Casual lobotomy is one of my less typical weekend pursuits, but I'm willing to hazard that were one to pluck out the respective brains of BAE and Scott Parker, the two would be as dissimilar as medically possible. At one point in the second half yesterday I'm fairly sure Benny executed a scorpion kick, seemingly just to pass the time.

By Chris Wright

Remember on Tuesday evening? When Benoit Assou-Ekotto very nearly carved Franco Di Santo's leg in twain with a disgusting, over-the-ball leg-breaker of a horror tackle?

A tackle, it's perhaps worth noting, that apparently didn't merit any form of punishment for BAE from either the referee at the time (as the blood sopped through the Argentine's sock) or the FA's disciplinary committee?

By Chris Wright

Two parts 'Horror Hair' to one part 'actually pretty impressive'; it's BAE's latest crop of 'between styles' free range Afro fuzz, which is the size of a Capybara and looks like a distinct fire hazard...

No naked flames within a three-metre radius please people.

Ruddy nora and crikey hell! What about that, then? An absolute thunder-punt from everyone's favourite Smart Car-driving, Oyster card-carrying Evening Standard columnist/community support worker/international superstar footballer/all round good egg. If I was describing it using the medium of retro beat 'em, Street Fighter II, I would conclude thusly: sonic boom + flaming hadouken x hurricane kick= that goal.

So finally this much-vaunted "Game in Hand" is upon us. Truth be told, I will be a little sad to see it go. It has practically become part of the family, like a scruffy, uncouth urchin discovered in the wreckage of the summer riots, and adopted by the cheery folk of White Hart Lane. And let's face it, this Game in Hand has proved more useful than the Sword of Omens when it comes to pointless bickering with fans of l'Arse, Chelski, Liverpool and the like.

With so many hamstring injuries at the Lane this week the team for tonight virtually picks itself. The big news once again is with Rafael van der Vaart whose scan seemed to give the Dutchman the green light to return to the starting XI.

Before the game, Harry spoke about VDV and gave some news about other recent injury victims.

For the first time in many games, there are far more questions to deliberate ahead of predicting the starting XI for tonight's match.

As we all know, Aaron Lennon has been ruled out of this game while Gareth Bale remains a major doubt. There are question marks too over Ledley King, Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor.

Many of the newspapers and websites are giving the nod to VDV this morning for his all round contribution to yesterday's win. Rafa linked up with the two strikers well after Harry shuffled the pack on 27 minutes and his neat pass let in Pavlyuchenko for the goal.

Pav could conceivably be a contender too while elsewhere, Scott Parker made his usual telling contribution.

Injuries and suspension at the centre of defence could force Harry Redknapp to bring back Ledley King for Sunday's game against Martin O'Neill's side. Harry reports that Ledley is struggling but we've been in this position before where the club captain makes an unexpected return to the line up.

Harry Redknapp has a few injury concerns ahead of Sunday's game with Stoke but the extra day could give Ledley King, Jermain Defoe and Gareth Bale the time they need to get fit.

There is cover in place for King and JD but Harry will certainly be reluctant to take to the field without Bale, who is back to his best and scored both goals here in our 2-1 win last season.

07.12.2011 - "Boca vende" es una frase hecha y repetida por propios y ajenos. Estos porque reniegan del favoritismo de la prensa (Riquelme en las tapas de Olé) y los árbitros. Los propios porque reniegan de la trascendencia que toma el mínimo hecho puertas adentro. Hoy estarán discutiendo si Boca tiene 50 o 51 campeonatos mientras un tercer grupo que, ni propio ni ajeno, se lleva los dividendos.

The main question this weekend appears to be whether Rafael van der Vaart will return to the starting line up and reclaim his regular place behind the main striker.

According to manager Harry Redknapp, VDV is fit once again to challenge for his slot but there is a doubt over Sandro who has picked up a groin problem.

Windswept Tottenham striker Emmanuel Adebayor flaps his arms and generates a powerful wind tunnel allowing team-mate Benoit Assou Ekotto to put his afro to the test. OK, you rumbled us: this is a spurious excuse to showcase the Spurs left-back's increasingly spectacular hair. OTP has only just noticed Assou Ekotto's odd boots combo.

THFC1882 present a writing debut from Twitters @Brettsayid reporting on yesterday's match:

West Bromwich Albion 1 (Mulumbu 10 ) Tottenham Hotspur 3 ( Adebayor 26 , 90, Defoe 81 )

Line ups : WBA Foster , Reid , Olsson, Mcauley , Shorey , Brunt , Mulumbu , Morrison , Thomas , Gera ( sub , Cox ) Long ( sub , odemwinge )

Spurs Friedel , Walker , Kaboul , King, BAE , Lennon , Sandro (sub, Livermore), Parker , Bale , Adebayor , Defoe .

There are injury doubts over Jermain Defoe and Rafael van der Vaart ahead of tomorrow's match with but it seems quite possible that Spurs will start the game with an unchanged side once again.

There are two schools of thought on this: On the one hand you can apply the ‘if it ain't broke don't fix it theory' or you could suggest that it's time for a little bit of squad rotation.

What a joy to watch that was. Full of life, effervescence and wonder. It moved, it didn't move, it moved some more; it made the opposition's efforts look like wet spaghetti in comparison. A shining light, a colossal effort. Disco Benny sported one of the finest haircuts in the history of, well, everything on Monday night.

The total from this year's Spurs Poppy Shirt auction will be in excess of £40,000. Exceeding last years £38,000 total.
Listed below in order of the average final sale price, you can't really complain about the power of ebay bidding in deciding the order of our most popular players.
Parker, rightly at the top.

With no fresh injuries reported, it could well be an unchanged league side at Craven Cottage this weekend as Spurs make the short trip to Fulham.

William Gallas and Steven Pienaar both seem to have come through last night's game in Kazan unscathed but may have to settle for a slot on the bench.

VDV celebrates his first. That's 5 wins out of the last 6 now for us. A brilliant run by Kyle Walker down the right allowed him to get into the Rovers penalty area. He cut it back for Rafa to slot home from inside the area. 0-1.
Endless sloppy tackles and defenders climbing on Blackburn strikers resulting in endless free kicks.

It's reported that Sandro and Aaron Lennon suffered no ill-effects after appearing in last night's 1-0 win over Rubin Kazan and both could make a start for Tottenham in Sunday's clash at Blackburn Rovers.

The injury problems in defence mean that the back four picks itself with Walker, BAE, Kaboul and Bassong likely to line up ahead of Brad Friedel in goal.

Team selection for Sunday's match at Newcastle could go right to the eleventh hour with several key players remaining a doubt for the game.

The biggest question is over Emmanuel Adebayor who is rated 50/50 at best following the hamstring strain that he picked up in the win over Arsenal.

THFC1882′s Stuart Watts presents another guest writer. Long time Spurs fan Ralph Dixon was at the Wigan game yesterday and this is his report:

Job done (just): Wigan 1-2 Spurs

It was 4 hours each way on an overheated coach to Wigan to watch the club I've supported since the days of Greaves & Gilzean.

THFC1882′s Stuart Watts presents another guest writer. Long time Spurs fan Ralph Dixon was at the Wigan game yesterday and this is his report:

Job done (just): Wigan 1-2 Spurs

It was 4 hours each way on an overheated coach to Wigan to watch the club I've supported since the days of Greaves & Gilzean.

It's back to the first choice line up for Sunday's game with Liverpool and manager Harry Redknapp has enjoyed better news on the injury front after a bad start to the week which saw Michael Dawson ruled out for two months.

Harry could welcome back Aaron Lennon, William Gallas and Rafael van der Vaart for this televised game while Steven Pienaar, Ledley King and Tom Huddlestone all face late fitness tests.

As we saw on Saturday, Harry's transfer dealings have made first team selection just that little bit easier and after several departures from the Lane at the end of August, the temptation to slot in Jenas or Crouch has now been removed.

Injuries also played their part in the final line up against Wolves with Sandro, VDV, Dawson and Pienaar ruled out while the likes of Bassong, Corluka and Pavlyuchenko were left out for other reasons.

Emmanuel Adebayor is unavailable for Sunday's game against Manchester City so for now at least, the usual question of who plays up front remains.

Luka Modric has fully recovered from a hamstring injury and according to Harry Redknapp should be involved however the club are still without Peter Crouch, Ledley King, William Gallas, Sandro, Wilson Palacios, Steven Pienaar and Danny Rose.

Having brought Harry Kane, Tom Carroll and Andros Townsend into the 18 man squad for tonight's return leg against Hearts, the exact line up is harder than most to predict.

What we do know is that Huddlestone and Modric are doubtful while King, Sandro, Pienaar, Rose, Gallas and Palacios are definitely out.

Rejoice, all ye fellow lilywhites. Admittedly it is also with a degree of trepidation (Old Trafford will do that to a Spurs fan) but goodness me it is wonderful finally to be able to look forward to Spurs in Premiership action tonight. ‘Tis with delight therefore that I invite you to gather round and peruse with me the permutations of team selection for the evening's festivities.

There appear to be no new injury concerns for Spurs ahead of tonight's game against Manchester United and with Luka Modric ruled out, manager Harry Redknapp may well stick with the starting XI from last week's Europa Cup Tie against Hearts.

The back five look set to stay as they are unless Harry decides to change the keepers around, otherwise Walker, BAE, Dawson and Kaboul should start ahead of Gomes.

Monday 22nd August 2011, 8pm kick off. (Sky Sports 1, HD1 & 3D)

Old Trafford. Spurs always get a great result there. Should be a stroll and an easy three points.

I hope one day to be able to write that as a preview for a Spurs visit to Manchester United, this isn't the time though.

With an injury crisis affecting Tottenham's central midfield it seems very likely that Jake Livermore will be given his chance at Tynecastle tonight as Spurs take on Hearts in the first leg of this Europa League qualifier.

"We've got one midfield player really and that's Jake Livermore, a young lad who's been out on loan," Harry said.

Greetings, people of Earth. We have signs of life. The armada of swanky European sports cars pulling up at The Lodge on Monday morning may have looked like a grand procession for the overindulged and underworked- for the men of Hotspur, though, it signalled the end of the long hot summer and the beginning of some serious pre-campaign slog.

Two of the club's up and coming stars were rewarded with new contracts yesterday as Danny Rose and Kyle Walker put pen to paper on deals that will take them to 2015 and 2016 respectively.
Both players were involved with England under 21's in the summer and while Walker impressed at Aston Villa, Rose returned to the Spurs' first team and showed his versatility by covering for BAE at left back.

The nominations are in and it's time to have your say as to who should be Tottenham's player of the season for 2010-11.

Was Luka Modric the right decision by the supporters or do we agree with the PFA that Gareth Bale should lift our own award? Sandro had an incredible second half of 2010-11, but was that enough to mount a challenge?

Tottenham supporters have voted for Luka Modric as their player of the season after some consistent performances throughout 2010-11 and while it's hard to argue with that outcome, who else could stake a claim for that prize?

Throughout this week we'll look at some of Spurs' best players of this campaign and look at their credentials to challenge Luka.

Tonight's line up against Manchester City could be one of the hardest of the season to predict with news that Spurs have fresh injury worries over Luka Modric, Jermaine Jenas and Peter Crouch. With Bale, BAE and Huddlestone still expected to miss the game, the pool from which to choose is getting smaller.

Big loveable One Michael Dawson popped up on Spurs TV this week to spout the line that he and everyone else pattering away with bibs and cones within the confines of Spurs Lodge are dead confident, honest, of making the Top Four this season. I suspect that anyone viewing the footage particularly closely would be struck by the sight of his nose growing longer and longer with each diphthong uttered, but bless him, who amongst us has not had to tow the company line from time to time?

Sources suggest that Aaron Lennon is still struggling after the illness that caused him to miss Tuesday's game with Real Madrid and led to much controversy.

If Lennon does miss out then any doubts about the formation could disappear and we could see 4-4-2 return for tomorrow's game with Stoke.

Alan Hutton is set to miss the rest of the season after tearing his cartliage in training on Thursday. The former Rangers right back will undergo surgery and is likely to be out for some time.

On the one hand, Hutton was looking like being on his way in any case at the end of this campaign but with Tottenham's defensive crisis in the headlines, Harry will have wanted him fit and ready in case there were any more problems at the back.

Commando. Truly, one of the great films of the ‘80s, quite the celluloid embodiment of the all-action-no-plot mentality. From start to finish it is held together by the very wispiest of fragile plots, whilst also punctuated by numerous illustrations of the linguistic difficulties that Arnold Schwarzenegger never quite mastered ("All that matters to me now is Chenny").