Micky Van de Ven has been one of Tottenham's most consistent and reliable defenders this season. However, during their away game against Newcastle last weekend, he had his worst performance of the entire season. The iconic image appeared twice in just 90 seconds: Van de Ven sprawling, his eyes wide with despair as he watched his opponents – first Alexander Isak, then Anthony Gordon – score. Van de Ven, like the rest of the Tottenham defense, couldn't keep up with the speed of Newcastle's attackers. The final score: Newcastle won 4-0.
Defender Micky van de Ven looked dejected after Tottenham's heavy defeat to Newcastle.
According to the cold standards of statistics, Van de Ven made no individual mistakes. But the image of the Dutch center-back falling so easily shows that attacking directly through the middle of the Tottenham defense is an easy task for high-class attacking lines (remember: last weekend's opponents were only Isak and Gordon of Newcastle). On the other hand, both of Tottenham's full-backs made individual errors that directly led to the goal conceded. More worrying for Tottenham: this is actually a persistent weakness in the "Angeball" style of play that many have euphemistically elevated to a philosophy. However beautiful and effective Tottenham's attack is against weaker opponents, their defense is equally weak against stronger ones. When both sides are evenly matched (not to mention when the opponent is slightly better), and both take to the field with the goal of securing all three points, Tottenham's defense will struggle to hold firm.
In the remaining six rounds, Tottenham still have to face Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Man City... All three title contenders are on the list! Man City manager Pep Guardiola recently said that Tottenham could very well be the team to decide the Premier League title this season. Now, it should be the other way around: the three title contenders will decide whether Tottenham qualify for the Champions League or not! There's a high risk that "St Totteringham Day" will arrive very soon. That's the "holy day" that Arsenal fans have coined to mock their arch-rivals in the North London derby: the day Arsenal are guaranteed to finish above Tottenham in the final league table regardless of the results of all their remaining matches.
Less than a week ago, Tottenham seemed to have secured a Champions League spot for next season. Not only did they have a significant advantage over Aston Villa in the race for the top four, but they were also confident with a 90% chance of finishing fifth in the Premier League also qualifying. Now, things are completely different: Liverpool collapsed (losing 0-3 to Atalanta) while West Ham lost 0-2 to Leverkusen in the Europa League. It's still unclear whether the additional Champions League spot allocated by UEFA will go to England or Germany. Assuming England remains limited to four spots, the race for fourth place between Tottenham and Aston Villa will be just as intense and fierce as the title race. And Tottenham fans are now on tenterhooks as their team faces a string of incredibly strong opponents in the remaining six rounds.
Also on Saturday night (April 13th), MU continued to be lackluster, failing to demonstrate any superiority against mid-to-low-tier Premier League opponents. This time, the result was a 2-2 draw against Bournemouth. Erik ten Hag's team has only drawn or lost in their last four league matches. Their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League next season are virtually extinguished. Meanwhile, Man City thrashed Luton Town 5-1 to temporarily take the top spot, with Liverpool and Arsenal yet to play. Goals from Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic showed that Man City still has a much deeper squad than other stronger teams. Rodri, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, and Jack Grealish were all rested for this match, but Man City's goal of a treble remains intact.
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