Tottenham fans can now breathe a huge sigh of relief after witnessing their beloved club earn a slender 1-0 win over Newcastle on Wednesday night. It may not have been the prettiest of successes but there is no doubting its importance.
That of course being the fact that Mauricio Pochettino has led his club to a third straight appearance in the Champions League after securing a top four Premier League finish once more, and with a return to Europe’s elite next season there can be something of a party atmosphere at Wembley on Sunday.
That said though there is still the small matter of securing third, a position they took on Wednesday night thanks to Harry Kane’s goal just five minutes after the restart in what was a very tight encounter against Rafael Benitez’s Newcastle side.
This means that another win this weekend would assure them of a third top three finish in as many years, to do so they will have to overcome the challenge of a Leicester City side who have already claimed a North London scalp in the past few days.
Leicester added more misery to Arsenal’s away tour in 2018 as the Gunners fell to a 3-1 defeat at the King Power Stadium, a result that saw Arsene Wenger’s side go down to 10 men in the first half as they were simply outclassed by the Foxes.
That performance shows that the East Midlands outfit are not quite on the beach as many had thought they were a week or so ago and it will be interesting to see just how much of a test they can provide for a Tottenham side who are admittedly running out of gas.
It seems as if Tottenham expended all their energy against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Easter Sunday as since they have been out of sorts, although they have picked up three Premier League wins since it is fair to say that they have laboured to them.
Tottenham may well have got over the line in terms of Champions League qualification but they did so in the least convincing fashion, whether this is due to them expending so much effort over the past few months is something that is up for debate.
Another point that can be argued is whether Harry Kane is at full fitness after his return from an ankle injury. The England international was the right man at the right time on Wednesday night but had he been fully fit then the race for the Premier League Golden Boot could have been a lot tighter going into the final day.
Tottenham’s penultimate game of last season saw Kane score a glut of goals against Leicester City and he will have to do something similar if he is to win the scoring award for a third consecutive season, unfortunately for him it looks as If it will be a step too far.
He will however want to lead Tottenham to victory and make sure that after the bitter disappointment of another trophy less season they can at least end proceedings on a high, something they will do in a both teams to score win at Wembley.