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· Last Season's Corresponding Game - 1-1
· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 16 2009-10
· See the current injury list for all Premiership Teams
· All the Spurs Stats you could hope for here! THFC6061 Sports Stats
Full League Record of Spurs -v- Birmingham City
Premier Pl W D L For-Ag Pts
Home 6 5 0 1 13 - 6 15
Away 6 1 3 2 6 - 8 6
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Total (Prem) 12 6 3 3 19 -13 21
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Football Lge
Home (Div 1) 28 20 4 4 63 -22 47
Away (Div 1) 28 10 4 14 31 -39 25
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Total (Div 1) 56 30 8 18 94 -61 72
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Football Lge
Home (Div 2) 4 1 1 2 6 - 4 3
Away (Div 2) 4 1 2 1 4 - 4 4
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Total(Div 2) 8 2 3 3 10 - 8 7
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Total (Prem) 12 6 3 3 19 -13 21
Total(Div 1) 56 30 8 18 94 -61 72
Total(Div 2) 8 2 3 3 10 - 8 7
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Grand Total 76 38 14 24 123 -83 100
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Last Six Premiership results:-
Birmingham
A. Villa 0-0 B'mingham
B'mingham 2-2 West Ham
Stoke 3-2 B'mingham
Man City 0-0 B'mingham
B'mingham 1-0 Chelsea
Fulham 1-1 B'mingham
Spurs
Man Utd 2-0 Spurs
Bolton 4-2 Spurs
Spurs 1-1 S'derland
Spurs 4-2 Blackburn
Arsenal 2-3 Spurs
Spurs 2-1 Liverpool
Pos P W D L F-A GD Pts
5 Spurs 15 7 4 4 23-20 3 25
14 B'mingham 15 3 8 4 16-18 -2 17
Let's be party poopers!
They're having a party around St. Andrews this week, after "The Blues" put paid to their hated rivals Aston Villa in the Carling Cup quarter-final. Unfortunately, the "Brummie" fans don't know how to party with any restraint and there were fears that their behavior might have sparked a failure for England to win the 2018 World Cup bid. ( I don't think that was our problem) It wasn't just the Birmingham fans that caused trouble of course, but it was them that wound up the depressed Villa fans, whose team fell foul to a late goal by their Serbian striker Nikola Zigic, deflected by former Spur Luke Young. Birmingham's reward is a semi-final draw against West Ham, and all Spurs fans will wish them the best of luck with that game!
I'm quite surprised there has been so much mid-week football this week, as I am living under two feet of snow in Chesterfield, which came to a stand-still on Wednesday, and has still not recovered. The big freeze is with us in the UK for a while yet, so we should say that weather permitting we will be hoping to be party poopers tomorrow.
The trouble is that Spurs haven't got a great record here against a team that is still trying to establish itself as a genuine top flight team. Birmingham had four consecutive Premier League seasons between 2002 and 2006, with Steve Bruce at the helm, before he flew off to Wigan. Bruce's successor Alex McLeish did his best to keep Birmingham in the top flight after they bounced back at the first attempt (under Bruce), and despite his failure, McLeish did repeat the trick of winning promotion from The Championship at the first attempt. This time round, Birmingham are in their second Premier League season, and they are offering stern resistance to most opponents. They beat Chelsea in their last home league game, so the team and the fans will be full of confidence and in a cock-a-hoop frame of mind. It will be up to Spurs to keep team and crowd quiet.
This is a difficult test for Spurs though. We have only managed one win in the Premier League at St. Andrews and that was in March 2006, when we were challenging for a top four place under Martin Jol's leadership. Aaron Lennon scored his first senior goal for Spurs, and Robbie Keane (set up by Jermaine Jenas) scored from close range to seal the win. Stephen Kelly got an outing at right back in place of the dropped Stalteri. Kelly would subsequently play for Birmingham, before moving to Fulham.
It was Lennon who gave us a last minute win in last year's home game against Birmingham, but at their place in January, Defoe's 69th minute goal was nullified by a last minute equaliser by Liam Ridgewell. It was one of those occasions of points being thrown away, and putting Spurs' Champions League challenge at risk.
Birmingham of course include Stephen Carr, who will once again be given a frosty reception by the travelling fans. Ten years ago, Stephen was the darling of Spurs fans who were understandably disappointed when he left for a so-called "big club" at Newcastle. Carr's best season at Spurs was surely the 1999-2000 season, which included his spectacular goals against Manchester United and Sunderland. Carr has never matched the 3 goals he scored in that season and the year after for Spurs. Carr (now 34) is very much a fixture and club captain at Birmingham, who he joined after a two month "retirement" in February 2009.
There are a couple more "hate figures" for Spurs fans in the Birmingham side which includes former gooners Sebastian Larsson and Aleksandr Hleb, who joined Barcelona from Arsenal, but has spent most of his time on loan at Stuttgart and now Birmingham. Ben Foster has taken over from 39 year old Maik Taylor as number one goalkeeper, and will be remembered as the keeper who conceded Paul Robinson's long range free kick when on loan at Watford from Man Utd. Birmingham even still have veteran striker Kevin Phillips on their books. Now 37, Phillips has made just 1 substitute appearance in the Premier League, but did manage 120 minutes in Birmingham's Carling Cup tie against Brentford. Oh, and don't forget Lee Bowyer of course.
One of Birmingham's strengths could be the fact theye've used just 19 of their squad in league matches this season, as against Spurs' use of 26 players already. On the other hand it could be a weakness if they suffer injuries, but Birmingham seem to keep going in tenacious style. Goals are at a premium for them and three players have 3 goals apiece to lead their league charts. They are Craig Gardner (signed from Villa), Cameron Jerome and Liam Ridgewell (also a former Villa star). Gardner is one of Birmingham's casualties at present, along with Scottish International James McFadden, who has been out since September.
Wilson Palacios impressed for Spurs in last season's corresponding game, and his best form will be required here, I suspect, with Jenas hopefully coming back to fitness, and perhaps to be held back for next Tuesday's game in Holland. It does look as if Younes Kaboul and Rafael van der Vaart are out for a few weeks, so in the case of the defence, it's a case of Bassong partnering Gallas, with Michael Dawson waiting in the wings for a return to action. The twin-pronged attack of Lennon and Bale on the wings should be enough to keep Defoe and Crouch (or Pavlyuchenko) supplied, and I think that Spurs will continue their winning form and come away with a two goal win.
P.S - If we do manage to beat Birmingham, we will have one more point than we had at the same stage last season!
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