· Brian Judson's Preview
· Last Year's Game - 4-3 to Spurs
· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 8 2001-2
Last Six Premiership results:-
Spurs
Spurs 2 1 Leeds
Liverpool 0 0 Spurs
Spurs 0 3 Fulham
Chelsea 4 2 Spurs
Spurs 1 3 S'hampton
Man City 0 0 Spurs
Everton
Everton 3 1 Fulham
Charlton 2 2 Everton
Everton 0 3 Liverpool
Everton 2 2 Newcastle
M'brough 1 0 Everton
Everton 4 0 Leeds
Pos P W D L F-A GD Pts
10 Everton 7 2 2 3 12-11 1 8
17 Spurs 7 1 2 4 5-12 -7 5
Spurs are a bogey team to someone, and it is Everton! They have not beaten us at all since April '97 at Goodison Park, and you have to go back to August 1985 to find the Toffees' last league victory at White Hart Lane. There have been a couple of nasty Cup defeats in that time though. One was in that 85-86 season, and the other was the 4-1 FA Cup semi-final in 1995.
I know what you're thinking - trends are there to be broken, and of course the Blues have every chance of beating us after their 4-0 tonking of Leeds last week. However, we have even managed good results against Everton when times have been bad over the last 7 or 8 years.
In November '97, after producing his underground ticket and introducing the "Hard Werk" ethic, Christian Gross started his short managerial career at Goodison with a 2-0 victory, thanks to goals from Ramon Vega and David Ginola.The return fixture came at a tense time for us, and we only managed a 1-1 draw. The following season, Gross's Spurs had lost their first two games (away to Wimbledon and at home to Sheffield Wednesday), but he signed off his short term of office with another away win (1-0) with a goal by Les Ferdinand. David Pleat took charge for Spurs next game, as Gross was sent back down the Victoria Line.
Under "The Predecessor" later that season, Spurs enjoyed a Happy Christmas at The Lane with a convincing 4-1 win, where even Chris Armstrong got a hat-trick!
In the corresponding fixture last season, Spurs again scored 4 goals, featuring a hat-trick from Robbie Keane, playing in front of his family. What might have been a bean-feast for the non-partisan viewer was not such an attraction to either set of fans.
Everton have just 8 points from their opening games, and will be keen to maintain their form of last week. Spurs though must win before another two week enforced break for Internationals. Can they keep a clean sheet for the third game running? Can Robbie Keane and Fredi Kanoute ease the tension at White Hart Lane with an early strike or two? Who will David Pleat put in the crucial midfield? Maybe Jamie Redknapp will return ( I now understand he will not be available), but that would not be the solution for all our problems, as sadly one does not seem to exist in the squad. ( I refer to the absence of a defensive midfielder) Rohan Ricketts must surely get a start this week.
Ever the optimist, I'll go for a 3-1 to Spurs, which would lift them away from the relegation zone, and ease our troubles for a couple of weeks. If we fail to win, I fear our agonies will be prolonged for quite a while.
