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· Brian Judson's Preview
· Last Year's Game - 1-1
· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 37 2001-2
· This season's home game - 3-0 to Middlesbrough
Last Six Premiership results:-
Middlesbrough
M'brough 1 1 Charlton
M'brough 3 0 West Brom
Man City 0 0 M'brough
M'brough 0 2 Arsenal
West Ham 1 0 M'brough
B'mingham 3 0 M'brough
Spurs
Bolton 1 0 Spurs
Spurs 2 1 Birmingham
Leeds 2 2 Spurs
Spurs 0 2 Man City
West Brom 2 3 Spurs
Spurs 0 2 Man Utd
Pos P W D L F-A GD Pts
8 Spurs 36 14 8 14 50-53 -3 50
13 M'brough 36 12 10 14 42-41 1 46
There is only pride and prize money at stake for these two teams, stuck in mid-table, out of danger, and with no chance of qualifying for Europe through conventional means. I understand that Middlesbrough do have a chance of vying with Man City for a fair play place in the UEFA Cup. Last year, Spurs managed to lose 1 million pounds on the last day by losing to relegated Leicester and dropping two places, below even West Ham. They will at least want to hold on to 8th place with decent results in their last two games.
Middlesbrough's season has been even more disappointing than that of Tottenham. Once again they have spent more money from that seemingly bottomless pit, and yet they languish in the bottom half of the table, four points behind us. Whilst he is equal top scorer with Geremi (with 7 goals), Maccarone has not inspired to the degree that he promised at the start of the season. He cost 8.1 million.
Juninho famously returned (for the second or should that be third) time, but has spent most of the season out injured. Michael Ricketts was apparently snatched away from under our noses in the January sales, but has failed to score. I don't think he is even first choice as another January signing - Christie - has scored three goals in his short time on Teeside.
Middlesbrough beat us in devastating fashion by three goals to nil in September, and then failed to even score away from home till February in a 1-1 draw at Anfield, having to wait till two weeks later before managing a second away victory at relegated Sunderland. Their other away success came at Leeds.
No doubt the "Borough" (there is in fact no "o" after the B) have missed Ugo Ehiogu, with long term injury, and recently, the impressive Geremi has been an absentee, but their recent form has been even worse than our own, with just one victory against West Brom.
So, here we have a heavy-spending Premiership club failing to be a threat in the top flight, and yet escaping the acid comments that Spurs have suffered over the last week in the press. Why is that? Because Spurs ARE a big club, and the expectations for the Spurs name are still higher than our achievements. Yes, we have to re-establish ourselves at the top, but our profile is still very high in the world, and we fans should remember that and keep the faith.
For Spurs, Anderton will be out, and Dean Richards is also likely to be missing. The team will be similar to that which finished the Man Utd game. What can we expect from this "nothing" game? Well, Middlesbrough are playing their last home game, and will want to put on a show. I think Spurs will struggle to get much out of the game, but I'll go for a draw.
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