Tottenham Hotspur: North London story not over quite yet for
By Aaron Coe
Tottenham Hotspur might have won but the story in London is far from over
It has become an expectation the last few seasons that time when Arsenal can no longer catch Tottenham Hotspur and finish above them in the league. In truth since neither team is top four, and Arsenal is smack mid-table, the joy is not quite the same. Add in the fact that Gunners can still spoil Spurs season and finishing above Arsenal just does not seem that important right now, because we Spurs fans are thinking about Wolves and Blues.
Best Case Scenario for Spurs
The bottom line is Tottenham Hotspur do NOT own their own destiny and need a little help somewhere and sometime from one team in particular. Although they temporarily went sixth with the win over Leicester City Spurs did not stay there.
The best possible thing that can happen for Tottenham Hotspur is that Spurs do their job and beat Crystal Palace on Sunday in their Premier League finale AND London neighbors Chelsea beat or draw with Wolverhampton that same day. If Spurs can pick up three points and Wolves get anything less, Tottenham will leapfrog Wolverhampton into 6th place and be guaranteed a spot in Europa League next year.
This result of a Spurs win and a Wolves loss or tie is certainly the best-case scenario for Spurs as it leaves nothing to chance and has Tottenham Hotspur playing some European football in 2020-21 and more importantly picking up the check that comes with it as well as the extra games to balance an unbalanced squad and bleed talent across the pitch.
Another Possibility to Reach Europe
So, the best-case scenario for Spurs and Europe is clear, however, that is clearly not the only possible outcome. Even is Tottenham beat Palace Sunday, if Wolves beat Chelsea, they keep sixth place and Tottenham is again looking for help. And again, Tottenham would be looking for help from rival London club Chelsea, this time to beat Arsenal.
Chelsea and Arsenal will meet Saturday, August 1 at Wembley to decide the FA Cup. The winner of the FA Cup automatically receives the final place in European competition from the Premier League. If Chelsea wins given, they can finish no lower than 5th that opens an additional spot for an English team in Europe and Spurs would then get in as that 7th place team. This same scenario of an additional spot opening up from the Carabao Cup winner – Manchester City – is the reason sixth-place is guaranteed. If Tottenham cannot manage to leap-frog Wolves, then it is up to Chelsea.
Worst Case Scenario for Spurs
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Seventh place is a bit more precarious than sixth, specifically because of the automatic qualification situation and the fact that Chelsea’s opponent Arsenal is NOT in the top 7.
In fact, the best Arsenal can finish is 8th, and worst is 10th, but that may not matter if they manage to beat Chelsea on August 1.
A victory for the Gunners on August 1 does a couple of things. First, it gives the team a trophy, during what has clearly been a down year for Arsenal a trophy helps make things more bearable and gives them something to run their yaps about.
Even worse, winning that trophy would knock that 7th place team out of Europe and if that happens to be Spurs, well it is just a lot to bear.
At this point anything can still happen, come Sunday night, Spurs could be sitting pretty in sixth thinking about how to re-tool the squad for next season and a push for some trophies with the Special One. Then again, Spurs could be sad and scared waiting for the final shoe to drop in seventh place. I know which I want to be, so Come on You Blues, help us Spurs!