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West
Bromwich Albion v Tottenham Hotspur
The Hawthorns,
West Bromwich. 29th January 2005, 3.00pm. |
| 22nd January 2005 |
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| Position |
20th |
8th |
| Form |
D D D W L W |
D W D W W L |
| Last Match |
Manchester
City (H) 2-0 |
Crystal Palace (A) 0-3 |
Last Meeting
28th December 2004 |
West Bromwich Albion 1 (Gera
3)
Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Defoe 34) |
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. |
The Cup match against
Spurs is very much a case of light relief in the midst of Albion's
battle against relegation, but wins breed confidence which breeds
wins, so Albion will be going all out to progress to the fifth round.
The north London club were the second visitors to the Hawthorns
this season and the spoils were shared. Since then, both clubs have
changed their manager with former Baggie Martin Jol returning to
the Hawthorns as a manager.
Until the defeats to Chelsea and Palace, Jol had guided Spurs on
an impressive run of results as they won eight (including the win
over Liverpool on penalties in the Carling Cup) and drew two of
the previous ten games. They have been particularly good away from
White Hart Lane conceding just five goals in the Premiership before
they let in three at Palace.
Tottenham have an excellent Cup pedigree having won the trophy on
eight occasions, although not since 1991. They will want to forget
the fourth round from last season, however, as they lost a replay
at home to Man City 4-3 having been 3-0 up at half time.
The man to watch is obviously Jermain Defoe who scored at the Hawthorns
earlier in the season. The former West Ham striker is their top
scorer this season having netted 15 times. Former Dingle Robbie
Keane has scored ten times this season and does seem to like playing
against Albion as he scored three times in the two Premiership games
between the two sides in 2002-03.
Barring any injuries or new additions in the final week of the transfer
window, I expect Robson to name an unchanged side as follows:
Hoult; Albrechtsen, Purse, Clement, Robinson; Gera, Scimeca, Wallwork,
Greening; Campbell, Earnshaw.
It will be a tough test for the Baggies, but if they can turn the
Londoners over, it will give them a huge boost ahead of the crunch
match against Crystal Palace.
Jon Want, 22nd January 2005.
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