LONDON — Tottenham winning or drawing against Manchester City meant they would hand bitter rivals Arsenal the advantage in the title race heading into the final game of the season.
It led to a strange, subdued and almost farcical atmosphere inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Tuesday as Manchester City won 2-0 to take a two-point advantage at the top of the table into the final day of the season.
The defeat also ended Tottenham’s hopes of Champions League qualification. But this was all about hurting Arsenal.
“We f****** hate Arsenal!” and “are you watching Arsenal?” were the chants from the home fans as soon as Erling Haaland put Man City 1-0 up. There were fans in the home end (wearing light blue Spurs away shirts from a few season ago) who celebrated the goal wildly and were then removed from their seats as other Tottenham fans were angry about it. When Haaland smashed home a penalty kick late on there were some Spurs fans who stood up and applauded as their players went back to the halfway line.
Then came the loudest chant of the day “oh when the Spurs go marching in” as Tottenham’s fans almost saluted their side for losing. The majority got what they wanted. It was weird.
Atmosphere told the true story
But for the most part it was a night when Tottenham’s fans didn’t know how to react. They were put in a tough spot. They were stuck in limbo.
There was muted excitement when their team poured forward. Muted disappointment when City went on the attack. Muted everything. Even the players on the pitch didn’t seem fully committed to what they were doing. Did they want to be the Spurs player who scored the goal which helped Arsenal win the title? Son went clean through late on and should have scored to make it 1-1. Tottenham’s fans weren’t exactly mad about the miss.
Throughout there was no usual chanting, aside from anti-Arsenal ones, of course. The applause was polite like golf or tennis when a Spurs player did something well. The fans didn’t know what to do. ‘Do we cheer a good shot? Do we groan if Man City are in on goal? Do we applaud a superb save from our goalkeeper?’
Along the lines of: ‘Should you pick a favorite child? Should you tell your partner you don’t like their new haircut? Should you cheer for your own team to lose so your fierce rivals have less chance of winning the league?’
These were the existential crises facing Tottenham fans before and during their game against Manchester City. And most didn’t know what to do.
Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou said that “100 percent of Tottenham fans” would be happy if they beat Manchester City because it meant they were heading in the right direction. Ange has been lauded as a man of the people but he clearly wasn’t in-sync with most of Tottenham’s fans and admitted as much after the game. The feelings from fans were mixed before, during and after around the stadium.
Mixed emotions: ‘I can’t not support my own team’ as Arsenal support Spurs
A lot of Tottenham’s fans were fully behind Manchester City beating their own team in order to minimize Arsenal’s chances of winning the league. Fully behind it. The general atmosphere seemed to support that. And it impacted Tottenham’s players. Clearly. Postecoglou admitted that too.
Half-and-half Tottenham and Manchester City scarves were doing a roaring trade in the streets of north London before the game. Supporters interviewed on TV were hoping their team got absolutely battered. No shame. No remorse. All business. They wanted whatever it took to give Arsenal a tougher time to win the title.
On the flip side: Arsenal fans wanted Tottenham to win.
“My Gooner friends are saying ‘come on you Spurs!’ I can’t believe it,” said one guy on the platform at Seven Sisters train station as he and his friends laughed.
It was reported that Arsenal fans had been buying tickets to sit in the Tottenham sections of the stadium to cheer on their bitter rivals for one night and one night only.
Helen, a diehard Tottenham fan, said she had friends who are Arsenal fans who were fully behind Tottenham: “They’re Spurs fans tonight. Most definitely. I know a lot that are going in there [the stadium] tonight.”
Arsenal’s Leandro Trossard smiled when Kai Havertz said “I’m going to be the biggest fan of Tottenham ever! Let’s hope for the best” ahead of this game against Man City. They didn’t get their wish. Up is down. Left is right. Arsenal fans were Tottenham fans. For one night.
But plenty of Tottenham fans were fully behind Tottenham.
“I want Spurs to win. I can’t not support my own team,” Peter, a lifelong Spurs fans, told me.
Through gritted teeth he also praised Arsenal for their season and wanted to focus on Tottenham: “It’s a strange situation. Really odd.”
🗣️Peter, a lifelong Tottenham fan, wants Spurs to win vs Man City.
— Joe Prince-Wright (@JPW_NBCSports) May 14, 2024
He said fair play to Arsenal. Most of #THFC fans I spoke to here said exactly the same + #AFC fans are here tonight.
“I want Spurs to win. I can’t not support my own team. It’s a strange situation. Really odd.” pic.twitter.com/o2ESW8pAJj
A Spurs fans and his son were chatting on the train on the way to the game: “I want us to win. I couldn’t care less about Arsenal. I want to have a chance of the Champions League. It’s about progressing,” the man said to his son.
Tottenham aren’t going to be in the Champions League next season because of this defeat.
Because of this defeat Arsenal have an uphill task to win the Premier League title this season as Manchester City have a two-point advantage heading into the final day.
In the end, nobody in north London won.
This was perhaps the first, and only, time a Tottenham defeat hurt Arsenal.
