WITH the euphoria of Arsenal winning the league still swirling around the Emirates, the fans of Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United will hope they too can revel in the delight of staying up in the English Premier League.
In an extraordinary relegation battle that has stretched all the way to the final day of the season, Spurs take on Everton, while West Ham are at home to Leeds United tomorrow.
As things stand, Spurs have a slight edge. They are two points clear of 18th-placed West Ham and hold a superior goal difference, meaning a draw would be enough to avoid the dreaded drop to the Championship.
For West Ham, nothing short of a win over Leeds will keep their hopes alive – and even then, they will need Everton to beat Spurs.
With survival in England’s elite division on the line, every possible scenario could still unfold on the final day of the season.
Over the years, the league has served up similar drama, and we may well be in store for more.
Roberto De Zerbi, lured from Marseille in France’s Ligue 1 to take over at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at the end of March with the immediate and Herculean task of saving their season, has done well to get them this far.
But he knows only too well that the job is not finished – not until after the final whistle tomorrow.
In the build-up to the crunch clash against Everton, he told his players it is “a final... more important than a trophy”.
Nuno Espirito Santo, who similarly took charge at West Ham last September with the club struggling badly, will hope Everton indeed do them a favour by seeing off Spurs, while rallying his own side to victory over a Leeds side that, in truth, have little left to play for.
But as we all know, these relegation scraps are often loaded with high drama, and no one connected to either battling club will expect anything less – sheer loyalty on the line, characterised by the blood and sweat of giving everything they have.
Described as fixtures made for split screen televisions, the unfolding events at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and West Ham’s London Stadium tomorrow will go a long way to illustrating why the English Premier League is touted as the best and most exciting in the world.
At the end of the day, one set of fans will experience a sense of pure delirium to match that of their Gunners’ counterparts.– SHAUN ORANGE
