Leicester City are champions of England. Tottenham Hotspur's ill-tempered 2-2 draw at Chelsea yesterday gave Leicester an insurmountable lead atop the Premier League table with two matches remaining. The 5000-to-1 Foxes have completed the greatest sports underdog story of all time. Congratulations to them.
It's an amazing story, and I don't want to diminish it, but as a fan of sports I can't help but feel a little disappointed. The end was something of an anti-climax. The better story would have happened had Spurs won at Stamford Bridge. Then Leicester City would have needed a draw or better at home to Everton on Saturday to clinch the title. Imagine 32,000 fans at the King Power Stadium absolutely losing their minds, witnessing something they never would have dared believe were it not actually happening. It would have been insane.
Instead, Spurs blew a 0-2 lead and the title fell into Leicester's lap.
I need to remember that Leicester controlled their own destiny this past Saturday. Had they beaten ManU at Old Trafford, the title would have been theirs. I shouldn't lay all or even most of the blame at Spurs' feet. But I'm struggling not to.
For Spurs, there was a lot more on the line than just the prospect of an emotionally thrilling Leicester City-Everton match on Saturday. With the draw, Spurs clinched no worse than fourth place in the league, guaranteeing themselves a spot in Champions League qualifying for next season, but no Spurs fan will be satisfied unless Spurs take second and finish ahead of their arch-rivals Arsenal for the first time in forever. Every year that I've been a Spurs fan, I've been forced to watch as Arsenal supporters celebrate St. Totteringham's Day, the day Arsenal's league finish ahead of Tottenham is assured. I don't know if there's a commensurate celebration for when the tables are turned, so I want to create one. We'll call it St. Arsenhole's Day, and I really want to celebrate it.
On paper, Spurs should be able to put this thing to bed. They have a three-point lead and a gigantic goal differential, with matches against mid-table Southampton (home) and fighting-against-relegation Newcastle (away) to finish the season. It seems reasonable to expect that Spurs could simply assert themselves as the superior side, beat Southampton on Sunday, and lock up second place.
But Spurs have had multiple opportunities to do so (or even grab first) this season already, and they've failed to take them. Back on March 5th, they were up 2-1 against 10-man Arsenal with 30 minutes remaining but only managed to hold on for the draw. (Had they won back then, they'd have 2nd place locked up now.) Last week, they were up 1-0 against a pretty sorry West Bromwich Albion side, but again let down and settled for a draw. Their collapse against Chelsea yesterday was particularly ugly. Not only could they not close out the match with a 0-2 lead, they couldn't hold their discipline at all. Their players received nine yellow cards, the most ever in a Premier League match. They might still lose Mousa Dembele and Eric Dier to retrospective action. Last week Dele Alli lost his shit and got himself suspended for the rest of the season for a petulant punch to a West Brom player's midsection. This week, it was like, instead of learning from his mistake, the team decided to follow his lead.
It's clear that the energetic cost of the season--38 matches in the league, two domestic cup competitions, plus all the matches (and the travel) in Europe--has ultimately become too much to bear. The letdowns against West Brom and Chelsea show that Spurs couldn't maintain competitive intensity. Their season isn't over yet. I think of a 2016 St. Totteringham's Day and I shudder. I won't be comfortable until second place is officially in the bag.