Tottenham Fans Will Be Fully Paid Up Wigan Supporters Tonight

As Arsenal take on Wigan Athletic at the Emirates this evening, every Tottenham supporter will become a fully paid up member of the Wigan fan club for 90+ minutes, willing the FA Cup winners to another incredible victory in their battle to avoid an FA Cup/relegation double.

Photo: from Super Tottenham from The Lane on Facebook

Tottenham’s win at Stoke ensured that the decision about Champions League qualification would go to the wire on the final day of the season. Spurs are now in need of a little assistance as Arsenal must drop points in one of their final two matches, if Spurs are going to beat them to a fourth place finish in the Premier League.

For the past number of weeks, Tottenham fans’ loyalties have been shifting all around the country. For a couple of weeks they were up north in Manchester as we trusted United to dent Arsenal’s and Chelsea’s Champions League ambitions. Let down by the Champions who took only one point from the two matches, Spurs then looked to the Midlands and Aston Villa in the hope that they could halt Chelsea. After a promising start on Saturday lunch-time it all ended in tears. Now the focus is back to the north-west and Wigan’s chance of repeating their annual last gasp escape from relegation.

Groundhog Day

Tottenham have been here before. Last season, it was West Brom who received our favours but an inept goalkeeping display by a former Tottenham reserve, Marton Fulop, proved them to be useless. Having missed third and knowing that a Chelsea win in the Champions League final would deprive Spurs of their rightful place in the competition we backed Bayern Munich. Where Barcelona had failed in the semi-finals, Bayern couldn’t possibly let us down. When did a German team ever lose a penalty shoot-out? Last year against Chelsea.

In May, 2006, it was Wigan who could have ensured that Martin Jol’s Tottenham team reached their first Champions League competition. Again after raising our spirits early on, it all tailed off disappointingly and a stricken Tottenham were unable to take the three points at Upton Park allowing Arsenal to snatch fourth.

Ever Hopeful

Wigan’s position is so precarious that they need at least six points from the last two matches so a win is essential. Spurs fans will be hoping that Wigan can achieve that win or even take a point which would help Tottenham’s cause and see them going into the final day in 4th place, knowing that they are in control of their own destiny.

If, however, Arsenal do take the three points and move above Spurs, Tottenham supporters thoughts will be transferred to the north-east. At the weekend which always proves to bring a dramatic conclusion to the season, while willing Spurs to a win over Sunderland at White Hart Lane, supporters will be relying on Newcastle United to halt Arsenal’s march to a 16th successive Champions League campaign.

If we have to rely on Newcastle, I hope the players show a greater enthusiasm for the match than their manager. In his post-match interview after Newcastle’s win at QPR which ensured their Premier League survival, Alan Pardew was reported in the Daily Mail as saying,

"‘I don’t care if Arsenal win 4-0. I’m sure Spurs will. We will play hard against Arsenal.’"

He has since tried to play down the comments which caused consternation among Newcastle and Tottenham supporters. The official Newcastle United web-site commented that he had been joking with reporters after the match and Pardew said,

"“It is definitely not the case that I would be happy for us to lose 4-0 against Arsenal on Sunday. I simply want our players and fans to be able to enjoy the game without looking over their shoulders."