please log in to view this image Sunderland AFC host Tottenham Hotspur at the Stadium of Light on Saturday 7th December 2013 (KO 17:30) in the 15th Round of 2013-14 Premier League matches. Sunderland come into the game in last place in the table on 8 points with Spurs 6th on 24 points. This will be the 116th time the two clubs have met, the most recent of which came in Hong Kong in July 2013 as part of the Premier League Asia Trophy. The first meeting came at Northumberland Park in March 1898 when Spurs were playing in the Southern League in a friendly which Sunderland won 2-0. A second meeting followed within the year when Spurs beat Sunderland 2-1 in the old second round (today's fourth round) of the FA Cup in February 1899. Tottenham's first visit to Sunderland came during a mini tour of the North-East to celebrate the turn of the new Century with Spurs winning the friendly match 3-1 on 2nd January 1900. The first Football League meetings between the two clubs saw Sunderland win at home 3-1 in September 1909 and Spurs having a comprehensive win in the return fixture at White Hart Lane 5-1. Tottenham Hotspur's all-time record attendance of 75,038 at White Hart Lane came in an FA Cup 6th round match against Sunderland in March 1938. Sundeland won the game 1-0. This was the only FA Cup match Sunderland have won out of the 7 played so far with Spurs winning five and one game drawn. The only two League matches ever played outside the Top Flight came during 1977-78 when Spurs won at Roker Park 2-1 but lost the return Division Two match at the Lane 3-2. The clubs first met in the Football League Cup in November 1984 with Spurs drawing 0-0 away but Sunderland winning the replay at the Lane 2-1. The three matches in the competition have resulted in a win each and one game drawn. Since Sunderland joined the Premier League in season 1996-97, no further domestic cup ties have been played between the two clubs.Spurs have a good record during the Premier League Era with 15 wins to Sunderland's 5 and the remaining 4 games drawn. Spurs have taken an average of 2.04 points off Sunderland in the 24 matches played so far. The 2010-11 fixture at White Hart Lane ended in a 1-1 draw with Rafael van der Vaart putting Spurs ahead in the second half only for Sunderland's Asamoah Gyan to equalise three minutes later. The match at Sunderland resulted in a 2-1 win for Spurs with Asamoah Gyan putting the Black Cats ahead after 11 minutes before Michael Dawson's equaliser just before half-time. Niko Kranjcar scored the winner for Spurs in the 57th minute. The 2011-12 match at White Hart Lane in December resulted in a 1-0 win for Spurs with substitute striker Roman Pavlyuchenko scoring the winner with just over an hour of the match played. The three points won put Spurs in third place in the table for the first time during 2011-12. The match at Sunderland in April 2012 was a goalless draw which produced very few chances for either team. In August 2012, Tottenham's full-back Danny Rose went to Sunderland for a season's loan. The match at the Stadium of Light in December 2012 was won by Tottenham 2-1. John O'Shea opened the scoring for the Black Cats five minutes before half-time. Carlos Cuellar headed an own goal three minutes into the second half to even the game and Aaron Lennon scored the winner three minutes later for Spurs. A 90th minute Gareth Bale goal secured all three points for Spurs at home to Sunderland on the final day of the 2012-13 season. Hong Kong provided the setting for the 2013 Premier League Asia Trophy in July and Sunderland beat Spurs 3-1 in the Semi-Final. Gylfi Sigurdsson put Spurs ahead after 28 minutes but Cabral equalised five minutes later. Second half goals from Wes Brown and David Karlsson ensured that Sunderland progressed to the Final, where they lost 1-0 to Manchester City. Overall, Spurs have the upper hand over Sunderland with 47 wins to 39 and 29 of the 115 matches played so far drawn. please log in to view this image Full Record of Tottenham Hotspur v Sunderland Matches 1898-2014 please log in to view this image They Played for Spurs & Sunderland... Ben Alnwick Darren Bent Ted Birnie (Spurs player, Sunderland trainer & coach) Ivor Broadis Fraizer Campbell Graham Carr (scout with both clubs) Jim Chalmers Pascal Chimbonda Ernie Coquet John Curtis Calum Davenport Jimmy Delvin Márton Fülöp Phil Gray Jim Hartley Alan Hutton Joe Knowles Steed Malbranque Fred Mearns Bobby Mimms Bill Murray George Payne Andy Reid Danny Rose Louis Saha Jimmy Seed Paul Stewart Teemu Tainio Chris Waddle Jack Whitbourne please log in to view this image Sunderland Premier League Player's Squad Numbers 1996-2014 Tottenham Hotspur Premier League Squad Numbers 1992-2014 please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
This is going to be a v difficult away game. Another club with a new boss who have picked themselves up in terms of performances. It's simple, it's a must win.
Team I'd like to see: Lloris, Walker, Kaboul, Chiriches, Naughton (unless Vertonghen is fit) Sandro, Paulinho Lennon, Lamela, Sigurdsson, Chadli Yes, I've gone 4-6-0. The strikers are non-existent at the moment when on the pitch so may as well just take them out for a game and see how we do, it really can't be much worse. Lamela, Sigurdsson and Chadli all possess a goal threat when they're in the mood and so there's enough rotation for one of them to take a more advanced role. I think we can come away with a decent win here, Sunderland really haven't impressed me and I think the Chelsea performance may have taken a lot of steam out of them (hopefully).
Holtby just can't win with some Spurs fans, can he? Scores the winner, drop him I thought Holtby was terrific when he came on, he immediately injected a sense of urgency into the side and scored the winner.
Soldado & Paulinho linked up well agaisnt Utd, a couple of really neat touches and quick 1-2's and Paulinho played a superbly weighted pass to open up the utd defence for Soldado to blaze over. There is definitely potential in that partnership when teams are going to come out and attack. All this chopping and changing isn't going to help us progress, so Avb has to decide on his best team, his best system and simply let players develop an understanding and once they do, then we can use our squad (even Chadli for 2 minutes at the end of each game )!
I think we're being a bit too hopeful on this Paul and Bobby partnership, Paul made a good pass and Bobby bolted into row 25. That was it really. I agree I'm not a fan of chopping and changing but then with the system AVB plays and the form of most players, it's hard to actually tell what our best side is. You mean Chadli to be subbed off with 2 mins remaining Boss, right?
Chadli given a run out for 2 minutes, takes the ball to the corner and showboats, keeps him happy and us happy!! But ok you don't see the potential in the Soldado/Paulinho link up but Paulinho is more effective when pushed forward but because Avb keeps changing things neither us will know if it can be a success (or not) as Avb changes something as soon as there looks to be potential.
Have to agree. I don't get the anti-Holtby feeling at all. The kid's young and works his socks off. Ok, some games he's not been so good (most likely due to inexperience) but others he's made the difference and adds much needed urgency and energy, yet he gets berated. He cost very little in comparison to other so-called 'star' players yet barely gets a start.
Having had another look at the pic after your post I came up with a question open to all... Who's head is almost obscured by the ball?
I thought it might have been Caulker, but yeah more like Demps, thought he'd gone...obviously not. My first thought was Chris Smalling!
Ideally we should have Sandro next to a deep laying play maker, like Holtby and Paulinho pushed forward. I know that means we lose the power of Dembele but something has to give if we're going to try and be more fluid in terms of creating chances. Plus Holtby can work hard, he has a great attitude.
Both Dempsey and Caulker played in that pre season game, but it does look as if it's Dempsey in the picture.
Dempsey wore a wrist thing if i recall, and it looks like his lady-eyes from the small bit you can see.
