Spurs fans are getting twitchy
There has been a lot of angst, depression and negativity about our team following Saturday's eighth successive FA Cup semi-final defeat. As this article is a Premier League review, I do not propose to conduct any further debrief or post-mortem of the events. Suffice to say my match report says all I want to say.
Whilst I understand the reactions about the Man Utd game (I was "gutted" after all), I do not understand the amount of pessimism regarding our chances of holding onto our top four place. Spurs fans are getting twitchy, pointing out that if Chelsea win their game on Saturday (at Swansea), they will be only two points behind us.
Allow me to point out that even if Chelsea manage to get 12 points from their last four games (and one of their opponents will be Liverpool), Spurs only need 7 points plus our better goal difference from our four games to hold fourth place. Those games consist of three home games (Watford, Newcastle and Leicester) and one away game. That away game will be at West Brom, who quite probably will have had their relegation confirmed by the time we play them. Arguably Leicester and Newcastle will have nothing to play for when we meet, whilst Watford may still be looking for a point or two to secure Premier league football mathematically. They won't do that against us.
I confidently predict that Spurs will have secured Champions League football by the time we play Leicester on what we hope will be our last Premier League game at Wembley, as we look forward to life in our new stadium at Tottenham. Why, we could even be playing for third place if Liverpool slip up either at Chelsea, or perhaps at home to battling Stoke and even Brighton on the last day. That could depend upon how long the "Reds"' Champions League distractions go on.
It seems a long time since we started this round of league games at Brighton. Jan Vertonghen was voted Spurs' best player, as he was on Saturday against United, and indeed as happened against Man City too. Jan continues to forge ahead in our player of the season vote, whilst Harry Kane recorded less than 5 out of 10 in two of his last three games. Both Spurs and Man Utd have received apologies from the FA, who posted a derogatory tweet about Harry after Saturday's semi-final. Both clubs expressed their disapproval with the original comment.
· Spursometer for Brighton (A)
· Spursometer for Man Utd (FA Cup semi-final)
Results 17-23.04.18
Brighton 1-1 Spurs
B'mouth 0-2 Man Utd
Burnley 1-2 Chelsea
Leicester 0-0 S'hampton
West Brom 2-2 Liverpool
Watford 0-0 C. Palace
Arsenal 4-1 West Ham
Stoke 1-1 Burnley
Man City 5-0 Swansea
Everton 1-0 Newcastle
Premier League Table - 2017-18
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Man City 34 29 3 2 98-25 73 90 C
2. Man Utd 34 23 5 6 65-26 39 74
3. Liverpool 35 20 11 4 80-37 43 71
4. Spurs 34 20 8 6 66-31 35 68
=========================================
5. Chelsea 34 19 6 9 59-34 25 63
=========================================
6. Arsenal 34 17 6 11 66-46 20 57
7. Burnley 35 14 11 10 35-32 3 53
8. Everton 35 12 9 14 39-53 -14 45
9. Leicester 34 11 11 12 49-47 2 44
10. Newcastle 34 11 8 15 35-43 -8 41
11. B'mouth 35 9 11 15 41-58 -17 38
12. Watford 35 10 8 17 42-60 -18 38
13. Brighton 34 8 12 14 32-47 -15 36
14. C. Palace 35 8 11 16 36-54 -18 35
15. West Ham 34 8 11 15 42-63 -21 35
16. H'dsfield 34 9 8 17 27-54 -27 35
17. Swansea 34 8 9 17 27-51 -24 33
=========================================
18. S'hampton 34 5 14 15 33-53 -20 29
19. Stoke 35 6 11 18 32-65 -33 29
20. West Brom 35 4 13 18 29-54 -25 25
