Still in fourth place

...but preparing for heartache...

Congratulations to the Arsenal in their first leg Champions League (tm) semi-final win over Villareal. One-nil to the Ar-se-nal.

On Saturday, let's hope it's the other way round. It's the last ever North London derby at Highbury. Unfortunately, Arsenal are not buggering off back to South London from whence they came - interlopers.

Tottenham have spent nearly five months in 4th place in the English Premier League. That's a remarkable run. Rarely will you see a team stick at one spot for week after week - Sunderland this season is another exception (woops).

With fourth place comes an invite to next season's Champions League (tm).

This blog has mentioned previously that Spurs have ridden their luck and have at many times this season not looked Champions League (tm) material. That's still the position.

Of course,Champions League is what Donutball wants. That's what long suffering Spurs fans desire (though finishing above Arsenal is probably more important). Spurs are a big club. But, we want to see a good run in Europe, not a hello/goodbye Everton performance. So, maybe the UEFA Cup isn't that bad. It's been great for Middlesbrough.

After a bad loss on Easter Monday to United of Manchester (though how many of their fans come from the third city) puts Arsenal in the driving seat for the 4th spot.

So. Saturday's derby has extra spice. Whichever way, the four point gap ensures that Spurs will stay fourth for at least another weekend.

But, we're preparing for heartache.

After Saturday, Arsenal finish with:

• Sunderland (away) - should be three points
• Man City (away) - Jekyll and Hyde (which is Stuart Pierce?)
• Wigan (home) - the last game at Highbury, would you bet against a win

Spurs have:

• Bolton (home) - even though they can't buy a win, it's a nasty match at this time of the season
• West Ham (away) - as if West Ham needed further incentive to turn us over

Well, still in fourth place today.