Spurs still favourites to finish third!
Spurs' form has taken a severe dip over the last seven league games, with just two wins and three defeats. That's the worst form of the season, and unfortunately co-incides with one of Arsenal's better spells, during which they have won their last four games, which included a 7-1 battering of Blackburn. That spell also sadly included the 5-2 win over us.
Despite our overall great form and progress this season, we still have to find the knack of beating fellow top four sides. Of the current top four, Arsenal are the only team we have beaten (once), and we have lost at home and away to both Manchester teams.
There's plenty to feel confident about though, as Spurs remain favourites to hold onto third place and near certainties to qualify for the Champions League. Spurs list member Ivan Moore has the mathematical and research skills to assess our prospects at this stage of the season, and makes adjustments after each game. Our prospects did not significantly alter despite our defeat on Sunday against Man Utd, and we are currently 95.6% certain to qualify for Champions League football next season, and are on target to finish third on 73 points. The same figures for Arsenal are 71% and 67 points. Chelsea are currently only a 21.2% prospect of finishing in the top four, and presently look like reaching 63 points.
Obviously it is going to be important for us to go on a decent run now, with good results more than desirable at Goodison Park this Saturday and at Stamford Bridge at the end of the month. After that we have no team to play who are currently in the top seven, and this season we have improved regarding our results against the lower sides in the league. Arsenal's run-in also includes a trip to Everton, and home games against Man City and Chelsea.
Aaron Lennon was your man of the match for Sunday's game, with a score of 7.5 out of 10. It was his best grading since the home game against Everton in January, so let's hope his form continues for Saturday's game. Sunday's game was also Aaron's first start for spurs since 22nd January at The Etihad Stadium. It would be great to see Lennon and Bale in tandem again!
Jake Livermore was the only other player to score over 7 (7.1), and he rightly received plaudits from various quarters. We must hope though to see our best midfield of Lennon, Parker, Modric and Bale back in action on Saturday.
· See the"Spursometer" for the United game here
· Full results of this week's survey can be viewed here.
Results 03-04.03.12
Liverpool 1-2 Arsenal
Blackburn 1-1 A. Villa
Man City 2-0 Bolton
QPR 1-1 Everton
Stoke 1-0 Norwich
West Brom 1-0 Chelsea
Wigan 0-2 Swansea
Newcastle 1-1 S'derland
Fulham 5-0 Wolves
Spurs 1-3 Man Utd
Barclays Premier League
Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Man City 27 21 3 3 69 19 50 66
=======================================
2 Man Utd 27 20 4 3 66 27 39 64
3 Spurs 27 16 5 6 52 33 19 53
4 Arsenal 27 15 4 8 55 38 17 49
=======================================
5 Chelsea 27 13 7 7 47 32 15 46
6 Newcastle 27 12 8 7 39 39 0 44
7 Liverpool 26 10 9 7 30 25 5 39
8 Fulham 27 9 9 9 37 36 1 36
9 Stoke 27 10 6 11 27 38 -11 36
10 West Brom 27 10 5 12 34 35 -1 35
11 Norwich 27 9 8 10 38 44 -6 35
12 S'derland 27 9 7 11 35 31 4 34
13 Everton 26 9 7 10 27 28 -1 34
14 Swansea 27 8 9 10 30 34 -4 33
15 A. Villa 27 6 12 9 30 35 -5 30
16 QPR 27 5 7 15 27 45 -18 22
17 Blackburn 27 5 7 15 38 60 -22 22
=======================================
18 Wolves 27 5 7 15 30 56 -26 22
19 Bolton 27 6 2 19 29 56 -27 20
20 Wigan 27 4 8 15 23 52 -29 20
