I

am quietly grateful to Wigan for being relegated on Tuesday night.

Had they not been, I would have had to spend this article writing about all the possibilities and permutations on the final day that would have determined which team joined QPR and Reading in the Championship season, and how Tottenham Hotspur versus Sunderland could have taken on an added significance.

I would also have had to mention how brave and plucky Wigan has been, and how remarkable was the FA Cup triumph against the mighty Manchester City.

I may even have thrown in the fact that no FA Cup winning team has ever been relegated from the top-flight of English football, and how good it was to see a team such as Wigan sticking to their guns and continuing to try to play their way out of trouble.

There are so many things I would have had to say, but due to Wigan'€™s capitulation at The Emirates on Tuesday night, I don'€™t have to say them.

While I have genuine sympathy for Roberto Martinez and his men, the writing has been on the wall for a while '€” possibly even a number of years. Escapology is a stressful pursuit, and Wigan seems to have put themselves through the experience rather too many times: One too many, as it turns out.

I have admired the football played and the attitude to the game, but there can be no excuses for getting some of the fundamentals fundamentally wrong. When a team defends as Wigan did against Arsenal last week, it'€™s only a matter of time before luck runs out, and a degree of normal service resumes.

Speaking a couple of weeks ago to Roberto Martinez, he insisted that no matter what transpired, his team would never eschew their ethos of playing attractive football. It was an admirable stance '€” quixotic almost, in its failure to accept reality and unwillingness to embrace a degree of pragmatism.

He also said that Wigan'€™s only failure has been not being good enough in both penalty areas'€¦

Reading between the lines then '€” or '€œcutting to the chase'€ may be a more appropriate phrase - he was pretty much saying that Wigan concede too many goals, and don'€™t score enough. There'€™s no faulting the logic.

Wigan is no longer the only side to have been in the top flight and never to have been relegated, and into the recycle bin goes one of the more interesting sporting trivia questions of modern times. It means that the only focus on the final day of this Barclays Premier League season will be the race for UEFA Champions League spots.

Arsenal'€™s stunning run of form recently '€” 7 wins and 2 draws from their last 9 league games '€” has put it in control of 4th place and possibly knocking on the door for 3rd.

Tottenham Hotspur'€™s stuttering run in the last 9 '€” won 4 drawn 3 lost 2 '€” has resulted in an 8 point swing in favour of Arsenal, and that'€™s all we need to know.

The scenario on what will be a dramatic Sunday is simple; Spurs must win, and hope that Arsenal don'€™t. That'€™s it really.

Any other combination of results, and Arsenal will be playing Champions League football, again, and Spurs will be bilious with disappointment at having just missed out'€¦again.

For Tottenham Hotspur this will be a bitter pill to swallow at the end of a season that promised so much but in reality failed to reach the expected heights.

An away win at Manchester United earlier in the season appeared to suggest that the bridesmaids may have found the right man and were looking at a different altar role, and comfortable wins at Fulham and Aston Villa certainly pointed to the fact that Spurs'€™ soft underbelly on the road was a thing of the past.

Aside from those memorable results, and a home win against Manchester City, Spurs have spent the season either winning narrowly or not even getting the job done.

Unlike Arsenal, far from perfect this season, Spurs never seemed capable of putting teams to the sword and swaggering through a 90 minute period of football. Arsenal has scored 7 once (against Newcastle '€” coincidentally their opponents on Sunday) 6 once, and 5 three times (one of those occasions was against Spurs).

Even when not playing brilliantly, Arsenal knows how to seal the deal, and that hasn'€™t been the case with Spurs this season. It'€™s probably a mentality issue, but it'€™s one that needs addressing, and there is every suggestion that should Tottenham not make the top 4 this campaign, it'€™s one that could prevail and persist.

Spurs need Newcastle United to do them a favour, and if the game at St James'€™ Park is anything like the reverse fixture, we could be in for some fun.

Arsenal won 7-3 with Theo Walcott scoring a hat-trick in one of the most entertaining games of the season. This time round Newcastle has nothing to play for, except for the prospect (remarkably, considering they were relegation prospects a couple of weeks ago) of finishing in the top 10!

For Arsenal, finishing outside the top 4, for the first time since Arsene Wenger came to the club in August 1996, would be unthinkable, But the team'€™s going to have to be on its guard against a Newcastle side that has a point to prove in front of their passionate fans, if not three.

Spurs must hope that to avoid quite the same problems breaking down Sunderland as they had with Southampton a couple of weekends ago.

There will be two North London versus North East clashes this weekend, and they will determine who plays Champions League football next season, and who will be racking up the air-miles on the Europa League peregrinations.

The stakes are high; Arsenal and Spurs have 90 minutes of their season remaining d to roll the dice.  

Catch more of Andrew Leci'€™s expert analysis and opinion of the English Premier League on FOX SPORTS!