So, another Saturday, another game and another Top four side. I’m not going to lie, at the start of the season, I had this down as loss, and even though we’ve proved we have the ability to beat top four sides with ease, I still had this down as a loss.

Anyway, today we face Spurs. A pontial top four team and definite “one-man team”. By that of course I mean by Gareth Bale. Yeah that’s right,bthe zippy welsh kid we used to play at left-back. It really has been impossible to mention Spurs and not Bale, and even more so after he took every main player award on offer. A feat only matched by Ronaldo. Another baffling thing, is AVB’s opinion of our youth set-up. As good as Barcelona were his words. Really? Can “The Ox” compare with “The Little Maestro”. He apparently thinks so.

The first talking point of the afternoon however was not about Bale nor was it about anyone else on the team sheet. It was about the traffic. “Ha” you think. “What’s this. Some bad joke about one-way traffic?”.  Well my answer to you is no, it was actually about the traffic. KO time was delayed by half an hour due to bad traffic around North London. Spurs Haven’t won a 3:30 KO all season, a good omen perhaps? Our team consists of three changes. Morgans got a dead leg, Yosh can only make the bench, Meaning we have last seasons defence. Shaw comes back from injury, replacing the suspend Foxy. Punch didn’t get any sleep due to the arrival of a baby, So Guly comes in. The Spurs team consists of Gareth Bale, enough said.

We kick off and the improvement from last week is incredible! We outplay them completely for the first few minutes, however Spurs have the first chance to open the scoring. Fonte’s header is a disaster and we can’t clear but luckily Defoe fires into the side netting. Clyne almost scores a cracker after Sir Rickie (Who hasn’t scored from open play in eight) plays a ball and a half through to a flying Clyne who volleys inches wide of Lloris’s right hand post.

In his final contribution of the match before a recurrence of a hamstring injury, Dembele fouled Jay Rod on the edge of the penalty area. SRL struck the resulting free-kick hard and low, thumping the post after a vital fingertip save by Lloris. Guly gathered the loose ball and immediately hooked it back into the penalty area where Steven Davis headed straight at the Tottenham goalkeeper with the goal at his mercy.

When Twattenberg blows his whistle for half time, Were all of them. they’ve only had one hal chance all half with us dominating everywhere. The second half begins with a Spurs attack and  Bale crashing the ball against King Arturs post, although he was flagged offside. Next Lallana creates a stunning chance for himself, by expertly chipping the ball over the head of clueless Dawson, but normal service is resumed when he hits it straight at Lloris.

Our first booking of the afternoon is one of those where you nod and smile as a break down Spurs right is crudely halted by Davis who takes one or the team.  With twenty minutes to go it’s now an even game but Spurs till don’t really look like scoring.  Dempsey lobs a presentable chance over the bar when set up by Adebayor and then the virtually unused King Artur makes a total bollocks of a Huddlestone corner and we get lucky as Vertonghen can’t force it in at the back post.

A tired Punch comes on for Lallana with 10 minutes to go, Then it happens. Bale, who’s done nothing for 85 minutes cuts across Luke and fires a powerful low shot past Boruc. Damn!

Too rub salt into our wounds Wigan won  and Villa had won at Norwich which means that Villa are a point ahead of us and Wigan are just 4 behind with a game in hand.  So much for Villa v Wigan on the last day being a relegation decider and so much for our 39 points being enough to stay up.  Norwich, Sunderland and Newcastle are all still below us so it’s not wrist-slashing time as yet but suddenly, our next game which is away at Sunderland is a relegation 6 pointer.  Win and we’ll be safe, lose and we will be needing something at home to Tony Pulis and his hoofball merchants on the final day.  Shite.  Why can’t we ever do things the easy way?