Is it a two horse race now?
Is the race for the Premier League title just between two teams who have never won that trophy after Leicester's 18th league win of the season against Newcastle last night? The pundits on Sky's Monday Night Football seemed to think so. One of them was Southampton manager Ronald Koeman, whose opinion must surely be respected.
Leicester have won five of their games 1-0, and in fact their last three wins have been by that scoreline. Last night's win was achieved with their only shot on target, but what a good goal it was - an overhead kick by Shinji Okazaki, signed by Ranieri from Mainz last summer. For once it wasn't Mahrez and/or Vardy making the headlines for "The Foxes".
Spurs fans were hoping for new manager Rafa Benitez to get something out of the game for Newcastle, but an improved and more determined performance did not give them the ability to score. We next look to Alan Pardew's Crystal Palace (still seeking safety) to knock a hole in Leicester's challenge.
Leicester do have tough games to come with almost every team they face likely to be fighting for either survival or some form of Premier League glory.
However, Spurs too have tough games to come, as we know too well.
Despite games in hand, Arsenal's 11 point deficit behind Leicester, and the 12 point gap for Man City are surely too much ground for them to make up on Leicester. However, they are not so far behind us, and we face a battle to even hold onto second place. Not that I've given up on a first league title for 55 years for my beloved Spurs. Mind you, that 1-0 home defeat to Leicester in January is looking more and more decisive.
Leicester have never won the top flight title. Why, their highest Premier League position has been 8th in 1999/2000 under Martin O'Neill, and they've only even been in the Premier League in 8 of its 24 seasons! Don't forget they were still bottom of the table this time last year, so their success really is an amazing story. It's just so sad for us that perhaps only Leicester will prevent us from securing a first Premier League title.
Spurs' performance at Villa Park was much improved after the disappointment in Dortmund, with grades of 7 or higher achieved by nine of the team. Harry Kane's two goals gave him man of the match, with 8 out off 10, but both Kyle Walker and Toby Alderweireld get honourable mentions.
You can get the latest Euro 2016 news at BetHut.com. The tournament is only three months away now, and is bound to involve two Spurs players at least! I refer, of course, to Harry Kane and Dele Alli.
· See the spursometer in full.
Results 12-14.03.16
Norwich 0-0 Man City
B'mouth 3-2 Swansea
Stoke 1-2 S'hampton
Man Utd P C. Palace
S'derland P Everton
West Ham P Watford
Arsenal P West Brom
Liverpool P Chelsea
A. Villa 0-2 Spurs
Leicester 1-0 Newcastle
Barclays Premier League Table
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Leicester 30 18 9 3 53-31 22 63
2. Spurs 30 16 10 4 53-24 29 58
3. Arsenal 29 15 7 7 46-30 16 52
4. Man City 29 15 6 8 52-31 21 51
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5. West Ham 29 13 10 6 45-33 12 49
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6. Man Utd 29 13 8 8 37-27 10 47
7. S'hampton 30 12 8 10 38-30 8 44
8. Liverpool 28 12 8 8 43-37 6 44
9. Stoke 30 12 7 11 32-36 -4 43
10. Chelsea 29 10 10 9 43-39 4 40
11. West Brom 29 10 9 10 30-36 -6 39
12. Everton 28 9 11 8 51-39 12 38
13. B'mouth 30 10 8 12 38-47 -9 38
14. Watford 29 10 7 12 29-30 -1 37
15. C. Palace 29 9 6 14 32-39 -7 33
16. Swansea 30 8 9 13 30-40 -10 33
17. S'derland 29 6 7 16 35-54 -19 25
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18. Norwich 30 6 7 16 31-52 -21 25
19. Newcastle 29 6 6 17 28-54 -26 24
20. A. Villa 30 3 7 20 22-57 -35 16
