Tottenham Hotspur Comparison With Last Season After 32 Games
By Logan Holmes
For all of this season, Tottenham Hotspur have managed to return a better points tally compared with the same period last season. It was only at the end of February that the points tally dropped behind season 2012-13 and in March there has been a drop of another point.
Comparison After 32 Games
At the end of February, after 27 league games, Tottenham were 1 point worse off than last season. Now, having played a further 5 matches their total points is 56 compared with last season’s 58. In spite of the indifferent run of results Spurs are only two points worse off than in season 2012-13 with 6 games to play. In fact, if Spurs had defeated Arsenal at White Hart Lane in mid-March, it would have given them their highest ever points tally after 30 games in the Premier League.
Last season, Spurs went on to finish with a record points tally of 72 but if they were to win their final 6 games, they could actually set a new record of 74 points. In previous seasons, last year’s points haul would have guaranteed a top-4 finish but Spurs finished in 5th place. If Spurs were to achieve a new record this season, they are also likely to finish outside the top-4.
[Photo: Jav The_DoC_66]Comparison With Corresponding Fixtures
Following the defeat by Norwich City at the end of February, Spurs were 3 points better off when compared with the corresponding matches from last season.
Now, having played a further 5 games, the points total shows a deficit of 1 point on last year. Last month Spurs suffered defeats against Chelsea and Arsenal, whereas in the previous season they took 4 points from the corresponding fixtures. The other three results in March matched the outcomes of last season’s games.
End of February: + 3 points
Cardiff City* –
Chelsea – 1
Arsenal – 3
Southampton –
Liverpool –
End of March: – 1 point
* Palace, Cardiff and Hull results are compared with the relegated teams – Wigan, QPR and Reading
At the end of last month’s comparison blog, I wrote, ‘The month of March will have a major bearing on Tottenham’s season and possibly the future of Tim Sherwood as manager’. That certainly could prove the case with more disappointing results and performances against the top teams in both the league and European games.
April, 2014:
Tottenham have only 4 games this month and with no distraction from mid-week European matches they can focus on finishing the season as strongly as possible. They start with a home game against Sunderland next Monday before a game at West Bromwich Albion. They play Fulham at White Hart Lane at Easter and then face Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium.
Last season’s results were:
Sunderland (h) Won 1 – 0
WBA (a) Won 1 – 0
Fulham (h) Lost 0 – 1
Stoke (a) Won 2 – 1
With three of those teams involved in a survival battle, they will be anxious for points to avoid relegation but Spurs will be hoping that they will be able to take maximum points from the four games.