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| Arsene Wenger frustrated ! |
With the significant increase in television revenue from the start of next season, the Premier League's survival race is as intense as it has ever been. But that does not mean the race taking place nearer the top of the table cannot match it for sheer ferocity.
Sunderland sacked Martin O'Neill and decided to gamble on a new approach to help them fight relegation yet that could just as easily have been Rafa Benitez at Chelsea, a club that began the season as
European champions but are now at risk of not even qualifying to join Europe's elite.
The Premier League's race for fourth seems limited to Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal which only adds extra spice to the rivalry among London's biggest clubs.
That the club which fails to finish fourth will also lose out to its two biggest rivals only intensifies the intrigue, the ill feeling between those involved and the fear of failure for all.
Between Chelsea and Tottenham that is truer than ever. Roman Abramovich paid out millions in compensation to Andre Villas-Boas when giving him the sack after paying an equally high amount to recruit him only months earlier and it is possible he following a difficult start at White Hart Lane (after Tottenham had to pay so little to appoint him) will be the one responsible for edging Chelsea out.
Arsenal's presence in the Champions League has been constant since Arsene Wenger's arrival but while he continues to compete, despite increasing financial constraints, the threat from Tottenham and the battle for superiority between London's two biggest rivals has never been greater.
It has contributed to make this season the most difficult of the Frenchman's reign. There is no question Wenger's methods and the club's prudent financial approach is under greater scrutiny than ever the end of the season could yet force the end of both which means the fall to fifth (a position Everton would be delighted to achieve and one Liverpool would consider real progress) at The Emirates is unthinkable.
Tottenham have long spent big but not necessarily well in the ambitious pursuit of their two bitter rivals but over the last nine months, with their transfer policy particularly admirable, they appear to have finally succeeded in doing so.
Third in the table even with several difficult fixtures ahead they are in a promising position but a feeling unquestionably exists that if they cannot reach the top four now then it could be years before they do.
Arsenal and Chelsea would consequently have survived their difficult recent seasons and would be able to further strengthen in the summer, leaving Tottenham to reflect on a missed opportunity and with an even greater task to in future usurp their potentially even stronger rivals.
Chelsea's plight, however, would ultimately be the most self inflicted. Possessing the most expensive, experienced and talented squad of the three, the angry feeling surrounding the club at Roberto Di Matteo's dismissal and Benitez's subsequent appointment has been the biggest cause of their potential downfall.
Big money was spent on Oscar and Eden Hazard to bring the best out of the even more expensive Fernando Torres but that has simply not been achieved and with Roman Abramovich's judgement now so regularly questioned and Villas-Boas now so impressive just miles away, the feeling of embarrassment, even more than disappointment, could perhaps be the greatest.
If Arsenal make it, Wenger is once again vindicated. If Tottenham do, the gamble of replacing Harry Redknapp with Villas-Boas means they are too and if Chelsea do, they are in a position to spend even more and to dismiss the future risk of any failure.
Tottenham risk losing Gareth Bale, Arsenal what's left of their stability and faith in their principles and Chelsea their pride and place in the Champions League after a 10 year stay.
The hostility and anxiety increases around London, the rivalry towards the others involved increasing by the day.
For the team that finishes fifth there is no greater failure and for fans, against the glee of their rivals, there will be little beyond pain.
Source: Mail Online
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