Friday, January 6, 2012

| by

0

07.01. (Sat) 16:00 Tottenham Hot. - Cheltenham Town

EPL: Aaron Lennon,Tottenham v Bolton
Getty Images

PROBABLE LINEUPS

TOTTENHAM

Cudicini
Corluka, Dawson, Bassong, Rose
Lennon, Kranjcar, Livermore, Carroll, Pienaar Pavlyuchenko
CHELTENHAM

Brown
Jombati, Bennett, Elliott, Garbutt
Summerfield, Pack, Penn
Spencer, Duffy, Mohamed
Harry Redknapp is expected to give many of his fatigued stars a rest and name a lineup similar to his Europa League selections against Cheltenham Town on Saturday. Emmanuel Adebayor, Gareth Bale, Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Kyle Walker are all expected to have the day off as injuries to key players Sandro, Scott Parker and William Gallas will have reminded the Spurs boss of the benefits to squad rotation.
Michael Dawson is expected to start his first game since suffering an Achilles injury in Tottenham's 5-1 loss to Manchester City back in August, whilst Aaron Lennon could also feature following a short lay-off.
Cheltenham will arrive with confidence following recent results that has seen them climb to second place in League Two. Mark Yates' side are unbeaten in their last nine games and have conceded just six goals in those fixtures largely thanks to the form of influential skipper Alan Bennett.
Meanwhile top scorer Darryl Duffy will be aiming to add to his two FA Cup goals this season and provide the large contingent of travelling Robins fans something to cheer.
DID YOU KNOW?

  • This is the first competitive fixture between the two clubs.
  • However the two sides have met once in a 'guarantee match' in 1946. The friendly was arranged to fill a blank Saturday following the absence of sides in the Southern League post-second World War. The idea behind 'guarantee matches' was to boost gate receipts for lower league clubs.
  • The Robins have won nine of their last 10 away games and are also unbeaten in nine games.
  • On the other hand, Spurs have not lost in their last eight domestic home games.
  • Historically Tottenham have won the FA Cup eight times, placing them third behind Manchester United and Arsenal in the all-time list of winners.
  • However their last FA Cup triumph came in 1991 after a 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest.
  • Cheltenham last reached the third round in 2009/10 when they lost a replay to Doncaster Rovers.
  • Tottenham beat League One Charlton 3-0 at this stage last year but progressed no further, losing 4-0 to Fulham in the fourth round.
  • Harry Redknapp (pictured right) has won the FA Cup once in his managerial career, as Portsmouth manager in 2007/08. He was also on the bench as assistant to Bobby Moore at Oxford City against Cheltenham in an FA Cup second round game in 1980.
Prediction
Editor's Prediction
Tottenham 2-0 Cheltenham Town FC