|
· Away fans! Find a hotel near the ground here!
· The last time we played Sunderland - Spurs won 4-1
· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 15 2004-5
Premier Pl W D L For-Ag Pts
Home 5 5 0 0 13 - 4 15
Away 5 3 0 2 10 - 7 9
==========================================
Total(Prem) 10 8 0 2 23 -11 24
==========================================
Football Lge
Home (Div 1) 37 14 12 11 57 -45 42
Away (Div 1) 37 8 11 18 31 -60 29
==========================================
Total(Div 1) 74 22 23 31 88-105 71
==========================================
Football Lge
Home (Div 2) 1 0 0 1 2 - 3 0
Away (Div 2) 1 1 0 0 2 - 1 2
==========================================
Total(Div 2) 2 1 0 1 4 - 4 2
==========================================
Total(Prem) 10 8 0 2 23 -11 24
Total(Div 1) 74 22 23 31 88 -105 71
Total(Div 2) 2 1 0 1 4 - 4 2
==========================================
Grand Total 86 31 23 34 115-120 97
==========================================
Last Six Premiership results:-
Spurs
Spurs 2-0 Everton
Man Utd 1-1 Spurs
Spurs 1-1 Arsenal
Bolton 1-0 Spurs
Spurs 1-1 West Ham
Wigan 1-2 Spurs
Sunderland
Newcastle 3-2 S'derland
S'derland 1-4 P'tsmouth
Arsenal 3-1 S'derland
S'derland 1-3 A. Villa
S'derland 0-1 B'mingham
S'derland 0-2 Liverpool
Pos P W D L F -A GD Pts
6 Spurs 14 6 6 2 16-10 6 24
20 S'derland 15 1 2 12 12-30 -18 5
Spurs now go into a potentially very fruitful period of the season. Their next three home games are against the current bottom three sides (Sunderland, Portsmouth and Birmingham), and apart from a difficult game at The Riverside before Christmas, we have West Brom at The Hawthorns and Newcastle at home on New Year's Eve. I'll be VERY disappointed if we don't manager a minimum of 13 to 15 points out of those 6 games, which would set us up very well for a genuine challenge for Europe in 2006.
Having said that, we all know how badly Spurs have managed to perform against relegation prospects. Remember how we lost home and away against Ipswich, when they were relegated in the 2001-2 season? Sunderland avoided the drop by one place that year, but in the 2002-3 season, they managed just 19 points (which was the worst tally in Premiership history). With only 5 points on the board at present, Mick McCarthy's side are risking their own diabolical record.
The Black Cats did manage to beat us on their ground in November 2002, but the last time we played them was at White Hart Lane on February 8th 2003, and Spurs pulverised the Wearsiders 4-1 to maintain a home record over this side, who have not managed a League win at The Lane since 1978. Gus Poyet, Gary Doherty, Simon Davies and Teddy Sheringham were our scorers, whilst Kevin Phillips had given Sunderland brief hope when equalising Poyet's opener. Phillips' former strike partner at The Stadium of Light had been Niall Quinn, who had announced his retirement to his fans at their home game against Spurs. This partnership had been a big part of the reason why Peter Reid's side had managed to finish 7th in the 2000-2001 season, but it was all downhill after that. It's quite amazing to think that Robbie Keane had been roundly booed by the Sunderland fans in November, as he had turned down a rumoured transfer offer in favour of Spurs!
Three points on Saturday would give Spurs 100 against this opposition, but we would need a hatful of goals and two more wins to match the overall League record of Sunderland against us. Spurs managed to win only 4 of their first 26 away games between 1909 and 1966, and in the first half of the century, Sunderland enjoyed supremacy at The Lane too.
Very few players have featured for both sides in their careers, but they include Bobby Mimms, Chris Waddle, Phil Gray and Paul Stewart. Mimms is one of two who played for us after Sunderland. The other was John Curtis, way back in 1908-13!
So much for history.......The odds are heavily stacked against the visitors this week. They have lost their last 7 Premiership games, and in fact only had a spell of three games in Seeptember/October, when they drew two and actually beat a team! (Middlesbrough). Sunderland did put up a good show at St. James' Park, but their morale and resilience has all but disappeared since.
Martin Jol has a full squad to select from. The big questions are:-
1. Will Robbie Keane or Jermain Defoe start?
2. Will Wayne Routledge or Aaron Lennon start?
3. Will Teemu Tainio play?
We'll all have to wait till tomorrow, but (sorry Sunderland fans) I'm backing Spurs to win by 4-0.
Top of page | Index to 2005-6 Match Reports
|
