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This preview was written by Brian Judson

Full Record of Spurs -v- Everton

Prem           Pl   W   D   L   For-Ag  Pts
Home            9   6   3   0    18-10   21
Away            8   4   3   1     9-5    15
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Total (Prem)   17  10   6   1    27-15   36
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Football Lge
Home (Div 1)   54  25  16  13   107-67   72
Away (Div 1)   54  10  17  27    60-88   38
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Total (Div 1) 108  35  33  40   167-155 110
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Football Lge
Home (Div 2)    1   1   0   0     1-0     2
Away (Div 2)    1   0   0   1     2-4     0
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Total (Div 2)   2   1   0   1     3-4     2
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Total (Prem)   17  10   6   1    27-15   36
Total (Div 1) 108  35  33  40   167-155 110
Total (Div 2)   2   1   0   1     3-4     2
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Grand Total   127  46  39  42   197-176 148
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Those of us who can remember the Everton Championship sides of 1962-63, 1969-70 and 1984-85 will be greatly distressed by the sight of Everton struggling in the Premiership. I have seen some very good sides over the years. Tottenham's sides in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s were all very good ones when they were at their peak and Blanchflower, White and Mackay were probably the best midfield (to use modern parlance) to ever grace a Tottenham shirt. But, to my mind, Ball, Harvey and Kendall, who ran Everton's midfield in their 1969-70 championship side was by far the best of the Everton midfields I have seen. They never stopped running. It was a lesson that some of Tottenham's current squad would do well to absorb.

Having said that, I would be lying through my teeth if I denied I would like to see Everton relegated. They have sailed close to the wind on a few occasions (remember how they averted relegation by beating Wimbledon on the final day of one season?) The current Everton side is one of the poorest I can remember. It is true to say that Everton have been seriously affected by injuries all season but even so they should, on paper, be doing better than they are. It is difficult to see where they are going wrong. In Walter Smith they have one of the better and more honest managers. Perhaps a spell downstairs in the Football League might help Everton to sort themselves out?

This fixture always reminds me of the first away trip I ever made with Spurs in season 1962-63. I have related the saga before so will not repeat it here. Suffice to say that Everton, top of the table, played Spurs, who were second. We lost 1-0 to an Alex Scott goal in a humdinger of a game. In fact, I have made three trips to Liverpool, twice to Everton and once to Liverpool and never saw us score a single goal.

Having broken our duck in our away travels last Saturday in beating Leyton Orient, we now have the opportunity of recording our first away win of the season at Everton. Earlier this season, we beat Everton 3-2 at White Hart Lane thanks to goals by Rebrov 2 (one of which was a penalty), in the 45th and 62nd minutes and Ferdinand, who scored in the 64th minute. Everton scorers were Jeffers, in the 25th minute and Nyarko, in the 41st minute. The attendance that day was 36,010 and they must have enjoyed the see-saw swings of the game before Les Ferdinand finally killed Everton off.

Last season, we drew the corresponding match 2-2. In fact, Moore's equaliser for Everton came as late as injury time. He was sent on seven minutes from the end, saved Everton's unbeaten home record with an equaliser deep into stoppage time. We had gone behind to a Kevin Campbell goal, then recovered to equalise through Chris Armstrong and then take the lead in freakish circumstances, David Ginola claiming the credit at the expense of the unlucky Dave Watson who could not get out of the way of Ginola's shot.

Going down memory lane again, I can still see in my mind's eye Andy Gray's vital goal for Everton when we lost 2-1 at home to Everton in April 1985. We were most definitely second best that night and it still hurts that I have to admit that. We should definitely have won the championship that season as nine of our last fifteen games were at home. Gray was a much travelled player who, although not particularly special, had a knack for scoring vital goals and having some infectious enthusiasm for the game. I think his best days were with Everton although I remember him at Aston Villa and Wolves also. These days, of course, he is Sky's pundit.

So to tomorrow. Much will depend on whether we can weather the early storm that Everton are bound to throw at us in the early stages but if we can weather that and nick a goal early on, I think it will create doubts in Everton's ranks. There is said to be a chance that Gazza will be fit to play for Everton but he's been out for a long while so I expect him to be on the bench. One player we should watch carefully is Stephen Hughes, the former Arsenal player, as I have noticed he seems to have blossomed in a midfield role rather than the defensive role in which Arsenal used to play him.

IF we can score early, I am confident we can go on to win. At the very least, we should avoid a defeat and return with a point from the match.

COME ON YOU SPURS!

Cheers, Brian

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