Newcastle United host West Ham in the Premier League on Sunday but, for the second week running, Tottenham Hotspur will have to sit back and wait before they can make their own impression on the relegation race when they face Chelsea two days later.
At this point, I’m still unsure whether it’s advantageous to play first in what has now become a straight face-off between the Hammers and Spurs for the final relegation spot.
No doubt Roberto De Zerbi and his players sat down to watch West Ham’s controversial VAR-fuelled defeat against Arsenal at the hands of Chris Kavanagh last weekend.
But that didn’t seem to do Spurs too much good when they faced Leeds United on Monday.
Granted, the game finished 1-1 and Tottenham certainly started the brighter of the two teams.
But by the end of the second half, they were hanging on for dear life.
Leeds Exposed Tottenham’s Nerves
Much of the focus after that match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium centred around another contentious VAR decision where James Maddison was not awarded a penalty.
But what got lost in all of that was the fact that Daniel Farke’s Leeds side rattled the woodwork twice in the second half and were by far the better team by that stage of the game.
Unfortunately, once again, West Ham will be relying on favours.
This time from Chelsea, who don’t really look to have improved much since Liam Rosenior was sacked.
Tottenham Suddenly Look Rattled
But make no mistake about it, Tottenham look rattled and the way Roberto De Zerbi has behaved has made him look more than a bit tetchy.
During all the fallout from the West Ham-Arsenal VAR controversy, it became increasingly clear he’d become more than a little conspiratorial in his thinking over the whole episode.
What this weekend does provide is an opportunity for West Ham to go to St James’ Park and get a result.
That certainly won’t be easy.
But if the Hammers could somehow beat Newcastle, we would at least temporarily move out of the bottom three and give Tottenham a few days to really stew on it.