KC stadium and the Sunshine band
Philip Oliver, who blogs about football betting at Betfair, has sent us this item:- (The views are those of the author, but not necessarily the webmaster)
It might just be the three points that leads us away from relegation trouble. Tottenham are separated from the relegation zone by five points and four places after winning at Hull City – another away defeat would have left us deep in trouble and starting to panic. Not quite time to ‘give it up’, but nearly.
The manner of the victory was nearly as significant as the three points. Spurs lacked urgency and ambition in the first half at the KC Stadium but emerged as a different team after the break, full of swift passing and a belief that a goal would come.
An important win was duly secured and the players now know what is needed to win under pressure away from home. Consistency has been lacking all season, so there must be concerns that we will again start tentatively at Sunderland in our next away assignment, another crucial league fixture.
Spurs precede that trip north with another North East showdown. Middlesbrough visit the Lane three days after the Carling Cup final and whilst Harry Redknapp is right to imply that our home form will look after itself, that match is a banana skin on the road to recovery.
Middlesbrough, after Hull, are the division’s most out of form team, having not won since 9th November. They have scored once in their last nine matches and are the top flight’s lowest scorers overall.
However, complacency must be avoided when they visit on 4th March, as both victory and defeat against Manchester United at Wembley would leave us vulnerable. Harry must guard against over-confidence, just as he galvanised the players at half time in the Hull game.
The second half improvement was stark and it was a relief to see the players performing like the match mattered. They were committed, resilient and able to deliver moments of quality. Those qualities will be needed in the quest to turn a relegation battle into a push for midtable security and they will also come in handy on Sunday.
Written by Philip Oliver, a Tottenham Hotspur fan and a professional sports writer who blogs about football betting at Betfair.
Barclays Premier League
Pos Team P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Man Utd 26 19 5 2 46 11 35 62
2 Liverpool 26 15 10 1 43 18 25 55
3 Chelsea 26 15 7 4 45 15 30 52
4 A. Villa 26 14 6 5 40 25 15 51
5 Arsenal 26 12 9 5 38 25 13 45
6 Everton 26 11 8 7 34 28 6 41
7 Wigan 26 9 8 9 26 24 2 35
8 Fulham 25 8 9 8 24 22 2 33
9 West Ham 26 9 6 11 32 34 -3 33
10 Man City 26 9 5 12 43 35 8 32
11 S'derland 26 8 7 11 27 33 -6 31
12 Bolton 26 9 3 14 29 38 -9 30
13 Hull 26 7 8 11 32 48 -16 29
14 Spurs 26 7 7 12 28 32 -4 28
15 Newcastle 26 6 10 10 33 42 -9 28
16 P'tsmouth 26 7 7 12 29 43 -14 28
17 Stoke 26 6 7 13 23 42 -19 25
18 Blackburn 25 5 8 12 28 42 -14 23
19 M'brough 26 5 8 13 18 36 -18 23
20 West Brom 26 6 4 16 24 49 -25 22
Premier League Results - 21-23.02.09
Arsenal 0-0 S'derland
A. Villa 0-1 Chelsea
Bolton 2-1 West Ham
Man Utd 2-1 Blackburn
M'brough 0-0 Wigan
Stoke 2-2 P'tsmouth
Fulham 2-0 West Brom
Liverpool 1-1 Man City
Newcastle 0-0 Everton
Hull 1-2 Spurs
