Arsenal Finish Second As Spurs Crumble

Who would have guessed Lasagne was on the menu again for Spurs when they travelled to Newcastle yesterday. All they had to do was avoid defeat to finish above Arsenal for the first time in 20 seasons, but they succombed to a 5-1 defeat instead. Arsenal's failings this season have been vast to say the least, but you have to give yourself the freedom to wallow in the absolute failure of Spurs just when they looked to be ready to step up.

While everybody has admired their football and knocked our team's lack of bottle and fight we somehow managed to finish above them as we always do under Arsene Wenger. It's a great feeling to celebrate St. Totteringham's Day this season when I have to say I had given up all hope of Arsenal finishing above them. It's Arsenal's highest league finish since 2005 when we were runners up to Chelsea and it looks an awful lot better in the record books than finishing third.

The day panned out very well for Arsenal in the end, but there were times when I have to admit I was very nervous. When Spurs got back to 2-1 down and Mitrovic was sent off for Newcastle I feared the worst, but Newcastle put another three goals past them with only 10 men. Arsenal might have taken an early lead against Villa, but they left it a little too late for comfort to add to the lead and a goal from Villa would have put the cat among the pigeons.

It all worked out perfectly in the end though and Arsenal took their rightful place above Spurs. They have had their best season since time immemorial and they still couldn't finish ahead of us. Second place isn't a trophy, but considering everything else it's an awful lot better than the alternative before yesterday's game.

I know we could and should have won the league and second place is scant consolation, but that's something to discuss another day. For the moment we can celebrate our win and the absolute joy it brought combined with the despair for Spurs. They so desperately want to finish ahead of us and they must be devestated to have finished third and the circumstances which led to it only make it even more hilarious.

In my preview I hoped for an early goal and predicted Olivier Giroud might have a good day and so it was. His three goals don't make him world class overnight though and we still need a striker upgrade this summer. I had hoped for a Spurs defeat in that preview too, but I didn't really believe it would happen and thankfully I got that completely wrong.

Things got a little emotional at the end with Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky saying their goodbyes to the fans. I loved them both as players and it's sad to see them go, but it is time for it and their exits leave a couple of places in the squad to be filled. Arteta got to play late on and he was so close to scoring, but the final goal will go down as an own goal to the Villa keeper. 

All we can hope for now is some really positive additions to the squad this summer and for the team to be given the chance to go one better next season. It won't be easy with all of the other top clubs surely strengthening this summer too, but as a fan you have to believe it is possible.

That's it for today.

See you tomorrow.