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Like Liverpool, Tottenham has never won the EPL title.
But Tottenham’s major hardware drought has been even longer than for Liverpool, which won the league cup in 2011-12. Spurs last won (and made the final of) the FA Cup in 1991, and most recently won the EFL Cup in 2007-08, finishing as runners-up in 2014-15. This trophy would be a monumentally rewarding accomplishment for Spurs as well, only in slightly different fashion than for the Reds.For Tottenham, winning this crown would dispatch the identity of second-class “Big Six” side. From 1997-98 through 2008-09, the EPL was largely dominated by the “Big Four” of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester United. In 2009-10, Tottenham crashed the party, and Manchester City did likewise in 2010-11, creating the “Big Six”. Since then, however, the Citizens have flourished, capturing four EPL titles. Spurs have remained on the outskirts of success, finishing as high as 2nd place just once (2016-17, a distant 7 points behind Chelsea).
Manchester City have famously dreamed of the Champions League title, devoting enormous resources to trying to achieve that goal, such as last summer’s addition of Riyad Mahrez who thrived with Leicester a few years prior in the competition.
If Tottenham could beat Manchester City to the Champions League crown — in the season when the Lilywhites announced their ambition to compete with the world’s best in the form of their beautiful, shiny new stadium — it would emphatically knock the EPL pecking order on its head and cement the ascendancy of what has historically been regarded as a lesser London heavyweight behind Chelsea and Arsenal.THE MANAGERSJurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino are not only among the brightest managing lights in the Premiership (along with Pep Guardiola, of course), but in the entire world. While Klopp does not boast any silverware at Liverpool, he did win two Bundesliga titles with Borussia Dortmund (in 2010-11 and 2011-12), while also taking the German Cup in 2011-12. For all of Pochettino’s well-deserved plaudits, though, he has never captured silverware as a manager.The Champions League trophy will allow Klopp or Pochettino to cement their status alongside Guardiola, who already holds plenty of hardware with City. It will show that Klopp’s Liverpool project has arrived on schedule, or that Pochettino has finally reached the promised land with Tottenham.Klopp certainly seems happy at Liverpool, and would use this title as a springboard for another serious EPL title challenge next season. For Pochettino, intriguingly, it could mark his exit point from Spurs. Having been mentioned with seemingly every high-profile job opening in the world the past couple/few seasons, it would give him loads of leverage if a major club — for instance,Juventus — chose to come after him.
