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Club Focus - Tottenham - Spurs must make it a half-dozen at Sunderland
With consecutive matches against the top three coming up, Tottenham have the chance to head in to those weighty clashes on the back of a sixth league win on the bounce.
The trip to Sunderland offers Spurs the prospect of completing an impressive half-dozen straight wins and goes down as a must-win game considering the fixtures that await. The usual clichés of there being no easy games in the Premier League will rear their heads, but Harry Redknapp will know that his side should really be taking maximum points off the Black Cats, Bolton and Burnley if they are to finish in the top four. The key match remaining on the calendar will be the re-arranged trip to closest rivals Manchester City, but Tottenham can not afford to handicap themselves by dropping points to teams in the bottom half of the table. Sunderland have a strong home record under Steve Bruce - losing just twice in the league - but their form in 2010 has been poor. Since beating Arsenal in November, the team from Wearside have won just twice in the league, against Bolton and Birmingham. Whilst that victory over the Gunners shows that there is quality in the squad, it is quality that has rarely been seen since and is underlined by their flaky performance against Liverpool last weekend. Having had seven put past them by Chelsea in January, there are serious defensive concerns that need addressing, and this will serve only as a fillip to a Tottenham team high on confidence amid their winning streak.
The Spurs squad is still hampered by injuries but the players currently in possession of the shirt have demonstrated the importance of having quality in reserve. Despite the absence of the likes of Ledley King, Jonathan Woodgate, Aaron Lennon and Jermain Defoe, Tottenham have gone on their best run of form all season and it is credit to the players previously considered as back-ups that this has come about. The challenge for a spot in next season’s Champions League could so easily have been derailed in recent weeks but instead 15 points have been garnered out of a possible 15 whilst the teams around Spurs have all endured mixed results. Now that City and Aston Villa have used up their games in hand without taking advantage of the chance to overhaul Redknapp’s side, the onus is on the Lilywhites to make the most of having their fate in their own hands. If Tottenham can win their games with Sunderland, Bolton, Burnley and City, then they can afford to drop points against the big three. It is key to their hopes of picking up points against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United that they go in to the games without being laden with pressure, so a win at the Stadium of Light is a must. Failure to win on Saturday would leave a massive task with victories required against sides heavily involved in the tightest of title races.
Of course, whatever the current form of the two sides and however much Spurs need to win, it will not be an easy game. Spurs have not won at the Stadium of Light in four attempts and have not won three consecutive away games in the league since December 2004. With several former Tottenham players on the Sunderland payroll, there will be extra incentives for the hosts to deny their former employers victory. Darren Bent will be particularly keen to make a point, particularly having failed to do so earlier in the season when he missed a penalty at White Hart Lane. Bent could have been joined in the North East by Peter Crouch in the summer, but the giant forward opted for Tottenham instead. Having broken a period of drought in front of goal by scoring against his former club Portsmouth last weekend, Crouch will be keen to stay among the goals, and he also has the motivation of overshadowing a rival for an England World Cup striking spot. The Spurs man is ahead of his Sunderland counterpart in the queue but a late burst from Bent could put the pressure on Crouch if he fails to perform. Fabio Capello will have his eye on Saturday’s game so it will be a good time for Crouch to play matchwinner for his club.
The pressure is on Tottenham to finish off the job of securing a top four spot but it is a load that they will be glad to have as it means they are still in the mix at the business end of the season. With a trio of games awaiting where Spurs will be underdogs, it is imperative they take maximum points from the games where they will be odds on favourites. Failure to beat Sunderland will not undo all the good work that has gone before, but it will make things very difficult indeed for Redknapp’s side to fulfil their goal.
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