Tottenham Hotspur v Watford , Match Preview


Watford at Home

By MattoftheSpurs
March 16 2007

Watford visit White Hart Lane on Saturday desperate for points. They currently sit in 19th position in the Premiership one place above rock bottom West Ham on goal difference.

Tottenham Hotspur versus Watford
The Premiership.
16th March 2007
White Hart Lane
Kick off 3.00pm
 
Watford visit White Hart Lane on Saturday desperate for points. They currently sit in 19th position in the Premiership one place above rock bottom West Ham on goal difference. They are a massive 10 points from Manchester City who are in the last of the safety spots. Last time out for Watford they secured a FA Cup semi final place by beating Plymouth 1-0 at Home Park. They will meet the winners of the Middlesborough/ Manchester United tie due to be replayed at Old Trafford on Monday evening.
 
Watford's last win in the League was a 1-0 away win over fellow strugglers West Ham on the 27th of January.
 
Spurs and Watford fought out a dull 0-0 draw in the reverse of this fixture on the 28th of October. Most of the noteworthy action in the match took place in the first 30 minutes. Tottenham started strongly with Aaron Lennon having three decent opportunities within the opening 15 minutes. Watford fought back and Tommy Smith missed an open goal from 3 yards out before Watford had a goal disallowed for offside which upon viewing the replays on television should have stood. The second half was a dour affair. Watford resorted to pumping long balls into the Spurs half and Spurs resorted to pumping them back were they came from.
 
Spurs have now gone seven games undefeated in all competitions. The last defeat suffered was a 1-2 reverse at Bramall Lane against Sheffield United. Since that day in February Spurs have racked up 23 goals conceding 12.
 
Tottenham and Watford will meet at White Hart Lane for only the 8th time on Saturday in the League. In the previous 7 meetings Spurs have triumphed on 4 occasions whilst Watford have picked up the points in the other 3 meetings. The record reads thus;
 
06/11/82 0-1 Lost
02/01/84 2-3 Lost (Hughton, Hoddle (pen) )
11/05/85 1-5 Lost (Hoddle (pen) )
17/08/85 4-0 Win  (P.Allen, Falco, Waddle 2)
13/12/86 2-1 Win  (Gough, Hoddle)
01/01/88 2-1 Win  (C.Allen, Moran)
26/12/99 4-0 Win  (Ginola, Iversen, Sherwood 2)
 
This meeting of the two sides is the middle match in a trio of important games for Spurs. Tottenham dispatched Sporting Club Braga on Wednesday night 3-2 to go through to the next round of the UEFA Cup. This match against Watford represents Spurs' desire to finish as high up in the table as possible and qualify for European competition next season. Currently Spurs are sitting in 8th position on 42 points. Above them are Reading and Everton both on 43 points. Reading have a home match against the improved Portsmouth whilst Everton face Arsenal at Goodison Park. If Spurs can secure all three points against the Hornets then they could end the day in 6th place. A win could also be important for confidence reasons as the champions Chelsea visit White Hart Lane on Monday night for the replay of last weeks 6 goal thriller between the two clubs.
 
Martin Jol could well rest some big names on Saturday. Aaron Lennon and Dimitar Berbatov could make way for Hossam Ghaly and Ahmed Mido. Spurs will still be without the injured Ledley King whilst Anthony Gardner is also sidelined with a hairline fracture of the fibula. Ricardo Rocha will come back into the team after missing the Braga match as he was cup tied. Stalteri may well continue his sterling work at right back whilst Pascal Chimbonda takes a rest. Jemaine Jenas could well feature for the match as could Teemu Taino. (Eds note Tainio out for a couple of weeks according to the official site)
 
Three points is vital for both sides for very different reasons. If Watford are going to stand any chance of staying in the Premier League for next term then a win is a must. Tottenham must also go for the three points if they are going to qualify for Europe through the League. Whilst dropping points against Watford would not be a disaster it would represent a very poor result. Expect both teams to go for the jugular on Saturday. One thing I can guarantee is that it will be a better match than the one between the two sides earlier in the season. It couldn't get any worse.
 
Audere Est Facere.

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