Recently we’ve seen fans cheering for the opposition to win because it means that their rivals might not have won the league, and once again this weekend offers another interesting opportunity for many fans to get behind a different team. But is that all okay?
Tottenham Hotspur fans cheering on City…
Firstly we’re going to come to Tottenham Hotspur fans about this, as last week they had an opportunity to perhaps give a helping hand to their fierce North London rivals, Arsenal.
Spurs were at home as they faced Manchester City in the penultimate Premier League match which could have changed the colour of the ribbon from blue to red.
The fans knew this, and when watching the game you could hear even more chants at Arsenal’s expense and you could even catch some fans cheering opposition goals.
This didn’t seem to go down well with Ange Postecoglou.
Before the match, we ran a poll on X (Formerly Twitter) for Spurs fans to tell us whether they would rather win against City and help Arsenal win the title or if they would rather lose and hand the Premier League to the Cityzens for the fourth consecutive season.
We found that 71% of Tottenham fans would rather lose a game than see their arch-rivals lift the Premier League title.
The last thing that any football fan wants to see is their rivals lifting the Premier League title, but it’s particularly sore for Tottenham and it might have something to do with Arsenal winning the title at White Hart Lane back in the 2003/04 season?
Perhaps even Son Heung-Min felt similar to the fans in the stadium when he broke through the defence and couldn’t put it past the keeper one-on-one, that’s what some Arsenal fans think happened from what we’ve seen.
Manchester United fans…
Now, we’re looking at Man Utd and it’s roles reversed to Tottenham, as the Red Devils played Arsenal in the penultimate game of the Premier League too.
We asked the same question on X to United fans before the game and the results were slightly different to Spurs.
50% of fans said that they would rather win against Arsenal and help stop them winning the league, whilst the other 50% wanted to lose the game to help the Gunners win the title.
Perhaps there’s a less fierce rival over in Manchester than there is in North London?
Another explanation might be that Manchester United also hold a sort of rivalry with Arsenal, going back to when the two teams would fight it out for the title between them. Let’s also not forget the rivalry between Patrick Viera and Roy Keane on the pitch too.
Manchester City & The FA Cup this weekend:
If you haven’t noticed, City have been at the epicentre of this, and they have another chance this weekend as they face Manchester United in the FA Cup final.
There’s likely to be quite a few fans from various teams wanting the blue side of Manchester to win the cup as it means that they may be able to play European football next season.
There are seven places available for Europe in either the Champions League, Europa League or Europa Conference League for 2024-25.
Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Aston Villa have already booked their spot in the Champion League next season, and Tottenham will play Europa League after finishing fifth.
However there’s still time for a twist to the tale even after the league season has ended if Man City wins the FA Cup.
Chelsea and Newcastle will be cheering on City…
Chelsea are a team without a manager after Mauricio Pochettino left the club, and no matter what happens with the FA Cup they will still have Europe one way or another.
They pulled off a small miracle at the end of the season, winning their last five games to secure a UEFA Conference League spot, and that could get even sweeter with the chance of playing Europa League next season if Man City win at the weekend.
Newcastle United are another team that will be cheering for the blue shirts on Saturday.
At the start of the season, Newcastle were playing with the best teams in Europe in the Champions League, but after they finished seventh in the Premier League they’ve missed out on securing themselves Europe.
Although, just like Chelsea, there’s a chance that they could be elevated back into Europe with the Conference League.
Man Utd will decide their own fate.
However, it could all change if Manchester United win.
Chelsea wouldn’t be able to play Europa League, and Newcastle would miss out on playing any European football at all.
After the Red Devils finished eighth in the league which means that they missed out on playing in Europe next season, but the FA Cup final offers them a second chance.
If Utd win, they will be playing in Europa League next season.
So, onto the big question… Let us know in the poll below.
Related Content
