Newcastle United host West Ham in the Premier League on Sunday but, for the second week running, Tottenham Hotspur will have to sit back and wait before they can make their own impression on the relegation race when they face Chelsea two days later.
At this point, I’m still unsure whether it’s advantageous to play first in what has now become a straight face-off between the Hammers and Spurs for the final relegation spot.
No doubt Roberto De Zerbi and his players sat down to watch West Ham’s controversial VAR-fuelled defeat against Arsenal at the hands of Chris Kavanagh last weekend.
But that didn’t seem to do Spurs too much good when they faced Leeds United on Monday.
Granted, the game finished 1-1 and Tottenham certainly started the brighter of the two teams.
But by the end of the second half, they were hanging on for dear life.
Leeds Exposed Tottenham’s Nerves
Much of the focus after that match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium centred around another contentious VAR decision where James Maddison was not awarded a penalty.
But what got lost in all of that was the fact that Daniel Farke’s Leeds side rattled the woodwork twice in the second half and were by far the better team by that stage of the game.
Unfortunately, once again, West Ham will be relying on favours.
This time from Chelsea, who don’t really look to have improved much since Liam Rosenior was sacked.
Tottenham Suddenly Look Rattled
But make no mistake about it, Tottenham look rattled and the way Roberto De Zerbi has behaved has made him look more than a bit tetchy.
During all the fallout from the West Ham-Arsenal VAR controversy, it became increasingly clear he’d become more than a little conspiratorial in his thinking over the whole episode. When asked about a penalty which wasn’t given against his own James Maddison against Leeds, De Zerbi quickly pointed towards the game at The London Stadium: “”Maybe they suffered the pressure of yesterday the West Ham-Arsenal game and VAR. For sure, we suffered the pressure today for the speed of the ball, for the order on the pitch and we didn’t play with patience.”
What this weekend does provide is an opportunity for West Ham to go to St James’ Park and get a result.
That certainly won’t be easy.
But if the Hammers could somehow beat Newcastle, we would at least temporarily move out of the bottom three and give Tottenham a few days to really stew on it.
Everyone wants Tottenham gone because they’re one of the traditional top six. With them out the picture everyone gets to move up a place in the hierarchy, but every footballer when they get out there on the pitch and the whistle blows wants to do their best. It’s the competitive nature of a top footballer. You can’t suppress it.
Unfortunately I can see Chelsea “doing a villa” for their game against the Spuds as it’s only 3 DAYS after their FA cup final game. . It’s ridiculous. Such a short turnaround will only be an advantage to the Spuds. Imagine if we was playing the Toon 3 days after they were in a cup final, we’d be well happy. 😖
But if Chelsea lose the FA cup they’ll be peed off and wanting to take it out on Tottenham hopefully.
There’s bad blood history between Newcastle and Spurs which adds up to wanting Spurs gone.
Looking at recent videos there is no doubt things weigh heavily in whu favour.
Newcastle don’t see whu as a threat to big six which Spurs are considered to be.
With Spurs out the way this possibly opens up top six to be infiltrated by lower club.
Fan quote: Even our own fans want you to beat us (Newcastle). Could be 75% fans calling for whu.
There’s no efficient advantage for Newcastle win but a loss will put extra nail in Spurs coffin.
Anthony Gordon won’t be playing as he’s leaving.
Fan quote: Howe should play lads often on bench and not first team (Villa v Spurs).
VAR will be under scrutiny ( will that make any difference).
Everton game Moyes will also want Spurs gone due to relinquishing a top spot.
Whether Chelsea can make it a whu happy ending remains to be seen.
A loss for Newcastle will put an extra nail in Eddie Howe’s coffin too, don’t forget. So I don’t think he will be wanting his team to take it easy. Quite the opposite.
I firmly believe it is in our own hands, even though we are 2 points behind Spurs. They will drop points, I cant see them picking up more than 1 or 2 over their next 2 games. We have to win both our remaining games to stay up. If we do win on Sunday and Spurs drop in, then I think they will stay there. They are too fragile.
Them playing after us only proves psychologically advantageous for us should we win (possibly).
Should we lose to Newcastle, they factually have a tactical advantage in knowing a simple draw would effectively keep them up.
We just have to go into both matches aiming to win them. If we do, I believe we’ll survive…….key word ‘belief’.
It is however an example of why the last few league matches should be played simultaneously. In modern day football this will never happen due to scheduling to accommodate other competitions and, more obviously, the requirements of the TV puppet masters.