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A Dilemma For Saints Fans This Weekend In The Premier League Title Race
Monday, 28th Mar 2016 09:19

I don't think there is a Saints fan I have met that doesn't want Leicester City to win the Premier League or perhaps more accurately Tottenham Hotspur not to win it, but this weekend will see mixed emotions.

There will be several big games in the Premier league this weekend where the result matters to Saints before we run out at Leicester City on Sunday.

We will be hoping that near neighbours Bournemouth get something against Manchester City and keep them within our sights.

Then there is Stoke V Swansea, again we need the Welsh side to get something there and stop Stoke leaping above us.

West Ham host Crystal Palace and again we need the visitors to get something preferably a win, if the Hammers win it will make it very difficult to overhaul them.

But the game on Saturday that is a real dilemma for Saints fans is the Liverpool V Tottenham Hotspur fixture, it is fair to say that in the Premier League at least these two teams are the ones that Saints supporters hate the most, in this respect it makes it easy when asked who you want to win the Premier league, with it now seemingly being a two horse race it is between Leicester and Spurs and there is barely a Saints fan alive who would want it to be the North London Yobbo's.

But in terms of our own League position we have Liverpool breathing down our necks and could do with them not taking three points of off Spurs, indeed if Spurs were not in with a shout of the title this would be easy to call, an away win at Anfield would suit us best.

But with the current situation and given we intend putting a dent ( hopefully temporarily) in Leicester's own hopes this game is a double edged sword and personally I'm in a dilemma.

If both we and Spurs win then the momentum will be handed to Spurs in the title chase and I certainly do not want that, but on the other hand I want us to finish above Liverpool, still the only team we have yet to finish above in our entire league history.

All things being equal I think the best results overall would be for us to beat Leicester and take another step towards the Europa League and for it to be a draw at Anfield.

This would mean that Leicester would still have a four point lead over Spurs and would still have a good advantage, and that we would have a five point lead over Liverpool, albeit that they would have two games in hand.

If that happened then all we would need is for Everton to turn over Manchester United at Old Trafford in the final Premier League game of the weekend and we would suddenly be looking at a great shot at the top four.

But we have to keep focused on our own games, technically our trip to Leicester is our hardest game of the season in that you usually can't get any harder than the League leaders away and a look at the table and the Foxes home record confirms that.

But this is a time of year that some teams kick on and others get the jitters and the nerves jangling, we need to be the team that kicks on

Photo: Action Images



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halftimeorange added 10:16 - Mar 28
Is it necessary to use inflammatory words like "hate the most"? I don't like the tactics used by Spurs and Liverpool to unsettle our players but, turn the question on its head, and ask whether Feyenoord and Celtic fans hate the Saints. I have a number of both Spurs and Liverpool supporters as friends and some of them would like to see Leicester win the league because, after this season, with the money the big six are planning to spend, no other club will get a look in. Spurs fans know that their time is coming soon as they potentially have the most talented squad of players, many of them English. Liverpool fans know that there is quite a lot of work to be done by Klopp before they are the finished article. They, too, have a number of English players. Should I cease to support England because Lallana and Clyne are in the side, or Kane, Alli and Dier play for Pochettino and are teammates of Alderwereld? I have no doubt that one or more of the big six will prise Wanyama, Mane and Van Dijk away from us before next season but, before you can say "boo" we'll be back up to Scotland or Holland to replace them. "Boo" that is to Liverpool and Spurs.
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StRipper added 12:24 - Mar 28
Not sure that you need to be quite so sensitive halftime range.
I think all Saints fans generally agree with the gist of what Nick is saying here.
A couple of points too you have made that I struggle to agree with. Why just because the over inflated sense of entitlement 6 are planning to spend lots of money this summer does that make any difference in other clubs ability to overhaul then in the league. I don't remember Man United or Liverpool tightening the purse strings last summer and how is that working out for them?
Also, the generalisation that Saints do not feel warmly towards Spurs and Liverpool just because of transfer wrangling us way wide of the mark. I can't stand then for their arrogance and expectation that they deserve to be given an advantage because they have a fuller trophy cabinet than we do. Not because their football deserves it. Not forgetting Spurs starting the tend of singing or doing as their own which makes me embarrassed for them and slightly appalled. I could go on but I won't as I am sure we have many reasons for wanting to see those two clubs fail. And not because they are competitors to us in the transfer market.
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StRipper added 12:29 - Mar 28
Sorry, phone texting mess up....
'Trend of singing our song' I meant not 'tend of singing or doing'
0

SanMarco added 13:56 - Mar 28
"Hate" in football terminology means "dislike" or "can't stand" rather than actually "hate" - in most cases anyway. Liverpool and Spurs are our two "hate" clubs at the moment but when I meet their supporters I don't hate them.
I find it pretty pointless to agonise over who I want to win a particular match. Basically if Saints need a certain number of points to come 6th, 5th, 4th etc. OK the results of games like Liverpool vs Spurs may ultimately affect that but we don't know how. Let's cheer on the Saints and let the rest turn out as it will.
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IWOZTHERE added 14:24 - Mar 28
Well put San Marco. We want saints to win full stop ! Everything else is secondary until praps the last day of the season. Let's face it, if we go back to when we were on that downward slope before christmas we had a different set of competitors and wouldn't have been cheering quite so loudly then about spuds or scousers losing to say Newcastle or Sunderland.
1

BoondockSaint added 15:25 - Mar 28
What to do, what to do? Hate Scousehampton and dislike Spuds. Like most people, I want Leicester to win the title because it gives hope to all us "smaller" clubs, although, with a bit of envy, since, if Saints had a bit more grit and beat the teams we were supposed to, it could be us.

I'll be happy with the points, but worry that we may have help Spuds and make MoPo look like he knows what he is doing.
0

A1079 added 16:31 - Mar 28
What will be, will be.
1

saintmark1976 added 17:04 - Mar 28
If we beat both Leicester and Spurs then I can not see a problem other than it may just give an opportunity to that moaning "I did not see it" Frenchman from North London.However they would probably "choke" themselves. After all they have done for the best part of the last ten seasons so why should now be any different?
1

DPeps added 17:26 - Mar 28
Leicester winning would be good because a.) it'd be nice for the PL and b.) it means Spurs don't win it! I have mixed emotions about the whole thing because 12 months ago we were on a par with Spurs and were considerably better than Leicester, so there's a bit of 'what if...' for me.

I know this isn't the typical, romantic way of seeing Leicester's success, but... they've been fortunate with injuries this season and all other teams (expect Spurs, sigh) have been very, very poor. Call me bitter but I think that's accurate
1

abingdonsaint added 21:11 - Mar 28
No dilemma whatsoever for me. I want Saints to win against any opponent under any circumstances. If Leicester lose to us but win the league, fine. Rather Spurs don't win it if I'm honest, but as I have said previously, Poch is an excellent manager, and I wouldn't be surprised. Sorry Nick!
1

SaintBrock added 21:48 - Mar 28
Where's the dilemma Nick, I want Saints to stuff Leicester big time and I'll buy a one day pass to Sky TV to be with them all the way. I don't give a monkey's who wins the Premier League this year as long as Saints get to Europe again.

As Koeman would say (probably) its no good worrying what others do we must just keep winning our matches as they come, one at a time and see where that takes us.

If we win all 7 (odds 10,000/1 against?) we get 68 points, it won't win the league but we'll probably catch one or two.
1

Jesus_02 added 00:04 - Mar 29
Of course everyone likes an underdog and it would be nice if someone different won the league but then the odds on Spurs winning at the start of the season would have been pretty long also. Whoever wins deserves it. I can honestly say that if someone asked me who i would like to win the PL apart from saints I would struggle to give an answer.
1

simmo400 added 13:49 - Mar 29
Dont really mind if Saints loose this week and help LCFC to win the league because all Saints fans want to beat Spuds at White Hart Paine and end their hopes. Now that would be sweet.
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