While yet another comical Tottenham Hotspur managerial search is set to continue into the summer, at least the football has come to an end. Sunday’s finale certainly feels like a formality, though there is still something to play for technically (and the opposing perspective is substantially different, of course).
The highlight of Spurs season probably has nothing to do with the club itself, as Arsenal has completely choked away its best shot at a title in extraordinary fashion. This needs to be a wake-up call for Tottenham, though, as it is hard to see how this team has progressed in any way under the past two regimes.
For those hoping for Conference League action next season, here are the scenarios for the final day:
- Tottenham win + Villa draw/loss
- Tottenham draw + Villa loss + Brentford draw/loss
Anyone who prefers to stay out of Europe (your author included): just root for the opposite. Most simply, any Villa win, or equal result to Tottenham, will keep Spurs out of the top seven.
Leeds United (t-18th, 31pts) vs. Tottenham Hotspur (8th, 57pts)
Date: Sunday, May 28
Time: 11:30 am ET, 4:30 pm UK
Location: Elland Road, Leeds, England
TV: CNBC (USA), BT Sport 1 (UK)
Apologies, Leeds, for not yet mentioning the real stakes of this match. With Southampton already resigned to its fate, there are three teams remaining for the final two relegation places; Everton has a two-point advantage and hosts Bournemouth, while Leicester is level with Leeds and hosts West Ham.
Personally, a Leicester-Everton relegation pair would be funny, so a Leeds win and Everton loss works for me. Unfortunately, Leeds has not recorded a single victory in eight league matches and might be bad enough to fall to this embarrassment of a Spurs squad. The stakes are interesting at Elland Road, but the match itself will likely not be.
Recent results:
The reverse fixture was quite entertaining, however, as Tottenham three times had to draw back level. Rodrigo Bentancur (sigh) scored twice in the final 10 minutes to finally put Spurs ahead. It was not the squad’s best performance, but it was exciting and yielded goals, something that cannot be said for many of the other 36 fixtures this season.
More recently, a great first half last weekend was completely erased by a horrendous second half that led to Brentford’s win. There are scapegoats abounding, but it does not feel worth the effort to harp on them when hopefully many of the question marks will be shipped off and replaced over the summer.
Finally, one last cheer for Harry Kane, who could actually be on his way out. Kane has enjoyed an incredible personal season at least, and his free kick-adjacent goal was just the latest example of his quality. It makes a ton of sense for both the club and the striker to finally part ways this summer, but should that happen it will be a tearful goodbye. If that is to be the case, hopefully Kane can make one final memory on Sunday.
