Monday night comedy as Champions League race hots up

Good morning.

I enjoyed some Monday night football last night. I don’t usually spend much time watching that lot, but I’d just seen episode 2 of the new season of The Last of Us, and I needed some comedy to balance things out.

So, thank you to master of the craft, Victor Vicario, Sp*rs laugh-a-minute goalkeeper. And also to Christian Romero who brought some real slapstick to proceedings with his defending. Good old fashioned switching off, you love to see it. And to make it all the more hilarious, we got a Richarlison goal that offered a smidgen of hope late on but which ultimately meant nothing, and Nottingham Forest’s win put them back in third place under the auspices of a former Tottenham manager.

Just the 18 defeats to Ange Postecoglou this season, but we have to give the man credit: when he said ‘It’s just who we are mate’, he could not have been more right. That is exactly who they are, always have been, always will be, Sp*rs without end. Amen. And so on.

That race for the Champions League places is very interesting, and one I’d rather we weren’t dragged into, which makes tomorrow’s game against Crystal Palace an important one. We know what Mikel Arteta is going to say at his press conference later on when asked about this game coming before our Champions League semi-final first leg against PSG.

“We are only focused on the next game. The best way to prepare for PSG is to win this match. What Oliver Glasner and the staff have done is remarkable and you see every week how they perform and the amount of issues they give to opposition. So we expect a tough game.”

Words to that effect anyway. It’s a game we’ll talk about in more detail later in tomorrow’s blog, but a win would lift us 9 points clear of Forest and 10 points ahead of Newcastle with 4 games to go. I know the culture the manager has instilled at this club is about every game being important, and I absolutely get that, but if we’re comfortable enough to be able to prioritise our European fixtures a bit, then that would be pretty useful given the opposition we’re about to face in the semi-final and could potentially come up against in Munich if we get there. I don’t think we need to be looking over our shoulders at that chasing pack.

An interesting aspect of tomorrow is that the game has been moved to midweek because Palace have an FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa on Saturday, so they’re facing a scenario where the importance of this fixture pales into insignificance in comparison to that one. They are safe in mid-table in the Premier League, there’s no possibility of a late run to get them into Europe, so will that play a part for them when they come to the Emirates?

Will the team selection be risk averse, or even heavily rotated to ensure key players are fit and available for the trip to Wembley? Will players, even subconsciously, play within themselves to avoid any kind of injury or suspension that would rule them out of the semi-final? Palace have been beaten twice in the FA Cup final (in 1990 and in 2016), and have never won a major trophy. Can they follow in Newcastle’s footsteps this season and end that drought? I think they can beat Villa, then it’s a question of Forest or Man City in the final. Not easy, but then that’s how it goes at this point of a cup competition.

We’ll find out how they’re feeling about that and tomorrow’s game in our preview podcast on Patreon a bit later. As well as the usual chat with Lewis, I’ll be speaking to Dan from HLTCO to gauge the mood in the Palace camp, and how he views this game in the context of what lies ahead at the weekend.

If you’re not already a Patreon member, you can sign up for just $6 a month (+VAT where applicable), and this month we’re pledging to donate every single penny we make to four great causes.

Islington Foodbank
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So, if you want extra content, and to help us do a bit of a good in the world, get on board at patreon.com/arseblog. Ahead of that we’ll be rounding up the weekend’s Premier League action – comedy included! – in a new episode of The 30; we’ll bring you all the updates from Mikel Arteta’s press conference on Arseblog News later on; and if you haven’t had a chance to listen yet, there’s a brand new Arsecast Extra for you below.

For now, have a good one.