A season in the shade
Points dropped at Selhurst Park, and not only would the ‘choker’ tag have been dusted down for Tottenham again but Chelsea’s pursuit of the title would have begun to take on all the trappings of a procession.
They’re still the hot favourites, of course, but a four-point gap at least presents the illusion of being more bridgeable than seven, especially with tomorrow bringing a potentially tricky away game at Goodison Park for Antonio Conte’s men before Spurs host Arsenal in an intriguing North London derby.
The relief around White Hart Lane will, I suspect, have been shared by most observers of the Premier League because the last thing this season needs is an ending of the whimper rather than the bang variety, even if the former would be more in keeping with a campaign which, barring some improbable final twist, is in little danger of being remembered as vintage.
Of course, it had a ridiculously tough act to follow: Leicester City’s staggering title success of 2016 was one of those once-in-a-generation sports stories which, barely one year on, already feels like it belongs to the dream world.
And all the more so because of the grim waking reality of the sequel, as the champs turned into chumps and, an admirable European campaign notwithstanding, the defenestration of Claudio Ranieri left a sour taste in the mouth.
The general belief at the start of this season was that, after Leicester’s improbable triumph, normal service would be resumed and the natural order restored, with the great powers rendered even more formidable by the influence of heavyweights, old and new, in the dug-outs. But that’s not quite how things have panned out.
A glance at the upper reaches of the table shows most of the usual suspects, including those under new management, are more thereabouts than there.
At Manchester City, Pep Guardiola is experiencing a season without silverware for the first time in his managerial career. Jose Mourinho has made Man United the biggest draw in the land, but not in the way he would have hoped. Jurgen Klopp is still presiding over a work in progress at Liverpool.
And Arsenal have become a soap plot all to themselves, with Arsene Wenger rivalling Ken Barlow for longevity as well as in the love/hate stakes.
None of this has prevented all those with a vested interest continuing to promote the fiction of the Premier League as the greatest show on earth.
Hence, a feverish build-up to Thursday night’s Manchester derby which might have fooled the gullible into thinking that, beyond those wearisome ‘bragging rights’, something of massive significance was at stake, rather than the prospect of a run-out in next season’s Champions League which, if the experience of English sides in recent years is anything to go by, will end in abject disappointment well before the business end of the competition comes into play and the European masters are once again left with the field all to themselves.
As it turned out, the meeting of City and United failed pretty miserably to live up to its inflated billing, the clash of the managerial big beasts proving no more compelling than the action on the pitch which was, for the most part, all bark and bollock, with what passed for bite limited to the silly spectacle of Marouane Fellaini using and losing his head.
We should be thankful therefore that the 2017 season is drawing to a conclusion with the Premier League’s two best teams still vying for top spot. At Stamford Bridge, it’s been to a considerable extent the Conte and Kante show, the midfield dynamo and player of the year the very personification on the pitch of the manager of the year’s raging will to win and tactical shrewdness off it, with the presence of the explosive Eden Hazard adding lethal flair and flash to the machine-like efficiency of the collective.
Spurs fans won’t thank me for saying this but, even though he has declared that his past ties with Espanyol would rule him out ever going to the Nou Camp, I reckon Mauricio Pochettino would be perfect managerial fit at Barcelona, just the man to sort out that fragile defence while ensuring no loss of potency in the attack.
His current team’s stats certainly argue that’s the case: going into tomorrow’s games, Spurs are level with Chelsea on most goals scored (69) but have conceded seven fewer. Liverpool have actually scored one more than both but have shipped a whopping 20 more than Tottenham whose defensive record, at 22 goals against, is comfortably the best in the division.
And even if Spurs have faltered in their failure to convert draws into wins, the added attraction for neutrals - not to mention all those who would be happy to see any club break a title drought of 56 years — is that the holy trinity of Kane, Alli, and Eriksen is something to be savoured at the heart of what, on a good day, is a vibrantly attractive Spurs side.
Whether they are the stuff of champions is another matter, however, and quite apart from how they negotiate their own challenging run-in – which includes a visit from Man U — will depend on Chelsea tripping up, as they did against United, with the finishing line in sight.
Perhaps the most we can dare to hope is that, after last year’s season in the sun, this year’s season in the shade will keep us properly engaged until as close as possible to the final day.
