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· Last Season's Corresponding Game - Lost 1-0
· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 5 2009-10
· See the current injury list for all Premiership Teams
· All the Spurs Stats you could hope for here! THFC6061 Sports Stats
Full Record of Spurs -v- Wolverhampton Wanderers
Prem Pl W D L For- Ag Pts
Home 2 1 0 1 5 - 3 3
Away 2 1 0 1 2 - 1 3
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Total(Prem) 4 2 0 2 7 - 4 6
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Div 1
Home 31 21 6 4 76 - 40 50
Away 31 9 7 15 46 - 60 27
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Total(Div 1) 62 30 13 19 122 -100 77
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Div 2
Home 6 5 1 0 18 - 9 11
Away 6 1 0 5 6 - 16 2
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Total(Div 2) 12 6 1 5 24 - 25 13
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Total(Prem) 4 2 0 2 7 - 4 6
Total(Div 1) 62 30 13 19 122 -100 77
Total(Div 2) 12 6 1 5 24 - 25 13
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GRAND TOTAL 78 38 14 26 153 -129 96
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Last Six Premiership results:-
Spurs
Man City 0-1 Spurs
Burnley 4-2 Spurs
Spurs 0-0 Man City
Stoke 1-2 Spurs
Spurs 0-1 Wigan
West Brom 1-1 Spurs
Wolves
P'tsmouth 3-1 Wolves
Wolves 2-1 S'derland
Wolves 2-1 Stoke
Everton 1-1 Wolves
Wolves 1-1 Newcastle
Fulham 2-1 Wolves
Pos P W D L F-A GD Pts
9 Wolves 4 1 2 1 5-5 0 5
11 Spurs 4 1 2 1 3-3 0 5
No "Anti-Football" here please!
Younger readers may be surprised to learn that back in the fities, Wolves attracted young fans in the same way as glamour clubs such as Spurs and other top teams have done down the years. Managed by Stan Cullis, Wolves were reknowned as an innovative and exciting footballing side, winning three League Championships, and the FA Cup in 1960. These were the heady days of England Captain and footballing legend the late Billy Wright, and a team that was one of the first to represent England in European football, notably the European Cup in 1958-9, and 59-60.
Wolves decline started in the early sixties, when Cullis was sacked, since when they have employed 18 managers in their efforts to try and re-ignite the success of the bygone era. Bill McGarry had the job twice and was one of the most successful of those men, winning the League Cup in 1974. John Barnwell repeated that success in 1980, but apart from winning various lower league titles (including Division Four in 1987-88), that was Wolves last major success, apart from their rise to the Premier League, firstly in 2003-4, and again last year, led by Mick McCarthy.
Spurs had some famous encounters with Wolves down the years, notably in the 1972 UEFA Cup Final, when Alan Mullery returned to action and crucially scored the home goal that secured our aggregate 3-2 win. The two teams also met later in the year in a League Cup semi-final, when Spurs went on to win the trophy. Also worth a mention is Ricky Villa's 30 yard screamer in a 3-0 FA Cup semi-final at Highbury, before the memorable Man City FA Cup win.
It's a different brand of football that McCarthy is using in his efforts to secure Premier League status, and last week Wolves were involved in some controversy at Craven Cottage, where they lost 2-1 and had six players booked (one twice, leading to a red card), and of course there was that tackle upon Bobby Zamora, which led to the Fulham favourite suffering a broken leg. Mind you, Wolves skipper Karl Henry got the ball first and was not booked for the challenge, although he did see yellow in another incident.
On the phone-ins, Wolves were accused of "anti-football", playing a tough and physical brand of football that wins few fans. Wolves, like Spurs and 4 other teams are on 5 points at present, and were beaten for the first time at Craven Cottage, having beaten Stoke on Day One of the season, and drawn against Newcastle and at Everton. Their style is winning points and fans at Molineux will have no complaints about more seasons of Premier League football.
Having said all this of course, those same fans can rightfully say it is pretty rich for a Spurs fan to accuse their team of playing the game rough and tough, when last season they won a league "Double" over Spurs for the first time in some 57 years. Both games were won 1-0, and those six points led to security before the end of the season. Wolves ultimately finished 8 points clear of the drop.
In fairness again, in last year's game at White Hart Lane, McCarthy did not adopt negative tactics and played a 4-4-2. Kevin Doyle scored an early goal, and wolves held on, whilst Spurs failed to fight back. Doyle was Wolves' top scorer last season (9 league goals) and whilst he score for the Republic of Ireland last week, he has yet to get off the mark in domestic football.
Wolves' squad this season has been enhanced by the likes of Steve Hunt from Hull, Steven Fletcher from Burnley, left back Jelle Van Damme from Anderlecht, and the loans of Marcus Bent and (again) Michael Mancienne. Despite the bookies' odds being in Spurs favour, once again winning will be no easy task. Spurs need this win though, to give their home fans a home league goal or two and some conviction that they can once again challenge for a top four place. After all, we enjoyed that Champions League game on Tuesday night!
The team news for Spurs does not augur too well with this purpose in mind. Van Der Vaart is described as doubtful by Harry Redknapp, and Luka Modric is "struggling". Gomes, Dawson and Defoe remain absent. On the bright side, we have had an extra day to recover from the mid-week stresses, and Gareth Bale is likely to play in midfield where he might terrorise any defence. If Van Der Vaart doesn't make it, we ought to see two of our fit strikers starting this one.
As always, an early goal will be so crucial to the development of the game. Let's hope it comes for Spurs, and let's hope we can relax and enjoy a convincing win. I'll go with "Lawro" and say 2-0.
· “Listen to Spurs VS Wolves this Saturday 18th September only on Absolute Radio extra - on DAB Digital Radio, 1215AM and online in the UK from 1.30pm. For more go to www.absoluteradio.co.uk”
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