Disastrous, pitiful, woeful, wretched, miserable, pathetic, awful, atrocious.
A list of adjectives Roberto Martinez avoided when summing up Everton’s performances this season? Possibly. But, no, this list is attributed to Tottenham Hotspur’s meek surrender at Newcastle United on the final day of the season, a 5-1 capitulation that left a campaign that promised so much feeling flat as a pancake.
The result, coupled with Arsenal's 4-0 victory over relegated Aston Villa, saw Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham finish the season in third place and allowed their neighbours from up the road in North London to leapfrog them into second.
See also:
• Richard Jolly: De Gea between the posts; Mahrez pulling the strings; Kane and Vardy up top: Premier League Team of the Season
• Gallery: Olivier Giroud fires exuberant Arsenal into runners-up finish
• Steve Luckings: Forget Leicester, what about the topsy-turvy seasons for Spurs, Arsenal, Man City and the rest?
In a two-horse title race, Tottenham did not even manage to finish the nearest challengers to the eventual champions. Four games ago they were the only side capable of denying Leicester City a Premier League title, now they must endure another season of taunts from their most hated rivals. "St Totteringham Day", a day Arsenal fans celebrate every season they finish above Tottenham, turned 21 on Sunday, their hex over White Hart Lane showing no sign of abating.
Judging Arsenal or Tottenham's seasons as success or failure has merits in both. Even the most ardent Arsenal fan will concede they have underperformed this season, whereas most Tottenham fans will classify their campaign as a hugely successful one. You can argue the case for both.
For Arsenal, finishing in the top four and securing Uefa Champions League football has become the norm, but in a season when Leicester, most people's tips, including mine, to be relegated finished an incredible 10 points ahead of the pack, the sense is that this was an opportunity missed. Arsenal recorded a strange anomaly of doing the league double over Leicester, with an aggregate score of 7-3, a six-point swing that only highlights their failings against lesser lights.
For Tottenham, a 4-0 victory over Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on April 18 denoted a confidence of a team prepared to contest the title fight to the bitter end.
The original setting was supposed to be at the season’s conclusion, with Leicester heading for a showdown with deposed champions Chelsea and Tottenham launching an assault at Newcastle. Instead the title was ceded in the game proceeding the Stoke win, a 1-1 draw at home to West Bromwich Albion.
It was that match that Tottenham, in essence, became the new Arsenal; dominating possession, toying with their opponents but unable to land the knockout blow. Instead of narrowing the gap to five, it became seven. They took the lead in their next two games but could only draw with Chelsea and lose to Southampton. By then, Wes Morgan and Leicester were already Premier League champions.
Arsenal said goodbye to several stalwarts on Sunday including Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky. Both have missed the majority of the season through injury, a fitting summary of their careers at the Emirates. More should follow, with Mathieu Flamini confirmed and Per Mertesacker’s position increasingly precarious.
Tottenham’s season was defined by energy, exuberance, guile and gumption, with players able to carry out their manager’s demand to play a high-pressing game. But no doubt the meteoric rise was bookended by a mediocre fall.
As Sunday’s alarming surrender shows, the scales of power hasn’t shifted, it is still in need of some extra weight to tip them in Tottenham’s favour.
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