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Match preview - Tottenham Hotspur vs. Sunderland - Black Cats thin squad to be put to the test
Thursday 05 November 2009
Sunderland travel to White Hart Lane this Saturday to face a Tottenham Hotspur side looking to put a mistake ridden north London derby behind them. Steve Bruce’s men can take heart in the fact that they took four points from Spurs last season, drawing at home and winning this fixture 2-1 with Djibril Cisse scoring the winner seven minutes from time in an evenly contested match. Kieran Richardson was also on the scoresheet with Jermaine Jenas scoring for Tottenham.
Darren Bent started for Spurs in both games - surprisingly, but he found himself on the bench a little to often for the north London side and decided to move to Sunderland. Since leaving, he has found his scoring touch, scoring eight goals in 11 starts for the Mackems this season. Bent will be the Black Cats main threat and will certainly want to score against his old club. Disappointingly Sunderland have not won in their last three away games and have only won two of their last five matches in the Premier League.
Tottenham - Spurs meet Sunderland having lost two of their last three home games in the Premier League - something Redknapp will want to amend. To do this he will surely call upon top scorer Jermain Defoe who is set to return after his suspension. Defoe scored six in nine Premier League appearances before he was red carded at his old stomping ground on the south coast last month. Aaron Lennon is a doubt for the game with an ankle injury and Spurs will miss his pace down the right flank. Spurs are also without playmaker Luka Modric who is out until late November and Giovani Dos Santos remains sidelined. The latest casualty however is Sebastien Bassong, who could struggle to return to full fitness for up to five weeks. Jonathan Woodgate however returns and should be a straight swap for the for the Frenchman.
1 Gomes
22 Corluka – 39 Woodgate – 26 King - 32 Assou-Ekotto
5 Bentley – 12 Palacios - 8 Jenas – 21 Kranjcar
18 Defoe - 10 Keane
Sunderland - Steve Bruce’s squad is thin on the ground with many key players out. They are without both first choice central midfielders in captain Lorik Cana and Lee Cattermole. Also unavailable is Kenwyne Jones who misses out through suspension after shoving Herita Ilunga at the weekend. Other players who are unavailable for Bruce are John Mensah (calf), Boudewijn Zenden (hamstring) and Frazier Campbell (knee - doubtful).
1 Gordon
2 Bardsley – 4 Turner - 25 Nosworthy – 10 Richardson
8 Malbranque – 12 Meyler - 16 Henderson – 20 Reid
14 Murphy - 11 Bent
Redknapp has done extremely well since arriving at White Hart Lane a year ago, and with an excellent strike force to choose from, Tottenham may have to much quality going forward for Sunderland to handle. With the injuries to Cana, Cattermole and Jones they may also struggle to counter attack effectively. However, Sunderland did well to rescue a point at home against West Ham last weekend even though they played the whole of the second half with only 10 men.
In contrast to that, Tottenham come into this game on the back of a 3-0 drubbing by Arsenal in last Saturday’s early kick-off, with manager Harry Redknapp describing his team as “suicidal” witnessing his men leak two goals in a minute. He will hope his tactics pay off this time as this is certainly a massive game with both teams fighting for a Europa League place next season. Sunderland have picked up some fantastic results in the league this year, beating Liverpool and also snatching a point at Old Trafford, however there lack of key players in the spine of their team should mean Tottenham dominate.
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