Tough day turned into terrible weekend for Tottenham Hotspur

Alone, losing 2-3 at Old Trafford is not a big deal; taken within the context of this season and the current table and weekend results, the loss was terrible for Tottenham Hotspur. 

Sometimes a team can lose, and the result is not damaging to the team. An example would be when Manchester City fell to Tottenham, Liverpool got closer, but City maintained their place. Alternatively, sometimes when a team loses, the results can be catastrophic, as seem to be the case with Tottenham’s loss to Manchester United. While the loss does not end Spurs’ season or their top chances, things just got a lot more difficult for Tottenham.

Tottenham has been sputtering for a while

Since beating Norwich in December and reaching fifth place, Spurs have struggled with consistency, having won two straight in the league once. While Spurs were unbeaten through December, the draws were a prelude to the fall ahead. After losing to United on Saturday, Tottenham has dropped to eighth in the table and is losing touch with Arsenal and the top four.

Results went against Spurs this past weekend

All seven teams now ahead of Tottenham won this past weekend. Among the top four teams, City’s loss to Spurs is the only loss of the group over the last 20 games combined. Thus while Spurs have won three of their previous five, they have lost ground against all four of those clubs. As Arsenal pulls six points away with a game in hand, the chances of finishing in the top four are fading.

Making matters worse, Spurs are now outside of any European places, games in hand or not.

Manchester United went five points ahead of Tottenham with their win, staying just one point behind Arsenal. Of course, United has played three more games than Arsenal and two more than Spurs but still has five more real points than Spurs.

West Ham managed to hold off a game Aston Villa side to recover from their 1-0 defeat to Liverpool. The Hammer’s next league game is against Spurs on Sunday. Although three points and two matches ahead of Tottenham, the two could be tied with Spurs holding a game in hand come Saturday if the Lilywhites can beat Brighton.

Making matters worse for Tottenham is that Wolverhampton won again, beating Everton1-0 and having Leeds next. Like United and West Ham, the Wolves have played 29 matches, but like those teams, the Wolves also have more points than Spurs.

Spurs, two games in hand – Brighton this week and Arsenal still to be determined – are now must-wins. If Tottenham wins them both, they can jump back ahead of Wolves, West Ham, and even United. However, those are a lot of teams to jump, and the first game in hand did not go so well, and that was against relegation battling Burnley.

Desperate for a win, everyone got one this weekend, but Spurs and what seemed like tough luck against a Ronaldo big day has become a terrible reality Tottenham must face.