Keep an eye on those mini-leagues now!
With 14 games to go in the Premier League, people are starting to look at the run-ins of the teams involved in both the title race and the quest to avoid relegation. At the top and bottom of the table there are mini-leagues of six teams who have a real interest in these situations. Perhaps Bournemouth, who conceded 6 goals at Goddison Park, and Southampton, who are currently focussed upon their League Cup Final at the end of this month, need to keep a wary eye over their shoulders.
Chelsea are clear favourites to win the Premier League now, but Spurs are closest to them. One stat that hit me this week is that Arsenal have not won any of their past 10 Premier League away games against the other teams currently in the top six. We can't exactly gloat about that because we haven't managed that in 4 attempts this season, having lost at Chelsea and Man Utd, and drawn at Arsenal and Man City. It's seven games since we managed such an away win and that was February last year when we beat City 2-1. Anfield on Saturday will be our last chance this season to get such a win, and what a result that would be. I can't wait!
Of those top six we still have two to come to White Hart Lane (Arsenal and Man Utd), so three of our last 14 games are against fellow Champions League contenders. Chelsea have two such games against both Manchester teams. The situation for the other top six sides is as follows:-
Arsenal - 4
Man City - 4
Liverpool - 3
Man Utd - 4
One of those top six meetings to come is the second Manchester Derby, and that will have to be put back to a tricky midfield date, due to United's involvement in the League Cup Final. Arsenal will also have to play catch-up, as they were due to travel to Southampton on League Cup Final week-end. There is plenty of excitement to come!
Our game against Middlesbrough was always going to be difficult, and my 3-0 prediction was over-optimistic. They are a team that has proved resilient on their travels. At the other end of the pitch Middlesbrough have attempted a league-low 56 shots on target in the Premier League this season; 16 fewer than any other team.
Bearing in mind our experience against two of the bottom six in our last two games, we had better look out for our games against the other four that are still to come.
Spurs are the only team to have two representatives in the league's top eight goalscorers. Those are Harry Kane (14) and Dele Alli (11). Man of the match contender Son Heung-min is creeping up that list with seven goals, and "Sonny" won the vote on the official site for man of the match. He didn't win the vote of Spurs Odyssey readers though, as he was edged out by the "Beast" that is Victor Wanyama. Mousa Dembele ran them both close.
I must make mention of 34 year old Jermain Defoe who scored two goals this week in Sunderland's 4-0 win at Selhurst Park. Jermain is equal fifth in that goalscorers' table with Harry Kane on 14 goals.
Norman Giller has reported fully on the incident between Middlesbrough's goalkeeper Valdes and Dele Alli that did come under consideration by the FA for a possible retrospective ban. However, referee Mark Clattenburg felt that he had seen the incident and dealt with it accordingly on the pitch, having words with the parties. As Norman has stated, I missed this action, focussing on the ball in play, I suspect.
Despite his failure to punish Valdes, Mark Clattenburg continues to win the favour of most Spurs fans, and consistently wins high marks these days in our post-match surveys.
· See this week's spursometer in full.
Premier League results 04-05.02.17
Chelsea 3-1 Arsenal
C. Palace 0-4 S'derland
Everton 6-3 B'mouth
Hull 2-0 Liverpool
S'hampton 1-3 West Ham
Watford 2-1 Burnley
West Brom 1-0 Stoke
Spurs 1-0 M'brough
Man City 2-1 Swansea
Leicester 0-3 Man Utd
Premier League Table
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Chelsea 24 19 2 3 51-17 34 59
2. Spurs 24 14 8 2 46-16 30 50
3. Man City 24 15 4 5 49-29 20 49
4. Arsenal 24 14 5 5 52-28 24 47
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5. Liverpool 24 13 7 4 52-30 22 46
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6. Man Utd 24 12 9 3 36-21 15 45
7. Everton 24 11 7 6 40-27 13 40
8. West Brom 24 10 6 8 32-29 3 36
9. West Ham 24 9 4 11 32-41 -9 31
10. Watford 24 8 6 10 29-40 -11 30
11. Stoke 24 7 8 9 29-36 -7 29
12. Burnley 24 9 2 13 26-35 -9 29
13. S'hampton 24 7 6 11 24-31 -7 27
14. B'mouth 24 7 5 12 35-47 -12 26
15. M'brough 24 4 9 11 19-27 -8 21
16. Leicester 24 5 6 13 24-41 -17 21
17. Swansea 24 6 3 15 29-54 -25 21
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18. Hull 24 5 5 14 22-47 -25 20
19. C. Palace 24 5 4 15 32-45 -13 19
20. S'derland 24 5 4 15 24-42 -18 19
