· This season's home game - 2-0 to Spurs
· August game Spursometer - 71%
· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 27 2005-6
· Spurs drew at home to Wigan
· NEW! - See the current injury list for all Premiership Teams!

Full Record of Spurs -v- Sheffield United

Prem          Pl   W   D   L  For-Ag  Pts
Home           3   2   1   0   6 -2    7
Away           2   0   1   1   2 -8    1
========================================
Total(Prem)    5   2   2   1   8 -10   8
========================================
Football Lge
Home(Div 1)   32  22   6   4  72 -32  50
Away(Div 1)   32   6  11  15  46 -70  21
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Total(Div 1)  64  28  17  19 118 -102 73
========================================
Home (Div 2)   6   2   3   1  17 - 9   7
Away (Div 2)   6   0   2   4   7 -15   2
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Total(Div 2)  12   2   5   5  24 -24   9
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Total(Prem)    5   2   2   1   8 -10   8
Total(Div 1)  64  28  17  19 118 -102 73
Total(Div 2)  12   2   5   5  24 -24   9
========================================
Grand Total   81  32  24  25 150 -136 90
========================================

Sheffield United

Sheff Utd   1-0   Arsenal
M'brough    3-1   Sheff Utd
Sheff Utd   1-1   P'tsmouth
Reading     3-1   Sheff Utd
Sheff Utd   2-0   Fulham
Blackburn   2-1   Sheff Utd

Spurs

Spurs      2-1   A. Villa
Spurs      0-1   Liverpool
P'tsmouth  1-1   Spurs
Spurs      2-3   Newcastle
Fulham     1-1   Spurs
Spurs      0-4   Man Utd

Pos           P  W  D  L   F-A   GD  Pts
11 Spurs     25  9  6 10  29-36  -7  33
16 Sheff Utd 26  7  6 13  22-35 -13  27

Weather permitting (much of England is under a blanket of snow as I write), Spurs travel to Bramall Lane for their first competitive game at that venue since September, 1993. (They did play a pre-season friendly in July 2004, which United won 2-1).

Take another look at the history of our league results with Sheffield United at the top of the page. Did you notice the goals against tally in the two previous away Premiership games between these two sides? It's 2-8 against Spurs, because of a massive 6-0 defeat on March 2nd, 1993. Spurs had arrived for a midweek fixture in 8th place in the 22-team Premiership. United were 20th. Spurs had a quarter-final FA Cup tie against Man City to look forward to, whilst United had a quarter-final against Blackburn, who they beat on penalties after a replay. United were vanquished by Sheffield Wednesday in one semi-final, whilst we lost at Wembley against a team I prefer not to mention, especially in connection with a semi-final! Spurs finished 8th at the end of the season and The Blades made 14th, winning one more season in thr top flight before their 12year absence.

So, Spurs might have missed one or two of their star names in that League game, but they had no excuses for the 6-0 thrashing which took place in front of 16,000+ that night. United were even 4 up at half-time! Franz Carr had scored the first, followed by an Andy Gray (No, not that one!) own goal. Ian Bryson added two before the break, and Brian Deane scored a fifth in the 73rd minute. The final nail came through Paul Rogers with three minutes to go.

The Spurs team that night was Thorstvedt; Austin, Mabbutt, Cundy, Van den Hauwe; Gray (sub Hendry), Nayim (sub Sedgeley), Samways, Allen; Sheringham, Anderton. Nayim was to become a hero at Maine Road at the week-end with a hat-trick in Spurs 4-2 victory. Police horses were spread across the pitch before the end of that Man City game, as the natives were very, very hostile.

You will understand then that the full house of 30,000+ this Saturday (Health & Safety permitting!) will have been reminded of that 6-0 victory, AND they will be sniffing the blood of some more "Southern Softies" Neil Warnock's men have recently sent both Arsenal and Fulham back down the M1 with "nil points", and with three other home wins, two away wins, and half a dozen draws, United have opened a gap between themselves and the drop zone. Indeed, a win on Saturday would put them just three points behind Tottenham.

The "Blades" will be seeking to pierce the flesh of the soft under-belly of Spurs, who still seek their first Premiership win since beating Aston Villa on Boxing Day. Spurs have not kept a clean sheet in the League since October 26th at Watford. That's an appalling run of 14 games, from a team that purports to challenge for Europe.

Chris Hughton (not Martin Jol, who we must asume has been in Europe this week) reports that Teemu Tainio, Jermaine Jenas and Aaron Lennon are all okay for this game. The nature of the game, and the absense of anything resembling a tough physical presence in the middle, suggests that Tainio will have to play beside Jenas, whose ability to cover the full length of the pitch will also be required, to provide movement and passing options for those around him. The Bramall Lane pitch is not conducive to a game for connoisseurs, and whoever wins will need to tough it out!

Sadly, with Spurs' present form, poor fitness levels, and lack of confidence all-round, I fear that we will lose (2-1), and the blades of Spurs fans will be unsheathed towards the decision makers at Tottenham.

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