OTP gazes into its crystal ball to see who might take to the pitch to face France on June 11. 1. Shaka Hislop [Bloody Trinidad and Tobago] David James 2. Pascal Chimbonda [Passport TBC - but he's already played for two international teams so shouldn't be a problem] 3. Julian Dicks 4. Izzy Iriekpen 5.

Being slightly fearful of numbers, I'm not sure how the old recipe for success of 'win at home and draw away' stands up in modern times, now we have this new-fangled three points for a win, but right now it will do for me. As against Man City, against the Pool we stood up to the considerable pressure exerted by our rivals near the top of the league, emerging with great credit and in this case a point too.

You have to fill a 25 man squad with somebody and given the three major loan departures and one permanent sale earlier this week, perhaps it's no surprise at some of the names being included by Spurs this week.

In addition to those departures, Tom Carroll and John Bostock also went out to Derby and Sheffield Wednesday respectively so are David Bentley, Bongani Khumalo and Simon Dawkins literally there to ‘make up the numbers?

THFC1882 welcomes back guest writer Kenny Palmer with a preview of Tottenham Hotspur versus Wigan.

A week is a long time in football, as Spurs two contrasting performances highlighted. Heroic in defeat against Manchester City earning plaudits for the character they showed in coming back from 2-0 down to level the scores before losing to an injury time penalty.

"Go on, touch it. I've put the safety on."Football on a Friday night? It's just not cricket. Perhaps that was the reason for Tottenham's utterly distasteful performance at Vicarage Road as they scraped past a plucky Watford. If you were to believe the general theme of the commentary and post-match media reports, you'd be forgiven for thinking Spurs arrived in north west London, rudely parked their giant team coach wherever they chose, shaped to headbutt anyone and everyone on their way in and spend the entire game cheating and coercing the ref into allowing them victory.

Even my wife wondered why on earth Spurs were playing football on a Friday. By the end of the match I knew exactly what she meant. As it was ESPN, perhaps Spurs prepared for the Saturday evening game, because they certainly weren't ready for this one.

This was dire, as disorganised as Harry's tax return.

Assistant Kevin Bond was giving little away in terms of team news yesterday while he did confirm that there were injury doubts over Scott Parker, Younes Kaboul and Gareth Bale,

"Younes missed training on Wednesday, while both Gareth and Scotty had to come out of training early with slight muscle problems," he said.

Most Spurs fans will be grateful for an early weekend kick off as a chance to get back to the football after a mixed week at the club. Watford will host us in our fourth round FA Cup tie and one player almost certain to feature is the versatile Jake Livermore.

Jake has appeared regularly in the cup competitions, even filling in at right back against Cheltenham and has therefore underlined his potential to the club in more than one area of the pitch.

THFC 1882 present Kenny Palmer with a report on Tottenham Hotspurs latest match.

After Wednesday's victory against Everton which propelled Spurs to just three points behind leaders Manchester City the team went into the game with expectations of going joint top with a victory over Wolves.

THFC1882 presents another guest writer. This time it's a guy I've known on Twitter for a while and he's always got something to say on our beloved Tottenham Hotspur. It gives me great pleasure to present Kenny Palmer with a preview of this weekend's game:

Wednesday's victory over Everton in the postponed game in hand from the start of the season has left Spurs level on points with Manchester United and 3 off leaders Manchester City.

Once again the team news focuses on Scott Parker and there is a chance that our England international midfielder could be fit to face Wolves tomorrow.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Harry Redknapp said,

"We're hoping he's going to be okay, but it was great to see Jake Livermore come in and play like he did against Everton.

As widely predicted, Jake Livermore settled in to Scott Parker's slot in the centre of midfield last night and coped admirably with the physical presence of Everton's Tim Cahill and Marouane Fellaini. After filling in at right back against Cheltenham at the weekend, Jake moved into a more comfortable position and his all round performance drew praise from manager Harry Redknapp.

Like the child whose parents have surreptitiously removed their much-loved comfort blanket in the night, we woke this morning missing the precious consolation of a game in hand, and soon discovered that we can manage perfectly well without it. For some it provided a welcome safety net, for others the promise of future delights.

Like the child whose parents have surreptitiously removed their much-loved comfort blanket in the night, we woke this morning missing the precious consolation of a game in hand, and soon discovered that we can manage perfectly well without it. For some it provided a welcome safety net, for others the promise of future delights.

Some lovely flowing football last night in a game which in all honesty, we completely dominated. I was a bit worried about not having Parker or Sandro as the steel in the midfield, but Livermore was outstanding. As were the two goals that got us the three points that take us level with United in second.

Tottenham Hotspur tonight moved level on points with second placed Manchester United after a performance of patience and high quality.

Everton turned up at The Lane as many teams now do, to sit deep and try and frustrate Spurs. It's to the credit of Harry Redknapp and his team that they didn't get frustrated and saw the opposition off to seal the points.

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.

So the Premier League season is finally here, it's Tottenham Hotspur's opening game versus Everton..........

That's how the preview for this one should have started, but the unfortunate and unseemly rioting of early August put paid to Spurs opening fixture. Now this is the game in hand it's vital that Spurs get maximum points if they want to be taken seriously as title challengers.

Spurs enjoyed a comfortable enough win over Cheltenham in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday and manager Harry Redknapp was quick to praise many members of the side. While Aaron Lennon and Michael Dawson returned from injury, Niko Kranjcar impressed in a rare start and Jake Livermore also caught the boss's eye as he filled in at right back.

Spurs were already in the midst of an injury crisis when Brazilian midfielder Sandro limped out of action on the half hour mark of yesterday's win over West Brom. The news got worse as Sandro's replacement Jake Livermore left proceedings after a clash of heads with Younes Kaboul.

The situation has left the club with few right sided options in midfield with Scott Parker nursing a knee injury and Tom Huddlestone a long term absentee.

It's January 2022. The world has changed massively over the last decade but one thing never alters A Question of Sport is still going, although this once proud flagship of BBC peak-time is now on BBC3 at 2.30 am. Sue Barker still presides over proceedings. Like Miss Haversham, she clings to the trappings of faded grandeur, her immaculate twin-set grimy and worn on the seams, her hair as immovable as always but clouds of dust fly up into the studio lights as she asks the next question.

With the Europa League out of the way, Spurs manager Harry Redknapp is free to loan some of his fringe players from the squad and Jake Livermore in particular is attracting interest from elsewhere in the Premiership.

"We're not going to let any of the players that we want to keep go in January, but I'm going to let some lads go out on loan," said Redknapp.

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.

After 45 minutes it seemed that an unlikely conclusion was in prospect for our latest venture into the Europa League. With Spurs leading and 10 man Rubin Kazan losing to Paok, it looked as though we may turn over the three point and five goal deficit.

A 1-1 score line in Salonika eventually made anything we did irrelevant but our 4-0 win included debut strikes for Steven Pienaar and Harry Kane and a second goal in a Spurs shirt for Andros Townsend.

· Have we ever had a less important match in our schedule? Friendlies aside, this is one of the greatest non-events in our history. With Sunderland and Chelski coming up in the League over the next week, and the cyanide-laced chalice of Europa qualification limited to mathematics equations of the absurd, ‘Arry would be forgiven for just leaving Clive Allen and Tim Sherwood to take care of the kids tonight, or maybe fielding Allen and Sherwood themselves.

The Europa League has given some good opportunities for some of our younger players to gain some experience and the group games have probably been influential in the new contracts earned by Tom Carroll and Jake Livermore last week.

It has also given some of our fringe players a rare chance to operate in the first team but with European elimination looking likely, this could be the last chance for some of them to shine.

THFC1882 present a guest preview by Rob:

Shamrock Rovers v Tottenham Hotspur, Thursday 15th December 6pm KO ITV4

So here we are, at the last match in the laborious group stage of the Europa League. A competition that is supposed to be the second best European competition to win but in my opinion is just plain second rate as shown by the fact that not that many teams are interested in playing in it.

The club announced over the weekend that reserve players Jake Livermore and Tom Carroll had both signed new contracts that would keep them at White Hart Lane until 2016.

Both have featured heavily in our Europa League campaign although it may have been a surprise to note on the club announcement that Jake had featured in 18 out of 21 games this season.

THFC1882 presents Siva's guest report on yesterdays action:

Tottenham: Friedel; Walker, Kaboul, Gallas, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon (van der Vaart 72), Parker (Livermore 85), Modric, Bale; Defoe, Adebayor

Goals: Bale 7, Lennon 50, Defoe 61

Well that was easy.

It's not a particularly new question but in the light of recent Spurs results it's one that's worth asking once again.

Unless you're lucky enough to remember the great double winning side of 1960/61, you'll probably recall the trophy winning teams of the last forty years: Four league cups, 3 FA Cups and 2 UEFA wins with sadly no league triumphs mixed in.

Switching from the all-conquering, award-winning, glitz-laden superstars of our rollicking Premiership campaign to the prepubescent kids and want-away squad members on our midweek Europa jaunts is somewhat akin to putting down the Dumas novel in order to tune in to Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds – nobody in their right mind would dispute that it remains quite magnificent entertainment, but the whole forum is perhaps a little more frivolous.

It's back to the second string tonight in a game where Spurs need to grab at least a point in order to ensure qualification for the next stage of the Europa League.

The big news is up front where officially, Harry Redknapp has declared Roman Pavlyuchenko and Gio Dos Santos to be ‘struggling' while in reality it seems likely that neither will make it.

THFC1882 welcomes back guest writer Mike Hooley with a preview of Wednesday's Europa League game:

So, Tottenham Hotspur play a European tie on a Wednesday once again, in what all Spurs fans hope will be a prelude of things to come next season.

However, the fantastic current league run – nine wins and a draw since the Manchester City defeat – is put to one side this week with the return fixture against the Greek outfit PAOK Salonika, current Group A leaders.

Another win consolidating our grip on 3rd against West Brom. Good times. What did the Spurs players have to say for themselves after the game? Read on to find out...
IAmJermainDefoe - "@Lord_Sugar: 2-1 to spurs defoe great goal"Thanks big Al @Lord_Sugar am I worthy enough 2come help u choose your apprentice now?

There's a buzz about Spurs at the moment. Everyone is talking about Harry Redknapp's team electrifying the Premier League. There's even talk of a title challenge! After the first two games of the season, who would have thought that?

Brad Friedel has made the goalkeepers position his own by offering calm and confidence in place of Gomes panicky flappiness.

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.

The loss in Kazan last night has left Spurs needing to avoid defeat in their next two games against PAOK and Shamrock Rovers if they are to stand a chance of progressing to the next round of 32 and it raises an issue that has been burning since our Europa League qualification was assured.

The manager has never been shy in letting his feelings known about the validity of this competition and words such as annoyance and irritation are never far from his lips.

Just missing his fluorescent jacket Jake Livermore is becoming an increasingly regular fixture in the Tottenham midfield. And that means that sooner or later he will have to give up his first love: match stewarding. But he indulged in a bit of on-pitch security action as he helped to detain a pitch invader during last [.

Spurs: Cudicini; Fredericks; Gallas (Parrett); Bassong; Townsend; Falque; Livermore; Carroll; Pienaar; Pavlyuchenko (Kane); Defoe

Tonights game at Central Stadium was always going to be tough for Spurs, no matter which team had been picked. Rubin Kazan have some experienced heads from Russian League and European football and they showed it with a commanding performance against a Spurs team that had a mix of youth and experience.

Rarely do I expect our heroes to lose – away to the Manchester clubs are about the only fixtures this season in which I would regrettably project nul points - but to that roll of dishonour let the epithet "Rubin Kazan. Away. And With Kids" be added. Those Russians can rightly feel a tad aggrieved at having to slop back off to Siberia with nothing but commemorative THFC thermal underwear, for they had the woolly mammoth's share of possession and chances that night, and are likely to cause us a fair degree of bother on their own patch.