The Race to the Title

[walton]

Leciester have been brilliant this season. Their brilliance is down to 4 players - Vardy, Mahrez, Drinkwater & Kante. But their entire game plan revolves around ability of one player -Vardy. Losing him 2 games is huge problem for them.

If Swansea turn up for the game & give them a fight, I can't see Leicester forcing a win with their usual 35% possession.

Good shout - I'd add Schmeichel to that list too.

 

[oskathegobshite]

Harsh to say it's down to 4 players when their whole season is typified by the team effort. Just look at the job they done on us at home - so disciplined as a unit.

 

[wadewill]

Well, if Lollerpool win the EL and Man C win the CL then no, we would have to get 3rd place for CL. However, as Arsenal have to play away at Man C it complicates matters a bit. I think we need to get 73 points to guarantee finishing above 4th place and hope our GD holds up.

That's only if city finish 5th. They won't. 5 teams can get in from one country

 

[Roynie]

That's only if city finish 5th. They won't. 5 teams can get in from one country

I'm thinking of worst case scenario, we are Spurs after all! :-D

 

[dave5150]

Harsh to say it's down to 4 players when their whole season is typified by the team effort. Just look at the job they done on us at home - so disciplined as a unit.

Agreed. I think what would really hurt them is if Vardy is banned against Man U as well.
I think they have the quality to beat Swansea, even without Vardy and definitely shouldn't lose to them. Man U is another matter, though.

 

[Sweech]

Not sure I buy this talk of Chelsea rolling over for Leicester. Chelsea fans on Twitter are convinced it will happen and they will lose on purpose.

Why would they? How many of their first team and coaching staff are Chelsea fans? (rhetorical - although @THFCSPURS19 will probably know)

They are professionals and would surely want get a good result for a win bonus, a goal bonus, more TV money from finishing higher, etc.

I can agree that they would probably be more fired up to beat us, that's a given. It would be talked-up more, the fans would be more up for it and the players would feed off that - even the non-Chelsea supporting majority. But I can't see why they would deliberately throw the game against Leicester in the manner that their fans on Twitter and some on here seem convinced of.

Meh West Ham fans thought the same and we all saw how that panned out.

 

[Drink!Drink!]

so newcastle and city tonight - I am thinking a draw is the best result for us.

Gives city a point so they won't fall out of the top 4 (in case they win the CL and all that), but still gives Man U some small hope, keeping them honest for their game with leicester.

Don't want a newcastle win as that might mean they could still be fighting for their lives on the last day, presume it's better for us if they are already relegated when we play them.

 

[djee]

Arsenal have 60 points with 5 games to play. Their run in is easy, apart from away to Man C. They are not playing well, so you could be right, but they will really be trying to still finish above us so I wouldn't count on them losing that game. I think they could end up with 75 points, so I think we need to win 2 and draw 1 to guarantee finishing above them.

In the same vein, we are on 68 and are looking like we will beat our highest points total in the premiership. In 1984/5 we won 23 and drew 8 which would be 77 points. We can beat that total and get 80 points if we win all of our games. I think that will win the title as I think Leicester will drop more points yet and after last night's game we can all see that the players are all up for the challenge.

COYS!

You think Sunderland away is easy this time of the season?

 

[oskathegobshite]

Newcastle to get beat please. Want them down on the last day

 

[Nebby]

This.

If Utd can wobble and lose out then so can Leicester. Also Barca have lost their last 4 games or something bizarre, all we can do is play like we have been and win our remaining games. Ideal scenario would be to win the thing at home to Saints with a game to spare but its a long shot.

Agreed. All we can do is win our remaining fixtures. We can't do any more; might be enough, might not be. But what a ride!

 

[Lighty64]

Just keep visualising Siggy banging in a free kick that sees Leicester drop points next Sunday.

Oh and then Defoe compounding Wenger's woes...and Azza teeing up Lukaku against Leicester in a few weeks to put the title in our own hands!


The old Spurs boys could well play some part!

catching it on the half volley from a good pass by Naughton

 

[Nebby]

Newcastle to get beat please. Want them down on the last day

Don't know if we do. A team that needs a result is a team under pressure. A team with nothing to play for can relax and play with freedom.

 

[djee]

Am I right in saying win next Monday and we have secured top 4 and champs league ?

Yes. Another scenario would be if Utd lost to Palace tomorrow night. We would then need one more point to guarantee top 4 (assuming Liverpool win all their games).

 

[oskathegobshite]

Don't know if we do. A team that needs a result is a team under pressure. A team with nothing to play for can relax and play with freedom.

Have you ever been to St. James' Park? If they have any chance of staying up whatsoever it will be an absolute cauldron of hate, much rather play a team of half arsed relegated mercenaries with one eye on the euros/their holidays/their next club

 

[djee]

so newcastle and city tonight - I am thinking a draw is the best result for us.

Gives city a point so they won't fall out of the top 4 (in case they win the CL and all that), but still gives Man U some small hope, keeping them honest for their game with leicester.

Don't want a newcastle win as that might mean they could still be fighting for their lives on the last day, presume it's better for us if they are already relegated when we play them.

City dropping out of top 4 would have no affect on us regardless so long as we finish above Utd (we need 3 points to guarantee that).

 

[jimmy-jojo]

I'm thinking of worst case scenario, we are Spurs after all! :-D

I think that's a worse case scenario that cannot happen if we get one more win and reach 71 points. 71 points means the only teams who can overtake us is Arse & City. If City fall out of the Top 4 that means the lowest we can finish is 3rd because Man Utd can't overtake us unless there is a highly improbable swing in goal difference.

 

[Legacy]

One of the key aspects now is that the pressure is all on Leicester. They have been top of the league for nearly 5 months straight. Before we kicked off against Man United, they'd just gone 10 points clear with 5 games to play. They went on a run of 5 straight wins without conceding a single goal. They've had the 'fairytale' media coverage and a seemingly endless list of players coming out in public saying they want Leicester to win.

If they don't win the league after this, it'll be one of the biggest anti climaxes in football history. They thought they had the title won. Everybody did. The players, the manager and the fans all know this is their only chance for glory.

They've just lost their winning streak. They've lost their clean sheets run. They've lost their star striker for a game, maybe more. Their best player, and most peoples' choice for player of the year, has hit a dip in form. Their defenders' thuggish antics have been highlighted now and even their fans are getting negative press for their behaviour.

They have to win the league. They have to beat Swansea. They've seen us steamroll the last two teams we faced by a combined 7-0, included scoring three against the best defence in the league, after our own.

They're already cracking. Game on.

 

[arunspurs]

I think that's a worse case scenario that cannot happen if we get one more win and reach 71 points. 71 points means the only teams who can overtake us is Arse & City. If City fall out of the Top 4 that means the lowest we can finish is 3rd because Man Utd can't overtake us unless there is a highly improbable swing in goal difference.

Arse & City face each other as well in penultimate round. Personally, cant see City getting dropped out of top4. Infact the only team looking like dropping out is Arsenal. As for as City, I think if they are guarenteed 3rd they will settle for it - especially with the CL Semis in next 2 weeks.

 

[TaoistMonkey]

can't see us beating Chelsea for some reason.

 

[steve]

I thought that Stoke front four could give us problems but our front four were outstanding tonight.

As I said above, I reckon everyone would have been thinking the home against West Brom would be the easier game this week, but I have a feeling that they'll come and play Pullis's usual 9-1 formation and next monday could be a lot more frustrating than tonight was. I'm expecting an attritional game next week, I reckon you might be paying for the draw. Hope I'm wrong.

I think your bottle's going unnecessarily - yeah West Brom will dig in and play the Pulis way but do you really think it'll be a draw? Not the way this team is playing and not with what's at stake. Tell you what if it is I'll stick a tenner in instead of a fiver...