Here is the rub: Tottenham need a result against Manchester City tonight to have any chance of finishing fourth, but the majority of their supporters would rather they lose the game.
For most Spurs fans, missing out on Champions League football and losing their fine home record against City are small prices to pay for Pep Guardiola's side stopping Arsenal from winning a first title in 20 years.
And if Spurs win or even draw, it will leave their bitter north London rivals with their fate in their own hands on the final day of the season.
The situation is more or less without parallel in the Premier League and should make for a fascinating occasion and one of the strangest atmospheres.
If Spurs take points from City, Postecoglou will be the manager who handed Arsenal their first title in 20 years on a silver platter
The closest comparison also involves Spurs, who were away to Manchester United on the final day of the 1998-99 season, knowing if they avoided defeat and Arsene Wenger's side beat Aston Villa, Arsenal would be champions.
Spurs, who had already won the League Cup and were mid-table, went 1-0 up but eventually lost 2-1, to the relief of their travelling fans.
That game, though, was away from home and not played in front of 60,000 supporters with mixed feelings about their side's fortunes.
Ange Postecoglou, the Spurs head coach, has understandably rubbished the notion that his team will have any other motivation than winning the game and cannot understand any supporter wanting their own team to lose.
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"I don't understand it, I never will," said Postecoglou, who promised not to roll out "the red carpet" for City. "I understand the [north London] rivalry, but I've never and will never understand if someone wants their own team to lose.
"That's not what sport is about. It's not what I love about the game.
"What I love more than anything in the game is the competitiveness, challenging yourself to beat someone and coming out successful. Anything outside of that, it's got nothing to do with sport, it's got nothing to do with me."
That is exactly what you would expect Postecoglou or any top-level manager in his position to think. The Australian is a fierce competitor. He wants the best for Spurs and the aim, eventually, is to finish above all 19 other teams, Arsenal be damned.
Still, if Spurs take points from City, Postecoglou will potentially always be the manager who handed Arsenal their first title in 20 years on a silver platter and maybe even kick-started a dynasty for Mikel Arteta.
It would hardly be terminal to his ambitions at Spurs, but it would frustrate some fans, who would forever be reminded by their Arsenal counterparts of their role in an historic championship win.
Arsenal being champions might also, on some abstract level, add pressure to Postecoglou going forward; it always feels worse for Spurs when Arsenal are doing well, and vice-versa.
That said, you wonder how many Spurs fans will come to the stadium wanting their team to lose but get caught up in the emotion of the occasion and end up feeling quite the opposite.
Postecoglou will take the contest to City, just as Spurs did in a 3-3 draw at the Etihad in December.
He has reminded supporters that beating this City side with a top performance could potentially be a landmark result for his young team, providing a springboard for next season after a stuttering end to his first campaign in charge.
The potential benefits of returning to the Champions League cannot be discounted either, even if Postecoglou has played down the necessity of a top-four finish.
City have found their groove since the turn of the year and are capable of rendering any discussion about Tottenham's motivations moot.
It would be typical if Spurs produce their best performance of the season tonight, only to still feel like losers as Arsenal celebrate
Postecoglou's front-foot approach is likely to leave gaps for Guardiola's side to exploit, particularly with Oliver Skipp expected to deputise at left-back again and midfielder Yves Bissouma missing with a knee injury.
Even during a poor run, Spurs showed glimpses of Postecoglou's football in action, including some eye-catching sequences in the defeats by Arsenal and Liverpool.
For some of the more fatalist elements of their fanbase, it would be typical if Spurs produce their best performance of the season tonight, only to still feel like losers as Arsenal celebrate.
For Postecoglou, though, basking in Arsenal's misery would mean nothing. "The pictures on the wall [at Tottenham] do not show players with a big sign saying, 'We've got bragging rights'," he said. "They've just got pictures of Bill Nicholson and people who have actually achieved. That's where I want to get us."
In the end, Postecoglou and his players are absolutely right for wanting to win, but it would be unfair to call some Spurs fans misguided for wanting to lose.
It is just one of those strange situations where the club and the fanbase at large can never be on exactly the same page.
