A St Totteringham's Day Diary.
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Mostly written by Mike Pitt. You can contact me by email on mike-stt@einval.com. Nice
comments only please.
I'm also @sttottsday on twitter.
Original material © Mike Pitt 2004, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
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St Totteringham's Day was the day when Arsenal fans celebrate the fact that Tottenham can no longer catch Arsenal in the League. It is a movable feast, but usually falls in March, April or May. It was the day to collect on bets made by over-optimistic Spurs fans in the close season who think that "this is the year".
See the links on the left for more information.
Fri, 03 Jul 2020
Lockdown football...
Well isn't this weird. Football in July.
Spurs loss to Sheffield Utd last nigth means that with six games to go Arsenal are genuinely a whole one point in front of them. Given our woeful restart to the season I really didn't expect that.
So I am actually dusting this down and having a look at our run ins. Arsenal have...
Wolves (A) Leicester (H) Spurs (A) Liverpool (H) (FA Cup Semi v Man City) Aston Villa (A) Watford (H)and Spurs have
Everton (H) Bournemouth (A) Arsenal (H) Newcastle (A) Leicester (H) Crystal Palace (A)
Sadly I know which run in I'd rather have... The fan free derby game might prove important too. On the other hand we have our noses in front so fingers crossed.
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Thu, 25 Apr 2019
We lost again...
It's not happening this year. Being honest losing like we did last night
we don't deserve it...
There is always the outside chance that this season continues down the everyone trying to outdo each other for being rubbish but somehow I think St T won't be back until 2020. If I'm proved wrong I'll be back here.
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Wed, 03 Apr 2019
Oops
I appear to have lost one fixture each from my run-in list. So I've
redone it with dates.
| Arsenal | Spurs | |
| 3 Apr | Crystal Palace (h) | |
| 7 Apr | Everton (a) | |
| 13 Apr | Huddersfield (h) | |
| 15 Apr | Watford (a) | |
| 20 Apr | Manchester City (a) | |
| 21 Apr | Crystal Palace (h) | |
| 23 Apr | Brighton & Hove Albion (h) | |
| 24 Apr | Wolves (a) | |
| 27 Apr | West Ham United (h) | |
| 29 Apr | Leicester City (h) | |
| 4 May | Brighton & Hove Albion (h) | AFC Bournemouth (a) |
| 12 May | Burnley (a) | Everton (h) |
... and the table extract while I am here
| Games | Points | GD | Points behind/ahead | (games left) | (max points) | |
| Arsenal | 31 | 63 | +26 | |||
| Spurs | 31 | 61 | +24 | 2 | (7) | (82) |
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Tue, 02 Apr 2019
Well, well, well...
So Spurs lose the first of the two massive games in the run in, and
Arsenal, incredibly, don't fluff our chance to move above them. The
bottle jobs still have a tougher run in too..
| Arsenal | Spurs |
| Everton (a) | Brighton & Hove Albion (h) |
| Watford (a) | Huddersfield (h) |
| Crystal Palace (h) | Manchester City (a) |
| Leicester City (h) | West Ham United (h) |
| Brighton & Hove Albion (h) | AFC Bournemouth (a) |
| Burnley (a) | Everton (h) |
Now Arsenal fans know we are more than capable of messing up, but I'd rather be two points ahead with 7 to play than 2 behind. St Totteringham's may be back this year, albeit a late one. I won't put the table in, but just mention in passing Arsenal have 63 points and a GD of +26 with more goals scored than Spurs who only have 61 points and +24.
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Tue, 12 Mar 2019
Suddenly it looks close.
The Spurs title challenge has done exactly what every Arsenal fan knew
it would.
It came to resounding splat. Moreover Spurs could now finish sixth in the three horse race for the title. Admittedly they still have a point lead on Arsenal but the run in favours the Gunners.
| Arsenal | Spurs |
| Newcastle (h) | Liverpool (a) |
| Everton (a) | Brighton & Hove Albion (h) |
| Watford (a) | Huddersfield (h) |
| Crystal Palace (h) | Manchester City (a) |
| Leicester City (h) | West Ham United (h) |
| Brighton & Hove Albion (h) | AFC Bournemouth (a) |
| Burnley (a) | Everton (h) |
There are plenty of games in there that either team could lose, but they should win. Watford for us and West Ham for Spurs jump out in that category.
However Spurs have two huge games Liverpool and City, which could easily be two heavy defeats. However the race for St T's or not is going to the wire this season.
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Tue, 24 Jul 2018
Just setting up ready for the new season.
It's only July but I thought I should get the new season tag ready here and on the history page.
It will be an interesting start to the season: a new coach at Arsenal means that expectation is higher than this time last year. Spurs may also find the first few weeks tricky due to construction issues and a possible world cup hangover. However this season is a transition one, so if a good start doesn't materialise I'd expect it to be three in a row. And I'll be annoyed...
Oh I should just confirm that the date Spurs finished above us last season was 29th April, following our 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford.
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Tue, 17 Apr 2018
It could be tonight...
After Arsenal's loss at Newcastle the situation has moved on a little.
If Spurs win tonight at Brighton then that's it, Spurs finish above us two years in a row. To be honest given the respective form I'd be surprised if this didn't happen.
However, if it is a draw or loss then it moves onto the weekend. Arsenal will need to do better at home to West Ham than Spurs did at Brighton to keep it alive. That is to say if Spurs draw we must win, if they lose a draw would keep it alive until our journey to Old Trafford on the 29th.
If Spurs lose tonight and we draw on Sunday then I'll need to point to the thing about goal difference not being enough that I wrote before the weekend! Arsenal would be on 55 with four to play, which would allow them to match Spurs' current 67. They'd need another point to be certain.
To add to the glee of Spurs fans I'm going to admit that we are now in a foot race with Burnley for 6th and we may not even get Europa League football next year. The match on May 6th is looking very big.
Burnley have a tough fixture on Thursday (Chelsea (h)), but winnable on those two teams current form. Ignoring that and the match against us, they have three other games and I think they could easily get all nine points (Stoke (H), Brighton (A), Bournemouth (H)).
On the other hand we have three away games: Manchested United and Leicester have to be favourites to win those two, but surely we will win at Huddersfield on the last day. I think we'll beat West Ham though.
So predictions going into May 6:
- Arsenal beat West Ham and lose at Old Trafford. That means we have 57 points.
- Burnley will win 2 out of 3 (Chelsea, Stoke, Brighton) putting them on 58
- Arsenal would have two away games left, and Burnley one home one at that point.
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Thu, 12 Apr 2018
Could be the anti-Saint's day this weekend
While it is unlikely it is possible that this weekend could mark the
second successive failure of Arsenal to finish ahead of that lot from
down the road. So to be fair I thought I ought to quickly run through
possible events ahead of the weekend.
At the moment Spurs have 67 points and Arsenal have 54. They both have six to play. So the gap is 13 points and Arsenal can get 18 points. To be mathematically certain Spurs need to get 6 points, or for Arsenal to drop six points or some combination that adds to six. This can happen in one weekend. However, please note a five point swing is simply not certain. The goal difference is worth a point to Spurs but only at the end of the season; also note if it comes into play they'd have lost five matches, and Arsenal won five. That means a minumum GD swing of 10 (which is admittedly only half the required change, but thats the minimum.)
I'll say again: it won't come to that, it's about when not if now.
So what can happen:
- Worst case in footballing terms: Spurs beat City, and we lose in a lunchtime kick off to Newcastle the next day. Both are certainly possible, we are rubbish at early KOs and away from home, and City are fragile at the moment.
- Worst case mathematically: Spurs beat City and we draw at Newcastle. Then I'll be on twitter trying to explain what I wrote above. The Saint won't be quite dead for the year but he won't be hanging around long.
- Anything else: The Saint is on life support for another week or two. I'll post after the weekend with an update.
So Spurs fans almost time to collect on those bets. Unless Harry Kane claims them all...
Update: In other cheery news today is the anniversary of Arsenal's only relegation back in 1913, down with three games to spare and only 16 points from 36 (19 if 3 for a win which is still pretty grim!).
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Fri, 16 Mar 2018
A second inglorious year
This post is really for Spurs fans. Arsenal fans look away now.
It's not good.
Anyway the table looks a bit like this (as of today):
Tottenham P30 61pts +34GD Arsenal 30 48 +14So we are currently 13 points behind with 8 to play. We can max out on 48+(3x8)=72 points so Spurs need another 12 to be sure (given the goal difference 11 is probably enough, however if they only get 11 from 8 games the GD will change too). Alternatively Arsenal losing is worth 3 points, and drawing is worth 2 to Spurs, as that is what it reduces are maximum total by.
Trying to predict a date for the dreadful day is made trickier by Arsenal's rampant unpredictability this season.
Looking the April fixtures Arsenal should beat Stoke, Southampton and West Ham at home, but away trips to Newcastle and Manchester United look dodgy. I think we might drop some points.
Spurs on the other hand should beat Stoke and Brighton away, but I have no idea about the match at Chelsea. Lets call that a draw. I think on current form City will win at Wembley.
Putting that together I think after the match at Brighton Spurs will have 68 points, and Arsenal may be looking at a 69 point maximum at that stage. So the anti-St-T's will be on the 23rd if West Ham get a point, or the 29th if Manchester United remember to score a goal, or the 30th if Spurs beat Watford.
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Sat, 13 Jan 2018
Gaps between league titles? Is 14 years too much for one man?
Not looking good at the moment, so I'll talk about history.
I think most Arsenal fans know the significance of the number 18 when it comes to gaps between our league titles. 18 years is the longest gap between titles since we first won it back in 1931. It has happened twice, either side of the Bertie Mee 1971 double team.
However these gaps usually had several managers (in the 1953-1971 we had Whittaker, Crayston, Swindin, Wright and Mee; in the second gap Mee, Neill, Howe, and Graham (and Burtenshaw as caretaker)). So I thought which managers have had the longest dry runs in the league for Arsenal.
Ignoring caretakers and those who had under three seasons...
Manager Seasons Then what? Years without a title Neill 1976-1983 left job in 7th season 7 Chapman 1925-1931 won in sixth season 6 Bradshaw 1899-1904 left job in fifth season 5 Whittaker 1948-1953 Won in 5th season 5 Mee 1966-1971 Won in 5th season 5 1971-1976 left job after 5th season 5 Kelso 1904-1908 left job in 4th season 4 Swindin 1958-1962 left job in 4th season 4 Wright 1962-1966 left job after 4th season 4 Graham 1991-1995 left job in 4th season 4 Allison 1938-1947 Left job after three seasons 3 Howe 1983-1986 left job in third season 3
Of course one person is missing. If Wenger doesn't win the league this season (and noone thinks he will) then it'll be 14 years. Surely this is indulging him to excess if we are still a club which starts with the ambition of winning the league?
A small footnote: 1938-1947 only covered three full seasons. 1938/9, 1945/6 and 1946/7.
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