· Last Season's Corresponding Game - Sunderland 1 Spurs 2, 29.12.12
· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 15 2012-13
· 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 Sunderland
 
Premier       Pl   W   D   L    For-Ag  Pts
Home          12  10   1   1    24 - 9  31
Away          12   5   3   4    17 -15  18
==========================================
Total(Prem)   24  15   4   5    41 -24  49
=========================================
Football Lge
Home (Div 1)  37  14  12  11    57 -45  42
Away (Div 1)  37   8  11  18    31 -60  29
==========================================
Total(Div 1)  74  22  23  29    88-105  71
==========================================
Football Lge
Home (Div 2)   1   0   0   1     2 - 3   0
Away (Div 2)   1   1   0   0     2 - 1   2
==========================================
Total(Div 2)   2   1   0   1     4 - 4   2
==========================================
Total(Prem)   24  15   4   5    41 -24  49
Total(Div 1)  74  22  23  29    88 -105 71
Total(Div 2)   2   1   0   1     4 - 4   2
==========================================
Grand Total  100  38  27  35   133-133 121
==========================================

Last Six Premier League results:-

Sunderland - WLWLDL

S'derland  2-1   Newcastle
Hull       1-0   S'derland
S'derland  1-0   Man City
Stoke      2-0   S'derland
A. Villa   0-0   S'derland
S'derland  3-4   Chelsea

Spurs - WDLLDW

Spurs      1-0   Hull
Everton    0-0   Spurs
Spurs      0-1   Newcastle
Man City   6-0   Spurs
Spurs      2-2   Man Utd
Fulham     1-2   Spurs

Pos             P  W  D  L   F-A   GD  Pts
 6. Spurs      14  7  3  4  13-15  -2   24
20. S'derland  14  2  2 10  11-28 -17    8

Both sides want to close a gap

In the highly competitive world of the Barclays Premier League, every game has an agenda, and this one is no different, as both teams seek to close the gap on the teams above them.

Gus Poyet's Sunderland dropped back to bottom of the table after Wednesday night's 4-3 home defeat by Chelsea, and even a win can't take them out of the bottom three. Similarly, Spurs cannot make it back into the top four this week, because of their negative and poor goal difference compared to that of the two teams three points above us going into this week-end - Liverpool and Everton.

Liverpool are hardly likely to lose points to West Ham, especially with Suarez in the form he showed on Wednesday night. However, Everton play Arsenal at The Emirates on Sunday, so one or both teams must lose points, in which case, Spurs can do themselves a big favour with another three away points.

Whilst "The Black Cats" are another of our favourite Premier League opponents (we've won 15 of our 24 Premier League matches), Poyet has added some resilience since his appointment on 8th October. Sunderland lost his first game in charge 4-0 at Swansea, but like his predecessor, Gus did manage a local derby win against Newcastle, and then his team managed to beat Manchester City before the last International break. Waves of optimism spread around Wearside, but reality hit home hard on Wednesday night.

The scoreline makes that game look like a thriller, but hordes of Sunderland fans had left the Stadium of Light before Phil Bardlsey's 86th minute goal made it 4-3. Two minutes previously, Bardsley had put the ball into his own net, and at 4-2, the home fans thought their cause was lost. Bardsley was a player not liked by Paolo di Canio, but Poyet re-instated him at full back.

One thing Poyet has not resolved, is the disciplinary record of Lee Cattermole, who recently served yet another three match ban for the eighth red card of his career. Cattermole has also managed to accumulate no less than 70 yellow cards in a career spanning 9 years and three teams. Cattermole was an un-used sub on Wednesday night, but might feature tomorrow, which could be bad news for Spurs on the combative and injury front. The records show he is a liability for both teams.

On the plus side for Spurs, first choice goalkeeper Keiren Westwood (since Mignolet's departure for Liverpool) is still missing due to a shoulder injury, and defender Carlos Cuellar has a hip injury.

Also on the plus side for Spurs is the return to form and match fitness of Aaron Lennon, who scored in our last game at The Stadium of Light last December, when we won 2-1. (Sunderland 1 Spurs 2 - 29.12.12) Lennon scored a great goal. He was operating just outside the box, towards the right and received a ball from Sandro, further out towards the right flank. Lennon flicked the ball over stand-in full back Kilgallon, and the ball rebounded into Lennon’s path, as he passed O’Shea and fired past Mignolet. Regular readers will know that we never lose when Lennon scores, so hopefully tomorrow will be another good day.

On the down side for Spurs is the fact that whichever striker is chosen to play in the Premier League, he struggles to score, at least from open play. Defoe had a chance on Wednesday night and failed. Perhaps Soldado will get the nod tomorrow. Jan Vertonghen has now been confirmed out, and as I have suggested elsewhere, we could see Kyle Naughton covering the left back slot.

AVB has plenty of options regarding his midfield and attacking personnel. Dembele missed Wednesday night's game and I anticipate he will play this one. Whether that is in the middle of the midfield three or behind them remains to be seen. Lewis Holtby staked a strong claim to a start with his winning goal at Craven Cottage.

Another piece of bad news for Spurs could be the appointment of referee Lee Mason for this game. Mr. Mason was in charge when we lost 3-1 here in April 2010. The referee gave Sunderland no less than three penalties, only one of which was scored, thanks to heroics and history by Heurelho Gomes, who made two penalty saves to join Pat Jennings in that particular hall of goalkeeping fame. Darren Bent had already scored and celebrated his opener with "more relish than Branstons" as I wrote at the time. Remember that the Spurs manager at the time (Harry Redknapp) had previously tarred Bent with being compared with Harry's wife Sandra regarding his lack of scoring prowess. Bent was not in evidence on Wednesday night at Fulham.

Spurs did do better this season with Lee Mason in charge, beating Norwich at home in one of their better performances. That was a 2-0 scoreline, and I'll go for a Spurs win by the same margin tomorrow. See you there!

· 15 years ago this week - On December 5th 1998, Jamie Carragher scored one of his own goals to give Spurs a 2-1 win over Liverpool!

Follow @spursodyssey