St Totteringham Is Not Looking Good

I don't think he'll make it to his holiday this year.  Spurs demolished Manchester United in about seven minutes yesterday to put Champions' League in serious doubt for United and make second place the likeliest spot for Tottenham at season's end.  I was hoping for a draw, but this was my second favorite result.  I want Champions' League more than I want to finish above Spurs.  It's about time, for both clubs, that this idiotic fluke ends.  Really, who cares?  It would be annoying to see Tottenham win the league, but if Leicester falters and they win out, they'll deserve it.

Would Carroll have scored three times with Mertesacker on the pitch?  I doubt it.  But Carroll has not been a world-beater this year; who knew?  Yet at halftime...but that's madness.  I looked at stats, and Arsenal gave the ball away an astonishing number of times, far more than West Ham.  That was our main problem.

So, ECL is in our hands, but those hands have not been exactly safe.  The showdown with Man City looms as the biggest game remaining.  I think it's important to finish above them.  Besides, it would be so crazy to see City and Chelsea not in the top three, and Leicester in the top spot.  We'll know soon whether Dortmund can end Liverpool's Europa League dreams; I hope so.  If the Reds win that cup, they'll take the fourth Champions' League slot, making the City game a must.  The commentators noted that City has a dreadful record against the top five (other then themselves) this season.  It was astonishingly bad, something like 0-2-7, with just us left to play.  We do seem to match up well against them for some reason, so fingers crossed.  If we win that game and take care of business against the lower ranked squads, it will give the Spuds something to think about besides Leicester, and of course we'd cruise into third.  But a single slip-up could actually put us into the Europa League should Liverpool win that cup.

Tottenham is about to build a new stadium.  My guess is that they'll use Delli Alli, Harry Kane, Christian Erickson, or Eric Dier for part of the down payment.  It's their pattern.  They've been very fortunate to have sold a few players at or near their peak to keep their squad fresh and strong.  (An argument can be made that the Bale money was mostly wasted, but they did get Lamela with it.)  Not every excellent young player fulfills his potential.  (Tell the Gunners about it.)  Arsenal would have been advised to sell Walcott and Wilshere years ago when other teams were interested.  Now you'd have a hard time getting serious money for either one.  Tottenham will be sorely tempted by a 60M pound offer for Kane or 30M for Alli.  They really are a selling club, even more than Arsenal was when we were getting laughed at for it.