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?
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.
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.
With yesterday's FA Cup tie quickly glossed over and forgotten for the time being, attention has
already turned to Sunday's North London derby with news that Tottenham's injury problems are
getting much worse.
Yesterday saw the return of last year's match winner Younes Kaboul but that was about the only
piece of good news amidst reports that Luka Modric, BAE and Emmanuel Adebayor are all doubts for
next Sunday's clash.
This weekend sees a rather welcome break from league action as Tottenham prepare to face Bolton
in the FA Cup 6th round. A trip to Wembley beckons for the winner and a chance of a place in the FA
Cup final itself but defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto claims every game is a cup final at this stage of
the season.
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.
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.
At the start of the week, injury concerns were held over from Sunday's game at Stevenage after
Adebayor, Modric and BAE were all late withdrawals. At the time, Harry was concerned for this
weekend's match but as the week has progressed, many of the doubts seem to have eased.
Firstly, Rafael van der Vaart announced that he was winning his own fitness race before Ade
tweeted that he also expected to return.
Just as he did last year, Danny Rose has stepped in as cover for BAE at left back but if the
player himself had had his way, he may have already been out on loan elsewhere.
"It's been very frustrating," Danny said. "I wanted to go out on loan at the start of the
season, and in January, and I wasn't allowed.
