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This preview was written by Brian Judson

Our record in Europe :-

European Cup Pl W D L For-Ag
        Home 4  3 1 0  15-4 
        Away 4  1 0 3   3-13 
============================
Total(European Cup)
             8  4 1 3  18-17
============================
European Cup-Winners Cup
       Home 16 13 3 0  42-12 
       Away 16  6 2 8  18-21
Final     N  1  1 0 0   5-1
=============================
Total (European C-W C)
            33 20 5 8  65-34
=============================
UEFA Cup
       Home 29 23 5 1  85-13
       Away 28 11 9 8  50-27
=============================
Total (UEFA Cup)
            57 34 14 9 135-40
==============================
Total (European Cup)
             8  4  1 3 18-17
Total (European C-W C)
            33 20  5 8 65-34
Total (UEFA Cup)
            54 32 13 9 131-40
==============================
Grand Total
            98 58 20 20 218-91
==============================

Tonight's match will see us having to defend our 1-0 lead in a stadium occupied by the most fanatical crowd of German football supporters. Although they are not doing as well as they were last season, they have the second-best home record with only one defeat, and that against Bayern Munich. This compares with their away record which is the worst away record in the Bundesliga, with only one point so far this season.

Last season, Kaiserlautern competed in the Champions' League and topped their qualifying group. They beat Benfica at home, 1-0; drew 0-0 with HJK Helsinki away; beat PSV Eindhoven 2-1 away and 3-1 at home; lost 2-1 to Benfica away; and won their final game against HJK Helsinki 5-2 at home. In the quarter-finals, Bayern Munich beat Kaiserlautern 2-0 at home and 4-0 away.

Tottenham are expected to have a more or less fully fit squad, apart from Darren Anderton and John Scales. It is likely that Chris Armstrong will play up front with Steffan Iversen. I suspect that George Graham may keep Allan Nielsen on the bench and use him to replace David Ginola if he either looks ineffective against the German defence or if he senses that Ginola runs the risk of incurring a booking. Tottenham cannot afford to lose Ginola's services for even one match in the UEFA Cup as our opponents fear him even if he is not doing much.

It is difficult to write much about our chances tonight because there are so many imponderables. Much will, as usual, depend on whether the match officials refuse to be intimidated by the local supporters. We have seen all too often in the past how match officials can be influenced by the home supporters. The classic case is probably our tie against Benfica in March 1962 when we lost at the Stadium of Light after having two perfectly good goals disallowed by the match officials.

Although there have been few attempts made to bribe match officials, it has happened on one or two occasions. I believe one recent case involved a Russian team. The match officials were suspended by UEFA, I believe.

Tottenham's defence will have to be fully alert tonight. They will be given a very searching examination of their credentials in the first half hour or so. If Tottenham can survive that period or even score a vital away goal in that period, it can deflate the Kaiserlautern supporters. They have been known to turn on their team if it looks likely they will not score. We have to hope that we play considerably better tonight than we did on Sunday. If we reproduce the form shown during the first half of that game, we will have no hope of surviving the match tonight.

I believe that we will survive tonight's match by winning by the virtue of scoring a precious away goal even though we may lose 2-1 on the night. If we can score one goal, Kaiserlautern will then have to score three goals. The longer the game progresses, the more likelier their supporters will vent their frustrations on their team. We only need to score once to add pressure to Kaiserlautern ....

Here's hoping we will be figuring in the draw for the Third Round of the UEFA Cup tomorrow. Those matches are due to be played on Thursday 25th November 1999 and Thursday 9th December 1999, although it is possible UEFA may switch some ties to the preceding Tuesday night.

Cheers, Brian

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