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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Alex Young

Why Arsenal still have top-four hope as Tottenham look to finish the job on final day

Tottenham head into the final day of the Premier League season in the driving seat for fourth spot, and the final Champions League place, thanks to Arsenal’s lacklustre defeat at Newcastle.

The Gunners missed the chance to secure fourth place with defeat at Spurs last week and have now handed the impetus to their fierce rivals with another loss on the road, again in front of raucous home support.

It leaves Spurs needing just a point away at already relegated, and bottom of the table, Norwich City while Arsenal must beat Everton, who at the time of writing, are yet to secure their Premier League status for another season, and hope for a favour at Carrow Road.

But, if recent history is anything to go by, Arsenal may have hope. The Gunners have won their last 10 games on the final day, and 14 of the last 16 with zero defeats.

Tottenham, meanwhile, have not had it as straightforward. Over the same period, Spurs have won nine of 16, and suffered five defeats.

Spurs have been in this situation before, of course. Back at the end of the 2005/06 season, Spurs were at West Ham and only needed to match Arsenal’s result at Wigan to qualify for the Champions League for the final time. A dodgy lasagna and a Thierry Henry hat-trick later and it was the Gunners who bid farewell to Highbury buy leapfrogging their rivals into fourth.

Seven years later and it was roles reversed. Tottenham hosted Sunderland needing Arsenal to slip up at Newcastle. Despite a Gareth Bale rocket, Spurs were left in fifth place as Laurent Koscielny earned a narrow win at St James’ Park.

Three years on from that, in 2016, Leicester had won the title and, this time, both Spurs and Arsenal had already qualified for the Champions League but the former were looking to finish above the Gunners for the first time in 21 years. All they had to do was win a point at an already relegated team - sound familiar?

Spurs collapsed at Newcastle and lost 5-1 as Arsenal put four past Aston Villa to confirm St Totteringham’s Day once again - though it turned out to be the last of those on record as it stands.

As Arsenal hope history can repeat itself on Sunday, here are the final-day records for both teams...

Season

Arsenal results

Tottenham results

1992/93

Arsenal 1-3 Tottenham

Arsenal 1-3 Tottenham

1993/94

Newcastle 2-0 Arsenal

Tottenham 1-2 QPR

1994/95

Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal

Tottenham 1-1 Leeds

1995/96

Arsenal 2-1 Bolton

Newcastle 1-1 Tottenham

1996/97

Derby 1-3 Arsenal

Tottenham 1-2 Coventry

1997/98

Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal

Tottenham 1-1 Southampton

1998/99

Arsenal 1-0 Aston Villa

Man United 2-1 Tottenham

1999/00

Newcastle 4-2 Arsenal

Sunderland 3-1 Tottenham

2000/01

Southampton 3-0 Arsenal

Tottenham 3-1 Man United

2001/02

Arsenal 4-3 Everton

Leicester 2-1 Tottenham

2002/03

Sunderland 0-4 Arsenal

Totteham 0-4 Blackburn

2003/04

Arsenal 2-1 Leicester

Wolves 0-2 Tottenham

2004/05

Birmingham 2-1 Arsenal

Tottenham 0-0 Blackburn

2005/06

Arsenal 4-2 Wigan

West Ham 2-1 Tottenham

2006/07

Portsmouth 0-0 Arsenal

Tottenham 2-1 Man City

2007/08

Sunderland 0-1 Arsenal

Tottenham 0-2 Liverpool

2008/09

Arsenal 4-1 Stoke

Liverpool 3-1 Tottenham

2009/10

Arsenal 4-0 Fulham

Burnley 4-2 Tottenham

2010/11

Fulham 2-2 Arsenal

Tottenham 2-1 Birmingham

2011/12

West Brom 2-3 Arsenal

Tottenham 2-0 Fulham

2012/13

Newcastle 0-1 Arsenal

Tottenham 1-0 Sunderland

2013/14

Norwich 0-2 Arsenal

Tottenham 3-0 Aston Villa

2014/15

Arsenal 4-1 West Brom

Everton 0-1 Tottenham

2015/16

Arsenal 4-0 Aston Villa

Newcastle 5-1 Tottenham

2016/17

Arsenal 3-1 Everton

Hull 1-7 Tottenham

2017/18

Huddersfield 0-1 Arsenal

Tottenham 5-4 Leicester

2018/19

Burnley 1-3 Arsenal

Tottenham 2-2 Everton

2019/20

Arsenal 3-2 Watford

Crystal Palace 1-1 Tottenham

2020/21

Arsenal 2-0 Brighton

Leicester 2-4 Tottenham

Follow all the action on the final day with Standard Sport.

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