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Friday, December 08, 2006

17 of 38 - Spurs (away)

This week we can offer two contrasting views of the game between Spurs and Charlton Athletic tomorrow.

First a look at the fixture from the point of view of one of them Spurs fans.
Yeh, well tomorrow we've got them fishcakes that call themselves the addicks. As you all know they're hopeless away from their little home down in SE7. Twenty-Two (22) games on the road without so much as a single win and only 5 points out of a possible Sixty-Six to show for it. What a useless bunch and with stupid fans too, for it seems they are so determined to suffer even more that over a 1000 of 'em have brought tickets to see another rout at the Lane. Nothing stranger than folk, apparently a 1-0 demolition of Blackburn makes them think they're gonna come here and win.

Well, hell'll freeze over first, I reckon. After our 8th (8) home win in a row over Middlesbrough on Tuesday, we can't wait to make it nine with a thumping 3-0 victory. Injuries to Keane and JJ and no Zokora don't worry us, 'cause we've got more than enough quality to make mincemeat of 'em. We'll wheel out Spud for a game just to show 'em what they're missing and old Edgar Davids will give us the bite to stop 'em getting uppity.
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The Addicks Viewpoint
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Eight Straight Wins
In their home games Spurs started the season with an easy home win 2-0 over Premiership new boys Sheffield United back in August but then suffered a surprising reverse by the same score to Everton. This proved a minor set-back however as a goalless draw with Fulham followed, then 2-1 win over Pompey just as they were starting to lose games, a 1-0 win over West Ham followed and then the priceless 2-1 win over Chelsea for the first time in donkeys. ( please note: this was followed by a 3-1 reverse away at Reading ), then a 3-1 win over Wigan and finally another win, 2-1 over Middlesbrough. So 8 Premiership games at home, 6 wins, a draw and only that 1 defeat by Everton......

Also to be added to the list in are a couple of home UEFA Cup victories over Slavia Prague 1-0 and Club Brugge 3-1 and also a win over Port Vale 3-1 in the LC 4th round. So in total their record now starts at 8 home wins in a row....

They are currently 6th in the Form Table over the last 6 games with those three consecutive home victories. In fact they're the only team in the top 15 not to have won an away game, so it shows how important is their home form.

The last time the Addicks enjoyed back-to-back wins was back on 24th Sept 2005 with the 2-1 win at West Bromwich. Our last away win followed a month later at Pompey in October, now 22 games ago... But although we are without an away win so are 4 other teams and we can score away from home. There are 7 teams that have scored less than the Addicks on their travels. Our problem is that although we have had 4 clean-sheets at home, we've got only 1, at Newcastle, away from the Valley.

The History
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Only 1 defeat in last 7 at the Lane
Just to put the match into some perspective, our recent record against Spurs at the Lane is very good. In the 7 games played since our promotion in 1998 we have won 3, drawn 3 and lost only one, the lastest, last February. Overall at White Hart Lane its not bad either with Spurs having 11 wins, Charlton 8, and draws 5. In fact of all the 48 games between us they've beaten us more times at the Valley than at home. Overall totals are: Spurs 23 wins, Charlton 16, draws 9.

Last season's game saw a 3-1 win for Spurs who were 3-0 up after 46 minutes and then relaxed enough for us to bring on Jerry Thomas who scored our consolation goal. Two years ago, of course, we enjoyed one of best away days with a 3-2 win after being 3 goals up in 50 minutes. Then three years back we also won 1-0 with a Carlton Cole goal.

In December 2002 we were again 2 goals up but two goals in the last 20 minutes from Spurs meant the game finished 2-2. And in the 2001/o2 season we finished up 1-0 winners with the goal coming from the knee of none other than Chrissie Powell. And the season before that it finished a goalless draw. Even in our relegation season in 98/99 we managed a 2-2 draw with both goals coming from Andy Hunt.


The Opposition
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Top goalscorers in the Premiership for Spurs are Kish's Bulgarian teammate, Dimitar Berbatov and the charming Jermaine Defoe with 3 Premiership goals apiece but Berbatov has plundered another 4 in other competitions to head the list with 7. Last Tuesday their midfield was Lennon, Zokora, Huddlestone and Malbranque with Spud getting on for a minutes running around at the end. Unfortunately their version of Makelele, Ivory Coast player Zokora was red-carded and will therefore be missing from Saturdays game.

Other problems for Spurs are the injuries to Keane and Jenas. Keane has a medial ligament strain and will be out for five to six weeks. Jenas took a blow to his ankle against the Arse and he'll probably be out for four weeks.

Of course, a worst case scenario would see Spud Murphy curling in a free-kick from another Faye foul and Defoe tapping in a Lennon cross while standing off-side.

The Addicks
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Will Reed keep the team that did so well on Tuesday? It seems highly probable with the only questions being, did Kish, Hughes and Sam do enough to retain their places? With the team selection settling down at last its quite possible that the same team will face Spurs although Diawara will return due to Traore's hamstring keeping him out of the game.

So: Carson; Young, El Karkouri, Diawara, Hreidarsson, Kish, Faye, Hughes, Reid, Sam and D Bent.

Subs: Myhre, Rommedahl, Holland, Fortune, Marcus Bent.


Predictions
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To recap then, Spurs have won their last 8 games in all competitions at White Hart lane. The Addicks have gone 22 away games without a win and 14 months since back-to-back victories. So it doesn't take a genius to predict the result in such circumstances and if Mr Lawro was not on an apparent holiday, he'd lead the way and have it down as a definite Home Banker.

After their 8 wins in a row, Spurs home confidence will be difficult to overturn, so knowing the Addicks as we all do, we'll probably revert to our normal form. It wouldn't be a 3-0 defeat as our over-the-water friend foresees but a fighting 2-1 loss. But then so obvious a home banker is just asking for someone to have a little bet, at 11/2 apparently, and it makes you wonder if we can get something out of it. Come on, you Addicks.

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