· Brian Judson's Preview
· Last Season's Game - Man Utd won 2-0
· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 17 2002-3

Spurs

Spurs      0  1   Bolton
Arsenal    2  1   Spurs
Spurs      2  1   A. Villa
Blackburn  1  0   Spurs
Spurs      5  2   Wolves
Newcastle  4  0   Spurs

Man Utd

Man Utd    3  0   P'tsmouth
Liverpool  1  2   Man Utd
Man Utd    2  1   Blackburn
Chelsea    1  0   Man Utd
Man Utd    4  0   A. Villa
Man Utd    3  1   Man City

Pos           P  W  D  L  F-A   GD  Pts
 2 Man Utd   16 12  1  3 32-10  22  37
13 Spurs     16  5  3  8 18-24  -6  18

The odds are that by the time this game is played out in front of the Sky audience, Spurs will have dropped two places in the league, whilst United will be seeking to regain 2nd place from Chelsea. Both Blackburn and Everton are likely to win on Saturday, in my view, and with the inevitable home defeat in this match, Spurs will truly be down amongst the relegation candidates in time for Christmas. It's an all too gloomy prospect, isn't it?

Once upon a time, this was one of the top profile matches of the season, between two of the biggest glamour clubs around. If Brian Judson was available to write his usual preview, he might well mention the season when both games were won by the home side 5-1. In fact, I'm sure you can find reference to the matter in the archives of Spurs Odyssey.

Those days are long gone though, and now United are so far superior to us, we can only hope to enjoy a decent game of football. United have won 16 of the 22 Premiership meetings between the sides, whilst Spurs have managed just three wins.

For the record, Spurs 3 Premiership victories against Man Utd were as follows:-

· 19.5.01 - 3-1, featuring two goals by Korsten!
· 23.10.99 - 3-1, featuring Stephen Carr's wonder goal!
· 1.1.96 - 4-1, led by Sheringham and Armstrong!

All too often, our only hope of satisfaction has been the hope that by losing to United it would hinder the progress of our enemies down the road.

Sir Alex Ferguson's selection for this game will be all the more interesting for Rio Ferdinand's 8 month ban for his failure/refusal to attend a "statutary" drugs test. The ban does not take effect till January, and of course United are likely to appeal the decision anyway. Ferdinand will be desperate to get in as much football as he can before he has to take an enforced break from official fixtures at any level.

Whilst we are ensured a sell-out crowd (except for a few corporate seats suddenly available today), and an exciting, attacking game, not even Yours Truly - "Ever the optimist" can predict anything other than an away win. I'll predict a scoreline of 3-1 to the Reds, and then get the worry beads out for Christmas.

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