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· Swansea 1 Spurs 1 - 31st January, 2011
· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 31 2010-11
· 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- Swansea
Premier Pl W D L For-Ag Pts
Home 0 0 0 0 0-0 0
Away 1 0 1 0 1-1 1
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Total(Prem) 1 0 1 0 1-1 1
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Football Lge
Home(Div 1) 2 2 0 0 3-1 6
Away(Div 1) 2 0 0 2 1-4 0
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Total(Div 1) 4 2 0 2 4-5 6
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Football Lge
Home(Div 2) 11 9 2 0 39-9 20
Away(Div 2) 11 4 3 4 13-14 11
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Total(Div 2) 22 13 5 4 52-23 31
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Total(Prem) 1 0 1 0 1-1 1
Total(Div 1) 4 2 0 2 4-5 6
Total(Div 2) 22 13 5 4 52-23 31
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Grand Total 27 15 6 6 57-29 38
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Last six games:-
Spurs
Spurs 5-0 Newcastle
Arsenal 5-2 Spurs
Spurs 1-3 Man Utd
Everton 1-0 Spurs
Spurs 1-1 Stoke
Chelsea 0-0 Spurs
Swansea
Swansea 2-3 Norwich
Stoke 2-0 Swansea
Wigan 0-2 Swansea
Swansea 1-0 Man City
Fulham 0-3 Swansea
Swansea 0-2 Everton
Pos P W D L F-A GD Pts
4 Spurs 30 16 7 7 53-35 18 55
10 Swansea 30 10 9 11 34-36 -2 39
Rodgers' Swans will be no April Fools
In their first Premier League season, Brendan Rodgers' Swansea team have built a fine reputation, gaining the respect of opponents, pundits and journalists alike. Spurs knew this when they travelled down to The Liberty Stadium on New Years' Eve. Raf van der Vaart gave us a half-time lead when he fired home a low shot from an Assou-Ekotto cross, but former Chelsea Junior Scott Sinclair scored an 84th minute equaliser, which led to great celebration from the players, manager and fans alike. (Swansea 1 Spurs 1 - 31st January, 2011)
The celebration gives a clue to part of the secret of the "Swans" success this season. Arguably, there are no big names at the club, but there is a magnificent team ethic and spirit, promoted and nurtured by Brendan Rodgers, who took over from Paulo Sousa in July 2010. Rodgers had a less successful time at his two previous clubs, but clearly has some excellent coaching skills.
Swansea have a system, and every member of the squad knows his place in that system, should they be selected. On the face of it, it's all quite simple really, where the pitch is divided into lines. The midfield and forward players cross the pitch in threes as a rule, and those supporting the main striker know when to go forward, and when to fall back, supporting the defence. In general terms, every team does the same of course, but if you take Spurs for example, there is no way that the likes of Bale and Van der Vaart can fit into a rigid system - not that Harry Redknapp wants that anyway. The Swansea game relies heavily on keeping possession. That's a simple idea too, but not always easy to maintain.
Rodgers has enhanced his squad in January, particularly by the addition of 22 year old Icelandic striker Gylfi Sigurdsson, loaned by the German Bundesliga side TSG Hoffenheim. Sigurdsson had started his career at Reading, where he had a strike rate of 18 league goals in 36 games over the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons. Rodgers will have known of Sigardsson's attributes during his short time at Reading. In 11 games for Swansea since January, the Icelander has scored 5 goals, 4 of them in his last 4 games. He scored both Swansea's goals in their 2-0 win at Wigan, and two of the three goals in their magnificent 3-0 win at Craven Cottage two weeks ago. Sigurdsson will be a danger man, but he will be well supported by Sinclair and others.
Swansea's away form in the league until January was their weakness, whereas at home, they had only lost to Man Utd (and then by 1-0) until their home form dipped in recent defeats to both Norwich and Everton. Perhaps the system has been rumbled. Rodgers will have "second season syndrome" to contend with next time around. Swansea already have 39 points, and that is probably already enough to ensure another Premier League season. They deserve it, especially when they beat Arsenal and Man City at The Liberty Stadium, and drew against us and Chelsea.
Some of Swansea's historic Spurs connections can be found in my preview of the away game here. No doubt Cliff Jones will be on parade at The Lane on Sunday, and hopefully, Terry Medwin will be around too.
Steven Caulker continues to receive rave reviews by Swansea fans, and has served a great apprenticeship in recent seasons, playing at progressively higher levels. Of course, Steven will not be available to play against us, but the club captain, Garry Monk will cover for him. That's how good Caulker has been. He keeps the club captain out of the side. I think he'll be playing a full part in the Spurs squad next season.
There is an excellent preview of the match from a Swansea perspective here. Peter Thomas has great admiration for Spurs, but is an avid Swansea fan and excellent writer.
Spurs will need to be at their best then, in order to repel the visitors from across the Welsh border. When we played them in January, we deployed the same 4-2-3-1 system as we did against Bolton on Tuesday night. Perhaps that was dress rehearsal for Sunday. However, Aaron Lennon has declared himself match-fit, and Harry has confirmed his availability. Lennon missed the away game, so his presence could spring a surprise for Swansea. It would have to be a 4-4-1-1, with Lennon and Bale in tandem, and Van der Vaart behind Adebayor. I look forward to seeing that attacking style in operation, which would force Swansea back.
By the time we play on Sunday afternoon, Arsenal and Chelsea will have played (and probably won) their matches at QPR and villa Park respectively. of course we hope for moderate results from our our main competitiors for the Champions League, but the odds are that some degree of pressure will be upon Spurs to get a win and regain the current status quo. I'll take them to do just that, and predict a 2-0 win.
Did you know? - Swansea's only win at White Hart Lane was in September 1978 when they won 3-1 in the league cup and went through on aggregate. It was during a dreadful week as Spurs had lost 7-0 at Anfield the previous Saturday. Indeed Spurs did not win any of their first six league or cup games that season.
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