Tottenham Hotspur Preview

By Mark Heys
September 21 2007

Bolton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur both had contrasting results in the UEFA Cup last night but they dust themselves down quickly ahead of an important Premier League clash at the Reebok Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Bolton needed a late Abdoulaye Meite equaliser to earn a draw with Macedonian side FK Rabotnicki, whilst Spurs ran riot by beating Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta by a 6-1 scoreline.

Both of the respective managers have been put under pressure in recent weeks with the futures of Wanderers manager Sammy Lee and Tottenham boss Martin Jol being questioned by the media vultures.

Neither man will want to lose this game and as far as the Wanderers are concerned  a win could go a long way to lifting them off the foot of the table where they have been since Derby County managed to defeat Newcastle United on Monday.

Spurs have had a mixed run of results of late with four defeats, a win and a draw coming from their fixtures played so far and like the Trotters they have been concerned by recent events.

Bolton will hope to welcome back Christian Wilhelmsson after the Swedish international missed the last two games through injury but Heidar Helguson, Ricardo Vaz-Te and Blerim Dzemaili are definately out.

The return to first team action of Ricardo Gardner and Joey O'Brien has given the Wanderers a welcome selection boost in light of Jlloyd Samuel's hamstring injury picked up at Birmingham City last weekend.

Andy O'Brien could come back into the starting line up at the expense of Gerald Cid, whilst Kevin Davies will also hope to keep his place on the right hand side of attack after playing his first ninety minutes of the season in Europe.

Spurs are without long term injury victim Ledley King (knee) and his fellow defensive collegue Anthony Gardner is also out after picking up an ankle injury.

Aaron Lennon and Benoit Assou-Ekotto are in contention for the trip North after making a successful recovery from their recent knee injuries.

LAST TIME WE MET

25/02/2007 Tottenham Hotspur 4 (Keane 2, Jenas, Lennon) BOLTON WANDERERS 1 (Speed)

BOLTON WANDERERS: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Nicky Hunt, Abdoulaye Faye (Andranik Teimourian), Abdoulaye Meite, Ricardo Gardner (Henrik Pedersen), Kevin Nolan (Ricardo Vaz-Te), Ivan Campo, Gary Speed, Stelios Giannakopoulos, Nicolas Anelka, El-Hadji Diouf

SUBS NOT USED: Idan Tal, Ian Walker

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR: Paul Robinson, Pascal Chimbonda, Michael Dawson, Ricardo Rocha, Lee Young-Pyo, Aaron Lennon, Didier Zokora (Paul Stalteri), Jermaine Jenas, Teemu Tainio (Steed Malbranque), Dimitar Berbatov, Robbie Keane

SUBS NOT USED: Hossam Mido, Jermain Defoe, Radek Cerny

PLAYED FOR BOTH

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

DID YOU KNOW?

Former Bolton trainer Bert Sproston had a short spell with Tottenham during his playing career either side of spells with Leeds United and Manchester City. Sproston went on to be on the coaching staff at Burnden Park for over 25 years.

Tottenham have never won at the Reebok Stadium in the league. Their only success has come in the League Cup when in October 2004 two Jermain Defoe goals helped them to a 4-3 success.

Current Bolton keeper Ian Walker played for Spurs for over 10 years. His last Premiership appearance ironically came against their arch rivals Arsenal whilst playing for Leicester City in May 2004.