Final day round-up
Nabil Bentaleb won the Spurs Odyssey man of the match vote for his excellent performance covering at left back at Goodison Park. This was Bentaleb's second such winning vote of the season, in which the Algerian International midfielder has started 25 Premier League games, and 33 games for Spurs in all.
Voters perceived this as a good game for all eleven starters, with five other players also scoring over 7 out of 10. Bentaleb scored 7.8.
Spurs finished one place higher in the table with five less points. Everton had finished in fifth last season, but dropped to 11th as a result of this defeat.
Spurs have now won their last game of the season for five consecutive times. The last time they lost on the last day was at Burnley in 2010. However, that was after Peter Crouch had previously fired us into the Champions League with that 82nd minute header at Man City.
Talking of Crouch, he sealed Stoke's 6-1 win over Liverpool with his 47th Premier League header, which is a record. Liverpool last conceded 6 goals on Easter Monday 1963, when Spurs beat them 7-2. Jimmy Greaves scored 4 that day, including a penalty. Spurs had lost on Good Friday at Anfield 5-2, so that was quite an Easter feast of goals!
Spurs have been consistent over the last six seasons, finishing in the top six each year, with two top four placings. Sadly (sorry to remind you), only one of those occasions led to Champions League qualification. we have also finished above Liverpool in five of those last six seasons.
Harry Kane rounded off his excellent break-through season with his 21st Premier league goal, making that 31 in all competitions. he drew level with the Premier League records of Teddy Sheringham and Gareth Bale for Spurs.
So, we can now whole-heartedly support Tim Sherwood's Aston Villa in next Saturday's Cup Final (I won't be watching), safe in the knowledge that we automatically qualified for the Group phase of next season's Europa League.
We lose Hull, Burnley and QPR, and welcome back Norwich and Watford next season. It will be interesting to see how the 47th team to play in the Premier League (Bournemouth) manage against the "big boys".
My review of May, and the review of the whole season are still to follow in the next week or so. I also hope to offer several items of "Spurs Odyssey Gold" during the summer to whet your appetite for next season!
· See the spursometer in full.
Results 24.05.15
Arsenal 4-1 West Brom
A. Villa 0-1 Burnley
Chelsea 3-1 S'derland
C. Palace 1-0 Swansea
Everton 0-1 Spurs
Hull 0-0 Man Utd
Leicester 5-1 QPR
Man City 2-0 S'hampton
Newcastle 2-0 West Ham
Stoke 6-1 Liverpool
Barclays Premier League
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Chelsea 38 26 9 3 73-32 41 87C
2. Man City 38 24 7 7 83-38 45 79
3. Arsenal 38 22 9 7 71-36 35 75
4. Man Utd 38 20 10 8 62-37 25 70
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5. Spurs 38 19 7 12 58-53 5 64
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6. Liverpool 38 18 8 12 52-48 4 62
7. S'hampton 38 18 6 14 54-33 21 60
8. Swansea 38 16 8 14 46-49 -3 56
9. Stoke 38 15 9 13 48-45 3 54
10. C. Palace 38 13 9 16 47-50 -3 48
11. Everton 38 12 11 15 48-50 -2 47
12. West Ham 38 12 11 15 44-47 -3 47
13. West Brom 38 11 11 16 38-51 -13 44
14. Leicester 38 11 8 19 46-55 -9 41
15. Newcastle 38 10 9 19 40-63 -23 39
16. S'derland 38 7 17 14 31-53 -22 38
17. A. Villa 38 10 8 20 31-57 -26 38
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18. Hull 38 8 11 19 33-51 -18 35R
19. Burnley 38 7 12 19 28-53 -25 33R
20. QPR 38 8 6 24 42-73 -31 30R
