I can't wait for RTB's match thread so we can all forget about Harry Kane and a bunch of friendlies ...
... on the other hand these days must be absolutely dragging for the Mags.
Before the derby this game could've become bit of a friendly, from our point of view, but a win could now mean Europe is a real possibility. We have more players to choose from and the team will get a great welcome after doing the double over Newcastle. Players like Talbi, Rigg, Brobbey, Hume, etc, are all starting to really shine now and the team spirit looks as good as it ever has.
We're in the position whereby we really have to go for wins now, draws won't really help, so we should see a more open game. Spurs are in the same boat, although theirs has a few holes, so it should be an interesting game. I'm someone who's actually pleased they have a new manager, I think it'll give the game an extra spark and there'll definitely be more attention on it now.
The Spurs fans will be a little cockier now but a Sunderland goal could see their hearts sink, two goals and they could start booing the new man before half-time which would break their own record. De Zerbi likes, in fact insists, his keeper plays out with his feet so that should be interesting with Brobbey bearing down on him. He's a bag of nerves, at the best of times, and this match is absolutely critical.
I don't like Spurs and would love to see their first game, next season, being at home to Lincoln, wonderful thought. We were once driving up to Roker, for the game when an Alfie Conn shot hit both posts and came out. We were behind a Spurs coach near Catterick and holding up sheets of A4 with various messages in marker pen. The skylight opened and a breeze block came hurtling out which smashed in front of us as I swerved onto the hard shoulder. We went to the police station at Catterick and caught up with the coach pulled up at the side of the road ... predictably our last message, as we drove slowly past, was ****ERS
It was a long drive, every home game, so we had to make our own entertainment!