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Last weekend, Chelsea were handed a top-four gift by Arsenal, with their latest hilarious meltdown, against Leicester City. This weekend, Spurs one-upped their rivals by handing Chelsea a top-three gift with another hilarious meltdown of their own, against AFC Bournemouth. And to add the ... cherry ... on top of this cake, the Cherries’ winning goal was scored by none other than former Chelsea prospect and Ruud Gullit-hairalike, Nathan Aké.
In the race to not finish top-four, Chelsea can now finish third simply by winning our last two games! Of course, it would be bold to place a bet on any team vying for a top four finish to actually win a game, and that might be the most hilarious thing of all.
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Today’s loss was Spurs’ fifth in their last six games in all competitions, a run which includes consecutive losses against Manchester City (understandable), as well as defeats against West Ham, Ajax and now, Bournemouth. Their only win, a narrow 1-0 triumph over Brighton, required a late, late winner from Christian Eriksen, even. Spurs’ form overall is about as poor as Chelsea’s away record in the Premier League in 2019, and that’s saying something.
FULL-TIME: Ake's late header means we leave Bournemouth empty-handed after a big effort in the second half from our nine men.
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) May 4, 2019
#AFCB 1-0 #THFC ⚪️ pic.twitter.com/QlRtx6Bnfw
Spurs started off nervously against Bournemouth, racking up three yellow cards in the first 40 minutes, with Eric Dier lucky to escape a second. Instead, it was Spurs’ player of the year Son Heung-Min, who got sent off in the 43rd minute. If that was not Spursy enough, half-time substitute Juan Foyth was sent off in the 48th minute for a horror tackle, leaving Spurs with nine men for the second half.
To their credit, even after being reduced to nine men, Bournemouth didn’t really test Hugo Lloris. But that just made Nathan Ake’s winner in the 91st minute all that much sweeter. Thanks, Agent Ake!
So, if Chelsea win out, we’re guaranteed a third placed finish.
While fourth place is most likely enough to qualify for the Champions League (group stage directly), there is a tiny possibility that both the Champions League and the Europa League winners would finish outside of the England’s top four (i.e. Spurs and Arsenal, respectively), in which case the fourth place team would actually miss out on on Champions League football!
Plus, bragging rights!
In summary, LOL Spurs.