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· Spurs fans! Find a hotel near the ground here!
· This Year's Home Game - 2-0 to Spurs
· Last Season's Game - 1-0 to "Boro"
· Last Season's Spursometer - 54%
· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 17 2004-5
· Spurs beat Man City away, whilst Boro drew at Southampton
Full Record of Spurs -v- Middlesbrough
Prem Pl W D L For- Ag Pts
Home 11 4 4 3 12 - 13 16
Away 10 2 3 5 8 - 14 9
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Total(Prem) 21 6 7 8 20 - 27 25
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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) 21 6 7 8 20 - 27 25
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 73 24 17 32 109 -127 74
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Last Six Premiership results:-
Middlesbrough
M'brough 4-1 Man Utd
Everton 1-0 M'brough
M'brough 3-2 Fulham
M'brough 2-2 West Brom
Chelsea 1-0 M'brough
Liverpool 2-0 M'brough
Spurs
Spurs 1-1 Arsenal
Bolton 1-0 Spurs
Spurs 1-1 West Ham
Wigan 1-2 Spurs
Spurs 3-2 S'derland
Spurs 3-1 P'tsmouth
Pos P W D L F - A GD Pts
4 Spurs 16 8 6 2 22- 13 9 30
13 M'brough 16 5 4 7 20- 23 -3 19
When Spurs beat Middlesbrough in the second game of this season at White Hart Lane, we went to the top of the table, with two wins on the board. The 2-0 victory was notable for a number of statistical familiarities. Defoe scored a cracker and Mido scored a soft goal that Mark Schwarzer allowed through his legs. Last season, Defoe scored another great goal, whilst it was Kanoute who got the comedy goal! The goal times were identical to last season's home game against The "Boro". On both occasions, Arsenal also lost. Already this season, such an event is less of a rarety, and Spurs fans everywhere will be hoping that Spurs can seal an away win at The Riverside and then hear the news of a home defeat for the gooners at the hands of Chelsea as we make our way home down the A1!
The last time we played this fixture of course, we went in hope of qualifying for Europe, which we could have done with a win. Sadly, we lost that penultimate game of the season, and Middlesbrough won a three horse race (also involving Man City) for the last precious UEFA cup place. Boro have done well in this year's tournament, finishing top of their group following a 2-0 win on Thursday night, thanks to goals by Massimo Maccarone, who does not get too much first team football these days. Having already secured their berth in the last 32 of the UEFA Cup, McLaren had the luxury of being able to rest a few players and blood youngsters such as Morrison and Johnson.
I find it frustrating though, that teams such as Middlesbrough have battled their way into Europe, supposedly the place that all football fans want to be, then fail to attract even a respectable crowd to watch the fare on offer. A paltry 9,436 turned up to watch last night's game. Surely Spurs, if they make it to Europe, will play in front of packed houses?
Middlesbrough have been a real mixed bag in the Premiership this season, at home and away. At home, they beat Arsenal and thrashed Man Utd, but managed to lose to Sunderland, and got thrashed by Charlton. Whilst their last two defeats on their travels have been at the hands of Chelsea and Liverpool, they beat Birmingham convincingly, and also won at Villa Park. Yet, with only 19 points to their name, their overall league form does not augur well for qualification for Europe this season. There is, of course a long way to go.
Middlesbrough have had one or two headlines they'd rather forget, with Xavier having been banned for drug use (still subject of appeal), and Pogatetz arriving under a cloud of International disgrace serving a long term ban (now finished) for violent conduct. They'll be missing Mendieta until Boxing Day at the earliest and Ray Parlour may struggle to make this Sunday's game. Chris Riggott will have to miss this game, serving a one-match suspension, for his two yellow cards last week at Anfield. No doubt Ugo Ehiogu will slip in beside Gareth Southgate, comfortably.
Yakubu has been scoring regularly for Boro, and Mark Viduka and Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink will fight it out for the other striker's role. One time Spurs target Stewart Downing is also missing with a long term injury, till January at least. As the January window approaches, Spurs are again being linked with this promising young player.
Teemu Tainio went off with a knee injury in the first half of Monday night's game, and assuming he will not be available, there are plenty queueing up for a midfield slot, including Routledge, Mendes, Reid, Brown, Lennon and maybe even Sean Davis. Jermain Defoe is likely to get the nod over Robbie Keane to start this game.
It is a big ask for Spurs to win this game, having not managed a win at The Riverside for 9 years, but I'm going to predict a 2-1 win to the Lilywhites and a dream 7 point margin over Arsenal going into Christmas. There may be a lot of singing on the way home................
· Did you know? Spurs played Middlesbrough on the same date in 1999, losing 2-1. Spurs took the lead through Ramon Vega, but Boro came back with goals by Christian Ziege and Brian Deane. Read the report here
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