Match Preview – Tottenham Hotspur v Brighton
Tottenham – the team
These are heady times for Tottenham fans, as they will delight to tell you. Mauricio Pochettino’s side completed one of the greatest feats in English football when they finished above Arsenal last season for the first time in over two decades. This achievement was celebrated wildly as it capped a golden era for Spurs, which has also included winning one League Cup. Spurs should really be title contenders but Manchester City’s imperious form coupled with some really poor results so far mean they could be facing a battle to make the Champions League next season, despite the fact that they topped a group including Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund this year. Still, it’s not like a team full of England internationals to not live up to their potential.
Tottenham – the place
Tottenham are spending this season playing at Wembley as White Hart Lane continues to be rebuilt. The move to the national stadium has caused them some problems with lesser teams such as West Brom raising their games to claim points they probably never would’ve got at the Lane. Playing at Wembley could go one of two ways – either we’ll continue our fantastic record of never having won a game there, or the fact that one of out players have appeared on the Wembley stage before might provide a much needed boost to individual performances.
Tottenham – the people
Lord Sugar is Spurs’ most famous fan, having previously owned the club before finding fame as the poor man’s Donald Trump on The Apprentice.
A good WeAreBrighton.com memory of Tottenham away
Visits to Spurs have been few and far between over the last 30 years. Our FA Cup outing in January 2005 nearly saw a famous result as only a piece of brilliance from Robbie Keane prevented Spurs from having to face the ignominy of a trip to Withdean for a replay. Michel Kuipers was outstanding and Richard Carpenter scored one of his best free kicks for the club which is high praise indeed.
A bad WeAreBrighton.com memory of Tottenham away
Our last visit was a League Cup fourth round tie in which Pochetino sent out a full strength Spurs against an Albion reserves side. Bearing in mind at the time, our first team counted Gary Gardner and Chris O’Grady as regulars, this ended up being a ridiculous mismatch. The 3-0 defeat was bad, but even worse was the fact that we couldn’t see one end of the ground because of the stupidly positioned police box dangling from the roof above the away end. It was like watching the game through a burka, an experience we thankfully won’t have to repeat owing to the grounds demolition.
Played for both
Bobby Zamora was our record sale when after three seasons of banging in the goals as the Albion climbed from the bottom tier to the second, he was taken to Spurs for £1.5m in the summer of 2003. He didn’t last long at White Hart Lane, moving to West Ham as part of the deal that saw Jermaine Defoe going the other way. The 2000s were actually a bit of a golden era for players who represented both clubs with Guy Butters, John Piercy and Mark Yeates all doing so with varying degrees of success.
Dangermen
They’ve got that bloke called Harry Kane up front who is meant to be a bit good. Plus anyone who can head a ball from a corner given our new found inability to defend any sort of set piece.
Betting
We’ve lost every game against the top six so far this season and our only goal to show from those game was a penalty at home to Liverpool which was softer than Brian Blessed’s belly. Spurs to win to nil is available at evens.
Prediction
A better performance than those which we have been treated to in the last two games against Huddersfield and Liverpool, but it still won’t be enough. A 2-0 defeat.
