Both Ruben Amorim and Ange Postecoglou will surely have thanked the gods a thousand times over that they still, somehow, have a chance to make the Champions League next term.
After both teams lost 2-0 at home at the weekend - Spurs to London rivals Crystal Palace and United to West Ham - they have reached all new lows, and in any other year would face a genuine threat of relegation.
That's right, regular features in Europe over the last decade though they may be, Tottenham and Man United are currently 17th and 16th in the Premier League respectively.
To put it bluntly, the two are each making their own case for being the worst teams to ever reach a major European final. Whether it's right or not, one of these two teams will be in the Champions League next year, and it would be amusing to have a team win the Europa League after a 17th-place finish.
Just a point separates the two sides near the bottom of the pile, and though there are certain mitigating factors that ought to be considered, the reality is that there will likely be immense pressure on whichever manager loses that clash in Bilbao next month. Not that the victor will realistically be getting off scot-free, mind.
Both teams have some serious thinking to do over the summer, but as the two sides reach what seems like a new low, which of Man United and Tottenham has really been worse this season?
Well, before we get into some quite frankly damning stats, it's worth laying out a few mitigating factors. Firstly, there are the injuries that both teams have had over the course of the campaign.
According to Transfermarkt, Tottenham have had 35 injuries that have prevented a player from featuring in at least one game, and 10 different players have suffered from more than one such disruption. On 14 occasions a player has missed five or more Premier League games.
In the case of Man United it's only marginally better reading with 32 distinct injuries, though the way things have been going they'll take every win they can get. They've had 11 players with multiple injuries, and a further 12 injuries lasting more than five games.
For United there's also the small matter of changing managers mid-season, which is naturally a huge disruption. They've got to learn how to play a whole new way, and also try and prove they deserve to be a key part of the new era - it's not all that easy. Tottenham, meanwhile, don't have much to complain about in that regard.
Additionally, it's worth point out that they've both had to play across multiple fronts for the majority of the season - both have played 57 games - which will go some way to explaining the fitness problems as well as a loss of form and fluidity given the need for chopping and changing.
Right, now that the excuses are out the way, let's take a deep dive into just how bad both teams have been.
Goals
Seems like a good place to start, doesn't it? In the last five games, they have pretty even records, both scoring five, with United conceding 12 to Spurs' 14.
But if we look at the 25 games since Amorim's arrival, Tottenham have outscored United by 10 (40 vs 30), but have conceded five more (46 vs 41), so the north Londoners have a +5 goal difference edge.
Now, where it gets interesting is everybody's favourite metric, expected goals. Spurs have out-performed their expected goals scored (xGS) since Amorim's arrival by 4.54, indicating perhaps forwards bailing their team out, or goals coming from low-threat situations. United, meanwhile, are behind theirs by 2.7.
But it's a different scenario in the last five games. Both teams have under-performed - United by 3.35 and Spurs 1.06 - which usually underlines wasteful finishing, unless any goalkeepers have pulled off miracle saves.
Let's look at the other way - expected goals conceded (xGC), though it's not pretty reading for any fans of either club. Since Amorim arrived 25 games ago, United have conceded 4.21 goals more than their xGC (41 vs 36.29) and Spurs surprisingly fewer (46 vs 47.56).
What is telling, though, is the fact that both have similar records in the last five games as the injury-depleted sides limp towards the finish line; United are conceding 4.5 more goals than expected, and Spurs 4.65. Not exactly trophy-winning form, is it?
What does this tell us? Well, numbers and data are only one side of the story, but from them we can extrapolate that both sides are struggling to both score, and keep the ball out of their own net.
Both have conceded more than they should be, and in recent games have not been scoring as many as they should be, though in Spurs' defence, they are conceding fewer and scoring more than expected for the majority of the season; their recent form is more of an outlier.
Who has been worse?: It's close, but you would have to say United. They have fallen short of their xGS and exceeded their xGC - exactly the opposite of what you'd want - since Amorim's arrival and in the last five games. Tottenham have been very poor too, though.
Tactics
Helpfully, this is quite a difficult category to quantify, but we will try nonetheless. Both managers have different approaches, but we've looked at indicators for how comfortable a team might be in their system of choice.
United are winning the ball back more often than their rivals both recently (43.6 times per-game vs 40) and across Amorim's tenure (44.92 vs 43.64), which would indicate a more effective press, as well as better tackling or intercepting without possession.
Secondly, exposure to the counter is a big part of how well constructed a tactic is, and conceding in that way seems to be something we associate with Spurs under Postecoglou. In the last 25 games they have let in seven goals from fast breaks (17.5 per cent of all goals conceded), two of which have come in the last five games (14.3 per cent).
United, meanwhile, have only conceded five such goals under Amorim (16.67 per cent), but none in the last five games. This could indicate that the tactical system is developing well in defence with players better placed to cut out counters, but the goals are instead coming from somewhere else.
Though already covered in the above section, the fact that Spurs are expected to have conceded 10.77 more goals since Amorim arrived is hardly a ringing endorsement of Postecoglou's system.
Another indicator of tactical suitability can be the amount of points dropped from winning positions, and, once again, it makes for poor reading for Spurs fans. They've dropped a staggering 21 points after taking the lead compared to United's nine.
Those 21 points would take Spurs up to eighth, and even 10 of those up to 13th, where United would be with their nine points. In some ways, that's actually a positive for Spurs, because it at least shows that they shouldn't be this far down the table based on how often they take the lead. United, really, can have far fewer complaints.
Admittedly, this is not a perfect picture of how well-suited a team is to their tactical system, but it at least highlights certain key areas within a system where one team is out-performing the other.
Who has been worse?: Well, Tottenham are seemingly more exposed on the counter, less-effective in the press, and have dropped more than half their current points total from winning positions. United have been far from amazing, but there has been at least one team worse than them in those stats.
Passing and possession
Not every team needs to succeed by holding onto the ball for the entire game, though it would be reductive in the extreme to suggest either of these side were Route One specialists.
How well a team operates within possession still shows how dominant a side can be within a match, and build up pressure, as well as other more intangible traits like composure, movement across the field, ability to dictate the tempo of a game, among other things.
First off, we have looked at the passing numbers for both teams, and generally speaking they have fairly similar accuracies over the last 25 games, but it is in the last five games that United's poor passing rears its head, while Spurs are performing slightly better.
United have a 84.31 per cent passing accuracy under Amorim (Spurs have 84.65 per cent) but in recent weeks that drops to 81.66 per cent (vs 85.2 per cent). United are also passing the ball 68 fewer times per game in that period, while Tottenham have increased by around 20.
In terms of stringing together passing sequences, both have dropped off in recent weeks, as you'd expect for two sides with players invariably injured, but Tottenham more so than United.
Where United are making 0.84 more sequences of 10 or more passes from open play in the last five games compared to the rest of Amorim's tenure, Spurs have dropped by 1.92 to just 8.6 on average towards the end of the season.
Lastly, in terms of passing the ball forwards and getting on the attack, in sheer numbers, Spurs have dropped off by around seven progressive passes per-game (p/g), but the percentage of passes that is played forward has gone up by almost three per cent. United, meanwhile have marginally increased in both manners.
So Man United under Amorim pass the ball less often and with less accuracy than Spurs, and have deteriorated more so in the last five games, though they are managing more sustained sequences than their rivals.
Who has been worse?: Tottenham under Postecoglou are not a side built on possession, but they have been marginally better than than Amorim's United with the ball at their feet, the latter passing the ball less often and with less accuracy, despite playing it forward slightly more regularly.
Consistency and form
Finally, we come to another difficult-to-quantify category to round off this scathing assessment of both these two European finalists, with a few more important numbers worth noting.
In a basic sense, consistency and form are two words rarely used to describe either Man United or Spurs this season - at least in the positive sense of the words. The former's longest unbeaten run is just four games, with Spurs managing three.
On the flipside, United have only lost three on the bounce, while their rivals have been beaten four times in a row, doing so in January. United are on their worst run of the season, though, with no win in seven.
Not to be outdone, Spurs managed that feat earlier this season, and are now on a scarcely believable run of one win in 10 in the Premier League. It's fair to say that both sides are currently looking a little further afield than the domestic table.
In terms of the last five games, both teams have a single point, with United only ahead of Spurs on goal difference. Both trail Ipswich. In 25 games, United have picked up 24 points and Spurs 22, so it's not exactly fair to say they've only finished the season poorly - this is a recurring trend in 2024-25.
Injuries, it must be said, will have ruined both sides' chances of a consistent run of results. Postecoglou has had to change his side 91 times this season to Amorim's 86, and both have done so 22 times in the last five games.
Spurs have also had to play in three different formations over the course of the season, which highlights the level of the disruption.
Who has been worse?: Again, this is hardly a case of one side being better than the other, and is heavily influenced by injuries, but Tottenham's 22 points from 25 games, a run of one win in 10, AND the fact they're currently bottom of the form table, gives them the edge here.
VERDICT: Well, even though it was a dead heat in the sense it finished 2-2 by our criteria, Tottenham have just edged it. United have been moderately more consistent, are better at winning the ball back and have the tighter defence, while also playing the ball forward more regularly.
But that's hardly the gold medal it sounds. Spurs may have outscored United, but they've conceded more, are more vulnerable on the counter, and let slip an astounding 21 points from a winning position.
Though United's figures in front of goal are a concern that any fan will be all too aware of, they at least have picked up two more points since Amorim's arrival and have never been quite as poor as Spurs' current run of one win and seven losses in the last 10.
