Tottenham fans look away now.

Arsenal lose and Newcastle win, but we only draw.

 Or we come 4th and Chelsea beat Bayern.....

 The JimmyG2 Column

  Tottenham my Tottenham how much do I love thee; let me count the ways. The beautiful girl friend confident in her allure and that she will never want for admirers and attention. You love her desperately whatever she does but know you will never be quite certain of her.

She will toy with your affections not out of spite but because that's the way she is. She always lets you down and you remain constant because it is part of her hold over you. In some sense she never lets you down because you know you can't rely on her. As reliably reliable as Jermaine Jenas himself.

She may be from N17 but there's blue blood in them there veins. We show her too much respect and she repays us with indifference bordering on contempt and we love her all the more. Most love objects at least acknowledge their admirers, they welcome and salute their devotees. Our beloved does not, so sure is she of our continued support.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning expressed her love for a mere mortal man so it is not too overblown to apply it to out love for our team. Excerpts below from sonnet 43 in a cycle of 44. Some act opf devotion even Spurs fans must agree.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach...........
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
…...........I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! – and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Passion, old griefs, childhood faith, smiles, tears, and the hopeful promise that even after death we may love Tottenham more.  I know, I know it's only a football team, it's not life and death and all that. Some might even hope that the grave will bring respite and relief.
'Leave it Jimmy she's not worth it' my non Tottenham  friends advise. If only I could.

So we come to the final games with everything to play for and quite a lot to lose. The possible outcomes of the final five matches of the top five could produce for us anything from fifth to third with the possibility that even if we make 4^th Chelsea could claim our place in next years Champions' League by beating Bayern Munich in this year's final.

In another universe, 20 points above us it seems that there is a Manchester battle for top place.

Lower down, some 30 points away there are teams apparently struggling to survive. Meanwhile we battle to be the best of the rest unconcerned with these mightier and lesser concerns.

It's out of our hands now, we are no longer masters of our own destiny as once we were.

If all the challenging club including ourselves win all their games we will make fourth. If we lose our home game against Fulham then it could be fifth. If Arsenal  slip up it could be third. My guess is that we will make fourth and Chelsea will lose to Bayern. Don't put too much on it though as there are no refunds.

Our hearts are pledged but the outcome uncertain. It's like waiting outside the cinema unsure whether she will turn up. A humiliating situation and by the time you realise she's not coming it's too late to go in. But that's another story.

Liverpool did us us a favour by thrashing  Chelsea tonight which puts us beyond Chelsea's reach in the League. A timely revenge for the Cup Final result. Roberto's gang were hardly likely to slip up at home to Blackburn in their final game. So that's one piece of the jigsaw nicely in place. It's back into our hands for Sunday. The essential must win game at long last.

Against Villa we let it slip somewhat carelessly but once again for all our dominance Given was only called upon twice. We had 18 corners and failed to get on the end of one. Lennon saw plenty of the ball but was indecisive and wasteful. Adebayor was cool for the penalty but lacked control for most of the game.

However we got out of jail when a lunge by Dunne brought down Sandro and the ten men rallied to draw level. In any other context quite creditable but not at this stage of the season

Van Der Vaart was creative until he tired and Defoe should have been on more quickly, or Parker, or even Livermore. At the end Harry and Gallas seemed content to let our stake roll on to the final turn of the wheel. Sandro gave another forceful performance.

Rose contrived to get himself sent off for a frightening clash with his 'friend' Alan Hutton. May the Lord protect the Scot if he ever gets on the wrong side of our Danny.. With friends like that... as they say. He certainly got the ball first and a nudge from N'Zogbia didn’t help but it was undeniably reckless.

Bale went to left back where he will possibly start on Sunday unless we can re-shape the back four. Villa scored from almost their only shot in the game from 35yds which hit Gallas and left Friedel stranded. I’ve read this script before somewhere. It's not that we lack mental strength or bottle. We're just too damn polite to take advantage.

Arsenal opened the door with a draw against Norwich.. So we insist on slamming it shut against Villa. I mean it's hardly fair to hit a man when he's down is it? it? After you Claude. We were far superior to Villa so put one hand behind our backs to even things up. It's going to have to stop Tottenham or I'll be asking for that diamond solitaire with clusters back.

A for the summer signings the rumours start to pile up. This always reminds me of when, in a previous existence I ran a fruit and flower market stall. The customers sniffed around checking the price and the quality, prodding the fruit despite the notices. They often ended with the words, ' OK, thanks, I'll just do me shopping first'.

This roughly translates as 'Hmm I think I'll have a look round and see if there's anything better on offer elsewhere' and you never saw them again. Simultaneously encouraging and deflating. A bit like our lovely girl friend.

Come on Spurs surprise me. The footballing gods might just be having a nap on Sunday afternoon and may not notice as we sneak into third. If you don't want to know the scores, look away now and check them out on Monday.You might save yourself a lot of heartache.

Video Spot.
We loved Martin Jol but, well you know, he had his limitations, tactics and substitutions and the like. We solved all that with Juande Ramos and then Harry. Anyway Uncle Martin is back at the Lane with Fulham for the final showdown on Sunday.
Let's hope another love affair doesn't go sour on us. Sing along while you're still in the mood