Pipped at the finish

I can neither confirm nor deny reports that I sneezed in Spurs’ fish and chips last night:

Tottenham’s dreams of Champions League football bit the dust after they were beaten 2-1 by West Ham and Arsenal closed Highbury with victory over Wigan. Spurs held fourth place before kick-off but had to match Arsenal’s result to open up the opportunity of qualifying for the Champions League next season.

And after suffering a severe outbreak of food poisoning in the team hotel overnight, Spurs will find it particularly hard to stomach that it was hated local rivals West Ham and Arsenal who combined to deny them.

Such a pity, really. Of course, Arsenal’s forthcoming win over Barca would have assured them a Champions League spot anyhow. It’s actually less cruel for Spurs this way, if you think about it. Thierry Henry was really doing them a mercy by scoring three goals to knock them back to the UEFA Cup today.