· Brian Judson's Preview
· Last Year's Game - Bolton 1 Spurs 1
· This season's home game - Spurs 3 Bolton 1
· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 2001-2
Last Six Premiership results:-
Bolton
Bolton 1 2 Everton
Bolton 4 2 Birmingham
West Brom 1 1 Bolton
Bolton 1 1 Man Utd
Liverpool 2 0 Bolton
S'derland 0 2 Bolton
Spurs
Spurs 0 1 Newcastle
Chelsea 1 1 Spurs
Spurs 4 1 Sunderland
Spurs 1 1 Fulham
West Ham 2 0 Spurs
Spurs 2 3 Liverpool
Pos P W D L F-A GD Pts
10 Spurs 30 12 7 11 43-43 0 43
18 Bolton 30 6 11 13 33-47 -14 29
Both sides have everything to play for in this Monday night's Sky TV fixture. Bolton have slipped into the bottom three, due to West Ham's win against bottom side Sunderland, whilst Spurs could return to seventh place with a win. Over the last six games, Bolton have the better form with 8 points to the five obtained by Spurs. Bolton's points tally includes an excellent draw against Man Utd, who scored a late equaliser.
Bolton's top league scorers with six apiece are Ricketts (famously went to Middlesbrough rather than Tottenham in January), whilst Djorkaeff and Pedersen also have six to their name. There are more than a fair share of foreigners in the Bolton side, and some question whether they have the required spirit for a relgation fight. The Trotters also have a Flying Finn in goal - the excellent Jaaskelainen.
As for Spurs, their fans wait anxiously to see if Robbie Keane will return. He alone, his pace and scoring potential, could be the key to Spurs somehow still getting involved in the race for Europe, Whilst results went our way this week-end, there is still a considerable gap between us and sixth place, and it seems to me that we must hope for seventh place to be good enough for a UEFA place.
Darren Anderton returns for Spurs after his one match suspension, whilst Dean Richards is described as an injury doubt. Chris Perry returns to the squad, and Jamie Slabber travels too. I was privy to Spurs' training session at The Lodge yesterday, and have to report that Gary Doherty was training as a striker, so I fear he will start, and I also fear that Robbie Keane will not be fit enough to start.
The outcome of this match (as with all games, of course) will depend upon who wants it most, and my other fear is that Bolton are the team who will show the desire, effort and team-work to get at least a point to lift themselves above the Hammers.
I'll be travelling to The Reebock Stadium. Look out for my exclusive report on Tuesday morning.
