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Full Cup record - Spurs v Preston North End:-

FA CUP

Season  Rd   H/A/N    Res     Scorers
1899-00  1     A      0-1
1900-01  1     H      1-1     Brown
1900-01  1R    A      4-2     Brown 3, Cameron
1920-21  S-F   N      2-1     Bliss 2
1921-22  S-F   N      1-2     Seed
1930-31  3     H      3-1     Harper, Cook, Dimmock
1936-37  Q-F   H      1-3     Duncan
1952-53  4     A      2-2     Withers 2
1952-53  4R    H      1-0     Duquemin
1965-66  5     A      1-2     Greaves
1967-68  4     H      3-1     Greaves 2, Chivers

LEAGUE CUP

1971-72  4     H      1-1     Chivers
1971-72  4R    A      2-1     Perryman, Chivers
1996-97  2(1)  A      1-1     Anderton
1996-97  2(2)  H      3-0     Anderton, Allen (2)
2009-10  3     A      5-1     Crouch(3), Defoe, Keane

Will it be a record-breaking day?

Preston North End and Tottenham Hotspur are inextricably linked through the fact that Spurs changed their colours to those of Preston (also known as "The Lilywhites") as a tribute to the double-winning team of the first Football League season of 1888-89. When you consider that Spurs were the first modern day "Double" winners in 1960-61, 64 years after Villa became the second double winners in 1896-97, you do realise the greatness of that Spurs achievement. We had to play more games too than those old-time winners, and more recent winners.

Preston were one of the 12 founding clubs of the Football League, and also won the second League Championship, finishing runners-up for three years after that too. Also nicknamed "North End", Preston were runners-up in 1905-06, 1952-53 and as late as 1957-58. Preston’s ground Deepdale is only one of two grounds where league football has been played every season since the inception of the league in 1888-89. The other one is Burnley’s ground Turf Moor.

Preston's most famous son was of course the legendary Sir Tom Finney, after whom the road to the Deepdale Stadium was named. Sir Tom, who was Preston's Club President, died on Valentine's Day 2014, aged 91.

Finney was a loyal one-club man, who also graced the England International team. Sir Tom was actually born within kicking distance of the Deepdale Stadium. Finney, who was primarily a winger but also a centre forward, first came to prominence during the Second World War. He was the dominant player in the Preston team from 1946 to 1960, winning 76 caps for England and twice being chosen as Footballer of the Year. It is hardly coincidental that, the year after he retired Preston were relegated from the top flight and have never regained that status.

In those lowly paid days for footballers, Finney was also a plumber and was sometimes known as the ‘Preston plumber’. He was a one club player and lived in Preston all his life.

Preston were the first team drawn in both Third and Fourth Round draws. They beat Huddersfield 3-1 in the Third Round.

By the time we play this game, either Manchester City or Arsenal could be out of this prestigious competition, as they play tonight (Friday). Replays are still offered for this round, but the fact is there are several potentially good draws for the fifth round for those who qualify. Let's hope we don't fail! We did lose to a Championship side (Middlesbrough) in last year's fifth round.

Preston have been eliminated at the first hurdle in 6 of the last 7 seasons. They have been in the Championship in those seasons, having previously spent four seasons in the third tier. They last made it to the fifth round in 2015, when they were beaten 3-1 at home by Manchester United.

Another eminent footballer - one of the few surviving 1966 World Cup winning team members - Manchester United's Bobby Charlton - had a brief managerial career, and was in charge of Preston from May 1973 until August 1975.

We last played Preston in September 2009 in a Third Round League Cup tie, and ran out 5-1 winners thanks to a Peter Crouch hat-trick and goals by Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane. That wasn't a bad scoring line-up!

As for the FA cup we have not played Preston since 1968. In 1966, Jimmy Greaves scored in a 2-1 defeat at Deepdale. In 1968 he scored two of our three goals. As Norman Giller pointed out this week. the legendary Greaves once scored all five goals in a 5-4 away win by Chelsea at Deepdale in December, 1959. Tom Finney was in the Preston team that day, but did not score. Martin Chivers was our other scorer in that February 1968 game. "Chiv" was playing in only his seventh game for Spurs, and had scored on his debut against Sheffield Wednesday and also our two goals in an away Third Round draw at Old Trafford. We won the replay.

If Harry Kane plays (and I suspect he will), he could of course break Greaves' 266-goal club record. I'd love to see that happen, but a big part of me wants the record to be broken in front of a home crowd against Manchester City.

Another striker - Troy Parrott, who will be 21 next week - is on a season-long loan at Preston and returned to action at the turn of the year after a three-month injury lay-off. Troy will not be allowed to play against his home club. He has one goal to his name in 15 Championship appearances. Troy now has 17 senior caps for The Republic of Ireland, scoring 4 goals. It is fair to say he has yet to make headlines in any of his four loan spells as a Tottenham player.

Preston are currently 11th in The Championship within two points of the play-off places. In all competitions they drew seven of their first 13 games, but have not drawn any of their last 18 games. They have won just 3 of their last 7 games including that FA Cup win over Huddersfield. They are manged by 44-year-old Ryan Lowe, whose playing career was at lower league level for various clubs. Lowe was the manager of Plymouth Argyle over the last three seasons.

Preston's top scorer in the league is Ched Evans, aged 34, and all his goals have come in his last 8 games. Evans gained some notoriety in recent years over a much-publicised non-football matter. Most of his league appearances were for Sheffield United, but he arrived at Preston via Fleetwood.

Manchester City's 19-year-old Liam Delap (son of Rory) spent the first half of the season with his Dad's team Stoke (Rory is on their coaching staff), but Liam was recalled by his home club, only to be sent to Preston for the rest of the season. Delap is cup-tied as he played for Stoke in the third round.

Spurs were in the news this week because they apparently hi-jacked Everton's move for Arnaut Danjuma, who has arrived on loan from Villarreal. Danjuma arrived on Wednesday and who knows, he could be introduced tomorrow. He has been given the number 16 shirt. One interesting fact about Danjuma is that since the start of last season, Danjuma is one of only two La Liga players - along with Vinicius Junior - to have scored 10 or more goals with both his left (10) and right foot (12) across all competitions.

I've not seen any team news, but I would imagine Richarlison must start this game with perhaps Son getting a rest. I'll leave team predictions to others, but I do expect Spurs to win tomorrow by two clear goals. The game kicks off at 6pm tomorrow and is being televised by the BBC. We beat Preston on our way to our first two FA Cup wins. Let's hope that is a good omen for this year.

Peter Bankes is refereeing his eighth Spurs game. Rather ominously, his last Spurs game in the middle was our League Cup defeat away to Nottingham Forest in November. Mr. Bankes' first Spurs game was also an FA Cup Fourth Round tie, when we drew at Southampton in January 2020. Heung-min Son scored our goal and we won the replay 3-2.

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