Spurs can trust United to keep winning
Congratulations to Manchester United on securing their 20th league title trophy (their 13th Premier League title), after beating relegation-threatened Aston Villa 3-0 last night (Monday 22nd April, 2013, with Robin van Persie scoring a hat-trick. That brings the former Arsenal striker's tally to 24 league goals, taking him above the notorious Luis Suarez, who made the headlines for all the wrong reasons this week.
Rumour has it that one reason Suarez took a bite out of Branislav Ivanovic's arm was that he wanted a taste of Champions League football, which he won't get next season with Liverpool. Mind you, Spurs are hoping to keep Chelsea out of next year's Champions League too.
Spurs are the only team to take four points of Sir Alex Ferguson's team this season. Only Swansea could equal that feat in United's last four games, and they have to play at Old Trafford.
It would have been nice from a Spurs perspective if United needed points from next Sunday's game against Arsenal at The Emirates to secure the title, but I have a feeling they will be motivated by the chance to beat Chelsea's all-time Premier League record of 95 points. Fergie is forever seeking targets for himself and his team, and another (perhaps more achievable) objective for them would be to beat their own record tally of 91 points in the 20-team Premier League. I think we can trust United to keep going for that record, especially as they have no games to play other than Premier League matches. After Arsenal next Sunday, they play Chelseaa at home, so could do Spurs a favour in both those games.
United were able to secure the Premier League title this early thanks to Spurs' fine win at home to Manchester City on Sunday.
Spurs' 3-1 win over Manchester City brings to an end a run of four consecutive defeats against the nouveau-riche Mancunians. It was our 20th Premier League win over City in 32 meetings, making them our favourite Premier League opponents statistically speaking.
Everton are our next favourite opponents, as we have beaten them 19 times in 42 meetings, but they too have an improved record against Spurs in recent years.
Compare those 20 wins against City against just 4 in 42 games against Manchester United and a mere three league wins over Chelsea. Hopefully we can improve that Chelsea stat on May 8th.
Jermain Defoe scored for Spurs the first time in 2013, having last scored a club goal on Boxing Day at Villa Park. It was Jermain's 133rd Spurs goal, putting him equal sevent in the all time Spurs top goal-scorers' list, alongside the legendary Alan Gilzean. One more goal would put him level with Len Duquemin, and he needs four more goals to match the total of George Hunt.
Spurs are the first team to come from behind and beat City in 16 months. Chelsea were the last team to do it on 12th December, 2011 (2-1).
Almost 300 people took part in this week's post-match survey, and three players shared the Spurs Odyssey man of the match vote. They were goal-scorers Gareth Bale, Jermain Defoe and play-maker Tom Huddlestone, whose ezquisite pass made Bale's equally sublime finish possible.
· See this week's spursometer in full
Results 20-22.04.13
Fulham 0-1 Arsenal
Norwich 2-1 Reading
QPR 0-2 Stoke
S'derland 1-0 Everton
Swansea 0-0 S'hampton
West Brom 1-1 Newcastle
West Ham 2-0 Wigan
Spurs 3-1 Man City
Liverpool 2-2 Chelsea
Man Utd 3-0 A. Villa
Barclays Premier League
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Man Utd 34 27 3 4 78-35 43 84 C
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2. Man City 33 20 8 5 59-30 29 68
3. Arsenal 34 18 9 7 65-35 30 63
4. Chelsea 33 18 8 7 66-35 31 62
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5. Spurs 33 18 7 8 58-41 17 61
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6. Everton 34 14 14 6 51-38 13 56
7. Liverpool 34 13 12 9 61-42 19 51
8. West Brom 33 13 6 14 43-44 -1 45
9. Swansea 33 10 12 11 43-42 1 42
10. West Ham 34 11 9 14 40-47 -7 42
11. Fulham 34 10 10 14 44-52 -8 40
12. S'hampton 34 9 12 13 47-54 -7 39
13. Norwich 34 8 14 12 33-53 -20 38
14. S'derland 34 9 10 15 38-45 -7 37
15. Stoke 34 8 13 13 30-41 -11 37
16. Newcastle 34 10 7 17 43-60 -17 37
17. A. Villa 34 8 10 16 36-63 -27 34
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18. Wigan 33 8 7 18 37-60 -23 31
19. QPR 34 4 12 18 29-56 -27 24
20. Reading 34 5 9 20 37-65 -28 24
