· Last season's game - Spurs 2 Leicester 3, 03.10.99
· See the current injury list for all Premier League Teams
· All the Spurs Stats you could hope for here! THFC6061 Sports Stats

This preview was written by Brian Judson

Full Record of Spurs -v- Leicester City

Premier        Pl   W   D   L   For-Ag  Pts
Home            5   1   1   3    5 - 8    4
Away            5   1   1   3    4 - 9    4
===========================================
Total (Prem)   10   2   2   6    9 -17    8
===========================================
Football Lge
Home (Div 1)   29  13   6  10    64-46   34
Away (Div 1)   29  16   4   9    53-54   40
===========================================
Total (Div 1)  58  29  10  19   117-100  74
===========================================
Football League
Home (Div 2)    7   3   3   1    12- 7    9
Away (Div 2)    7   4   1   2    14-13    9
===========================================
Total (Div 2)  14   7   4   3    26-20   18
===========================================
Total (Prem)   10   2   2   6    9 -17    8
Total (Div 1)  58  29  10  19   117-100  74
Total (Div 2)  14   7   4   3    26- 20  18
===========================================
Grand Total    82  38  16  28   152-137 100
===========================================

This fixture will always evoke memories of two Cup Finals involving these two clubs. The first of the two Cup Finals was the more historic of the two as Tottenham's victory over Leicester City on 6th May 1961 enabled Tottenham to complete the first 20th Century double of League and Cup wins in the same season, the first since Aston Villa had done so at the end of the 1896-97 season. No one who supports Tottenham will need to be reminded that Bobby Smith and Terry Dyson scored the goals that gave Tottenham victory on that occasion. But Spurs played well below par that day, as it was the 47th League and Cup match of a gruelling season (for those days). Too many of the Spurs players played well below par. It might have been different had an early Cliff Jones goal been allowed instead of being flagged offside by one Harry New, who upset so many Spurs fans by some of his curious decisions as a referee over the course of the next 10 years or so.

The second of the two Cup Final victories came a few months after George Graham had been appointed manager of Tottenham. We had reached the League Cup Final and had looked odds-on to lose when Justin Edinburgh had been sent off by the referee in the 63rd minute of the match. Spurs somehow managed to hold on until the end of extra time loomed. With Leicester anticipating the Final being settled by penalty kicks, Spurs struck. The decisive goal came via an Allan Nielsen header two minutes into injury time. Les Ferdinand began the move by finding Steffan Iversen in space on the right flank and he cut into the area after outpacing Steve Walsh. Kasey Keller managed to get a hand onto his eventual shot but the ball lobbed up invitingly for Nielsen to head home from six yards out.

Last season, in a televised match on the first Sunday in October, Spurs had led at half-time, 2-1, but lost 3-2. Izzet had scored a penalty in the 24th minute which had been quickly equalised by Steffan Iversen within a minute and a further goal added just before half-time. But Izzet had equalised late in the second half and Taggart had added the winner for Leicester shortly afterwards.

The return game was a drab affair played in midweek in mid-April. Both sides played as if they could not wait for the end of the season to arrive. Spurs scored the only goal of the match when Ginola snatched the winner deep in injury time.

This season, of course, Leicester have been challenging for the championship and briefly held the lead early on in the season. They have since fallen away from the pace, largely because they have only a small squad. Martin O'Neill left for Celtic during the summer, feeling he had taken Leicester as far as he could do so and wanted a fresh challenge. Peter Taylor, a former Spurs favourite, succeeded him as Leicester manager after a season at Gillingham following his dismissal from the FA despite being the most successful England Under-21 manager.

Although they have lost Emile Heskey to Liverpool, Peter Taylor successfully persuaded other stars in the squad, notably Lennon, to remain at Leicester instead of following Martin O'Neill to Celtic. Taylor has made the minimal changes required and recognises that he does not really have the squad to challenge for the Championship. He is demonstrating yet again just how astute a manager he is. The only real failure on his CV so far has been his two seasons at Southend United, but my view is that he did well there just to keep Southend afloat. I think Taylor is likely to emerge as a better manager than Hoddle, Ardiles or Perryman in the long term.

Looking ahead to tomorrow's match, it will be tight. I don't think there will be much in it and I think the side that scores first will go on to win 1-0. Hopefully, this will be a Tottenham side keen to build on the platform they constructed last weekend when they dominated a Liverpool side that played so well against Olympiakos last night. I don't think the current Tottenham squad is as poor as some members of the Spurs-List think it is. All it lacks is a ball winner in midfield, a schemer and a captain with some organisation and nous. The goals will come if we are all patient and do not get on the backs of individual players.

COME ON YOU SPURS!

Cheers, Brian

Follow @spursodyssey