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AVB looking nervous for Tottenham

It looks to be shaping up to be another season of 'so close, but yet so far' for Spurs and André Villas-Boas.

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Bottling Spurs are attempting best Arsenal impression



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It all seems eerily familiar doesn't it? The disappointment, the jeers, the same recycled Twitter jokes. It has come down to another crunch point in the season, and Tottenham are looking increasingly like a doomsday machine that an evil genius rigged to self-destruct just when the party should have been getting started. 

The cast may be different, with aging thesp Harry Redknapp eschewed in favour of a young dynamic leading man in André Villas-Boas, but the scenario is the same. Like many film series in the present day, Spurs' season has had a reboot; unfortunately, the director forgot to change the script.

Backtrack to early-2013, and Villas-Boas and Spurs were earning rave-reviews for their ability to grind out results, and at one stage it looked like they would surpass Chelsea and make a Champions League spot safe with third place. Yet in the space of one fortnight they have lost Gareth Bale, their prize match-winner, to injury, and have been cruelly catapulted out of the Europa League, a trophy that many would feel they had a realistic chance of winning.

What is strange to note however, is how similar this trend of bottling golden chances is to their closest and most fierce of rivals, Arsenal. Both North London clubs seem to have developed a worrying trend of spurning various chances to assert a claim for either trophies or in Spurs' case, Champions League football. Arsenal had a golden chance to win the Carling Cup (as it was then called) in 2011, only to fail in the final against Birmingham City, who would be relegated four months later. Likewise, this year they had another glorious chance to win silverware in the same competition, but could not break down a spirited Bradford side, who made it all the way to the final.

Arséne Wenger has seemingly made it his mission to just scrape into Champions League qualification from now on. Their last credible title challenge was in 2009-2010, yet they faltered badly towards the end of the campaign, finishing third overall. It must be said that Spurs should be more optimistic about the future; Daniel Levy will continue to strengthen the squad, while it is seemingly impossible to predict whether Wenger will spend any money on new players (and at that, any money on good players). 

With both clubs in a healthy financial state and able to attract top players, the North London duo should still be competing for trophies and European football for years to come.

The real worry for both clubs is whether they can finally shake off the tendency to crumble when the chips are down.

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Sam publishes regular feature and tips pieces for Howtobet4free. He has a blog, crackingjabulanis.blogspot.co.uk, and can be found on Twitter by following @Gaytski.

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