Tottenham’s thrilling win against Manchester City proves that they can beat anyone on their day, but do they have the consistency needed to finish in the top four?
Home defeats to Southampton and Wolves were very damaging. The latter loss was particularly painful, as Wolves were able to move ahead of Spurs in the race for Champions League football.
Despite the win at Manchester City, Tottenham are eighth in the Premier League, albeit with games in hand on many of the teams in front of them. Wolves are a point ahead of them in seventh place, with Spurs holding a game in hand.
Arsenal are sixth and the only team that have played 23 games, like Tottenham. The Gunners hold a three point advantage and like Spurs, have the advantage of not being in Europe.
West Ham are fifth, but with only three more points than Tottenham, who have three games in hand. Spurs can even move ahead of fourth placed Manchester United, who they also have three games in hand on and trail by seven points.
Both Spurs and Arsenal have reason to cheer on Manchester United’s efforts in the Champions League and West Ham’s in the Europa League. The longer the pair go on in the knockout stages of the competition, the more likely it will be that their Premier League form will suffer.
Assuming the current top three will secure their places, it looks likely to be a very competitive fight for the final spot. It’s Arsenal that are favoured to finish fourth by the bookies from this blog. That seems a fair assessment, as not only do they have games in hand on West Ham and Manchester United, but Arsenal have also proved adept at beating the teams that you would expect them to.
Manchester United are the second favourite to grab that fourth spot, with Tottenham third, West Ham fourth and Wolves fifth. Spurs are going to have to be very consistent to win the fight and much depends on the fitness of key players.
It’s no coincidence that Tottenham’s form has suffered during a time when they were often without either or both of their best centre-backs, Cristian Romero and Eric Dier. Their future involvement is crucial and it goes without saying that Spurs also need Heung-Min Son and Harry Kane to remain fit.
The win against Manchester City also served as a showcase for the quality of new signings Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski. They looked like they can make a real difference, as Spurs battle against a quartet of teams for a Champions League place.
The two home losses were gut punches and if won, would have propelled us as favorites. That said, we really had a depleted squad then, and I hope that when they return it won’t be too late. Credit to the teams we are chasing, but regardless of what they do, we need to just take care of our end. On present form, I’m not sure what to expect.
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It is more likely that the two’s Premier League form would deteriorate the longer they play in the competition’s knockout stages.