This preview was written by Brian Judson

Full Record of Spurs -v- Leicester City

Premier        Pl   W   D   L   For-Ag  Pts
Home            3   1   1   1    3 - 3    4
Away            3   0   1   2    2 - 7    1
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Total (Prem)    6   1   2   3    5 -10    5
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Football Lge
Home (Div 1)   29  13   6  10    64-46   34
Away (Div 1)   29  16   4   9    53-54   40
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Total (Div 1)  58  29  10  19   117-100  74
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Football League
Home (Div 2)    7   3   3   1    12- 7    9
Away (Div 2)    7   4   1   2    14-13    9
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Total (Div 2)  14   7   4   3    26-20   18
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Total (Prem)    6   1   2   3    5 -10    5
Total (Div 1)  58  29  10  19   117-100  74
Total (Div 2)  14   7   4   3    26- 20  18
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Grand Total    78  37  16  25   148-130  97
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Leicester City v Tottenham Hotspur was once a fixture of epic proportions. On 20 May 1961 the two clubs clashed at Wembley. On each side that day were two players who were destined to be the first two players of the 20th Century to hold the League and Cup trophies in successive matches. Danny Blanchflower was the Spurs player whilst a certain Scotsman whose name temporarily eludes me as does the club he played for when he achieved his honour. Frank McLintock also played on the losing side at Wembley on no less than five occasions.

For the record, Bobby Smith and Terry Dyson were the vital goal scorers for Tottenham. But Spurs played well below form that day. Had Chalmers not been injured in a collision with Les Allen, who is to say the day might have gone differently. For Leicester had been playing well up to that moment.

Over the years, Leicester have yo-yo'd between the top two divisions. When they have been promoted, they have generally performed well for a couple of seasons before sinking back to the lower level. Sometimes, they have not survived a single season in the top division before sinking again.

Perhaps Leicester's best spell in the top Division was in the early '60s when they twice reached the Cup Final under manager Matt Gillies. But when that side broke up they were usually more likely to be found in the bottom half of the table than the upper half. Part of the problem is that their current ground does not permit big attendances and their only hope is to move away from Filbert Street.

Over the years, Leicester have had some very good players. They were fortunate to have two good goalkeepers throughout the 1960s. In Gordon Banks, they had a brilliant goalkeeper, whose double save against Brazil is probably his best known achievement. When Banks moved on, Peter Shilton was his successor. Shilton was so keen to be a goalkeeper that he spent hours hanging from parallel bars in the gym to strengthen his arms and make them longer.

From an earlier era was Arthur Rowley, a younger brother of Manchester United's Jack Rowley. Rowley scored 434 League goals over the years as he moved around various Football League clubs. It is unlikely to be a total that any modern day player will overtake. The nearest attempt to do so was made by one James P, of course. And he only scored 220 goals for Spurs, plus 124 for Chelsea and 13 for West Ham. Rowley was a dumpling of a player but danced like a ballet dancer when it came to scoring goals.

Older Spurs fans will never forget the vicious foul made by Derek Dougan, when playing for Leicester in December 1966, on Cliff Jones. He was shoulder-charged into a brick wall quite deliberately. Jones dislocated a collar bone and had to be helped off the pitch. It really made the crowd angry that day and they were the main reason Spurs beat Leicester 2-0.

Since Leicester acquired Martin O'Neill as their manager, they have become a very well organised side and a very difficult one to beat, even allowing for the eccentricities that Kasey Keller displays from time to time. Up front they have the very bulky but very light-footed Emile Heskey. One day one of the big clubs will prise Heskey away from Leicester and it will be interesting to see how he copes with the limelight of a bigger club. But they still have Tony Cottee around, who is still, at 32, scoring goals from all angles and from all parts of his anatomy.

Tottenham's performance on Monday will be their first public display for which George Graham will be responsible for. It must have been a tremendous shock for the First Team mafia that having persuaded Sugar to sack Gross, they now have in George Graham a manager who believes in training twice as hard as anyone else. I suppose they were all hoping Pleat would be appointed so they could continue to escape serious training! I'm hoping that Graham will stick with Baardsen in goal as I've now come round to the point of view that Walker has gone as far as he can with Tottenham and that Baardsen is the better prospect. I'll be very interested to see which tactics Graham uses for Tottenham. Will it be 4-4-2 or will, as I suspect it might be, it be 4-5-1? Who will he ask to perform the equivalent of Ray Parlour's role at Tottenham? I expect it would have been Allan Nielsen but he may not be fit.

As you can see, Spurs have yet to win a Premier League match at Filbert Street. It would be nice to grab a win this time but I think we'll have to settle for a draw. But, if between now and 8.00pm next Monday, Martin O'Neill decides to leave Leicester for Leeds United, we might catch Leicester distracted between two managers. A win might then be on the cards.

Cheers, Brian

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