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· Spurs fans! Find a hotel near the ground here!
· Last Year's Game - 1-0 to Middlesbrough
· This Year's Home Game - 2-0 to Spurs
· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 37 2003-4
Full Record of Spurs -v- Middlesbrough
Prem Pl W D L For- Ag Pts
Home 10 3 4 3 10 - 13 13
Away 9 2 3 4 8 - 13 9
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Total(Prem) 19 5 7 7 18 - 26 22
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Football Lge
Home(Div 1) 25 15 4 6 62 - 40 36
Away(Div 1) 25 3 6 16 25 - 52 13
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Total(Div 1) 50 18 10 22 87 - 92 49
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Football Lge
Home(Div 2) 1 0 0 1 2 - 5 0
Away(Div 2) 1 0 0 1 0 - 3 0
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Total(Div 2) 2 0 0 2 2 - 8 0
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Total(Prem) 19 5 7 7 18 - 26 22
Total(Div 1) 50 18 10 22 87 - 92 49
Total(Div 2) 2 0 0 2 2 - 8 0
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Grand Total 71 23 17 31 107 -126 71
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Last Six Premiership results:-
Middlesbrough
C. Palace 0-1 M'brough
M'brough 0-1 Arsenal
M'brough 1-1 Fulham
M'brough 4-0 West Brom
Newcastle 0-0 M'brough
Liverpool 1-1 M'brough
Spurs
B'mingham 1-1 Spurs
Spurs 1-0 Newcastle
Liverpool 2-2 Spurs
Spurs 1-1 West Brom
Arsenal 1-0 Spurs
Spurs 5-1 A. Villa
Pos P W D L F -A GD Pts
7 Spurs 36 14 9 13 47-40 7 51
8 M'brough 36 13 12 11 51-45 6 51
Chelsea's season is over; Arsenal's challenge for the Title is at an end; Charlton are sliding into the bottom half of the league, and Fulham have scraped clear of the relegation zone. What with West Ham struggling to make it back from the Coca-Cola Championship, it's a great time for Spurs, as they have a potential "winner takes all" battle against Middlesbrough this Saturday!
The trouble is - the North-East has not been a happy hunting ground for Spurs for several years now, although of course occasionally we get an excellent result such as the League win at St. James' Park in August. Would we have swapped that for a win in the recent FA Cup quarter-final? Well, the end result - a place in the UEFA Cup IF we had at least got to the Final would be the same, but here we are with a real chance to all but secure 7th place.
Spurs have only ever won 5 away games against Middlesbrough, in 35 attempts in the league and just 2 away Cup games. The last two victories came in the 95-96 season (1-0 - Armstrong) and the following year (3-0 - Sheringham (2) & Fox). Middlesbrough were bottom half to Spurs top in the first year, and they were relegated at the end of the 96-97 season. "Boro" got straight back though, and have spent the last 7 years in the Premiership. Steve McLaren's side have had a taste of Europe this season, for the first time, after their first major trophy success in the Carling Cup. Now they want more, and they have hit a good vein of form in recent weeks only losing to Arsenal in their last 5 games.
Middlesbrough have lost 4 at home this season, those being to the Top Three clubs, but surprisingly, in March by 3-1 to Southampton. "Boro" have been as high as 4th this season, but spent most of it above Spurs, in the UEFA placings.
Spurs have a number of players out, such as Mendes, Atouba, Brown, Naybet, Gardner and Pamarot, but the biggest blow to their hopes this week is to know that goalkeeper Paul Robinson, who had been ever-present in League matches, will miss the last two games due to ligament damage sustained to his knee in a typical brave challenge against Villa last week. Radek Cerny - largely un-tested against quality opposition in this country - will step in. There is no doubt that Robbo will be a big miss, as I feel he has been worth at least a goal a game to Spurs this season.
The hosts have their own long-term injury absentees, such as Viduka, Mendietta, and Job, but they will have top scorer Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, and the likes of Nemeth and Zenden available in attack, with the ever-reliable Gareth Southgate and Ugo Ehiogu at the back.
It's all set up then for an enthralling encounter, in which I suspect both teams will be going for the win. Whilst it would not be mathematically over for the losers, they would be relying on the winning team to lose in their last game. Middlesbrough's last game will be at Man City, whilst Spurs host Blackburn.
This game looks like being a sell-out, with 3000 Spurs fans present and hopefully a few thousand more watching on the Jumbotron at The Lane (thanks largely to the Spurs Trust for getting the club to offer a big screen show).
Anything could happen, then, and I fancy that we will see a draw, perhaps 2-2, which would leave Spurs simply having to match the Boro' result on the last day. (We might have to keep an eye on Villa or Man City who also play this week-end)
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