Statistically it was a great weekend for Spurs!
Not that we crowed about it too much, but when Arsenal lost at Old Trafford on Sunday our supremacy over them in the Premier League was confirmed for the second consecutive year. A draw would have meant the same, and would have given us a better chance of catching Manchester United, but that was always unlikely with United travelling to Brighton this Friday, and West Ham next Thursday before hosting Watford.
As has been previously reported on these pages, it is a full 35 years since Spurs finished above Arsenal in consecutive seasons. Now we have to aim to emulate our record of the early 60s (59-60 to 67-68) when we finished above our near neighbours in no less than 9 successive seasons! A trophy this season would have meant more, and of course we are all hoping that Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid can put paid to any hopes of Wenger's men getting a back door entry to the Champions League. Wenger was given a sincere send-off at Old Trafford with a presentation made by Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho.
A more important result for Spurs was Stoke's battling draw at Anfield, which means that after beating Watford we are just one point behind Liverpool with a game in hand. It's going to be a tougher game than we might have anticipated at West Brom on Saturday afternoon, but if we do get a win we will go third before Liverpool travel to Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Never mind fourth, third place is still in our hands. Many Spurs fans still seem to think that fourth place would mean a play-off to go into the Champions League group stage, but all four English teams will go into that phase this year after a change to UEFA's qualifying criteria, and the ranking of the English Premier League. We do still need 4 (maybe 5) points from our last three games to wrap up that top four place.
The relegation battle looks as if it will be more enthralling right till the last game with Swansea hosting Southampton, then Stoke in their last two games. At this stage there remain a number of permutations, including the dream of Championship football in The London Stadium!
Hugo Lloris was your clear man of the match against Watford, with strong showings by Kieran Trippier and Jan Vertonghen. This was Hugo's best result in the Spurs Odyssey poll since a heroic performance in our away draw against Real Madrid. Real have reached their fourth Champions League final in five years and with Liverpool likely to go through tonight against Roma, we should be able to say that this season we have beaten this year's Champions of Europe, and beaten them well. That's a fact that hurts when once again we will have no trophy to show for our efforts this season.
· See the spursometer in full.
Results 28-30.04.18
Liverpool 0-0 Stoke
Burnley 0-0 Brighton
C. Palace 5-0 Leicester
Hds'field 0-2 Everton
Newcastle 0-1 West Brom
S'hampton 2-1 B'mouth
Swansea 0-1 Chelsea
West Ham 1-4 Man City
Man Utd 2-1 Arsenal
Spurs 2-0 Watford
Premier League Table - 2017-18
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Man City 35 30 3 2 102-26 76 93 C
2. Man Utd 35 24 5 6 67-27 40 77
3. Liverpool 36 20 12 4 80-37 43 72
4. Spurs 35 21 8 6 68-31 37 71
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5. Chelsea 35 20 6 9 60-34 26 66
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6. Arsenal 35 17 6 12 67-48 19 57
7. Burnley 36 14 12 10 35-32 3 54
8. Everton 36 13 9 14 41-53 -12 48
9. Leicester 35 11 11 13 49-52 -3 44
10. Newcastle 35 11 8 16 35-44 -9 41
11. C. Palace 36 9 11 16 41-54 -13 38
12. B'mouth 36 9 11 16 42-60 -18 38
13. Watford 36 10 8 18 42-62 -20 38
14. Brighton 35 8 13 14 32-47 -15 37
15. West Ham 35 8 11 16 43-67 -24 35
16. H'dsfield 35 9 8 18 27-56 -29 35
17. Swansea 35 8 9 18 27-52 -25 33
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18. S'hampton 35 6 14 15 35-54 -19 32
19. Stoke 36 6 12 18 32-65 -33 30
20. West Brom 36 5 13 18 30-54 -24 28
