Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for free Sign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter
The rivalry between the teams dates back over a century, but Tottenham Hotspur fans could be forgiven for supporting Arsenal in this weekend’s FA Cup final. The Gunners’ nine-year wait for a trophy has long been a source of hilarity for their Spurs-supporting neighbours, but victory for Arsene Wenger’s side against Hull at Wembley would have a positive knock-on effect for the managerless side.
The three Europa League positions in England traditionally go the fifth-place side in the Premier League (who would enter the following season’s Europa in the play-off stages), the winners of the FA Cup (entering at the group stage) and the winners of the League Cup (entering at the third qualifying round). Because the League Cup was won by Manchester City - who had long secured a top four finish, and consequent Champions League qualification, which takes precedent – that Europa placing drops down to the League, meaning sixth place in this year’s Premier League qualifies for next year’s Europa.
Hull winning the FA Cup would take them straight into the Europa League group stages, leaving fifth-place (Everton) to go into the play-offs and sixth place (Tottenham) to start in the third qualifying round. Should Arsenal win this year’s tournament, however, they too would already have qualified for the Champions League place, leaving the FA Cup Europa place to go to Hull, as runners-up. This is where it gets complicated.
Because Hull would have qualified for the Europa through ‘lesser’ means, they would enter at the third qualifying stage instead of the group stages. That would push the sixth place Prem side (Tottenham) into entering at the play-off round, with the fifth place Prem side (Everton) going straight into the group stages. Still with us? Well done. Buy yourself a drink.
Show all 20 1 /20The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season The sacking of David Moyes It was obvious things weren't going well - but having handed him a six-year contract and with just about everyone ever associated with Manchester United saying he needed more time - the dismissal of David Moyes still came as a shock. The axe fell just 10 months after he replaced Sir Alex Ferguson. A couple of lessons were learnt: Dismissing a manager needs no more than a two paragraph explanation on a club's website and a tweet. And if you want a manager dismissed, fly an aeroplane over the stadium trailing a banner saying as much.
GETTY IMAGES
The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season Crystal Palace come from 3-0 down against Liverpool With the Reds chasing the Premier League title - three points and lots of goals to reduce the goal difference between themselves and Manchester City was the plan. And it was going well with 15 minutes to go. But then Palace, a team with absolutely nothing to play for, staged the comeback of the season to draw the game 3-3. It was a result that left Luis Suarez in tears - an incident worthy of inclusion by itself.
Getty Images
The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season Tim Sherwood From his ultimatum to get the job, sitting in the stands to watch some matches, lambasting his players in public, saluting Emmanuel Adebayor and persisting with that gilet through the ups and downs of Tottenham's season (apart from the time he took it off so he could throw it in anger), Tim Sherwood has managed to raise eyebrows at every turn.
Getty Images
The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season Arsene Wenger spends some money In recent years, the only thing dustier than Arsenal's trophy cabinet has been Arsene Wenger's cheque-book. So when they completed a deal for a truly world-class player in Mesut Ozil and spent £42.5m in the process, the Arsenal manager was probably as surprised as most observers.
Getty Images
The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season Michael Jackson removed, only to reappear elsewhere Just weeks after buying Fulham from Mohamed Al Fayed, new owner Shahid Kahn decided to remove the most famous statue in football, despite threats from his predecessor that his moustache would be cut off if he dared to do so. Few knew the whereabout of the King of Pop after it disappeared from Craven Cottage, until rather bizarrely the National Football Museum revealed Fayed had donated it to their collection. The eccentric Egyptian owner said the removal of the statue had been the reason for Fulham's relegation.
GETTY IMAGES
The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season Theo Walcott mocks Tottenham fans... twice Despite being stretchered off with an injury that would rule him out for the rest of the season and the World Cup - Theo Walcott had a big grin on his face as he was carried off the Emirates pitch. That's because he was winding up the visiting Tottenham fans by making a gesture about the 2-0 scoreline. Spurs fans were furious with some pelting Walcott (and those carrying him, even though it turned out some were Tottenham fans) with coins. Despite causing such a furore, Walcott made the same gesture during Arsenal's parade around the pitch after their final home game.
GETTY IMAGES
The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season Ian Holloway walks away Managers are rarely short of confidence, despite nearly half of them not being deemed good enough and replaced during the course of the season. So it was rather refreshing when Ian Holloway held his hands up, admitted he didn't feel things were working out with Crystal Palace and left the club. At the time Palace had lost seven of their first eight Premier League games. The decision by Holloway was in retrospect possibly the best of the season from the Eagles' point of view, with Tony Pulis coming in and against the odds guiding the club to safety.
GETTY IMAGES
The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season Swansea at war Six Swansea players were reportedly involved in a fight at the club's training ground - an incident made all the worse thanks to chairman Huw Jenkins happening to witness the clash. While training ground bust-ups are nothing unusual, the frequency with which they happened at Swansea over the course of this season has been. In January a 'screaming Chico Flores' was reported to have picked up a brick during a row with Garry Monk, the man who would later replace Michael Laudrup as manager.
Getty Images
The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season West Ham boo boys Supporters at times appear to have become a fickle bunch, demanding instant success and castigating their teams every time they have a bad game. Yet West Ham fans managed to take things to a new level when they booed their side off the pitch even though they had just watched their team win. Those at Upton Park were unhappy with the manner of their side's scrappy 2-1 win over 10-man Hull.
GETTY IMAGES
The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season Alan Pardew Alan Pardew has always been rather animated on the touchline (just ask Arsene Wenger), but the Newcastle manager took it to a bizarre new level when his team played Hull this season. As David Meyler looked to quickly retrieve the ball from Pardew's technical area, he came into contact with the Newcastle boss. That was enough provocation for Pardew to go and head-butt the defender. It led to his club fining him £100,000 and giving him a warning and the FA banning him from stadiums for three games with a further four-match touchline ban. Quite easily the strangest moment of this, or indeed, any season.
Getty Images
The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season Cardiff employ Kazakh work experience kid Vincent Tan is something of an unorthodox club owner - from his leather gloves to disregard for Cardiff fans in changing the club colours from blue to 'lucky' red - but his choice of replacement for Iain Moody after the head of recruitment was sacked was even stranger. The man charged with replacing the experienced Moody was Alisher Apsalyamov, a 23-year-old from Kazakhstan who had been at the club on work experience over the summer. Apsalyamov, reportedly a big fan of Fifa and a friend of Tan's son, didn't last long in the role due to problems with his work visa.
GETTY IMAGES
The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season Chris Hughton sacked That Chris Hughton was sacked during the season came as little surprise. But that Delia at the Norwich board left it so late was bizarre. There were just five games of the season remaining when it was deemed a change was needed, so out went Hughton and in came youth coach Neil Adams. At the time the Canaries were five points clear of the relegation zone. Before the season was over they were relegated.
PA
The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season Luis Suarez becomes likeable Having missed the first six games of the season due to biting an opponent, changing opinions seemed an impossible task for Luis Suarez. But across the season the Liverpool striker has been the best player to watch, hitting the 30 goal barrier in the process. The Uruguyan's redemption was confirmed with the two highest individual honours - the Football Writers' Award and the PFA Players' Player of the year.
Getty Images
The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season The quenelle When Nicolas Anelka made a gesture during a match around Christmas time it went largely unnoticed, probably because people were more in shock that he had actually found the back of the net for West Brom. But it turned out the gesture, dubbed the 'quenelle' or an 'inverted nazi salute', is deemed by anti-semitic by some. It led the FA to issue the Frenchman a five-match ban and £80,000 fine. Meanwhile the Baggies sacked him for gross misconduct. Despite Anelka having played for half the teams in England, no-one seemed particularly sorry to see him go.
Getty Images
The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season Mark Clattenburg upsets Adam Lallana Mark Clattenburg, something of a moth to the limelight, found himself the centre of attention for what seemed to most an innocuous remark. While officiating a Southampton match, he allegedly told Adam Lallana: 'You are very different now, since you've played for England - you never used to be like this.' It was enough for Saints to lodge an official complaint and suggest that Clattenburg had insulted their player and should not referee their games again. The official was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Getty Images
The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season Steven Taylor Twitter gaffe Steven Taylor escaped FA action, but needed to be reminded of his responsibilities after an ill-judged tweet. In response to being mocked by team-mates over his poor French, The Newcastle defender tweeted a picture of Massadio Haïdara along with some 'look-a-likes' - two other black players - Papiss Cissé and Moussa Sissoko - as well as a tribesman. It was accompanied by the words 'it's always good to see you guys smiling'.
GETTY IMAGES
The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season Tom Huddlestone haircut Tom Huddlestone's hair was getting out of control. But having vowed not to cut it until he found the back of the net, it just kept getting bigger. So when the Hull midfielder ended his 32-month goal drought in the 6-0 win over Fulham (a game possibly deserving of it's own mention in this countdown) the barber was called in. In front of the photographers in the KC Stadium changing rooms, his unwieldy hair was trimmed and in the process a lot of money was made for charity.
Lynne Cameron/PA Wire
The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season Sunderland win at Chelsea The Black Cats seemed destined for the drop, particularly with such a difficult run-in. But after picking up a point against title-chasing Manchester City, they went to Stamford Bridge with optimism. Even so, Jose Mourinho's incredible run of 78 games without a Premier League defeat at Stamford Bridge made leaving with three points look unlikely. But thanks to Fabio Borini's late penalty, that's exactly what they did. They then went on and beat Manchester United at Old Trafford.
GETTY IMAGES
The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season Arsenal get smashed - again and again Arsenal were genuine title contenders for much of the season, but defeats to the top sides saw their challenge come undone. Losing to the teams at the top isn't unforgivable, but the manner of many of the defeats was shocking. Over the course of the season, Arsene Wenger's side lost in equally disastrous circumstances to the other three teams in the top four, going down 6-3 to Manchester City, 5-1 to Liverpool and 6-0 to Chelsea.
Getty Images
The 20 most shocking moments of the 2013/14 Premier League season Steven Gerrard slip As the years progress, many of the moments included here will be forgotten. But this particular moment at Anfield is likely to be re-lived again and again. With Liverpool seemingly on an unstoppable charge to the title, Chelsea came to Anfield with not one bus but two parked in front of the Reds' free-scoring attack according to Brendan Rodgers. Showing little ambition to score at the other end, Demba Ba was gifted an opportunity when Steven Gerrard miscontrolled the ball and in an attempt to recover slipped on the turf. Ba raced through on goal to score, Chelsea went on to win 2-0 and Liverpool's title bid came crashing down.
GETTY IMAGES
Entering at the third round stage would leave Tottenham contending with 19 matches should they reach the final in Warsaw next May – and a 10-month campaign. Should Tottenham enter a round later, in the play-offs, they would enjoy two weeks more preparation time for the season, and two less matches in Europe’s more maligned European competition. Swansea City, League Cup winners last season, entered the competition at the same stage in this campaign, with their results tailing off severely towards the end of the campaign as the number of matches took its toll.
Tottenham have enjoyed something of a love affair with the Europa League (or it’s Uefa Cup predecessor) in recent seasons, competing in the competition in five of the last seven campaigns. Their taking part in the competition – and it’s seemingly relentless slog of Thursday night matches - has often been blamed for Tottenham’s lack of consistency in the latter stages of the season. Spurs have continually struggled to achieve the required results in the Premier League to finish in the holy grail of the top four and the Champions League positions, and were beaten to qualification by Arsenal last season, finishing behind Everton and down in sixth place this time around.
One added carrot for next year’s Europa League is that the winners earn a place in the Champions League the following season. But do not be too surprised to see Tottenham fans smirking should Per Mertesacker lift the trophy on Saturday evening.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies