Third up for Spurs in what hasn’t been a brilliant season so far is Wolverhampton Wanderers, looking to cement their place in the top four.
The fixture computer hasn’t been the kindest to Tottenham this season, handing tough matches against Everton, the two Manchesters and now fortress Molineux. Wolves tend to rely on their home ground to provide their points, earning 21 of their 29 Premier League wins there and two-thirds of their points in the West Midlands.
The two clubs have met six times due to Wolves’ erratic Premiership stays and have a fairly even record, Spurs emerging victorious on three occasions, Wolves claiming two victories and sharing the spoils just the once. At Molineux they are dead even, with one win each and that 3-3 draw from last season when Steven Fletcher denied the Lilywhites a win with a 87th minute equaliser, but this will be the first time that they have met at Molineux before White Hart Lane.
Fletcher has been a thorn in Tottenham’s side, scoring in his last two games against them, but Kevin Doyle is Spurs’ main enemy, scoring three times in two games. Tottenham’s most potent striker against Wolves has just crossed the pond- that striker being Robbie Keane who has four goals against the Midlands boys, three coming in Tottenham’s 5-2 win in 2003.
The six games between the two clubs have produced 21 goals at 3.5 goals per game and Spurs fans would be well advised to get there early as, of the 11 first half goals scored between the teams, Tottenham have scored 9 of them. It might also be an idea to stay till the end as well as nearly a third of all goals scored have come in the last ten minutes, including those two at White Hart Lane by Pavlyuchenko and Hutton to give Spurs that late 3-1 win last season.
One final point to remember- don’t be disheartened if the result doesn’t go Spurs’ way. When Spurs did the double over Wolves in 2003/04 a disappointing season resulted in a 14th place finish, but when Wolves did the double over the Lilywhites in 2009/10, Spurs qualified for the Champions League!
By Jamie Frier
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
