Everton versus Tottenham Hotspur: Pre-Match Preview by Paddy Howlin

Everton entertain Champions League chasing Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday at Goodison Park, in the early evening kick off (17.30 GMT) in front of the ESPN UK cameras.

Less than two months have passed since the side’s met in early January at White Hart Lane, when the North London side enjoyed a comfortable 2-0 victory. The fortunes of both sides have altered since that clash however with Everton being unbeaten since that defeat, and Tottenham having an indifferent run of form, which has seen them lose against both Manchester teams and arch rivals Arsenal. Spurs, like Everton have progressed to the FA Cup Quarter Finals.

About the opposition:

Much of the headlines surrounding Tottenham in recent weeks have been in relation to the future of their manager Harry Redknapp, who has been widely tipped as the Football Association’s prime (only?) candidate to succeed Fabio Capello in the England hot-seat. Initially this sparked a positive reaction from the Tottenham players and in the days following Capello’s resignation thumped Newcastle 5-0, with a brace from ex-Evertonian Louis Saha on his full Spurs debut.

As the speculation has mounted however, Spurs results have been affected, firstly following a 0-0 draw with League 1 Stevenage in the FA Cup, then in the second-half collapse at Arsenal, where Tottenham’s bitter rivals thought back from 0-2 down to triumph 5-2 in a remarkable turnaround. Last weekend, despite dominating for large sections of the game, Spurs where defeated at home by title rivals Manchester United 1-3 at White Hart Lane. Following these recent results, Tottenham’s slim chances of overtaking both Manchester sides to claim their first title since 1961, appear over. Though following their 3-1 5th Round reply victory against Stevenage on Wednesday night, the North London side are now the bookies favourites to win the FA Cup and if Redknapp is to leave for the national job, this would be a fitting end to his four years in charge at White Hart Lane.

Since the sides met on the 11th January, Tottenham have been active in the transfer market. Surprisingly however, rather than bolstering their squad for their title bid, Spurs have largely reduced their squad numbers. Steven Piennar, Vedran Ćorluka, Sebastien Bassong and Andros Townsend have been allowed to go out on loan and Tottenham has elected to sell striker Roman Pavlyuchenko to Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow for a free in the region of £8m.

In their place have come Louis Saha and Ryan Nelsen, both on free transfers from Everton and Blackburn respectively. Whilst both players are the wrong side of 30, they represent typical Harry Redknapp signings and Saha looks a transformed player in the Lilly White shirt, compared to the ambling character wearing Royal Blue in the past two seasons.

Another golden oldie doing the business for Tottenham has been Brad Friedel who has been an inspired signing by Redknapp. The keeper may be 40 years old; however he has arguably been the best keeper in the Premier League this season and could be an outside contender for the end of season Player of the Year awards.

Saturday’s Danger Man: Louis Saha

Whilst Spurs can boast an array of talent on Saturday, most Evertonians will be hoping that our ex-striker does not come back and haunt the club. Scoring three goals already for Tottenham, the 33 year old French International has looked more of a potent threat in this three league games for the North London side, than he did in his final 12 months at Goodison.

It was evident for some time that Saha was struggling to play up-front by himself and did not have the capability (or will) to undertake the necessary running and closing down to make a difference in an Everton shirt. Saha looks transformed playing alongside Emmanuel Adebayor in a more attacking 4-4-2 formation, and with the quality of service provided by the likes of Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Scott Parker, it was perhaps inevitable that Saha was going to get goals at White Hart Lane.

The Everton crowd never really warmed to ‘King Louis’, even when he was performing well during his early spell with the club, and the player will be keen to prove his critics wrong and get on the score sheet on Saturday. Provided of course that the player is fit, as he is rumoured to be suffering from a knee injury that forced him to miss Wednesday’ FA Cup replay. Missing games through minor injuries of course are part and parcel of the Louis Saha experience that most of his former clubs have had to get used to. Alongside the apparent lack of effort, it is perhaps due to this poor injury record that many Everton fans never really took to the Frenchman in a Royal Blue shirt.

Team News:

Everton:
The Toffee’s injury problems are at last beginning to ease, which is fortunate given that Everton are approaching the business end of the season in the next 14 days. Phil Jagielka, Leon Osman, Seamus Coleman, Jack Rodwell and Victor Anichebe all featured in the 0-0 Mini-Derby on Tuesday and should all be close for a return to the first-team squad, giving David Moyes a few selection issues ahead of Saturday’s match and Tuesday nights clash at Anfield. Nikica Jelavic came through 30 minutes as a second half sub at QPR last weekend and should also be getting closer for consideration for a starting place over the next week.

Definitely out of the match on Saturday will be Steven Piennar, who will not be allowed to face his parent-club. It will be a frustrating spell for the South African, who will be allowed to play on Tuesday night at Liverpool, but will then have to miss out again for the FA Cup Quarter-Final as he is cup tied, making it difficult for the player to build any momentum.

Darron Gibson is also likely to be missing on Saturday, however don’t rule out the prospect of the Irish midfielder making a quicker than expected return for the Merseyside Derby or FA Cup Quarter-Final the following week, as indications are that he is ahead of schedule to return to full fitness.

Tottenham Hotspur:
Tottenham where hit with the double blow on Wednesday night when first Matt Dawson and then Aaron Lennon where both injured in the first-half of the FA Cup reply victory against Stevenage. Whilst Lennon’s injury is expected to be a minor hamstring pull that may keep the player out for the next fortnight, the ruptured ankle ligament injury experienced by Dawson is far more serious. Early indications are that the England international will be out for the rest of the season and likely to miss out on Euro 2012. Spurs other long term absentee this season has been Tom Huddlestone, who has been out of action since September with a knee injury that is expected to keep him out until next season.

Over the past few weeks, the Tottenham squad has had a few minor injuries, with Rafael Van Der Vaart missing recently with an ankle injury and William Gallas missing out due to a calf strain. Both are expected to be fit for the weekend trip to Goodison. Louis Saha is also a doubt after missing the FA Cup tie in midweek with a knee injury. He was replaced by Jermaine Defoe who scored twice in the 3-1 win and is likely to keep his place at the expense of Saha.

Ledley King’s participation will be decided at the last minute, as Tottenham review the club captain’s fitness on a game by game basis due to the state of the player’s knees which means the player no longer trains during the week. There have been indications in recent weeks that the lack of training is catching up with the player (especially in the defeat to Arsenal), and Everton will hope to exploit this if he plays.

And what can we expect on Saturday?

In the past couple of seasons, Everton have put in excellent performances against Tottenham at Goodison Park. Last season’s 2—1 victory, thanks to goals from Saha and Coleman came in one of the Blues best performances of 2011.

Spurs will be keen to put their recent indifferent form behind them, and try and stop a slump of results that could allow London rivals Arsenal and possibly Chelsea under their new manager Robert Di Matteo overtaking them in to 3rd place.

Everton on the other hand, will be keen to go in to the biggest week of their season, with a confidence boosting win before heading over to Anfield on Tuesday night, and then facing their biggest game of the season next Saturday in the FA Cup Quarter-Final.

The Toffee’s should fancy their chances given Spurs indifferent recent form and growing injury list, which could see a number of their key players missing.

I expect a fairly open game of football at Goodison, and if Everton can put in the same type of performance as they did against Manchester City and Chelsea in recent weeks and play to their very best, then three points are more than possible against Harry Redknapp’s side.

Prediction

Everton 2 Tottenham Hotspur 1