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Spurs Odyssey Preview - Bolton v Spurs - 06.11.10

· Last Season's Corresponding Game - 2-2
· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 11 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 against Bolton:-

Premier      Pl  W  D  L   For-Ag  Pts
Home         11  7  2  2   19 -10  23
Away         11  1  4  6   11 -19   7
=====================================
Total(Prem)  22  8  6  8   30 -29  30
=====================================
Football Lge
Home (Div 1) 29 17  5  7   57 - 31 39
Away (Div 1) 29  9  3 17   38 - 52 21
=====================================
Total(Div 1) 58 26  8 24   95 - 83 60
=====================================
Football Lge
Home (Div 2)  2  2  0  0    3 - 1   4
Away (Div 2)  2  1  0  1    1 - 1   2
=====================================
Total(Div 2)  4  3  0  1    4 - 2   6
=====================================
Total(Prem)  22  8  6  8   30 -29  30
Total(Div 1) 58 26  8 24   95 -83  60
Total(Div 2)  4  3  0  1    4 - 2   6
=====================================
Grand Total  84 37 14 33  129 -114 96
=====================================

Last Six Premiership results:-

Bolton

A. Villa   1-1   Bolton
Bolton     2-2   Man Utd
West Brom  1-1   Bolton
Bolton     2-1   Stoke
Wigan      1-1   Bolton
Bolton     0-1   Liverpool
 
Spurs
 
Spurs      3-1   Wolves
West Ham   1-0   Spurs
Spurs      2-1   A. Villa
Fulham     1-2   Spurs
Spurs      1-1   Everton
Man Utd    2-0   Spurs

Pos         P  W  D  L  F-A   GD  Pts
 5 Spurs   10  4  3  3 11-10   1  15
11 Bolton  10  2  6  2 13-14  -1  12
Keep "Spursland" on a high!

All those in "Spursland" are still on such a high after Tuesday night's scintillating win over the Champions of Europe - Inter Milan. The day after the initial match reports and analysis, the newspapers and other media have been full of admiration for Spurs, and especially Gareth Bale. Having left (allegedly) one of the best right backs in the world (Maicon) for dead loads of times over the two games, Bale has been hot property for the world's media. Our beloved Spurs have always been high on the map of World Football, and remain one of the top 20 clubs based upon financial status, but our aggregate win over Inter has got the world of football bubbling, as well as those of us who have followed our team through thick and thin.

That "thin" has often included fruitless trips to The Reebock Stadium (where we have yet to win a Premier League game), and before that to Burnden Park, Bolton. Down the years, Spurs have managed just 10 wins in 40 away trips to this particular northern outpost, which features in Jimmy Greaves' tales of life as an away footballer "oop 't north" in the fifties and sixties. For the record it is 14 1/2 years now since Spurs managed an away league win over Bolton, and in 12 attempts in all competitions since the opening of The Reebock Stadium, Spurs have managed just one (League Cup) win in October 2004. It's time for the current spurs squad to get some payback for previous under-achievers wearing the Spurs shirt at Bolton!

As always of course, that will not be easy, and Bolton have been very resilient against most opposition so far this season. They lost only their second Premier League game last week at home to Liverpool in a disappointing game. That was a vital three points for Liverpool, who are now only three points behind Spurs in a compacted Premier League. Bolton's only severe defeat was 4-1 at The Emirates. Their fans will have been disappointed to go down in the Carling Cup to their local rivals - Burnley. However, Owen Coyle's priority will be to continue his club's current 10 year residence in the Premier League.

It is rarely pretty watching Bolton, and that must be why they struggle to fill their ground. Only about 10,000 locals could be bothered to come and watch Tottenham in last season's FA Cup, and Bolton's best crowd in the last couple of years was some 26,000 for Manchester United in January 2009. Club Captain Kevin Davies has been a thorn in Spurs' side in most of his 8 years with "The Trotters", scoring too often. Davies was born in Sheffield and started his career in Chesterfield, where I now live. He remains a hero in these parts and at Bolton, and his status was enhanced when he recently won his first England cap (as a substitute) at the age of 33 against Montenegro. Surely there is younger and longer term talent that Capello could have included in his injury-affected squad!

Davies is not the club's current top scorer though. That is Swedish striker Johan Elmander, who has five league goals in 10 games. He scored two of those in game two of the season at Upton Park, and has scored against Arsenal, and in the drawn games against West Brom and Wigan. Croatian striker Ivan Klasnic has served his one match suspension after seeing red three weeks ago, and may be on the bench for this game. Klasnic has spent most of his career to date at Werder Bremen, who will be our next opponents in the Champions League on November 24th.

Two of Klasnic's International colleagues scored their first league goals for Spurs in last year's 2-2 draw. Ricardo Gardner had given the home team a 4th minute lead, before Niko Kranjcar scored from 20 yards after a Crouch head down in the 34th minute. That man Davies headed home to regain the lead, but Vedran Corluka levelled soon after with a powerful header from a Kranjcar corner.

Corluka has been missing injured for a month now, but Niko Kranjcar has been a mysterious unused substitute for the majority of Spurs' games so far this season. If Harry Redknapp feels he needs to rest a player or two after Tuesday's exertions and before next Tuesday night's game against Sunderland, then surely Kranjcar is fit and raring to go and to stake a claim for more current recognition.

Having said that, I want to see as strong a team as possible, and I want to see Spurs claim 9 league points from their next three games. Unlike some I don't want to see Bale rested. I want to see him flying down the wing on Saturday lunchtime for the benefit of those who travel, and for the television viewers. There has been no team news yet, but if Rafa van der Vaart does not make the squad, then we'll either see a 4-4-2, or Luka Modric filling the hole behind Harry's choice of striker for this game. That would leave an opening for Jenas, Palacios or Sandro beside Tom Huddlestone.

I want to see the Spurs team lay this Reebock hoodoo to rest; to enthrall and entertain us again; and to win. In short, I want our men to keep "Spursland" on a high!

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