Where Tottenham would have finished every Premier League season without Man City

Tottenham have been a bogey team for Man City for the past decade, but where would Spurs have finished if the Citizens were nowhere to be seen from 2009-2018? Manchester City's guilty verdict has huge ramifications for English football after an independent Commission found the club guilty of serious breaches of the Premier League's financial rules across a nine-year period from 2009 to 2018.

That has already prompted discussion around what could happen to the titles and European places affected during those years, with several clubs considering legal action over the sporting and financial consequences of City's conduct. Tottenham are among those clubs, as Spurs Web has previously covered.

The sanctions have not yet been decided and are expected to follow City's appeal, which the club are expected to launch soon. The Premier League rulebook allows for a range of potential punishments, from a reprimand to the most extreme possibility of expulsion from the competition or the stripping of titles.

But what if, rather than trying to predict the eventual punishment, we simply removed Man City's Premier League results from every season covered by the charges? We have recalculated the league table for every season from 2009/10 to 2017/18, removing City's results and the points their opponents gained from those fixtures, to see where Tottenham would have finished in each campaign.

MORE SPURS STORIES Even if Spurs had done the double over Manchester City that season, removing those two fixtures would only reduce their total from 70 points to 64 - still a point clear of Aston Villa, who would have finished fifth on 63 points. 2010/11 Actual position: 5th Recalculated position: 4th Harry Redknapp's Spurs narrowly missed out on back-to-back Champions League qualification, finishing six points behind Arsenal in fourth.

Tottenham took only one point from their two meetings with City, so removing those results leaves Spurs on 61 points. Arsenal, meanwhile, lose 4 points from their meetings with City, allowing Tottenham to climb into fourth and return to the Champions League.

2011/12 Actual position: 4th Recalculated position: 2nd Despite finishing fourth in what would be Redknapp's final season in charge, Tottenham missed out on Champions League football after Chelsea, who finished sixth domestically, won the competition that year and took the final qualification spot for English clubs. Spurs had lost both of their league meetings with City, meaning removing those results does not take any points away from Tottenham.

Arsenal, however, lose three points from their meetings with City, allowing Spurs to leapfrog them into second. Winners Manchester United would still be 20 points clear at the top though.

2012/13 Actual position: 5th Recalculated position: 4th Another big Tottenham 'what if' from the previous season was whether Redknapp could have stayed beyond 2011/12. Spurs were building something under the English manager and could have wondered what might have happened had he remained in charge, although his successor Andre Villas-Boas still guided the club to an impressive 5th-placed finish.