You don’t have to be a super computer to understand that Tottenham’s chances of relegation have been greatly reduced. West Ham, with whom Tottenham are fighting to avoid relegation, suffered a heavy blow in yesterday’s game against Newcastle.
The clouds are slowly starting to lift over North London…
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Newcastle crushed West Ham 3-1 on Sunday
West Ham were far from their best at St James’ Park, trailing 2-0 even before the game had lasted 20 minutes. Nuno Espírito Santos’ decision to start with three stoppers completely failed.
He acted quickly and took off Jean-Clair Todibo before half-time, but it was too little, too late.
The loss sends West Ham down to 18th in the table – two points behind Tottenham in 17th, who are the only other team still in the relegation battle. West Ham have one game left to play, at home to Leeds on the last day of the league, while Spurs have two games left.
The first of these two games will be played on Tuesday evening, when Roberto De Zerbi’s side face Chelsea away from home. A win there would send West Ham straight down to the Championship.
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As the situation for West Ham becomes increasingly precarious, the data analysts at Opta have fired up their supercomputer to update the relegation forecasts. The results are not good reading for those with a claret red in their hearts. West Ham’s relegation chance – in Opta’s eyes – has skyrocketed to a staggering 93.83 percent.
Similarly, Tottenham’s odds have been cut down to just 6.17 percent.
If Spurs fail to beat Chelsea, the relegation drama will be decided on the last day of the league. Then all 20 teams play at the same time – Tottenham at home against Everton, and West Ham at home against Leeds.
If Tottenham win at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night, West Ham will be the nail in the coffin. Then relegation is a fact – and at the same time, Tottenham are safe.
If there is a draw between Chelsea and Tottenham, West Ham will be three points behind going into the final round. But their weak goal difference means that the save chance is close to zero.
Tottenham’s newly appointed manager Roberto de Zerbi has 5 games in charge so far. He seems to have managed the first part of the job to save his place in the Premier League. – In the last round, he managed to maintain the tension by following up West Ham’s loss with a draw against Leeds.
