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Full Record of Spurs -v- Sheffield United

Prem          Pl   W   D   L  For-Ag  Pts
Home           4   2   2   0   7 -3    8
Away           3   0   1   2   3 -10   1
========================================
Total(Prem)    7   2   3   2  10 -13   9
========================================
Football Lge
Home(Div 1)   32  22   6   4  72 -32  50
Away(Div 1)   32   6  11  15  46 -70  21
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Total(Div 1)  64  28  17  19 118 -102 73
========================================
Home (Div 2)   6   2   3   1  17 - 9   7
Away (Div 2)   6   0   2   4   7 -15   2
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Total(Div 2)  12   2   5   5  24 -24   9
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Total(Prem)    7   2   3   2  10 -13   9
Total(Div 1)  64  28  17  19 118 -102 73
Total(Div 2)  12   2   5   5  24 -24   9
========================================
Grand Total   83  32  25  26 152 -139 91
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Last Six Premier League results:-

Sheff Utd  -    WDWDLL

Sheff Utd  2-1    B'mouth
Sheff Utd  1-1    Brighton
Sheff Utd  1-0    Norwich
A. Villa   0-0    Sheff Utd
Newcastle  3-0    Sheff Utd
Man Utd    3-0    Sheff Utd

Spurs      -    WLLDDW
           
A. Villa   2-3    Spurs
Chelsea    2-1    Spurs
Spurs      2-3    Wolves
Burnley    1-1    Spurs
Spurs      1-1    Man Utd
Spurs      2-0    West Ham

Pos            P  W  D  L   F-A   GD  Pts
 8. Spurs     31 12  9 10  50-41   9   45 
10. Sheff Utd 31 11 11  9  30-31  -1   44 

Who's got their mojo for this game?

I had been relishing this away match at Bramall Lane (originally scheduled for 4th April), as it is the closest Premier League venue to my home in Chesterfield. Whilst I did benefit from the short away trip in January 2015 when we played in a League Cup semi-final, this will be our first Premier League visit since February 2007 when Spurs fans chanted to Neil Warnock “You’re a ****” only to see their team lose to a club that was ultimately relegated and went down in dispute with West Ham who narrowly survived despite the Tevez-Mascherano third party ownership saga. Check the Spurs Odyssey archives for my match reports on these and other games from the last 23 years.

Our home match against “The Blades” was on 9th November and was Mauricio Pochettino’s last game in charge. The result (a 1-1 draw) and performance of our team led to this article published only the day before Mauricio’s departure.

The "Blades" broke their transfer record in January, paying a reported £22 million for Norwegian International midfielder Sander Berge from Racing Genk. This was the fifth time in seven months that Sheffield United had broken their transfer record. The previous record-breaking signing had been that of Oli McBurnie from Swansea.

Chris Wilder also invested (not in monetary terms) in out of contract midfielder Jack Rodwell, who was once considered a rising star when he moved from Everton to Manchester City in 2012. Rodwell had a big contract at Sunderland too, before their demise. He played for Blackburn in the 2018-19 season and played 58 minutes for The "Blades" in their FA Cup Third Round win over Fylde in January. Another January signing was Nottingham Forest defender Jack Robinson.

United have been struggling for form since "Project Re-start". They have just one point from the three Premier League games they have played, although they should have had a win at Villa Park when a failure of the goal-line technology deprived them of what was a legitimate goal. On Sunday they were knocked out of the FA Cup by Arsenal who, after beating lowly Norwich 4-0, have climbed above us into seventh place.

We have yet to beat Sheffield United away in the Premier League , but this will be only our fourth attempt.

Our last league win at Bramall Lane was as long ago as 6th December, 1975. John Duncan scored both our goals. The winner came in the 89th minute. The "Blades" spent most of the season at the bottom of the table, and we would meet them sooner than we would have liked in our one season (in the last 70 years) spent in Division Two. We couldn't beat them away in that season. That game finished 2-2. John Duncan again scored for us, but Peter Taylor got the second. John Cutbush (a former Spurs junior) was at right back for United in that game on January 2nd 1978. He played more games in that season (46 + 1 sub) than he did in any other season for either the "Blades" or his previous club - Fulham.

Spurs were near the bottom of the Premier League when we won our very first game in this competition which was at home to Sheffield United. It was our sixth game, and our goals were scored by Teddy Sheringham and Gordon Durie. United goalkeeper Simon Tracey was sent off in the 84th minute, but Spurs were already 2-0 up and did not add to the score.

Midfielder John Lundstram, now aged 26, was born in Liverpool and was on Everton's books in his early years, although he never made a first team appearance. Lundstram was signed from Oxford United and does have the distinction of having scored in all four of the English top tiers of the game.

If there had been a programme for this game, it would probably have contained reference to a horrible 6-0 defeat we suffered at Bramall Lane in 1993, 5 days before we played Manchester City in an FA Cup quarter-final, which we would win. We cannot claim that our team was significantly weakened.

Spurs have had the benefit of a 9-day break since their last game which is unusual in this busy post-lockdown schedule. We've only played two games so far whereas United have faced 4 games. Their consecutive defeats against Newcastle and Manchester United have been their largest setbacks of this season. The "Blades" have looked blunt and are yet to find their mojo. They won't have the benefit of a usually ardent crowd behind them either.

It's up to Spurs to take advantage and to be the team that finds its mojo. Apart from the known ongoing situations with Tanganga (back) and Foyth (knee), Jose has a fully fit squad. I'm going for a 2-1 win to Spurs which will be vital in the context of the very slight possibility of Champions League qualification and the more likely entry into next season's Europa League.

Match referee Chris Kavanagh was in charge of our first game of this extended season when we beat Aston Villa 2-1 at home last August. His last game in the middle with Spurs was another 2-1 home win - in January against Norwich. We haven't been beaten this season in any of the three games with this referee. Let's hope that record is unchanged!

Did you know? - We have not played "The Blades" in an FA Cup tie since the Fourth Round in January 1958. the game was played at White Hart Lane in front of over 51,000 people. The managers were Jimmy Anderson for Spurs, and Joe Mercer for United. It was not a happy day for Spurs, who lost 3-0.

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