Tottenham Hotspur Preview

By Mark Heys
February 23 2007

Bolton are aiming to do the double over Tottenham Hotspur this Sunday to keep their dreams of qualifying for Champions League football very much alive.

On the opening day of the season the Wanderers earned a 2-0 victory over Spurs at the Reebok Stadium and now they are aiming to travel down to White Hart Lane this weekend to do a similar job..

Tottenham will be boosted by their recent wins against Fulham and Everton as they play their first game on home soil in nearly a month, but Bolton have won twice in the last three seasons at the Lane and have a good overall record against their London opponents in the Premiership.

Abdoulaye Faye could make the game for the Wanderers after missing the last couple of matches with an abcess but Slovakian Lubomir Michalik is on standby to make his debut should the Senegal international be deemed unfit.

Fellow defender Nicky Hunt should return to the starting eleven after missing the game against Arsenal through illness but David Thompson and Tal Ben-Haim will serve one match suspensions.

Spaniard Cesar Martin, signed as a free agent this week, will not make the trip South as he still needs to build up his fitness after playing just a handful of games for Levante earlier in the season. Striker Kevin Davies (foot) and full back Joey O'Brien (knee) are also out of contention.

Spurs boss Martin Jol is likely to be without Egyptian forward Mido (groin) and England international Ledley King (foot) but midfielder Tom Huddlestone should be fit to play following a hamstring problem.

Young striker Lee Barnard is still a week or so away from action after receiving treatment on his ankle.

PREMIERSHIP RECORD

23/12/1995 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 2 (Sheringham, Armstrong) BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Green, Bergsson)

20/03/1996 BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Curcic, Sellars) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 3 (Howells, Fox, Armstrong)

23/09/1997 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Thompson) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 (Armstrong)

01/03/1998 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 (Neilsen) BOLTON WANDERERS 0

03/12/2001 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 3 (Poyet, Ferdinand, Sheringham) BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Ricketts, Wallace)

20/04/2002 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Holdsworth) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 (Iversen)

20/10/2002 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 3 (Keane 2, Davies) BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Djorkaeff)

24/03/2003 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Okocha) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 0

01/11/2003 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 0 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Nolan)

17/04/2004 BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Campo, Pedersen) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 0

23/10/2004 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 (Keane) BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Jaidi, Pedersen)

01/02/2005 BOLTON WANDERERS 3 (Diouf, Ben-Haim, Davies) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 (Defoe)

07/11/2005 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Nolan) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 0

30/04/2006 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 1 (Lennon) BOLTON WANDERERS 0

19/08/2006 BOLTON WANDERERS 2 (Davies, Campo) TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 0

PREMIERSHIP FORM GUIDE:

Played: 15

Won: 7

Drawn: 3

Lost: 5

CONNECTIONS

Chris Armstrong, Gudni Bergsson, Chris Fairclough, Les Ferdinand, George Hunt, Don McAllister, Neil McNab, Ian Moores, Ian Walker.

IT HAPPENED WHEN BOLTON PLAYED SPURS

Spurs became the first opposing team to score at the Reebok Stadium when future Wanderer Chris Armstrong planted a header past Keith Branagan in the Premiership match between Bolton and Tottenham in September 1997.

In November 2003 Jay-Jay Okocha hit the Tottenham woodwork five times in an excellent individual performance. Despite this, the Nigerian could not score a league goal throughout that campaign.

Ex-Spur Gudni Bergsson gained Bolton a valuable point when he struck a late equaliser in the 2-2 draw at White Hart Lane ten years ago. Spurs had seemingly been cruising thanks to goals from Armstrong and Teddy Sheringham but Scott Green of Bolton set up a nervous finish prior to Bergsson's leveller from the edge of the area past current Wanderer Ian Walker.

A Kevin Nolan wonder goal from all of 30-yards gave the Wanderers their fourth consecutive home win against Spurs last season but England winger Aaron Lennon helped the London club gain revenge by netting the only goal at White Hart Lane the following April.

Israeli international Tal Ben-Haim headed home his only Bolton goal to date in this fixture back in February 2005. The Wanderers managed to kill the game off late on and win 3-1