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· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 4 2011-12
· 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- Reading
Prem Pl W D L For-Ag Pts
Home 2 2 0 0 7 - 4 6
Away 2 1 0 1 2 - 3 3
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Total(Prem) 4 3 0 1 9 - 7 9
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Lge Div 1
Home 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0
Away 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0
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Total(Div 1) 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0
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Lge Div 2
Home 3 1 2 0 9 - 3 4
Away 3 1 0 2 5 - 8 2
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Total(Div 2) 6 2 2 2 14 -11 6
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Total(Prem) 4 3 0 1 9 - 7 9
Total(Div 1) 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0
Total(Div 2) 6 2 2 2 14 -11 6
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Grand Total 10 5 2 3 23 -18 15
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Last Six Premier League results:-
Reading
S'hampton 1-3 Reading
Reading 1-0 Nott'm Forest
Reading 2-2 Crystal Palace
B'mingham 2-0 Reading
Reading 1-1 Stoke
Chelsea 4-2 Reading
Spurs
Bolton 1-4 Spurs
A. Villa 1-1 Spurs
Spurs 2-0 Fulham
Newcastle 2-1 Spurs
Spurs 1-1 West Brom
Spurs 1-1 Norwich
Pos P W D L F-A GD Pts
14.Spurs 3 0 2 1 3-4 -1 2
16.Reading 2 0 1 1 3-5 -2 1
Can Spurs be majestic in the Madesjki stadium?
Spurs have met Reading only 10 times in all league matches throughout their history. 4 of these games were in the Premier League in seasons 2006-07 and 2007-08, which were the "Royals'" only two seasons in the top tier of English football. In their first season back in the Championship, Reading lost to Burnley in the Play-off semi-final. Steve Coppell left, and was briefly replaced by Brendan Rodgers, who did not have the success he had subsequently at Swansea.
New manager Brian McDermott has forged a path back to the top table, ironically only losing to Rodgers' Swansea in the 2011 Play-Off Final, but then winning automatic promotion and the Championship title last season by one point from Southampton. That was a very hard-fought success in a tough league, in which West Ham and Southampton had been the favourites for automatic promotion for so much of the season. Southampton finished runners-up, and West Ham had to do it the hard way.
McDermott who is 51 years old was once an Arsenal apprentice, and did make a total of 38 full league appearances for them over the course of 7 seasons. He also had loan spells at Fulham, and in Sweden for IFK Norrkoping. Like a lot of successful coaches, it can be said that McDermott never reached the top of the tree as a player. After joining Reading as Chief Scout in 2000, McDermott worked his way up through the Reading system until being trusted with the manager's job in December 2009. That trust has been rewarded fully. My observation is that McDermott comes across as a quiet, honourable and shrewd man, who has clearly got the best out of his charges over the last two seasons.
The Reading squad has been considerably strengthened in the summer. Left back Nicky Shorey has re-joined, after spells at Aston Villa and West Brom following Reading's relegation. Former Spur Chris Gunter has been signed from Nottingham Forest. Other signings include Newcastle's midfielder Danny Guthrie and Fulham's Russian striker Pavel Pogrebnyak, who has already scored two goals in 3 games. One of these was against Chelsea, and the other in Reading's 3-2 League Cup win over Peterborough.
Another of McDermott's shrewd acquisitions a couple of years ago was the veteran former Leeds player Ian Harte. Harte was signed from Carlisle, and is now 35 years old, but he is still a 90 minute man for Reading, and a useful free kick merchant.
Reading haven't played a league match since week one of the season. Their scheduled third game against Chelsea was brought forward, due to Chelsea's involvement in the UEFA Super Cup, and their match at Sunderland was postponed due to torrential rain in the north-east. Although they had a league cup match on 28th August, the Reading players will biting at the bit, as will their passionate fans.
Although John Madejski is still Reading's chairman, a Russian consortium has officially taken control of the club. The locals will be hoping that nothing but good times lie ahead.
Spurs' last game against Reading came at The Madesjki Stadium on 3rd May 2008, when Juande Ramos was in charge. Spurs had an awful run-in after their Carling Cup win over Chelsea, and won only their third away league game of that season against Reading. Darren Bent made a rare start and played a part in Robbie Keane's solitary goal which sealed the win. My judgement on the day was that Brazilian left back Gilberto was our man of the match! Gilberto also played in the last game of the season, but was then seen just three times in the following season in a Spurs shirt.
Both teams then have had stumbling starts to the new season, and seek that precious first win. A win for Spurs would not put the "Star of David" gag out of season for at least another week, and that win will be hard to achieve. There is enough pressure already in the media and amongst unconvinced fans upon the new head coach, and that won't go away if we don't get three points.
It is going to be interesting to see how AVB accommodates Mousa Dembele and Clint Dempsey in his team, and whether they both start. It could be time to sacrifice one of the two defensive midfielders, and switch the focus to more attack. Somehow, I don't see that happening, and I suspect the approach will be somewhat cautious.
Nobody can be over-confident in our current situation, but that first win has got to come sometime. Why not this week? COME ON YOU SPURS! (I'll go for a 2-0 spurs win).
· Ten years ago, Spurs beat West Ham 3-2, with a late goal by Anthony Gardner. West Ham squad included future Spurs players, Kanoute, Carrick and Defoe.
· This week 10 years ago, Spurs were second after 6 games
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