Pompey vs Tottenham Preview

Last updated : 14 December 2007 By Jim Bonner
Tottenham Hotspur - a team that can score goals for fun but have a knack of letting more in at the other end. Portsmouth FC - a team that can win comfortably at places like St. James' Park and Villa Park yet have struggled at home. Something has to give on Saturday.

Spurs have been this season's surprise package for all the wrong reasons. Pre-season many were touting Tottenham to be a genuine threat to the established top four but instead they are a bigger "threat" to the bottom four, with only three league wins all season and none on the road.

The main reasons for this have been the ridiculous situation off-the-pitch when Martin Jol was completely undermined by the Tottenham board and the fact that you're more likely to find a clean sheet at a Graham Norton house party than in a Tottenham Hotspur performance.

Still, it would be silly for any of us to mark this as a home banker because Spurs still carry plenty of threat up front despite Robbie Keane's unfortunate suspension. The much coveted Jermain Defoe could start alongside Dimitar Berbatov up front after scoring Spurs' winner last Sunday.

However, without Ledley King, Tottenham always look vulnerable at the back and Paul Robinson hasn't covered himself in glory either in recent times. Gareth "Scummer" Bale will miss out through injury so will not face the Fratton crowd but Didier Zokora will no doubt take his place as panto villain after last season's antics.

Harry Redknapp looks to name an unchanged side from the side that won at Villa despite the return of Sean Davis who is likely to miss out on playing against his former club. Pedro Mendes should keep his place and will face his former club as will Noe Pamarot. Sol Campbell is guaranteed a "welcoming" reception from the travelling support, so let's hope he silences them.

I don't expect this game to be goalless as Tottenham will probably score with the amount of firepower in their side but so long as our defence don't give anything away, I'd expect our strong midfield to get the better of Tottenham's brittle midfield and our attack to get plenty of change from Tottenham's weak back five. Hopefully we will get back to winning ways at home before our games with Liverpool and Arsenal.

Predicted Starting Line-Ups

Pompey

GK: David JAMES

RB: Glen JOHNSON
CB: Sol CAMPBELL
CB: Sylvain DISTIN
LB: Noe PAMAROT

CM: Papa BOUBA DIOP
CM: Pedro MENDES
CM: Sulley MUNTARI

RWF: John UTAKA
LWF: Niko KRANJCAR
CF: BENJANI

Bench: Jamie ASHDOWN, Hermann HREIDARSSON, Sean DAVIS, Matthew TAYLOR, KANU

Tottenham

GK: Paul ROBINSON

RB: Pascal CHIMBONDA
CB: Younes KABOUL
CB: Michael DAWSON
LB: LEE Young-Pyo

RM: Aaron LENNON
CM: Jermaine JENAS
CM: Didier ZOKORA
LM: Steed MALBRANQUE

CF: Dimitar BERBATOV
CF: Jermain DEFOE

Bench: Radek CERNY, Kevin-Prince BOATENG, Teemu TAINIO, Jamie O'HARA, Darren BENT

Last Time: Pompey 1 Tottenham Hotspur 1

This New Year's Day clash ended all square when Benjani put Pompey ahead with a fortunate deflected effort that looped over Robinson. Spurs equalised in the second half when Steed Malbranque headed in from inside the box with nobody marking him.

Pundit Watch

Lawro: Home Win (2-1)
Sky Sports: Draw (1-1)
Soccernet: Draw

My Prediction: Home Win (3-1)