The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Monday, February 1

Hey, everyone!

Need a little more material to talk about how much Tottenham have sucked lately? My Premier League Expectation-Embarrassment Index is back.

Ramble of the Day

We’ve had enough games between the first Monday in January and the first Monday in February that I can do a recency bias ranking once again. Here’s the latest edition of my Premier League Expectation-Embarrassment Index, where meeting your goals gets you closer to the top and as far away from embarrassment as possible. If you need a refresher on the rubric, here it is.

Congrats and commiserations to all in advance.

1. Manchester City, 45 points (+1 place)
2. West Ham, 42 points (+9 places)
3. Brighton, 38 points (+13 places)
4. Leicester City, 37 points (+2 places)
5. Burnley, 36 points (+2 places)
6. Manchester United, 36 points (-5 places)
7. Arsenal, 34 points (+2 places)
8. Everton, 33 points (no change)
9. Leeds United, 33 points (-6 points)
10. Chelsea, 31 points (+7 points)
11. Southampton, 30 points (+1 place)
12. Aston Villa, 30 points (-8 places)
13. Sheffield United, 29 points (+7 places)
14. Liverpool, 29 points (-9 places)
15. Tottenham Hotspur, 27 points (-5 places)
16. Crystal Palace, 25 points (-3 places)
17. Wolverhampton Wanderers, 24 points (-2 places)
18. West Bromwich Albion, 22 points (+1 place)
19. Newcastle United, 22 points (-1 place)
20. Fulham, 21 points (-6 places)

It’s worth mentioning that Sheffield’s form in its last five games, all competitions, is better than both Tottenham’s and Liverpool’s.

tl;dr: The Expectation-Embarrassment Index returns, and continues to be an exercise in only measuring recent events.

Stay informed, read this: Wesley Morris on actress Cicely Tyson, a trailblazer for Black people in the entertainment industry, who died Thurday aged 96 for The New York Times

Links of the Day

A man was arrested for racially abusing West Brom’s Romaine Sawyers on social media.
Additionally: Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford and Chelsea’s Reece James received racist abuse on social media.

Marseille’s match against Rennes was postponed after supporters stormed the training round before the match.

The Premier League will introduce concussion substitutions beginning February 6.

The Real Madrid and Barcelona women’s teams protested before their match over the weekend to demand better COVID-19 protocols.

MLS and the players’ union agreed to extend discussions over a new CBA by one week.

Transfer updates: West Ham signed Jesse Lingard on loan from Manchester United; Leverkusen signed Demarai Gray from Leicester

A longer read: Louise Taylor interviews Jill Scott on her loan move to Everton and a possible future in coaching for The Guardian