It feels weird – wrong even – to have today’s blog talking about two teams that we all dislike so much. Well, one team we despise with every fibre of our being that plays in a Toilet Bowl, but another that we are growing to dislike because of who they are and what they represent. But for today, in order to try to appease the Football Gods in some manner, I will endeavour to call them both by their proper names. So no ‘Scum’ or ‘115 Charges FC’ from me today. Nope. Not at all.

It’s Tottenham Hotspur against Manchester City in the penultimate game of their respective seasons and for both teams there is something to play for, although one team in City who have considerably more to play for and who I think we are all hoping just have a bad night at the office somehow. They have won their last eight in the league but we all know by now their record at White Hart Lane and it ain’t a good one. They’ve scored one goal in their last five, have conceded seven and their sole victory came earlier in the season in the FA Cup. Spurs even managed a point at the Etihad in the league, so we know that whatever it is about Tottenham, Man City have struggled for some reason.

And in season’s gone by that is an irritating bone of contention for Arsenal fans; when we weren’t in the title race I couldn’t give a monkey’s about this result, although usually it’s hoping City smash them, because City and Liverpool were fighting for titles. But now I see what it is to be favouring your nemesis in a football match and it does not make for very fun feelings, that much is for sure.

I went and had a look at how the FA Cup game played out between these two teams earlier this year and by all accounts it was a close encounter when you look at the scoreline, with Ake getting the only goal on 88 minutes. But looking at the stats gave me little comfort; Spurs had one shot all game and that was one hot on target, to City’s 18 attempts and five on target. I suspect we will get much of the same this evening, only if City score early, then it’ll probably be all that she wrote, as the saying goes.

We can at least be thankful that Liverpool managed to avoid this game being a complete dead rubber, because their 3-3 draw with Villa means that Spurs have to win this game to stand any chance of Champions League qualification. Of course their fans want nothing of the sort and I can’t say I blame them; if the boot was on the other foot I’d take Europa League over them winning something. I’ve also seen one of their fans post a video showing all of the available seats for tonight’s game. It’s going to be a quiet and muted atmosphere in that stadium tonight I think and that will only help City.

But we can do nothing about it. Our fate is not in our hands and we just have to accept it. I certainly won’t be watching the game, because it’s stressful enough watching Arsenal. Having to watch Tottenham labour and toil against the machine that is Pep’s City would be too much for me; imagine hating the team you are watching whilst also watching them and having to try to muster up some kind of support. I have enough stress in my life watching the team I love, I’m not going to subject myself to the team I loathe giving me that grief.

So I’ll have to find something else to do. Cook something, play a board game, go for another run, do some weights – anything. Just not looking at that football match.

I’m not really sure what else is going on in the Arsenal world. Viv Miedema is leaving the Arsenal ladies which is a real shame because at 27 you’d think she still has a few more years in her, but since her ACL she’s not played too much I don’t think and I suspect she wants to go somewhere where she’s going to get regular game time. There’s some rumours that she’ll be off to City and if she does go there that will be strange for Arsenal Women supports to see somebody who gave so much to our club exit and join a direct rival. But I don’t know enough about the Women’s game to know whether or not that is a usual thing, or if Arsenal will live to regret it, so will probably hold off on any kind of analysis that would be transparently thin on my part.

Instead I’m going to cut short today’s ramblings and be back to you tomorrow. Depending on what happens this evening it’ll either be quite a downbeat blog (because West Ham will absolutely be on the beach at the weekend), or an incredibly excitable one. Let’s hope for the latter.

Enjoy your Tuesday, folks.