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West
Bromwich Albion v Tottenham Hotspur
The Hawthorns,
West Bromwich. 25th August 2004, 7.45pm. |
| 22nd August 2004 |
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| Position |
12th |
6th |
| Form |
W L L L D D |
D L W W D W |
| Last Match |
Aston
Villa (H) 1-1 |
Newcastle United (A) 1-0 |
Last Meeting
21st April 2003 |
West Bromwich Albion 2 (Dichio
24, Clement 61)
Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Keane 45+1, 85, Sheringham
63) |
Last Baggies win in this fixture
was 1-0 on 27th March 1982
Albion hero Cyrille Regis grabbed the winner
against Spurs avenging the defeat in the League Cup semi-final a
little over a month earlier. The London side went on to finish 4th
whereas the Baggies languished in a lowly 17th place, although they
also reached the FA Cup semi-final; Spurs are unbeaten in their
last five visits to the Shrine. |
Albion play host to
one of the new managers on Wednesday evening when Jacques Santini
brings his Tottenham Hotspur side to the Hawthorns. David Pleat
had a tough season last time around with Spurs still not safe when
they suffered the ignominy of seeing Arsenal crowned Champions at
White Hart Lane in late April. But with the men from Molineux along
with Leeds and Leicester conspiring to cause their own downfall,
Spurs were never in any real danger of losing their Premiership
status.
After a disappointing Euro 2004 Championship in charge of France,
Santini has returned to club football management and immediately
got out the cheque book. No less than ten players have joined the
north London outfit over the summer, although one or two joined
prior to Santini's appointment. Highlights include Nourredine Naybet
from Deportivo, Pedro Mendes a £2 million capture from Porto, Thimothee
Atouba from Basle, Erik Edman from Heerenveen, Paul Robinson from
Leeds and Sean Davis a free transfer from Fulham who all made their
debuts against Liverpool on the opening day of the season. Atouba
followed that up with his first goal for the club when he grabbed
the winner at Newcastle on Saturday.
Their latest capture is that of West Ham midfielder Michael Carrick,
who turned down a move to West Brom. To be honest, I didn't think
that he was the type of player we needed and the transfer fee seemed
a little high for a player with just one year left on his contract
- he could make his debut for Spurs on Wednesday, so I hope he doesn't
make us rue his decision to stay in London.
The Frenchman is still not finished with Liverpool full back Steve
Finnan the latest player to be linked with a move to White Hart
Lane. It hasn't all been rosy in the transfer market, however, as
they failed in an attempt to highjack Danny Murphy's move to Charlton,
and Owen Hargreaves is reported to have turned down a move to at
least that part of North London.
As well as bringing in new faces, Santini has also got rid of some
of the dead wood that had been populating the reserve side in the
past season or so with Darren Anderton, Christian Zeige and Sergei
Rebrov all allowed to leave the club and the sales of England's
nemesis, Helder Postiga, for £5 million and Stephen Carr to Newcastle
for an undisclosed fee have helped to finance the squad rebuilding.
Carr's departure left Spurs without an experienced left back (hence,
the move for Finnan) leaving 17-year-old Phil Ifil to make it seven
debutants in the game against Liverpool. Elsewhere in the team,
there is plenty of quality. Defoe and Kanoute make a potent front
pairing, Pedro Mendes, Davis and Redknapp are part of a solid midfield
and England centre back Ledley King leads the back line in front
of Paul Robinson. With Robbie Keane and Simon Davies to return from
injury, the prospects are much improved for this season.
Keane's absence should be greeted with joy by Albion fans as the
former Wolves man scored four goals against the Baggies in their
last Premiership campaign. Defoe also scored against the Baggies
the last time he faced them playing for West Ham in that
4-3 game last November, but he also got sent off on that amazing
day, so he probably won't look back on the match with too many fond
memories.
So far this season, Spurs have achieved excellent results with a
creditable draw against the rejuvenated Liverpool and an excellent
win at St James's Park, although that was perhaps more of a smash
'n' grab. Albion have started promisingly, but this will be another
tough test against a new look Tottenham.
I've not managed to match the starting line-up in midfield so far
and there remains a question as to whether Megson will retain the
same four. Gregan seems to be out of contention, with no excuse
for his absence against Villa, but Gera's performance may have put
him in line for a starting place. I suspect that, barring any additions
to the squad in the meantime, Megson will keep the same eleven,
i.e.:
Hoult; Scimeca, Purse, Gaardsoe, Robinson; Haas, Johnson, Clement,
Greening; Horsfield, Kanu.
I suppose I'd be happy with another point against Spurs, but with
two tough trips to Merseyside before our next home game, a first
win of the season would be very welcome indeed!!
Jon Want, 22nd August 2004.
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