The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Monday, May 3

Hi, all!

There’s some fun in beating the worst team in the league. Who knew?

Ramble of the Day

A new month means a new batch of the Expectation-Embarrassment Index! There’s good news for many of the more highly-regarded Premier League teams, as they mostly managed to avoid embarrassment in the last month while the usual suspects got the lower grades one might expect. I might prefer the chaos, but to be fair, we did get some off the pitch with the rapid rise and fall of the Super League so the upsets on the pitch took a back seat.

As always, the rubric is here if you need it. Let’s dive in.

1. Manchester City, 40 points (no change)
2. Chelsea, 38 points (+3 places)
3. Manchester United, 37 points (no change)
4. Leicester City, 37 points (-2 places)
5. Leeds United, 35 points (+3 places)
6. West Ham United, 32 points (no change)
7. Newcastle United, 31 points (+13 places)
8. Aston Villa, 31 points (+7 places)
9. Arsenal, 30 points (+1 place)
10. Everton, 30 points (+1 place)
11. Tottenham Hotspur, 28 points (+6 places)
12. Burnley, 28 points (+2 places)
13. Brighton & Hove Albion, 28 points (no change)
14. Southampton, 28 points (-10 places)
15. West Bromwich Albion, 27 points (-3 places)
16. Liverpool, 27 points (-9 places)
17. Wolverhampton Wanderers, 26 points (-1 place)
18. Crystal Palace, 24 points (-9 places)
19. Sheffield United, 17 points (no change)
20. Fulham, 13 points (-2 places)

Newcastle enjoyed the biggest upward journey this month, going up 13 places from 20th to seventh. They’re doing that thing where one of the teams battling relegation pulls it together at just the right time, picks up some impressive results along the way, and books their spot in next season’s tournament. The biggest drop was Southampton, who went from fourth to 14th after only picking up four points in their last five. It was a tough group of opponents, but recent form dictates this thing most of the time. They can at least know they did better than Fulham, who picked up just one point out of 15 and really earned that bottom spot.

As for Spurs, this is a spell that includes the end of the José Mourinho era and the beginning of Ryan Mason’s interim period in charge, so the scores are a little mixed. Here’s hoping next month will be a little kinder with some of the toxicity gone.

tl;dr: The Expectation-Embarrassment Index is back, and everyone’s getting close to their normal places.

Stay informed, watch this: Liverpool’s Divock Origi tells Bleacher Report about being racially abused as a 12 year old during a youth game

Links of the Day

Broadcaster Karen Carney said she had suicidal thoughts after Leeds’ tweet about her analysis in December led to abuse on social media.

Manchester United-Liverpool was postponed after United fans staged a protest ahead of the game, with some trespassing into Old Trafford.

A medical board investigating Diego Maradona’s death said his medical team acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless manner.”

A longer read: Arne Steinberg on what the goat Hennes VIII to the FC Köln fanbase for the Guardian