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With three home wins
out of three and with Tottenham having lost all three of
their away matches, the outcome of this match might be all
too clear to predict.
However, what the stats
fail to say is that Tottenham's last two games have been won
(albeit at home) and this has boosted confidence, especially
with the return of Ledley King to the back four.
The only downside
to this has been the international break, which not only
interrupted the upturn in results, but also has brought
injury problems for Spurs. King had a reaction to his
knee surgery following the Macedonia match and Jermain Defoe
picked up a foot injury against Croatia, leaving Jol with
fewer options up front.
With fewer players
involved in international action, Villa will be a bit
fresher than the Spurs players. One of the home side
who did feature in a Euro 2008 qualifier will be available
to Villa more than Bulgaria in the future, as Stilian Petrov
has refused to play for his country any longer while Hristo
Stoichkov is still in charge.
A couple of
familiar faces in claret and blue will be missing, as
Kevin Phillips has
left to join fellow Midlands side West Bromwich Albion and
Lee Hendrie has also moved within the area to Potteries side
Stoke City on loan. Added to some injury worries, with
keeper Thomas Sorensen out indefinitely with a shoulder
injury, the same affliction as Luke Moore and William
Bouma's hamstring pull ruling him out with Mark Delaney
having had a knee op, it is a side that might look a little
unfamiliar to some Spurs fans.
Young England
Under-21striker Gabriel Agbonlahor has been getting rave
reviews and he is fast, can finish, but sometimes when he
drifts wide, his decision making and final ball are not of
the highest quality yet. He is likely to be paired up
front with Juan Pablo Angel, who has been back in the goals
since Martin O'Neill took over. Both are tall, with
good ability on the ball, but Angel lacks a little in pace.
However, he has a good scoring record against us.
Having played for the Czech Republic in midweek, Milan Baros
will be looking to get back into the Villa side on a regular
basis. He has good awareness of where other players
are and a bit of speed that can take him away from defences,
given the space. New signing Chris Sutton will not yet
be properly match fit, as the time he spent unattached after
being released by Birmingham City means he lacked match
play.
The midfield area
looks strong, with Petrov having played a significant part
in Villa's revival since O'Neill brought him down from
Celtic, where he had originally signed him. A creative
ball player, he is dangerous, without being able to run away
from opponents with the ball, he can find space in tight
situations to make himself or someone else a shooting
opportunity. He is joined by the hard-working Irishman
Steve Davis
and the tougher Gareth Barry. Both have been child
prodigies at Villa Park and both have yet to fully fulfil
their potential, although Barry is suddenly being talked
about as an England prospect ... which after Wednesday night
might not be a bad shout. Even tougher nut Gareth
McCann last season spent his time in the game at White Hart
Lane trying to kick Edgar Davids, so someone in midfield can
expect the same attention if he starts and Patrik Berger is
still there, albeit a fringe member of the squad these days,
as is Eric Djemba-Djemba, who has made it clear that he
wants out after failing to make any impact on the side since
his move from Manchester United.
At the back, there
is an injury doubt about
Jlloyd Samuel (thigh),
Gary Cahill (knee) and Bouma (hamstring), leaving few
options for Martin O'Neill to select from. Strapping
Swedish centre-half Olaf Mellberg has been a regular starter
alongside Liam Ridgwell. Mellberg might find nippy
opponents more tricky than the traditional big
centre-forward, as they are too his liking. Ridgwell
has suffered against the more physical forward, but also has
trouble with pace. Hopefully, Jermain will pull
through the knock he got and feature to give them the
run-around with Berbatov, as this would be the best pairing
against Villa in my opinion. Former Newcastle United
man Aaron Hughes has been used and Martin Laursen, now
restored to fitness, has also been getting games to ease him
back into the action. With Didier Agathe another
signing from Celtic, he may be pressed into action in a
defensive position rather than the attacking wide role he
made his name in North of the border.
Behind all of them has been Thomas Sorensen ... until now.
He has been in good form, especially in the match against
Chelsea, but an injury picked up playing for Denmark against
Northern Ireland might mean he misses out in this game.
His absence will mean an opportunity for Stuart Taylor, who
was on Arsenal's books. A tall keeper, he has had
little Premiership experience, so if he does play, Spurs
need to put him under pressure to test his nerve as well as
his keeping ability.
Villa have drawn more game sin the Premiership than any
other team, so with that in mind and Tottenham keen to keep
the run of results going, I reckon it could mean a comeback
from going a goal down to grab a useful away point, which
will be the way that Tottenham will need to go to catch up
on the points they have lost so far in this campaign.
PREDICTION
: - Aston Villa 1 Tottenham Hotspur
1
For more information on
the opponents and their history, including full result history of
matches between the two teams, click
here.
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| Coverage
TV
Sky Sports 1 - Football First (full match) - Sky
Digital subscribers only
Match of the Day (BBC 1) - Saturday 22.30 - 23.20
(highlights) [repeated Sunday 07.35 - 09.00]
Match of the Day 2 (BBC 2) - Sunday 22.00 - 22.50
(highlights)
For coverage in all parts of the world, check
here and
here.
Radio :
BBC
LONDON 94.9FM (London area only), Digital Radio
(London area only) & Sky Channel 0152
(live coverage)
If
available on BBC radio, it can supposedly be heard
in these countries on these stations ...
Australia (Melbourne)
SEN - 116 AM
Live Transmissions: TWI, Saturday. 12.45 & 1500
matches
Australia (Sydney)
Radio 2 - 1611AM
Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 12.45 Match
Singapore
Media Corp Radio
- 93.8 FM Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00
Match
South Africa
SABC (Radio 2000)
Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00 Match
Uganda Radio 1 (English) 90.0 FM, Radio 2 (Lugandan)
87.9 FM Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00
Match
North America (USA, Canada, Mexico, Caribbean)
Sirius Satellite Radio
Live transmission: Saturday - 12.45, 15.00 (TWI) &
17.15 (BBC) Sunday - 14.00 & 16.05 (BBC) Mon, Tue,
Wed - Various times (BBC)
Internet :
www.spurs.co.uk
Live webcast - subscribers only
Planet football -
http://play.www.planetfootball.servecast.net/downloads/sky/spurs-pl04-kean0.ram
(free - only available when match is on.) |
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Aston Villa 1
Tottenham Hotspur 1
(Half-time score : 0-0) |
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Saturday 14th October 2006 |
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Referee : Martin
Atkinson
(Yorkshire) |
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| Weather :
- Overcast, dull |
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Aston Villa
: Taylor
Barry (c)
Mellberg
Ridgewell
Hughes
McCann
Davis (Berger 76)
Petrov
Agbonlahor,
Angel
Baros (Agathe 64)
Unused subs:
Olejnik
Laursen
Bouma |
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| Tottenham Hotspur
: Robinson (c)
Chimbonda
Dawson (Stalteri 52)
Davenport
Assou-Ekotto
Jenas
Zokora
Murphy
Ghaly (Lennon 60)
Berbatov (Davids 77)
Defoe
Unused subs:
Cerny
Keane |
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Tottenham Hotspur
Angel (own goal) 76 |
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| Tottenham
Hotspur
Ghaly (foul) -
Davenport (professional foul) 73
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| With a
mad minute in the second half, the game turned one way and quickly the
other, but although the advantage went to Tottenham, in the end, they
had to settle for a draw and a point from an encounter they could well
have taken three from. Spurs
certainly had enough chances in the first half, but in the end were
reliant on Paul Robinson to pull out a top drawer save from Angel near
the end, having lost both central defenders for one reason or another.
It all started badly for Calum Davenport, on a
ground where he saw his first action for Tottenham and continued in much the
same vein for the remainder of his time on the pitch. In the first minute
Angel, who also had a major influence on the result, lifted his foot and made
connection with Davenport's nose, which he broke. He continued to play on
with bloody cotton wool trying to staunch the flow of blood, which precipitated
him changing shirts three times.
While not in greats coring form, Jermain Defoe
looks sharp enough up front at the moment, as he took Danny Murphy's pass,
turned neatly and was thwarted with a curling effort by Taylor's save.
Villa's front two were lively too, with Baros setting up Angel for a shooting
opportunity, but it was a routine save for Robbo, as it was hit straight at him.
Spurs were passing the ball well and created good openings, but failed to take
them, in what is becoming the story of the season.
Murphy floated in a free-kick and Jenas knocked
it on, with Dawson coming in at the far post, all he had to do was get it on
target, but he hit the post with his header and the chance was gone. Jenas
then had a drive go wide himself from distance, while another good opportunity
came from another Murphy free-kick. From a similar position, he put it in
again and Davenport flicked the ball on to the far post, where Hossam Ghaly came
in and Taylor just got to the shot before the ball hit the post.
It was nearly all Tottenham and Zokora opened up
the play by bringing Ghaly into play, from which he set up Berbatov, who curled
a shot from the edge of the box over the top, then Defoe harried Hughes to
intercept his clearance, then headed for goal and only another good effort by
Taylor beat away his drive. Jermaine Jenas put Taylor under more pressure
with a shot from a long way out, but it bounced nastily in front of the keeper,
who had to hang onto it.
Just before the break, Villa started to get into
the game a bit more and Angel first had a shot that curled wide and then found
himself in the box, but looked at a loss as to what to do and the opening passed
without any threat to the Tottenham goal.
The second half started much the same as the
first, with Angel once more getting amongst our centre-halves, this time
catching Dawson on the head with his knee and he stunned Michael, who had a
similar knock against Portsmouth in the last game. While Daws tried to
play on, he only lasted a couple of minutes and had to leave the field to be
replaced by Paul Stalteri, who went straight to his accustomed right-back
position, with Pascal Chimbonda moving inside to centre-half. To add to
the misery, Ghaly was booked for a foul on Baros, with this being a continuation
of his first half performance, when he might well have picked up a yellow card
earlier. It proved to be his last involvement, as he pulled a hamstring
and was soon replaced by Aaron Lennon, coming back into the team much sooner
than thought after his cartilage operation.
Gavin McCann let fly from a long way out and his
shot went high over the crossbar, while Angel volleyed wide before substitute
Didier Agathe crossed for starlet Gabriel Agbonlahor to head at the far post,
but Chimbonda did well to block and Robinson finished it off by pushing the ball
away. But Spurs hit back with Defoe taking on the defence and hitting a
shot too high, then Murphy tested Taylor with a shot before the action too off.
As Agbonlahor broke through chasing Angel's
header, Calum Davenport challenged and looked not to have touched the striker,
but referee Atkinson decided otherwise and pointed to the spot. To add
insult to injury, he also produced the red card for Davenport, as he was deemed
to be the last defender and therefore, Spurs were reduced to ten men.
Having to face a penalty too, things looked bad, but as Juan Pablo Angel stepped
up to take it, his nerve must have gone (having missed from the spot already
this season) and his shot went high and wide of Paul Robinson's goal.
Relief was felt throughout the big Spurs support, but they could not have
dreamed what would happen next.
Within 90 seconds the game was turned on it's
head. Tottenham went up the other end and without looking threatening won
a corner on the right wing. Jermain Defoe swung it in and rising at the
near post, it was headed into the net by ... Angel !! Spurs were 1-0 ahead
through the most unlikely of means and when you saw that there were nine (count
them) Villa players between the goal and the nearest Spurs player, it is hard to
see how it happened, but we were pleased it did, as we were having trouble
scoring ourselves. All we had to do then was hang on with ten men.
Easier said than done for Spurs. Davids
replaced Berbatov as Jol went for one up front, but this did not help, as it
allowed Villa to step up the pace and attack Spurs for the remaining 15 minutes.
Defoe had a shot saved soon after the goal, but the attacks from the home side
came in quick succession and Tottenham held out for five minutes before Gareth
Barry cut in from the left to curl a delightful goal from the edge fo the box
with his right foot over Robinson and in to level the scores.
It was after this that Robbo came into his won
and showed why is ENO. While Stilian Petrov was wide with one effort on
goal from around the penalty spot, he was on target near the end. Barry's
cross fell and sat up nicely for Angel to strike a full-bloodied shot from ten
yards out, but the Spurs keeper stood tall and palmed the ball up into the air
and was quick enough to get up to save Petrov's rebound effort.
Spurs did have one final chance when Defoe raced
through on goal, but was pulled back by the linesman's flag, although the
Tottenham striker looked like he was in his won half when the ball was passed to
him.
A draw seemed to be a fair result on the face of
it, but it was a game that could have yielded more for Tottenham and with a bit
more adventure (helped by the return of Lennon), hopefully we might be able to
make more of the sort of domination we had in this game.
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Kirk Hammerton |
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Other scores
this weekend : |
| Arsenal |
3 |
Watford |
0 |
Saturday |
| Blackburn Rovers |
1 |
Liverpool |
1 |
Saturday |
| Manchester City |
0 |
Sheffield United |
0 |
Saturday |
| Middlesbrough |
2 |
Everton |
1 |
Saturday |
| Portsmouth |
2 |
West Ham United |
0 |
Saturday |
| Reading |
0 |
Chelsea |
1 |
Saturday |
| Wigan Athletic |
1 |
Manchester United |
3 |
Saturday |
| Newcastle United |
1 |
Bolton Wanderers |
2 |
Sunday |
| Fulham |
2 |
Charlton Athletic |
1 |
Monday |
|
League
Table |
| |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Pts |
GD |
|
1 |
Manchester
United |
8 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
17 |
5 |
19 |
+12 |
|
2 |
Chelsea |
8 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
13 |
4 |
19 |
+9 |
|
3 |
Bolton
Wanderers |
8 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
9 |
4 |
17 |
+5 |
|
4 |
Portsmouth |
8 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
12 |
3 |
16 |
+9 |
|
5 |
Arsenal |
7 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
11 |
4 |
14 |
+7 |
|
6 |
Aston
Villa |
8 |
3 |
5 |
0 |
10 |
5 |
14 |
+5 |
|
7 |
Everton |
8 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
13 |
8 |
13 |
+5 |
|
8 |
Reading |
8 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
9 |
8 |
13 |
+1 |
|
9 |
Blackburn
Rovers |
8 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
9 |
10 |
12 |
-1 |
|
10 |
Fulham |
8 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
10 |
13 |
12 |
-3 |
|
11 |
Liverpool |
8 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
9 |
9 |
11 |
0 |
|
12 |
Manchester
City |
8 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
6 |
9 |
9 |
-3 |
|
13 |
Middlesbrough |
8 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
8 |
13 |
8 |
-5 |
|
14 |
TOTTENHAM
HOTSPUR |
8 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
5 |
10 |
8 |
-5 |
|
15 |
Newcastle
United |
8 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
7 |
12 |
7 |
-5 |
|
16 |
Sheffield United |
8 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
10 |
6 |
-6 |
|
17 |
Wigan
Athletic |
7 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
7 |
12 |
5 |
-5 |
|
18 |
West
Ham United |
8 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
6 |
12 |
5 |
-6 |
|
19 |
Watford
|
8 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
7 |
13 |
4 |
-6 |
|
20 |
Charlton
Athletic |
8 |
1 |
0 |
7 |
6 |
15 |
3 |
-9 |
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