Harry Redknapp started it, Arsene Wenger bought into it and Andre Villas-Boas is no longer part of it. No, it isn’t football’s next attempt of diversifying talents with the world’s worst boy band – it is the sub-plot to the end of the season. Whilst City and United fight it out for Manchester dominance and thus the Barclay’s Premier League title, Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelsea do battle for the honour of finishing as the highest placed London club. Or as the rest of England call it – 3rd place.
If Manchester City’s victory over an Emmanuel Adebayor-less Tottenham didn’t crush Spurs’ title hopes and last week’s soul-destroying defeat at the hands of Arsenal didn’t end their ambitions to at least challenge for second, then Manchester United’s 3-1 rout over a Lilywhites side missing influential triumvirate Bale, Parker and Van der Vaart, would’ve at least awakened any dormant fans that had got so carried away with their quasi title challenge to the fact that Champions League football at White Hart Lane next season isn’t looking like the guarantee it was a handful of games ago.
Flick back a week or two in your footballing diary and Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham were 10 points clear of Arsenal, who were fourth, and just half that distance off of league leaders Manchester City. On top of that, they’d just encapsulated the style and spirit they’ve shown in abundance all season with a 5-0 demolition of Newcastle United, who by their own accounts have performed admirably all season, thus extending their cushion on slipping out of the Champions League spots to eleven.
However, since the comprehensive performance at White Hart Lane, which will be best remembered for the romantic partnership Adebayor and Louis Saha struck up within the space of twenty-minutes, Tottenham have let a ten-point lead on the Gunners, who looked depleted of organisation, leadership and confidence at the time, shrink to just four. Now, they’re thirteen points adrift of the top, whilst being just nine away from slipping out of not just the Champions League spots, but European qualification altogether.
Meanwhile, Arsenal’s turbulent season is currently being enjoyed for one of its steadier and more enjoyable spells. The said spell may be nothing more than just two games long in all competitions; however, excluding their nightmare week of successive defeats that have all but ended any trophy hopes for another season, The Gunners are unbeaten since their 2-1 loss to Manchester United, drawing one before winning four on the bounce in the Premier League.
Things could’ve been very different for Arsene Wenger’s side, though: February was deemed successful for Arsenal by the Premier League, with Wenger taking the Manager of the Month award; however March started as toughly as February ended. Having beaten Tottenham 5-2, despite being 2-0 down within 34-minutes, The Gunners then had to travel to Anfield to face newly-crowned League Cup champions Liverpool.
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