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· Last Year's Third round Game - Spurs 2 Middlesbrough 0
· NEW! - See the current injury list for all Premiership Teams!
Previous Cup ties between the two clubs have been:
FA CUP:
1904-05 2 H 1-1 Walton
2R A 0-4
1934-35 4 H 2-0 G W Hunt 2
1951-52 4 H 0-3
1986-87 5 H 1-0 C Allen (p)
1998-99 SF OT 0-2*
1999-00 3 H 1-1 Iversen
1999-00 3R A 1-6 Ginola
2004-05 6 A 0-1
FOOTBALL LEAGUE CUP:
1975-76 SF1 H 1-0 Pratt
SF2 A 1-3 McAllister
It's the battle of the one-time giants who occupy the bottom two places in the Premier League. Both Newcastle and Spurs have occupied plenty of back page space, and whoever comes out of this game as the loser will probably dominate those pages for the next few days.
Spurs are of course the Carling Cup holders, who since beating Chelsea in a heroic performance at the new Wembley on February 24th, have managed only 5 wins in 19 games. Only three of those wins have been in the 16 league games since February. The table is not lying at the moment.
Enough has also been said about the Toon, still seeking a manager and a new owner too! Our own Chris Hughton is temporarily in charge at present, and has a most unenviable task. His two games in charge have resulted in the 2-1 home defeat by Hull and last Saturday's 3-1 at West Ham.
Newcastle's one league win came at home against Bolton thanks to Michael Owen, who also scored an extra time winner in their second round Carling Cup game at Coventry, where James Milner was one of the other scorers. Milner has since left, and whilst Keegan put on a "coporate" front when interviewed about this move, one wonders if that had a lot to do with his decision to walk away from a job for the umpteenth time.
Newcastle's injuries of note include Mark Viduka, Alan Smith and Habib Beye (all with Achilles), recent signing Jonas Gutierrez (shoulder), and Enrique (Hamstring). The team they fielded at Upton Park was:- Given; Edgar (Bassong 59), Taylor, Coloccini, N'Zogbia, Geremi, Cacapa (Gonzalez 81), Butt, Duff, Owen, Xisco. Subs Not Used: Harper, Ameobi, Tozer, Doninger, Donaldson. On Spurs' current form, there is reason to fear any opponent at the moment, and whatever crowd turns up to cheer the Magpies will be urging them on to give a winning performance.
The last cup meeting between these two sides was in the FA Cup quarter-final in March 2005. Spurs had got there after beating Brighton, West Brom and Nottingham Forest, whilst Newcastle had defeated non-league Yeading, Coventry and Mourinho's Chelsea.
Both teams have changed radically since, and they lined up as follows:-
Newcastle (4-4-2):- Given; Carr, Boumsong, Bramble (sub Jenas, 39), Hughes; Dyer, Faye, Bowyer, Robert (sub Milner, 80); Shearer (Capt.), Kluivert (sub Ameobi, 67)
Subs not used: - Harper; Butt
Booked: - Boumsong, Ameobi, Shearer
Spurs (4-4-2):- Robinson; Pamarot (sub Marney, 79), Naybet (sub Gardner, 87), King (Capt.), Atouba (sub Keane, 63); Davies, Brown, Carrick, Ziegler; Defoe, Kanoute
Subs not used: - Cerny; Edman
Booked: - Atouba, Brown, Pamarot, Ziegler, Naybet, Davies
Spurs paid for a lack of concentration in the early stages, during which Patrick Kluivert scored the only goal of the game, after a Ledley King error, and a Shearer pass. Newcastle were beaten 4-1 by Man Utd in the semi-final, and of course their 53 year old quest for more domestic glory goes on.
The only time these two teams have met in the League Cup was in the semi-final, played in January 1976. Spurs won the home leg by 1-0, with John Pratt scoring the goal, but at St. James' Park, Alan Gowling levelled the aggregate scores in the first half with a hotly disputed goal, and goals by Glenn Keeley and Geoff Nulty meant that Don McAllister's effort was in vain. These were the days of Malcolm MacDonald, who scored 24 goals that season for Newcastle, but only one all season in the League Cup. Reaching the final (and losing to Manchester City) was Newcastle's best ever effort in that competition.
No-one can accurately guess at Ramos's team for this game, so I will not speculate upon it, except to say we are not going to see Alan Hutton or Luka Modric.
The game is on Sky TV, but there will be a couple of thousand Spurs fans present in the rafters of the Sir John Hall Stand egging on their team, and no doubt having a battle of the banter (Gallowgate Humour) with the home fans. One set of us will be shedding tears at the end of this one, but I remain optimistic (of course) and take Spurs to edge it.
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