Why Spurs will somehow stay up :(
As a West Ham fan I’d obviously love nothing more than watching Spurs go down, I’m not even going to pretend otherwise, but even with how bad they’ve been it still feels like they’ll wriggle out of it. They’re 17th, just a couple of points above us, and yeah they’ve been shocking for large parts of the season, but they’ve done that thing big teams always seem to do, pick up just enough points when it matters so they’re not quite in the worst spot.
The frustrating bit is it never feels like it’s just decided on the pitch with clubs like them. If Spurs actually went down it wouldn’t just be a laugh for the rest of us, it would mess with this whole idea that the “big six” are untouchable. Those clubs are basically sold as guaranteed Premier League teams, safe investments, global brands that don’t drop out. If one of them goes, suddenly that whole thing looks a bit shaky. Investors start thinking maybe it’s not as safe as they thought, and that affects all of them, not just Spurs.
And that’s where it starts to feel a bit dodgy if we’re being honest. Not in a blatant way where someone’s fixing matches, but more in how everything around them is set up to keep them afloat. They’ve got the money, the depth, the pull to get decisions, the ability to fix problems quickly, all of it. Over a full season it just stacks the odds in their favour. Spurs have been awful, but even then they’re still the ones sitting just above the line instead of properly stuck in it like the rest.
Then you look at this Chelsea game and it just adds to that feeling. Massive match, huge for Spurs staying up, and it’s another one of these “big clubs” on the other side. Chelsea aren’t going to roll over, obviously, but at the same time Spurs going down doesn’t exactly help the image of that whole group. It makes all of them look a bit more vulnerable. You can’t tell me that doesn’t sit somewhere in the background of how these things play out, even if it’s not something anyone ever says out loud.
From a West Ham point of view it just makes it more annoying. We’re the ones needing results, relying on them slipping up again, while they just need a couple more points and they’re safe. That’s how it always seems to go, they’re not even good, but they’ve still got enough about them, on and off the pitch, to stay alive.
So yeah, I’d love to see it, everyone outside their fanbase would, but it still feels unlikely. Not just because of the table, but because of what it would mean if it actually happened. Spurs going down wouldn’t just be one club failing, it would crack that whole “big club” idea a bit, and it always feels like the game finds a way to stop that happening. And when you look at that Chelsea game, you can’t help thinking that even if no one says it outright, keeping one of their own up isn’t exactly the worst outcome for them either.
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