Saturday Results Again Favor Tottenham Climb to Top Four

As Tottenham Hotspur looks to continue their long climb back to the top four against archrival Arsenal on Sunday results from Saturday again favor moving up the table. For the second straight weekend, the teams that played before Tottenham on Saturday dropped points, giving Spurs a rare opportunity to move up positions in the Premier League table.

Tottenham Still Need Others to Drop Points

Let’s face it, Tottenham Hotspur put themselves into one heck of a hole during their winter swoon. While it seems like the Lilywhites have found their form on the pitch, the deficit in the table they left themselves meant they also needed some help to move up. Fortunately for Tottenham, some of the teams’ Spurs needed to falter have done just that.

Liverpool picked up whatever Tottenham had

Liverpool had gone on one tremendous run with 68 straight home matches without a loss from May 2017 until January of 2021. However, whatever it was that seemed to plague Tottenham during the winter and turn wins into ties and ties into defeat caught up with the Reds. Liverpool has even done Tottenham one better.

Whereas the Spurs lost five of six during their poor run in the League, Liverpool has now lost six of their last seven matches. The Reds now sit two points behind the Lilywhites and the Spurs have a game in hand. Now Liverpool, along with Aston Villa – who were part of the contingent in Tottenham’s way are both behind hoping Spurs drop points.

Three teams still stand between Tottenham and the top four

Chelsea, West Ham, and Everton still stand between Tottenham and that position in the Champions League places the team desperately wants and needs. Everton has had a particularly tough week.

On Monday the Toffees lost to Chelsea 2-0 at Stamford Bridge. That loss was followed by a big loss at home to Burnley 1-2 on Saturday. The Clarets taking all three points at Goodison Park has major implications on both ends of the table. Still, in 15th place, Burnley now finds themselves 7 points clear of 18th place Fulham who are preparing to face Manchester City as this is being written. Seems Stone Cold Sean Dyche and company will once again avoid the drop.

As for Everton, those six dropped points are a real gift to Tottenham who sits one point behind the  Toffees with Arsenal to play on Sunday. A Tottenham win puts the LIlywhites two points up on Everton with both teams having 10 games left to play, including a crucial head-to-head match-up in mid-April in Merseyside.

Chelsea and West Ham will still take time to catch

Chelsea did drop points on Saturday, drawing 0-0 with Leeds United in the lunchtime game. Chelsea is still unbeaten under new manager Thomas Tuchel and is VERY difficult to score against. Alternatively, Chelsea has yet to score more than two goals in any match under Tuchel.

The Blues have been held scoreless three times and have now dropped points in three of their last five matches. Sure Chelsea is not losing right now, but Tottenham will gladly take the two points from Saturday. Chelsea’s schedule is quite favorable until the very end when they close against four top 10 teams. It may not be until the Blues hit Manchester City, Arsenal, and Leicester on consecutive match-days toward the end of the campaign before the Blues drop three full points but Tottenham and every other chasing team will take what they can get now.

Speaking of taking what they can get, West Ham plays on Sunday like Tottenham and will be glad to have the chance to make up ground on Chelsea who sit just three points ahead of the fifth-place Hammers. Whereas Chelsea’s schedule does not get really difficult until the end, West Ham is about to hit a difficult stretch of games.

Starting Sunday with Manchester United, West Ham play four consecutive tough matches. After United, the Hammers face Arsenal, Wolves, and Leicester City. While Chelsea and Everton still loom on the Hammer’s schedule after that run, the rest of their matches are quite winnable, so hopefully, West Ham drop points over the next several games.

Tottenham still have to win to make up the ground

All of these teams dropping points or having the potential to drop points is well and good. However, for it to mean anything significant, Tottenham still has to take care of business and beat Arsenal on Sunday. Following Arsenal, the Spurs have a few winnable matches with Villa and Newcastle in store ahead of Manchester United and Everton on consecutive match-days.

We always knew this climb would be long we also knew to make the climb Tottenham would have to win. Three weeks ago Tottenham was in ninth place, with a win Sunday, the Spurs will be no worse than sixth and will be no more than three points back of fourth. At this point, it really is in the team’s own hands, win and they can continue to climb and reach many of their goals this season and the target should still be at least 68 points.

Of course, if they lose to Arsenal all those other teams will be thinking about their fortune from the points the Spurs would have dropped and Tottenham will once again be facing an opportunity lost. We prefer what comes with the win.