We are elated, but not surprised. Agreed?
As Norman Giller has pointed out in this week's blog, quiz questions such as, "Who was the last person to score a winning goal for Spurs at Stamford Bridge?", and "Who was the manager of the last Spurs side to win at Stamford Bridge?" have to be re-written. We've waited a long 28 years for this, including times when Chelsea weren't even that good.
The hoodoo file can be well and truly closed, and consigned to the same murky depths of "Room 101", where you can find the record of the only other long-standing run I can recall, which was the fact that we failed to beat Liverpool at Anfield in all the years between The Titanic sinking and Garth Crooks giving us a 1-0 win in March 1985. Incidentally, that win was achived 73 years to the day after a previous win in 1912.
We are, of course, elated, but surely not surprised by what Mauricio Pochettino and his men have achieved with this first away win against Chelsea in 31 meetings. (It took 43 away games for us to beat Liverpool!) For the first time I recall, I found several pundits actually forecasting a Spurs win. Not that "Poch" will allow his men to sit on their laurels, but this is a team in ascendancy, heading for a third consecutive Champions League season (yes, we all know what other teams have done, thanks), whilst Chelsea will no doubt be changing their manager in the summer, and probably will be opening Mr. Abramovich's purse yet again.
Spurs are and will surely remain the top team in London this season. With one game to play (against Watford at home) we are also heading Paul Yarden's London League this season, as we have done for the last two seasons.
We are the only Premier League team unbeaten (in league games) this calendar year. We are unbeaten in 13 Premier League games now, and have won our last 5 league games. Why, if Manchester City secure the title at The Etihad on Saturday, and perhaps retain an interest in the Champions League, we might even beat them on April 14th. This Spurs team can beat City whatever the case. First up though will be the little matter of winning for the fifth consecutive time against relegation-threatened Stoke City, perhaps even by four goals again!
The "Harry Kane" team has scored 10 goals without him in their last three games. Both Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli have scored three, whilst Son got two against Bournemouth. Eriksen pipped Dele Alli for the Chelsea man of the match vote (8.7 v 8.5), but I have some sympathy with this comment which was posted on the survey page:-
"MOTM was Dele Alli ! Eric Dier pass for the 2nd goal was pass of season! It was special pass from a great player to another special player in Dele Alli! The reason DELE gets MOTM is because his 13km of running in pressing, defending and this overwhelmed Chelsea. Eriksen was magnificent with an unbelievable goal as well. This was a team performance..........."
I also voted Dele man of the match, but I confess to maintaining my utter faith in him throughout this season in which many Spurs fans have been critical. I love you all though!
I'd like to say a word about referee Andre Marriner here. Mr. Marriner, like all officials, takes plenty of stick here and elsewhere over the course of any season, but he has presided over three great wins this season, at home to Liverpool and Man Utd, and now away to Chelsea. I'm beginning to like him too!
· See the spursometer in full.
P.S - Alan Pardew lost his job as West Brom manager after his side's home defeat to Burnley. That's 10 managers departed this season, including two from West Brom, who are 10 points from safety with only 7 games to play.
Results 31.03.18 - 01.04.18
C. Palace 1-2 Liverpool
Brighton 0-2 Leicester
Man Utd 2-0 Swansea
Newcastle 1-0 Hds'field
Watford 2-2 B'mouth
West Brom 1-2 Burnley
West Ham 3-0 S'hampton
Everton 1-3 Man City
Arsenal 3-0 Stoke
Chelsea 1-3 Spurs
Premier League Table - 2017-18
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Man City 31 27 3 1 88-21 67 84
2. Man Utd 31 21 5 5 60-23 37 68
3. Liverpool 32 19 9 4 75-35 40 66
4. Spurs 31 19 7 5 62-26 36 64
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5. Chelsea 31 17 5 9 53-30 23 56
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6. Arsenal 31 15 6 10 58-41 17 51
7. Burnley 31 12 10 9 29-27 2 46
8. Leicester 31 11 10 10 47-43 4 43
9. Everton 32 11 7 14 37-52 -15 40
10. B'mouth 32 9 10 13 39-51 -12 37
11. Watford 32 10 7 15 41-57 -16 37
12. Newcastle 31 9 8 14 31-40 -9 35
13. Brighton 31 8 10 13 28-42 -14 34
14. West Ham 31 8 9 14 39-57 -18 33
15. Swansea 31 8 7 16 25-44 -19 31
16. H'dsfield 32 8 7 17 25-53 -28 31
17. C. Palace 32 7 9 16 31-50 -19 30
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18. S'hampton 31 5 13 13 29-47 -18 28
19. Stoke 32 6 9 17 29-61 -32 27
20. West Brom 32 3 11 18 25-51 -26 20
