Liverpool vs Tottenham Hotspur
6 February 2012
20.00 GMT
Anfield

History:
Total: 153
Liverpool Wins: 70
Tottenham Wins: 45
Draws: 38

Last Premier League Meeting: 18 September 2011 – Tottenham 4-0 Liverpool

Form:
Liverpool: The last three games have been perhaps the best run of three games Liverpool have had this season, advancing in both cups with first a 2-2 draw against Manchester City in the League Cup then a 2-1 win over Manchester United in the FA Cup, before pulverizing Wolves a weekend ago by a 3-0 scoreline.

Liverpool will look to keep their push for European football next season going strong when they visit Aston Villa on Sunday.
With 15 games behind them in 2011/12, Kenny Dalglish's side are in sixth place in the English Premier League on 26 points - three behind Arsenal who are in the automatic Europa League place, but 12 behind leaders Manchester City.

It's been an unhappy stay at Aston Villa for Jermaine Jenas and after waiting to make his debut for the Midlands side, news has been confirmed that he is likely to out for the rest of the season.

The announcement on Tottenham's official club website reads,

‘Jermaine Jenas has undergone surgery to his left Achilles tendon and is likely to miss the rest of the season, but should return for the start of pre-season.

Emile's rugby tactics Aston Villa striker Emile Heskey celebrated his 500th Premier League appearance in style with this shot against Manchester United. The former England international proved that most of his appearances have been as starts when he was reprimanded by the fourth official for entering the field of play before the electronic substitution board [.

They obviously can't be bothered, so neither can I. It was a positive line-up, but Utd never needed to get out of 1st gear. McLeish must be giving out his instructions in Russian or something because he's managed to make some very capable players look like they haven't the first clue what they're doing.

The game went ahead amidst many calls for its postponement following the tragic news of Gary Speed's death. The result doesn't seem that important in the scheme of things right now, but it's probably a point that will prove invaluable at the end of the season.
Following a heart warming and entirely spontaneous round of applause in place of the planned minute of silence, the first half didn't provide any shocks.

This game will go ahead despite the tragic news that Wales manager, Gary Speed, has apparently taken his own life. Naturally, with the game being in Wales and a number of internationals involved, the game will inevitably be effected in some way. Such sad news.

Alex McLeish has promised a better performance than we were treated to at White Hart Lane and, in all honesty, it would be difficult to be much worse.

Remember the Premier League? Yeah, we're finally back in action tonight for our first league game under the floodlights of 2011/12. Returning to White Hart Lane also happens to be significant for Alex McLeish, but that's not something we wish to dwell on.

Truth is, coming back from North London with a point has generally been a decent result for us in the past, you'll do well to find many Villa fans optimistic about grabbing something tonight.

Chris Herd's performances have rightly earned him quite a few headlines in the last couple of weeks. Initially for the wrong reason, but lately for the right ones.

Alex McLeish has said that he's "a manager's dream; the best trainer at the club".

He will train the way he plays on Saturday by giving it absolutely everything.

A much improved performance from Villa in a lively game led to a vital three points at home thanks to two goals from Darren Bent, and a goal for the provider of both those goals; man of the match Gabby Agbonlahor. Goals from Anthony Pilkington and Steve Morison bookended the home goals, and set up a nervous final ten minutes.

You have to go all the way back to 2004/05 to find the last time this fixture was played; a 3-0 win under David O'Leary. Alex McLeish could really do with something similar today.

Darren Bent has said that one goal could open the floodgates, and McLeish has "rubbished" silly rumours of a January sale.

Spurs may have missed out on a move for Ashley Young in recent years, but could they look to Aston Villa again in an attempt to persuade Gabriel Agbonlahor to move to North London?

Reports today are suggesting that Harry Redknapp could be about to prepare a £20m bid in time for the January transfer window as he attempts to strengthen his striking options for the rest of the campaign.

I'm not a fan of Sky Sports; despite watching it more than I should. It's shallow and far too excitable when covering the most mundane topic. I watch it anyway and it can be funny in seeing how relentless they can be in self-promotion. What annoys me though is the punditry, and how bad it is at times.

The selection of a child in Tottenham's lineup added fuel to the suggestion that Redknapp wasn't too bothered about the Carling CupFredi Kanoute, Michael Brown, Jermaine Jenas, Pascal Chimbonda, David Bentley, Jamie O'Hara and now Roman Pavlyuchenko and Massimo Luongo. It's just as, if not a little bit more, depressing a list as Pearce, Waddle, Southgate, Batty, Vassell, etc.

By Chris Wright

Remember Dynamo? The guy that pulled Premier League tickets out of thin air and then reduced Nemanja Vidic to a puddle of bubbling silicon and nano-circuitry?

Well the boy's back, and this time he's bamboozling the living daylights out of Jermain Defoe, Jermaine Jenas and Fulham's Bobby Z with some neat sleight-of-hand.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Remember that vid we posted a few weeks ago featuring British magician Dynamo freaking Nemanja Vidic out so badly with his playing card based trickery that the Hot Robot almost blew a gasket?

Well, mesmerising footballers has become something of a hobby for the crafty conjurer and this edition features him baffling the hell out of, among others, Jermain Defoe, Jermaine Jenas and Bobby Zamora.

Venue: Villa Park, Birmingham Kick off: Saturday, 17th Sept, 3pm Referee: Neil Swarbrick Well if stats are anything to go by, our forthcoming away clash with the Villans, the result could well be another 0-0 like the QPR match. Of course though, there's been many a time in the past when people like myself written [.

Another international break has come and gone, time to focus on the bread and butter stuff. If you watched England labour to three points against Wales at Wembley this week, as a Villa fan, the line-up may have looked a lot like the image below. It probably stung quite a bit for most of us.

Arsenal looks to get back on track. (Getty Images)

By Geoff Reid

Saturday 10th

Arsenal vs Swansea from the Emirates Stadium, London
So many question marks heading into this one for Arsenal. Will their new signings work out? Of course the answer to that will take some time, and we'll see over the course of the season, not just one game.

Transfer Window Helps Tottenham to Mature - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

The transfer window closed with Tottenham Hotspur making only two significant deals, but perhaps the North London club has finally grown up.

The signings of Emmanuel Adebayor and Scott Parker, address issues within the Spurs line up, but left the fans with a deep sense of anti climax.

Up until the very last day of the transfer window it had looked as if much of the deadwood was staying at the Lane. However, deals can happen very quickly and Jermaine Jenas and David Bentley will both be lining up in claret and blue this season, and their lack of first team action at Spurs could see both deals becoming permanent.

So the dust has settled on the summer transfer of August 2011 and while it was a busy day at Spurs Lodge, was it a satisfactory one?

Five of our fringe players have left the club, albeit two are on loan with seemingly no future at the Lane and while Harry Redknapp said at the weekend that fresh faces were needed, we only ended up with one – Scott Parker who arrived from West Ham.

On a day when many managers strive to negotiate the ideal transfer fee for their ideal targets, there is often a realization that the ideal deal might not be struck after all.

Fortunately for these managers, not all is lost when they fail to agree a fee for someone they really want to bring to their clubs.

Phew! It was that time again, and as per usual things were manic. We at In The Stands struggled to keep up with all the kerfuffle and constant will-he-wont-he debacles. However, after much journalistic endeavours, we have managed to finally pin down the most significant transfers on a thoroughly exciting last day of the transfer window.

Tottenham fans will tomorrow have to take a look at their new squad list as Harry Redknapp and Daniel Levy had a very busy deadline day. Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish has revealed his delight about signing two of Tottenham's players on Wednesday evening, hailing the qualities of both Jermaine Jenas and Alan Hutton.

The summer transfer window has finally come to a close, Alan Hutton and Jermaine Jenas both joined from Tottenham to complete our squad for the coming season.

Hutton joins on a four year contract and will be Luke Young's natural replacement, especially with news of Eric Lichaj's hip injury keeping him out for the next four months.

The summer transfer window has finally come to a close, Alan Hutton and Jermaine Jenas both joined from Tottenham to complete our squad for the coming season.

Hutton joins on a four year contract and will be Luke Young's natural replacement, especially with news of Eric Lichaj's hip injury keeping him out for the next four months.

With a few hours to go before the transfer window closes, the only confirmed deasl involving Spurs to date is the signing of Scott Parker from West Ham and David Bentley's loan to the Hammers.

Beyond this, there is a lot of momentum concerning a bid for Gary Cahill which may involve Sebastien Bassong going the other way.

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The Premier League has just kicked off and so Damon and Damian take a look at their respective team's chances. Here is Damian looking ahead to his team's Tottenham's 2011-12 season, complete with worksheet, while there is also a transcript below.

Like the Queen visiting the troops in Helmand in a symbolic gesture to bolster morale, we lilywhites need something to raise spirits, for few amongst us found anything comforting in Monday night's debacle and gloomy faces abound. Timely then that that Hearts are pootling along the High Road to be given the run around tonight, for another gentle, if pointless, five-nil win would be timely.

The takeover at QPR could be good news for Spurs fans looking to trim the deadwood from the squad before the transfer window closes in just seven days' time.

From the first two games of our season, it seems apparent that Peter Crouch is the odd striker out and having not featured thus far, it's suggested that Harry is just waiting to seal the Adebayor deal before letting Crouch go.

After a day of social unrest disrupted Tottenham's opening day game at home to Everton, they face the rather more difficult task of going away to champions Manchester United.

Only time will tell if the late start to Tottenham's season will have a positive or negative effect. On one hand the extra few days of rest might be beneficial to the players' fitness; but then on the other, playing catch up from the off is never ideal and could have an impact on morale if things don't go quite to plan early on.

Episode V of Spurs Wars sees Spurs fight back from 3-1 and 4-2 down against our local rivals at their gaff, in what was Harry Redknapp's first North London Derby in October 2008. What a welcome! The game was memorable for an outstanding David Bentley goal, plus a quality Jermaine Jenas goal, yes I know, in the same game, who would have believed it!

Newcastle United old boy, Craig Bellamy, has a long and insightful interview on American site 'EPL Talk.' Given while Bellamy was in Orlando, Florida last month, coaching the youngsters at the 2011 Disney Soccer Academy, it covers quite a few topics from Bellamy's time in the game. This included recollections of his five years at [.

While we've become accustomed to see Martin Jol linked with a whole host of Spurs players, we haven't yet seen Jermain Defoe being touted as a likely candidate for a trip to Craven Cottage.

There are reports today suggesting that a ‘double swoop' is on the cards and while Jermaine Jenas is one of the names in the frame, the report claims that Defoe is BMJ's other target.

As we've said before, while we all have our list of players who we'd like to see leave the Lane before the start of the season, not all of those are going to depart. Either through lack of interest from other clubs or because Harry will stubbornly hang on to them, not all of Levy's streamlining plans will turn out how we would like.

With about two months left in the transfer market, Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp will need to show some life in making additional changes to the squad. So far there has not been much movement in the acquiring of new players. The lone player to arrive at White Hart Lane is Brad Friedel, the veteran goal keeper from Aston Villa on a free transfer.

You can always rely on the Daily Mail for an interesting, if not entirely impartial Spurs story and today the paper has hinted at a swap deal that would go some way to solving Daniel Levy's streamlining plans in one move.

While the Gary Cahill rumours continue, it had been previously suggested that Spurs may have been willing to let Sebastien Bassong, Younes Kaboul and even Danny Rose go in the other direction.

While there has been a little talk and maybe much hope over Jermaine Jenas leaving Tottenham this summer, there have been very few strong rumours up until now. Other than some brief suggestions that he was on Neil Warnock's QPR radar, it has all been very quiet as far as JJ was concerned.

Yesterday however, stories began to surface that Fenerbahce were preparing an offer, believed to be in the region of around £5m for the midfielder.

Is anyone starting to get frustrated at the way Spurs conduct their transfer activity?

With our backs to the wall, when players have had their heads turned, you have to admire how Daniel Levy has drained millions from other chairman for the likes of Berbatov, Carrick and Keane.

Unfortunately the flip side of this approach has meant that Spurs are stuck with a large group of players that are beyond the age where they can improve, and their wages and valuations are so high we can't get rid of them.