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This preview was written by Brian Judson

Full Record of Spurs -v- Liverpool

Prem          Pl   W   D   L  For-Ag  Pts
Home           8   3   3   2   12-12  12
Away           8   1   2   5    8-19   5
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Total (Prem)  16   4   5   7   20-31  17
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Football Lge
Home (Div 1)  49  24  10  15   73-58  62
Away (Div 1)  49   4  14  31   38-95  24
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Total (Div 1) 98  28  24  46  111-153 86
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Total (Prem)  16   4   5   7   20-31  17
Total (Div 1) 98  28  24  46  111-153 86
=========================================
Grand Total  114  32  29  53  131-184 103
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This was always one of the fixtures I particularly looked forward to when the fixtures were published each close season. There have been very few matches between these two sides which have not thrown up something to admire or discuss. Tottenham sides never need motivating when playing Liverpool. The present Liverpool side looks like being the first for a while to challenge for honours. Gerard Houllier has quietly put together a squad that is starting to show all the traditional Liverpool attributes. Last season, their defence produced their best return for quite a while, conceding only 30 goals compared with 49 goals the previous season. So far this season, Liverpool have only conceded 19 goals.

A familiar face to Tottenham fans will be within the Liverpool ranks as, of course, Nicky Barmby transferred from Everton to Liverpool during the summer. Robbie Fowler has returned to the Liverpool team after suffering a string of injuries that has limited his appearances for Liverpool. Emile Heskey is suspended for this match and Michael Owen is doubtful. But there will still be plenty of Liverpool players to cause us problems.

In the corresponding match last season, played on January 3rd, Chris Armstrong scored the only goal of the game midway through the first half when Heggem made a hash of clearing the ball. Spurs could and should have increased their lead but spurned all the other opportunities that came their way. To be fair to Liverpool, they were without Fowler and Owen that day.

In the return game, played on April 9th, Liverpool won 2-0. Thompson headed on a ball in the 34th minute which Berger hit first time giving Walker no chance. The second goal came from a long ball which reached Owen because Heskey took out Campbell. Heskey got the ball from Owen and fired a shot into the near post that Walker could only block. Heskey collected the rebound and laid it on to Owen for a simple tap-in.

Over the years, of course, I have seen many outstanding matches. My particular favourite is one that Tottenham lost, a 6th Round FA Cup replay played in March 1971. As I recall, Steve Heighway scored the only goal that night but Tottenham and Liverpool produced a thrilling cup tie that swung from end to end. It was such an absorbing cup tie that the game only seemed to last five minutes if you see what I mean. There are too many games where we clock watch simply because we are bored but there was too much happening that night for that. Pat Jennings performed miracles in the Tottenham goal but Ray Clemence was equally busy that night.

Another Cup tie that I recall was played in March 1968. It was surprisingly the first time Spurs and Liverpool had ever been drawn against each other in the FA Cup. The memory from that match that sticks out in my mind was the goal Jimmy Greaves scored to put us ahead. There seemed to be no danger when Greaves received the ball some 15 yards out as Tommy Lawrence, the Liverpool goalkeeper, was well protected but in a blur of movement, Greaves pivoted and volleyed the ball home past a startled Lawrence. Liverpool later equalised but went on to win the replay.

No one who saw the two League matches played against Liverpool in season 1968-69 will forget them. David Jenkins, who had been signed from Arsenal, played in both matches. We won the home game, 2-1, in October 1968, thanks to Greaves scoring twice, but lost the return game, 1-0, two months later. In both matches, Jenkins squandered gilt-edged chances to score, particularly at Anfield, where it looked easier to score seconds before half-time but he only succeeded in hitting the crossbar.

Perhaps the finest achievement of a Spurs side in playing Liverpool came during 1972-73 when we played four games in a week, including two games against Liverpool in the League Cup, during a particularly busy spell of fixtures in December 1972. Spurs held Liverpool at Anfield on the Monday night, having played a League match against Southampton on the Saturday, and beat Liverpool at Tottenham on the Wednesday night. If my memory serves me correctly, the match was played in torrential rain and Spurs grabbed an early goal through Pratt. Chivers added two more in a match that left the distinct impression that Liverpool would have preferred the game to have been abandoned because of the weather.

Surprisingly in a season when so much conspired against Tottenham to ensure they finished bottom of the old Division One at the end of season 1976-77, Spurs actually beat Liverpool, 1-0. I was working on a training course that March and missed the match. I could not believe my eyes when I read the report the following day that Spurs had beaten Liverpool, 1-0, thanks to a goal by Ralph Coates. What made it even more of a shock was that Liverpool won the Championship that season.

My final thoughts on past events and encounters with Liverpool is the recollection of Tommy Smith, in the aftermath of Tottenham's 7-0 thrashing at Anfield early in the 1978-79 season saying that Ardiles would never survive in the hurly burly of the Football League as he was too frail. I think Ardiles stuffed those words down Smith's throat in subsequent seasons, don't you?

So to Sunday's match. Spurs have been fortunate in having had teams from the lower half of the table as opposition up to now. Liverpool are the first of the teams likely to have a say in the final destination of the season's honours to visit Tottenham. We will have to be at our very best if we are to extract a result from this match but I remain hopeful we will manage to snatch a 1-0 victory. We will have to be patient, however, as I feel the goal will be a very late strike from Chris Armstrong.

COME ON YOU SPURS!

Cheers, Brian

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