Back then, when people said we would get 5th I would laugh, because one look at the squads of our supposed "top 4 rivals" and the answer would be obvious. A lot has changed this summer though. Spurs have strengthened their squad with quality I never thought they would be capable of getting in a million years. Top players that should have been going to United/Chelsea, let alone us. On top of that, they kept Bale and are STILL on the lookout for more massive signings, when we've signed absolutely nobody.
As if that isn't enough, we sold off all our benchwarmers and haven't replaced them. People say Chamakh, Arshavin, Squillaci, etc are mediocre, but they're premier league proven professionals that you can count on. Now that we have an injury crisis, who do we have to replace Chamberlain, Vermaelen, Sagna, etc? Even when Spurs had a criminally thin squad, we still only got 4th because they had a late season collapse. They've spent with intent to go even beyond 4th, and we've shown that we don't care anymore.