All the Premier League, UEFA, and Tottenham want for Christmas is a clean bill of health and all scheduled matches going forward to be played. This hasn't been the case thus far this month with the last three scheduled matches for Tottenham canceled (one in UEFA's European Conference League and two Premier League fixtures) with likely more to come. Considering the tight schedule for Tottenham this month and for the remainder of the season, it is fair to question which competitions should be the priority and what the most reasonable and realistic outcome is for all. Below I will do my best to put my perspective together on how the Spurs should approach these different competitions.
The goal in any season for the Spurs is always to finish top four in the Premier League and get direct qualification to the Champions League. This hasn't changed since the Spurs had realistic competitive asperations 15+ years ago and only became heightened with the 2019 Champions League Final lost. Considering that the only option to directly quality for the Champions League is through a top four placement in the Premier League, the primary focus is winning as best and often as they can. While sitting at 7th currently, they actually have a terrific opportunity in front of them while only being 4 points behind Arsenal for fourth place with 3 games at hand.
With the most obvious priority solved above, the rest of their competitions and fixtures starts to become a bit murky. They are involved in 3 more competitions: UEFA European Conference League, Carabao Cup and the FA Cup. Their spot in the European Conference League might actually be already lost due to the postponement of their last game in the group stage related to the aforementioned COVID postponements. UEFA is considering forgetting the game and might removed Tottenham from the competition all together. Even if Tottenham is allowed to make up this game and come out with a win, Tottenham's road to victory in the tournament is a long and mostly uncertainty affair, with 8 weekday slots being used for the competition.
Their other two competitions are the annually domestic competitions; Carabao Cup and FA Cup. In the FA Cup, Tottenham has drawn Morecambe in the 3rd round, which should (and I stress should after that ugly Mura defeat) be a win and an advancement. In the Carabao Cup, they play West Ham United in the Quarterfinals with the winner going to the two legged semifinals in middle of January. The most straightforward competition to win might end up being the Carabao Cup, just because they are only three/four wins away from silverware. FA Cup still has several fixtures to go, taking a plethora of weeks to complete.
With all of this in mind, I believe after the #1 priority of finishing top four in the premier league and the Champions League, the Carabao Cup should be the next priority. A win versus West Ham next Wednesday will go along way in helping player and fan engagement and breed the culture of winning. The FA Cup is slightly less of a priority just because there are so many weeks left in that competition that it is unclear how well the Spurs could play/advance. They should use there next opportunity against Morecambe to test some of the fringe first team players to see if they have what it takes to play for Tottenham. I have been a fan of the UEFA Europa Conference League, as it allows for more teams in Europe a chance to play European soccer and a chance for some teams in more established nations a chance to take home a trophy, but considering its current state of flux and the length of the remaining competition, I believe it should be their last priority. Regardless, a win is a win and they should try to win all matches/competitions they can, but if a lower priority conflicts with a higher priority game/competition, it should be abundantly clear which should be played and which should get more first team players involved.
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