Spurs vs. The Villians.

Simply put, win the last three games of the season and we are in Europe. If the players want European experience and ultimately success for Tottenham Hotspur then they have to force a performance from anywhere to ensure we make 7th spot.

Michael Brown and Pedro Mendes are both out of this one and apparently even Brown may miss the rest of the season, a blow for our midfield.

After the defeat at the scum and a few dodgy looking performances I would leave Reid on the bench and replace him with Ziegler. Davies, although poor against Arsenal, has been doing much better in recent weeks, especially at home, and thus should keep his place on the right. Carrick will be in the middle, along with Sean Davis who still looks short of match football. He was dreadful against WBA so will need to up his game.

The back four should be the same that lined up against Arsenal although Naybet may be recalled in place of Dawson. If Dawson does play King needs to switch to Kelly's side so we are not exposed down the right.

Up front is anyone's guess. Keane, who is on form, was dropped for an ineffective Defoe but he has just signed a new contract so he may have had a weight lifted from his shoulders. Mido didn't do much when he came on against the scum so I expect it will be Kanoute and one other. Only Jol knows who!

This is a vital game - a defeat would see Villa sneak above us. 'Boro are away at Liverpool and hopefully will get stuffed meaning we could get away with a draw when we go to their place.

COYS!

Defoe commits

Spurs announced this afternoon that Jermaine Defoe has put pen to paper on a new four and a half year deal. I expect he also recieved a massive pay rise.

This can only be good news and will hopefully put Chelsea off any big bid in the Summer. It should also be a boost for Jermaine himself. He has looked out of sorts, as if he wanted to be somewhere else almost, so this puts that story to bed. A few goals against Villa, 'Boro and Blackburn from the little man would ensure European football next season.

COYS!

Scum sneak it

The filth have sneaked a win 1-0. They had twenty minutes when they played very well but didn't look threatening otherwise. In fact both teams only had 1 shot on goal each and we actually had 54% of the possession. Just goes to show what a good half time team talk can do as we were out of the game 1st half.

That lot exposed our right side where Dawson and Kelly were playing together and showed that they obviously still lacked experience. When King switched over with Dawson in the second half we looked far more composed and were able to shut out Arsenal with far more ease. Why they didn't make the switch earlier is not clear.

Defoe missed a chance early on when really he should have buried it but apart from that looked poor. His mind appears to be on other things especially with the appalling dead ball which gave possession away. Reid doesn't look good enough and I think Ziegler should take his place against Villa. We only really attacked with urgency when Robbie Keane came on and really should have started in place of Defoe. The other moan is the cheat Cole obstructing and handballing in the penalty area late on but, as usual, the cvnt got away with it.

We never disgraced ourselves but didn't get behind as much as we could have done if we played with width. We stay a point behind 'Boro but they have a game in hand. To be in a chance of Europe we have to win our last three games and hope 'Boro slip up against Newcastle.

The UEFA cup is still within our grasp! COYS!

Scum VS. Spurs

Tottenham travel across to the occupied territories tomorrow for what is an increasingly important game, for us, anyway.

Arsen*l need to win tomorrow to stop Chelsea becoming league champions but even if they do it is only delaying the inevitable and it is about time that the glory hunters down in N5 realise this. Of course it is important that we take something out of the game after WBA did us no favors at all up at 'Boro.

Spurs will start with Robbo in goal, Kelly, Dawson, King and Edman across the back four. The full backs will have to be on top of their game to stop people like Ashley "I'm off to Chelsea" Cole doubling up with Robert "I'm a diving twat" Pires. The wide players in he midfield will also have to support the full backs. Reid had a good game against WBA and he needs to put in another one for his first North London Derby. The middle pairing will be Carrick and Davis. Sean can't perform like he did on Wednesday and if he does Viera will run the game and we will be in big trouble. Carrick needs to play like he did against Newcastle and try to boss the middle two. Up front it is unlikely we will play Keane and Defoe as it doesn't work. Hopefully Kanoute will return and his likely partner, based on form, is Robbie Keane. Defoe should continue his place on the bench along with Mido in case we need to throw something at them near the end. I would personally like to throw a hand grenade but I don't think that's in the rules.

Cliche time: Anything can happen in a North London derby and lets hope it does. We have been on the end of a few dodgy results over there in recent seasons thanks to a dodgy sending off, lousy finishing and lucky deflected goals. We genuinely have something still to play for so lets all hope we can upset the apple cart by at least taking the point and giving Chelsea the title when they are not playing to shut up Moanhinhio. Above all lets take something to keep the pressure up on 'Boro!

COYS!

Spurs stay seventh.

Spurs took a point against WBA on Wednesday night. Gera opened the scoring before Keane leveled. Neither team was able to get a winner that both wanted. However, a draw was probably a fair result.

West Brom were far the better side in the first half. In fact we were truly awful. If I had had a gun I would have shot myself after I watched the ball being passed from Kelly to King to Edman to Dawson, to Davis / Carrick to King, to Kelly for the HUNDREDTH time! It was dire and the lack of height up front caused us problems. However, unlike Jol, I will ot lay the whole blame on our two short strikers. The midfield were woeful, especially Sean Davis. Only Reid looked like he knew where the goal could be.

Spurs were far improved in the second half. The worlds most skillful left back came on and played on the left wing for most of the game. Mido also made an introduction and was good for 30 minutes and then disappeared. Maybe in my previous article I was a bit harsh on Mido but he will never shine while he is not match fit. I will withhold further judgment until that time. Robbie Keane proved why, at the moment, he is first choice striker at Spurs. He harried the WBA defenders and scored a great volley for our equalisier. Defoe, who has now only scored two more Premiership goals than Keane, spent most of the time offside. Maybe he needs a rest, I'm not sure.

So we took a point which is better than defeat but not as good as the win that would have really cemented our seventh place. 'Boro, probably now our main challenger for the UEFA spot, have a game in hand over in Newcastle - hopefully they would have found their form again and will do us a favor but with the scum away coming up the key game could well be 'Boro away in a few weeks.

COYS!

Spurs Vs. West Brom

Noureddine Naybet (hamstring), Anthony Gardner, Michael Brown (both foot), Noe Pamarot (knee) and Pedro Mendes (broken toe) all remain out for the visit of the Albion tomorrow night. Mido is on his way back to full fitness so may play some part but I won't be very pleased if he walks back into the team. I know people will disagree with me here but he IS the fourth choice striker in my opinion. Defoe, Keane and Kanoute are all better players and have all scored more goals, more often than Mido. In fact, excluding his debut, his performances have resulted in no goals and a knackered player after the hour.

Dawson should continue in the back four after his excellent debut - in fact I expect the same team as played Liverpool with maybe only Defoe coming in for Keane. The one piece of bad news is that the worlds most skillful left back, Atouba, is back from his three match suspension. Hopefully goal of the season will keep Edman ahead of him in the starting eleven.

Now time for the old cliche - WBA are "fighting for their lives" and Lawrenson has picked us for the win on the BBC site so we are really up against it. However it is a game we MUST win if our hopes of finishing in the top seven and thus participating in the UEFA cup are to come true. As I write we sit in seventh two points above 'Boro who have a game in hand. We have to visit them and the scum so it is important we win our last three home games to put us in the driving seat. If 'Boro don't take maximum points against Fulham tonight (fingers crossed) we can really take advantage if we can beat WBA tomorrow.

COYS!

Spurs take a point

Coolstreams is a wonderful thing....

Spurs take a well earned, well battled point away from Anfield this afternoon as we continue to strive for European football. Erik Edman scored the goal of the season, Keane grabbing Spurs second while Garcia and Hyypia replyed for Liverpool.

The contest started brightly and possession was fairly even. Spurs won a corner which was put in and cleared. Edman collected the ball just in front of the centre circle. He advanced no more than 10 yards or so and unleashed an unstoppable shot into the top corner. Easily goal of the season in my opinion and one that must be Sky +ed tonight! Liverpool came back into the game afterwards and dominated for long periods. The defending was good though and we looked pretty comfortable. However Liverpool struck the equaliser with just two minutes of normal time. Another great goal this time by Garcia. He was able to turn on the edge of our own area and whip the ball across into the top left hand corner. Robbo had no chance. If Spurs had been able to hold onto the 1-0 at the break we may have had an even better result than we got.

In the second half Spurs were able to get on the ball more although Liverpool shaded possession. However we took the lead once again when Keane headed home a Kanoute cross. Liverpool were rocked and Spurs were on top once again. However it didn't last, Gerrard finally making a contribution with a excellent run into our box. He tumbled after Carrick caught his ankles. At first I thought he dived but the replays show otherwise. Gerrard decided to take the penalty which he sliced horribly wide. Lucky us. However Liverpool equalised a few minutes later when a corner was cleared only to Hyypia who lashed home a good volley past Robbo. My one criticism of the second goal is that we didn't close him down maybe as quick as we should have done. Liverpool then laid siege to our own goal and missed a couple of good chances before the final whistle blew. Judging by the second half performances by both teams I think we have to say we should be happy with a point. Dawson had an excellent debut and Carrick had another good performance to go with his one last week against Newcastle. Davis looked ok but did give a couple of sloppy balls away while the other one, Simon, looks like he could be getting back to his best.

We now need to follow up with all three points on Wednesday night against West Brom. With the scum making the final and hopefully Manchester United following I hope we can slip into Europe through 7th place as we are now four points of sixth placed Liverpool. There is all to play for with just five games to go.

COYS!

Liverpool Vs. Spurs

This weekend is the one that Spurs need to put the recent poor away form behind us and take at least a point away from Anfield. This will be a tough task but not an impossible one. While Liverpool have been very good in the "Champions" League they have blown hot and cold in the Premiership. However home form is good so Spurs need to look at their own good away performances this season and repeat them.

Jermaine Defoe is a doubt so the starting eleven may have Keane and Kanoute up front. The Robbie Keane dislikers please note that if he wasn't here then we would have one fit first team striker. Remember the days of Sheringham being injured so Poyet played up front. I say no more.

According to the BBC Mido, Michael Brown, Thimothee Atouba, Pedro Mendes and Noureddine Naybet are all out injured. I expect the back four to be King, Edman, Kelly and Gardner although he has feet problem so Dawson could debut. The middle will have Davies on the right, Carrick and Sean Davis in the middle with Reid out wide left. If we are to take anything from this game then Carrick needs another game like he had against Newcastle. He will need to dictate to Gerrard, Liverpool's best player for years, and we have to hope that Sean Davis is now fully fit. He made some good forward runs against Newcastle and will hopefully take this opportunity to show the boss that he can do a better job than Brown - Thus a fantastic performance by the Fulham man, fingers crossed!

Finally, the adverts dotted around the site have some fantastic deals on them at the moment. Click on them and buy something!

COYS!

Crucial win

Spurs put the Toon Army away with a crucial 1-0 win that pushes us up to seventh. With six games left, three at home, we really must ensure we push on and take our place in next season's UEFA cup.

The match saw us create lots of chances but only put one away after a mistake by Harper. He kicked the ball out and it hit Simon Davies. The ball rebounded to Defoe who slotted home. Newcastle continued to huff and puff, only creating two chances in he whole game. In fact we created their second chance after another communications blunder between King and Robinson. Luckily Milner lobbed wide of an open goal. This is the third communications mix up between the two, the others coming against the goons, which led to a goal and Forest which also led to a goal so they must be stamped out.

Davis had another 40 minutes or so coming on for the hard working Brown. He looks like he is staring to pick up his match fitness which can only be good for the club. When fit he is a more effective player than Brown. Carrick also had an excellent game where he really went out to take control of the midfield. He put his foot in more and actually made two or three strong forward runs Viera style. A much welcomed change in style from Jol's favorite player.

Robbie Keane came on late on and received a great welcome from the crowd. This is the first chance I've had to comment on the Jol / Keane bustup. Jol has got it wrong with Keane and Mido. Mido, after a fabulous debut, has done very little except look tired and is only on loan. Keane has proved he can do it in the Premiership week in week out being our player of the season for two years running and has only 4 less league goals from Defoe with far less starts. With Kanoute continuing to be brilliant and then awful, letting Keane leave for a Premiership rival would be a huge mistake and one we would live to regret.

COYS!