In the last post I predicted a 1-1 draw. That was me being optimistic. We’re playing against a team that outspent us in the summer by a ratio of 5 to 1. On that basis we shouldn’t even consider the possibility of winning this game. It’s 14 years since we won at White Hart Lane. Those two facts make me rather glad that this match is on TV. And yet, and yet… One must always be optimistic. I remember David Cross scoring 4 in 1981. I remember that gem of a goal from Dani in the 1990s. My head tells me that it won’t happen again, yet for some reason I keep imagining a sweet Ravel Morrison volley into the roof of the net.
Stewart Downing and Joe Cole both come back into the reckoning for this game but I doubt whether either will start. I expect James Collins to come back into the central defence and Mo Diame to continue on the right, allowing Ravel Morrison to continue to flourish alongside Mark Noble. The big question is whether Sam has finally lost patience with Modibo Maiga and will replace him with either Vaz Te or Petric. I’d have thought Mladen Petric must be more or less match fit by now, but if he isn’t there’s little harm in starting and coming off later in the game.
I am afraid I will be spending most of the game with tears running down my face. Not because I am following the game, but because I am visiting a friend who has just been given two months to live. Sometimes winning a football match doesn’t really count for very much.