Match preview

Stoke City V Tottenham – Preview – 20 March 2010




Harry.........."I only have three fit players for this match? Bloody hell!"

Stoke City v Tottenham
English Premier League
Britannia Stadium - Stoke-on-Trent, England
20 March 2010 – 15:00 GMT

Tottenham Hotspur looks to hold onto fourth position in the league as they travel to face one of the top defensive sides in the EPL, Stoke City, on Saturday.

Stoke City V Tottenham Preview

Stoke City head into the match winless in their last three matches but still safely above the relegation zone. They are in 11th place in the league table comfortable in the middle of the table. Tottenham are in 4th place and have won their last three league matches. There’s only three points separated fourth through seventh place so Spurs will need a strong finish to hold onto 4th place.

Stoke don’t have much to play for but a few more points would guarantee their safety. They are one of the smaller clubs in England and 11th place finish is a great accomplishment considering the amount of money the larger clubs are spending. Tottenham are looking to play in the Champions League and to avoid their typical slide in the last few months of the season.

Manager Harry RedKnapp has the team in good form but the club will be without striker Jermain Defoe for Saturday’s match. Spurs have many injury concerns which include Lennon, Bentley, Jenas, Woodgate, Cudicini, Huddlestone, King, Rose, and Walker. Even with all these injuries, Tottenham continues to get results but will be test with Aston Villa, Liverpool, and Manchester City close behind.

Stoke City will have Ryan Shawcross available for the first time since his tackle on Aaron Ramsey that resulted in a broken leg for the Arsenal player. He is a slight doubt for the match while Beattie and Diao are definitely out for Saturday’s match.

Stoke are a solid team that doesn’t make many mistakes and forces their opponents to play quality football to get results. Tottenham are more than capable of winning at Stoke but it should be a very close match. The injuries will catch up with Spurs who will have trouble getting the late goal to win the match.

The last time Tottenham won at Stoke was 25 years ago, when Garth Crooks got the only goal against his hometown club. That season Spurs finished inside the top four (behind Everton and Liverpool in third place), so another win in the Potteries would be an encouraging omen for Harry Redknapp's Champions League hopefuls.
The trip to Stoke should provide a litmus test of Tottenham's top-four credentials. Few teams rule the Britannia these days, but title contenders Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal all dug deep to claim maximum points there.
In contrast, the chasing pack all fluffed their lines, with Manchester City, Liverpool and Aston Villa taking just a point at Stoke. Therein lies the difference between the Premier League A-list and the best supporting actors.
Having snatched the points at White Hart Lane in October, Stoke are chasing a first league double against Spurs.
Potters manager Tony Pulis insists he would have no qualms about recalling defender Ryan Shawcross, who has served a three-game ban for his leg-breaking tackle on Arsenal's Aaron Ramsey. Shawcross left the pitch in tears on his last appearance at the Britannia, but can be sure of a good reaction from the Stoke fans.
It will be interesting to see if the same is true of team-mate Tuncay after his temper tantrum last weekend. The Turk stomped down the tunnel after being substituted against Aston Villa, but Pulis says he has no problem with the striker's actions.

The last time Tottenham won at Stoke was 25 years ago,

Nice stat vis, but i think that we have only played them once since then.

1420: TEAMS Stoke v Tottenham
Stoke: Sorensen, Huth, Abdoulaye Faye, Higginbotham, Collins, Delap, Whelan, Whitehead, Etherington, Fuller, Kitson. Subs: Begovic, Lawrence, Sidibe, Pugh, Sanli, Wilkinson, Moult.
Tottenham: Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto, Kranjcar, Kaboul, Modric, Bale, Crouch, Pavlyuchenko. Subs: Alnwick, Palacios, Gudjohnsen, Livermore, Dervite, Parrett, Townsend.
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)
Gone with Crouch. Can't see why Kaboul gets a start ahead of Sgt Wilson but looks like an attacking line-up . . . . . .

BazSpur (Admin) wrote:Why drop Palacious? Another of Arry's decisions I don't understand. Unless he is worried about him getting booked.

I think its 2 things baz, saving wilson for the fa cup replay and the booking total.

VisionarySound wrote:Thing is Baz he is goin' to pick up that booking at some stage regardless. Saving him for Wednesday evening ? Do league bans carry into the FA Cup ? Strange call . . . . . .

Yes Vis, so if he gets a booking against Fulham, he misses Pompey at home and Sunderland away.
So think about it, if he got booked today, he misses the important quarter reply against Fulham, with it being so tight, we need a fallback for Europe and this years fa cup is wide open, so looks like a not so strange decision by Harry after all.