· Brian Judson's Preview
· Last Year's Game - Spurs 0 Middlesbrough 3
· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 10 2002-3
· Spurs 0 Middlesbrough 3 - 13.09.98
· Spurs 2 Blackburn 1 - 09.09.98

Spurs

Spurs       0  3   Fulham
Chelsea     4  2   Spurs
Spurs       1  3   S'hampton
Man City    0  0   Spurs
Spurs       3  0   Everton
L'cester    1  2   Spurs

Middlesbrough

M'brough    2  3   Leeds
Bolton      0  2   M'brough
M'brough    1  0   Everton
S'hampton   1  0   M'brough
M'brough    1  2   Chelsea
M'brough    0  1   Newcastle

Pos           P   W  D  L  F-A GD  Pts
12 Spurs      9  3  2  4 10-13  -3  11
18 M'brough   9  2  1  6  7-15  -8   7

David Pleat's first spell as caretaker manager of Spurs was in September, 1998, between the sacking of Christian Gross and the arrival of a certain George Graham. In all, during that spell, Pleat managed 4 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat. That defeat was on 13th September, in front of Sky's cameras, and by a margin of 3-0. Spurs had won 2 and lost 2 of their opening games, and Middlesbrough came to us in a lowly position,as they do this week. On that occasion, Mr Pleat had begun a mini-revival, as his first match in charge was a 2-1 defeat of Blackburn. The players that represented Spurs then included misfit left back Paulo Tramezzani, signed by Gross, and soon to languish in the reserves, or only on the training field, as Spurs struggled to offload him back to Italy.(See the links above for an opportunity to read reports on those past games)

It is to be hoped that the current revival under David Pleat's temporary care is not to be brought to a halt yet again by the Teesiders, who last season beat us 8-1 on aggregate, including another 3-0 defeat at White Hart Lane last September, with goals from Maccarone, Gereemi, and Job. Clearly, playing Middlesbrough in September has not been fruitful!

Let us speak no more of our dismal recent record, but look to the future. It is true to say that Steve McClaren's charges come to us again in poor form, but although they have won 2 and lost 4 of their last 6 games, I saw their battling performance against Chelsea, who only managed a last gasp winner at The Riverside. Borough featured the class of Mendietta, who is likely to be the main thorn in our side this week, and no doubt will be eager to impress in front of Sky again. Middlesbrough (there is no "O" preceding the "R" in the name of the town) have missed several key players, and no doubt miss Geremi who had to be relinquished and now plays his football in West London, of course. Apart from Mendietta, there are flair players such as Junhinho and Doriva to face, so Spurs must be at their best to maintain their present run. Perhaps McClaren's most difficult problem has been to balance the flair and grit he has available to him, because they have only scored 7 league goals to date.

Fredi Kanoute is unlikely to be fit for a while, and Spurs are going to miss their newly found goal machine. David Pleat does have options though, as Postiga may be fit, and Bobby Zamora will be as eager to get off the mark for the first team. Anthony Gardner can return, and I believe that Ledley King and Jamie Redknapp may be in contention. Simon Davies is not yet ready for action, but surely Stephane Dalmat must get a start after his dynamic performance of last Sunday?

I expect another clean sheet for Spurs and a 2-0 win to put us in the top half, and leave Middlesbrough in the bottom three.

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