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Full Record of Spurs -v- Barnsley

Prem          Pl  W  D  L For-Ag Pts
Home           1  1  0  0  3-0    3
Away           1  0  1  0  1-1    1
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Total          2  1  1  0  4-1    4
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Football Lge
Home (Div 2)  13 11  1  1 36-10   23
Away (Div 2)  13  2  3  8 11-24    7
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Total(Div 2)  26 13  4  9 47-34   30
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Total(Prem)    2  1  1  0  4-1     4
Total(Div 2)  26 13  4  9 47-34   30
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Grand Total   28 14  5  9 51-35   34
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Cup Ties :

FA Cup:-

1997-98  FAC4  H 1-1  Campbell
        FAC4R  A 1-3  Ginola
1998-99  FAC6  A 1-0  Ginola

League Cup:-

1986-87 FLC2/1 A 3-2  C Allen, Roberts, Waddle
        FLC2/2 H 5-3  Hoddle 2, Close, Galvin, C Allen

Beware of enthusiastic Yorkshire folk!

This year the EFL Cup is being sponsored by Thai energy drink company Carabao. The sponsorship has certainly helped to put their name on the map, as I cannot say I was previously familiar with the company or the product.

I wrote earlier in the season that there will be few strangers to Wembley amongst the teams that come to pay us in our temporary home. That phrase can properly be applied to Barnsley who were last here in May 2016 when they beat Millwall in the League One Play-Off Final. We can thank them for that I suppose, but Millwall have joined "The Tykes" this season after also winning a Play-Off Final in May this year. In fact, Barnsley were at Wembley twice for Finals in 2016, as they also won the Football League Trophy.

I thought that this game would be delayed until the week of the Fourth Round games, but Derby and Barnsley played their second round game last Tuesday at Oakwell, with the home side coming back from a 2-1 deficit to win dramatically 3-2, thus rewarding their eager fans with tonight's trip. I imagine that the 11.30pm train out of Kings Cross will be full of vociferous Yorkshire fans, but I hope they are not happy!

Five years ago, Barnsley celebrated the 100th anniversary of their solitary major trophy, which was an FA Cup win in 1912 at Bramall Lane, Sheffield against West Bromwich Albion. For the third successive year the Final had gone to a replay, but "The Reds" ran out 1-0 winners, only in extra-time with a 118th minute goal by Harry Tufnell. Barnsley then were a Division Two side and West Brom were in the top flight. "The Baggies" had beaten Spurs in the First Round on their way to Wembley.

Major Trophy glory has eluded Barnsley since those days, but enthusiasm is a commodity very much in existence amongst the fans and in the club for this tie, and indeed any game. Manager Paul Heckingbottom became manager last season. His only previous managerial appointment had been with Harrogate Town, but he was on the Barnsley staff as Development Squad coach.

Barnsley are of course one of the 49 teams to have graced The Premier League, albeit only for one year, but they met Spurs four times in that 1997/98 season, which was also a struggle for Spurs. This is a season being documented here at Spurs Odyssey over the course of this season, 20 years later. In our Premier League matches, we won 3-0 at home, and drew the away game 1-1, but Barnsley claimed our scalp in an FA Cup Fourth Round replay at Oakwell in February 1998. The scores were level until Spurs midfielder Stephen Clemence was sent off for a second yellow card when he was alleged to have dived in the penalty area. Barnsley quickly took advantage of Spurs' player deficit, scoring in the next minute, and running out 3-1 winners. Jurgen Klinsmann (in his second spell with Tottenham) was stretchered off with a broken jaw, but would return within a month to ultimately help ensure Spurs' Premier League status.

Spurs had a happier FA Cup memory just over a year later when David Ginola scored a Ricky Villa-esque goal with a blazing run through the Barnsley defence to give us one of our abiding Ginola memories.

The only time the two clubs met in League Cup action was in the second round in the 1986-87, when we won 8-5 on aggregate and Clive Allen scored two of his 49 club goals of that season.

Barnsley finished mid-table last season, and have started this season in moderate fashion with two league wins and seven points after seven games. On Saturday they lost 3-0 at home to Aston Villa, who haven't been too great themselves. We all know The Championship is a tough league and that every team is capable of beating each other. Barnsley's best results this season have been their league wins over Nottingham Forest and Sunderland. Then came that recovery last week against Derby to give them this Wembley date. Their first round victims had been Morecambe.

Former Spur Zeki Fryers is on Barnsley's books, but hasn't played since January. Welsh forward Tom Bradshaw is "The Tykes"' top scorer in all games so far this season with four goals, three of which have been in their League Cup games, including one against Derby last week.

Forecasting Carabao (League) Cup games can be tricky, when you consider the insistence by managers and coaches to field rotated/weakened teams. Maurico Pochettino is one such manager, having indicated his need to give some game time to players who are in his squad but who have been on the periphery so far this season. He dismisses the possibility of fancied youngster Marcus Edwards having a game, but suggests that Tashan Oakley-Boothe, who did have the manager's confidence in the pre-season, and Georges-Kevin Nkoudou, who has returned to full training, will get game time.

The team will be a mix of experience, and inexperience. Players such as Dembele and Son, whose minutes have been rationed so far, are likely to play. The starting line-up is anybody's guess, but could be Vorm; Aurier, Dier, Foyth, Vertonghen; Winks, Dembele; Son, Eriksen, Nkoudou; Llorente. Don't count on that though, and if you need any help with your bets have a look at Betulator. It is a site that looks novice-friendly! Whichever players represent Spurs tonight should surely be good enough to put this tie to bed, and that win ought to secured without the need for extra time and a new style (ABBA system) penalty shoot-out. I'll go for a 2-0.

This being a Football League competition, the match referees are quite often individuals we do not see in The Premier League. This is one such occasion, and Tim Robinson currently spends most of his time in charge of Championship games. On Saturday he was at Millwall for their game against Leeds. Barnsley met him for the Yorkshire Derby at Bramall Lane, which they lost 1-0.

Note that my match report may be later than usual due to personal commitments on Wednesday morning. There will be a post-maatch survey, as usual.

· "It was Twenty Years ago today!" - match by match we review the 1997/98 season.

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