Puff your chest out everybody!
I hope you're all still grinning that grin and puffing your chest out with pride after Wednesday night's magnificent win at Old Trafford. Do you remember that Gazza pose with our 1991 FA Cup hero down on one knee, sticking his chest out with massive pride, and a big grin? That's how I still feel two days after wading through the thousands of United fans trying to at least keep my grin within reasonable bounds, so as not to make it too obvious to those around me where my affiliations lay.
Everyone connected with Spurs is entitled to maintain that mood, and what better spirit could we all be in, with a massive Cup Tie at The Emirates tomorrow?
Once again Emmanuel Adebayor won your man of the match vote, and that's now three such votes in the five games since his come-back. At this rate, he could be your player of the season. Apart from his goal, and some great passing skill, I'd like to highlight one second half moment, not too long before he went off, when he chased a ball down the right flank, out-pacing the United defender to reach the ball. I don't think I've ever seen such a big powerful man run so fast, and in football terms with such strength and desire for the ball. Many Spurs fans, who were happy to deride Adebayor when he was out of favour and also for much of last season have had to eat humble pie.
The whole team can feel the pride being expressed here, and mentions must go to Aaron Lennon, Vlad Chiriches (another player under-rated by many observers) and Eriksen. I love that "He's our number 23" chant, sung to the old "Agadoo" tune.
Tim Sherwood can puff his chest out too, having gained the highest coaching grades of the season so far, especially for his team selection and tactics. Sherwood has achieved 10 points from 4 matches, thus continuing our trend of excellent Christmas results in recent years.
Every footballer knows though that you are only as good as your next game, so the team must go into tomorrow's game against Arsenal with the same desire, and yes, the belief they had on Wednesday. It can be done!
Even referee Howard Webb has been given the highest mark awarded to any referee this season (7.4), after resisting all those United appeals for penalties at The Stretford End. Last season Chris Foy was in charge of this fixture, and he too got the highest mark given to a referee in the season (7.7). See? We don't hate them all the time:)
· See the Spursometer for the United game in full
P.S - It's the first time in Premier League history that we have won four consecutive away league matches.
Results 01.01.14
Swansea 2-3 Man City
Arsenal 2-0 Cardiff
C. Palace 1-1 Norwich
Fulham 2-1 West Ham
Liverpool 2-0 Hull
S'hampton 0-3 Chelsea
Stoke 1-1 Everton
S'derland 0-1 A. Villaa
West Brom 1-0 Newcastle
Man Utd 1-2 Spurs
Barclays Premier League
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Arsenal 20 14 3 3 39-18 21 45
2. Man City 20 14 2 4 57-23 34 44
3. Chelsea 20 13 4 3 38-19 19 43
4. Liverpool 20 12 3 5 46-23 23 39
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5. Everton 20 10 8 2 32-19 13 38
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6. Spurs 20 11 4 5 24-25 -1 37
7. Man Utd 20 10 4 6 33-24 9 34
8. Newcastle 20 10 3 7 29-25 4 33
9. S'hampton 20 7 6 7 26-23 3 27
10. Hull 20 6 5 9 22-25 -3 23
11. A. Villa 20 6 5 9 19-25 -6 23
12. Stoke 20 5 7 8 19-30 -11 22
13. Swansea 20 5 6 9 26-28 -2 21
14. West Brom 20 4 9 7 23-27 -4 21
15. Norwich 20 5 5 10 17-33 -16 20
16. Fulham 20 6 1 13 21-42 -21 19
17. Cardiff 20 4 6 10 15-32 -17 18
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18. C. Palace 20 5 2 13 13-29 -16 17
19. West Ham 20 3 6 11 19-30 -11 15
20. S'derland 20 3 5 12 15-33 -18 14
