40).
But they were perhaps unfortunate not to come away with the point they so desperately desired. They finished with an expected goals (xG) total of 1.72 from their nine shots compared to Chelsea's 0.63 from the same number of attempts.
And De Zerbi may have to rely on Richarlison to save Spurs from the drop against his former club, who he saved from relegation back in 2022.
His strike against Chelsea means he has now struck 75 goals in the Premier League, with only former Liverpool stalwart Roberto Firmino (82) and Arsenal's Gabriel Jesus (78) netting more among Brazilian players across the competition's history.
Richarlison has also been involved in 15 goals in the Premier League this season (11 goals, four assists). Only in 2019-20 for Everton (16) has he been involved in more goals in a Premier League campaign.
And De Zerbi echoed the thoughts of Maddison in his post-match assessment, and the Spurs boss remained optimistic of his team's chances after their Stamford Bridge showing.
"We created a first chance to score with [Mathys] Tel. It was a big save for [Robert] Sanchez," De Zerbi said.
"Then we conceded one great goal because of Fernandez, a big player, but we could do something better. Then we stayed in the game until the second goal, we lost a stupid ball.
"We conceded a second goal. But before the second goal, we created a big, big chance with Richarlison. I think we played a very good game. We lost.
"But now is not the time to think too much about this game. We have to prepare for the next game. We play in our stadium with our fans.
"With our qualities, with character, with pride and courage, we have to play. But I am positive because we played a good game."