please log in to view this image Tottenham Hotspur host West Bromwich Albion at White Hart Lane on Boxing Day, Thursday 26th December 2013 (KO 15:00) in the 18th round of Premier League matches of the 2013-14 season. Spurs come into the match in 7th place in the table on 30 points with Albion in 16th place on 16 points. This will be the 142nd meeting between the two clubs. Albion were one of the 12 original members of the Football League in 1888 and the first meeting with Spurs, who were then in the Southern League, came in the 1900-01 FA Cup Semi-Final at Villa Park which Spurs won 4-0 on their way to becoming FA Cup Winners that season. The teams were drawn together again two seasons later in the first round (today's third round) of the FA Cup and played a 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane before Spurs won the replay at the Hawthorns 2-0. Tottenham Hotspur joined the Football League in 1908 and lost both Second Division matches to Albion that season 0-3 away and 1-3 at home. Despite those two defeats, Spurs won promotion to the First Division and Albion joined them for the 1911-12 season. Spurs won the first Top Flight match in September 1-0 at the Lane but the reverse fixture in January was abandoned due to fog. Albion won the re-arranged fixture in March 1912 2-0. Sandwiched inbetween those League meetings, Albion won a 1st Round FA Cup tie 3-0 in January 1912. Both clubs continued to meet in Division One for the next three seasons until World War One. The 1920 Charity Shield was contested between Spurs and Albion at White Hart Lane and the Baggies won 2-0. From 1921 to 1927, the clubs met regularly in the First Division . They then met for three seasons in Division Two from 1928 to 1931 before regaining their Top Flight status from 1933 to 1935. The clubs were in the Second Division for the 1938-39 season and Spurs won 4-3 at White Hart Lane in the last match before the outbreak of World War Two in September 1939. The season was abandoned with most clubs having played three matches. Spurs and Albion met twice during the War in the Football League South resulting in a win apiece. When League Football resumed after WW2, both clubs were in the Second Division and Spurs won the League in 1949-50 with Albion finishing Runners-Up. The 1950-51 season saw both clubs back in Division One and Spurs did the "double" over Albion, winning 2-1 at the Hawthorns and 5-0 at the Lane, on the way to Tottenham Hotspur's first Top Flight League Championship. Every League meeting between the two clubs since 1950-51 has taken place in the Top Flight. The first Football League Cup meeting came in October 1970 with Spurs winning 5-0 with a hat-trick from Martin Peters and a brace from Alan Gilzean. There have been four meetings in the competition to date with Spurs winning three games and one match drawn. Tottenham Hotspur were founder members of the Premier League in 1992-93 and are one of seven ever-present clubs in the competition. West Bromwich Albion were promoted to the Premier League for the 2002-03 season and this is their eighth season. Spurs won both matches in 2002-03 with goals from Christian Ziege, Robbie Keane and Gus Poyet securing a 3-1 win at the Lane while a brace from Keane and a Teddy Sheringham goal saw Spurs win 3-2 at the Hawthorns. Both matches in the 2004-05 season ended in 1-1 draws, Jermain Defoe scoring away and Keane scoring at home. The clubs also met in the FA Cup fourth round that season with a 1-1 draw at the Hawthornes followed by a 3-1 win at White Hart Lane. Honours were even in 2005-06 with Albion winning 2-0 at the Hawthorns and Spurs winning 2-1 at the Lane. The 2008-09 season saw similar results with Albion winning 2-0 at the Hawthorns and Spurs winning 1-0 at the Lane. The 2010-11 game at the Hawthorns in September 2010 resulted in a 1-1 draw. Luka Modric scored Spurs' goal only for Chris Brunt to equalise in the 41st minute. The reverse fixture at the Lane in April 2011 resulted in a 2-2 draw. Peter Odemwingie put West Brom ahead after 5 minutes but goals from Roman Pavlyuchenko and Jermain Defoe put Spurs ahead. Simon Cox scored the late equaliser. The 2011-12 game at the Hawthorns in November resulted in a 3-1 win for Spurs. Youssouf Mulumbu's header put the Baggies ahead after 10 minutes but Emmanuel Adebayor equalised 15 minutes later and the teams went into the halftime break level at 1-1. Second half goals from Jermain Defoe 9 minutes from time and a second Adebayor goal deep into stoppage time gave Spurs the three points, even if the score was somewhat flattering in a hard-fought match. Jermain Defoe scored a goal in the 63rd minute at White Hart Lane to give Spurs the Double over West Brom. The 2012-13 fixture in August at White Hart Lane resulted in a 1-1 draw with full-back Benoit Assou-Ekotto putting Spurs ahead after 74 minutes with a deflected long range shot before James Morrison scored a 90th minute equaliser for the Baggies. Tottenham beat the Baggies at the Hawthorns in February 2013 with Gareth Bale scoring the winner with a stunning 67th minute goal. Overall, matches played between the two clubs are slightly in Tottenham's favour with 57 wins to Albion's 54 and the remaining 30 of the 141 matches played so far ending in draws. please log in to view this image Full History of Tottenham Hotspur v West Bromwich Albion Matches 1901-2014 please log in to view this image They Played for Spurs & West Brom.... Ossie Ardiles (Spurs player, manager at both clubs) Gerry Armstrong Vic Buckingham (Spurs player, WBA manager) Keith Burkinshaw (Manager at both clubs) Jesse Carver (Spurs coach, WBA manager) Freddie Cox (also WBA assistant manager & coach) Garth Crooks Wilf Dixon (Spurs asst manager, WBA trainer) Tom Evans Ruel Fox Márton Fülöp John Gorman (Spurs player & asst manager at both clubs) Charlie Hewitt Martin Jol (WBA player, Spurs manager) Colin Lyman Tony Parks (Spurs player & goalkeeper coach with both clubs) Graham Roberts Arthur Rowe (Spurs player & manager, WBA chief scout) Danny Thomas (Spurs player, WBA physio) Steve Walford please log in to view this image Tottenham Hotspur Premier League Player's Squad Numbers 1993-94 to 2013-14 West Bromwich Albion Premier League Player's Squad Numbers 2002-03 to 2013-14 please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
I think Spurs will win this and the home game against Stoke, which should give us a huge confidence boost before facing Manchester United at Old Trafford on New Year's Day.
WBA are still regrouping a bit. Stoke are trying to play a bit of ground-level football nowadays. Will be interesting to see the tempo at which Spurs play those games at home (given that is where the real problem has been this season) .
I think i read somewhere that we'd picked up 19 points from away games this season. (Does that include yesterday?) Therefore we desperately need "easier" home games like W.Brom and Stoke (no disrespect to the two clubs) in order to sort ourselves out. Those are games that we really should be winning. If Arsenal and Chelsea draw tonight, which is by no means an unlikely result. we'll only be 6 points behind the leaders. If we can win those christmas games.... The league is going to be very interesting come new year. Knowing "same old Tottenham" though, we'll probably have 2 hideous results against West brom and stoke!
"I think i read somewhere that we'd picked up 19 points from away games this season. (Does that include yesterday?)" Yep. Spurs had joint best away form (wins, goals etc) last season too. That is the area AVB had no trouble with whatsoever during his reign (sadly for him) .
does that include yesterdays game, mate? Or are we now on 22? worrying that we've only got 8-11* points at home!!! (*depending on your answer to the above)
We've picked up 19 points away from home so far, which only Arsenal can match and Utd can get within 3 points of, if they both win their next away game. Everton and Newcastle are 3rd and 4th in the running at the moment.
Is there any possibility we could just as the FA if we can play all games away from home? We'd probably walk the league if that were possible! I think we can beat WBA. Both are without a manager but our players are a lot better - when they want to be. Team I'd like: Lloris - Though must up his game SOON. Walker, Dawson, Chiriches, Rose Lamela, Capoue, Eriksen, Chadli Soldado, Adebayor Subs: Brad, Naughton, Bentaleb, Holtby, Sig, Defoe, Kane Not sure if any are returning from injury hence that team, if any of Kaboul/ Dembele/ Sandro/ Vertonghen then I'd likely switch things around.
What happened to 4-4-2 being outdated? We have joined the likes of Man CIty and A Madrid in going back to 4-4-2 and nice to see two strikers up top, I mentioned earlier in the season 4-4-2 was making a comeback and Sherwood would have remembered the success we had with 4-4-1-1 so two lines of four and a strike partnership.
Systems go in and out of fashion. The flavour of the month will always have weaknesses, so teams will change to take advantage of that. 4-4-2 seems to be extremely durable and effective against virtually anything when it's played right. It also allows swift changes into multiple alternatives. The team worked well against Southampton because the inverted wingers compressed the midfield, but we could open it up dramatically by using the same formation with different players. Just replacing the wide men with Lennon and Townsend on their natural sides would've made it a very open game and sticking our Brazilian's centrally would've made a big change, too.
Every system has a weakness but the best system is the one which suits the squad so as long as Sherwood remembers this he will do Ok. And hopefully better if he is a good coach. I wouldn't read too much into the saints game as their success needs their back four in form, it allows them to control, dominate and not worry about conceding cheap goals. Lucky for us they had Shaw, Clyne, Fonte and Boruc out. Once Sherwood has players back fit I'm expecting him to revert to classic wingers but right now we have injuries so his hand is forced at the moment.
spurs have 2 winnable home games over christmas but if things don't go well the 2 big away games afterwards against man utd and arsenal could see the pressure heap quite quickly on the new manager, just ifs and buts at this stage though
