Wolves Vs Tottenham: Match Thread

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Wolverhampton Vs Tottenham Hotspur
Barclays Premier League
Venue: Molineux Date: Sunday, 6 March Kick-off: 1600 GMT
Coverage: Watch live on Sky Sports 1 and highlights on Match of the Day 2; listen on BBC Radio 5 live and local radio; text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobiles​

For more on live coverage please visit Geez's Live Media Thread
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O'Hara ineligible for Wolves, Bale and van der Vaart missing for Spurs

Sunday's match between Wolves and Tottenham at Molineux is set to be a highly charged and emotional match for differing reasons.

As far as the match goes, Wolves are fighting for their lives to get out of the bottom three in the Premier League, whilst Spurs will be eager to win to get back in the Champions League places.

Spurs sit in fifth place, with Chelsea overtaking them after their 2-1 victory over leaders Manchester United on Tuesday.

Football has a funny way of throwing up a fixture to perfectly reflect a recent event, and Sunday's game will be no different as both clubs pay tribute to the tragic death of former defender Dean Richards.

Richards passed away last Saturday at just 36 years old, and the player is sure to be honoured by two sides he served during his 13-year career, also becoming the most expensive player never to have played for England when he joined Spurs for £8.1million in 2001 from Southampton.

Prepared
Spurs boss Harry Redknapp has had plenty of time to get his team prepared for this match, having not played since the end of February when they suffered a shock 3-1 defeat at Blackpool.

Redknapp's side wasted chance after chance to score in the game, with the manager criticising his players for their profligacy in front of goal that day.

It is unclear which of his strikers will line up at Molineux, with Jermain Defoe without a Premier League goal this season, and Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko hardly setting goal tallies alight domestically.

The veteran boss however will hope his team can keep the pace with Chelsea and avoid falling out of the Champions League places after such a fine campaign in the tournament this time around.

Wolves took advantage of Blackpool last weekend following the Tangerines' win over Spurs, beating them 4-0 at Molineux to start looking at moving out of the relegation places.

Manager Mick McCarthy will know however that his team have not been able to capitalise previously on good results, and Spurs still have more than enough quality to put them to the sword.

Their good record against the top five stands them in good stead however, having beaten Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea at home to truly shine as the underdog in these fixtures.

Team news
McCarthy will be without midfielder Jamie O'Hara, who is ineligible for the match due to being on loan from parent club Spurs, which will come as a blow for the home side after the player's good form.

The former Ireland boss has no further injury worries ahead of the game, but will not be able to welcome back winger Michael Kightly yet as he works on his fitness with the reserves.

Republic of Ireland international Stephen Hunt still waits on his return, as he remains out with a calf injury.

Bad news for Redknapp is that key duo Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart are still unavailable as they continue their recovery from back and calf injuries respectively.

Redknapp hoped to have his two stars of the season back in time, but they should be back for the second leg of the club's Champions League last-16 match against AC Milan.

Ledley King is back in training after his groin injury but is unlikely to play at Molineux while Vedran Corluka (ankle), Jonathan Woodgate (groin), Younes Kaboul (knee) and Tom Huddlestone (ankle) remain sidelined.

Defoe picked up a minor ankle knock during the club's warm-weather training camp in Dubai this week but he is now back in training and is available for Sunday's game.

Form guide:
Wolves: LWLDW
Tottenham: DWWWL

Injuries:
Wolves: Hunt, Kightly
Tottenham: Kaboul, Huddlestone, Bale, Van der Vaart, Corluka, Woodgate.

Ineligible:
Wolves: O'Hara

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Wolves midfielder Jamie O'Hara is ineligible to play against his parent club under the terms of his loan.

Steven Mouyokolo and Ronald Zubar are ruled out with injury while Dave Edwards and Dave Jones are doubts, but Stephen Hunt is fit again.

Tottenham pair Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart remain unavailable but hope to return for the Champions League tie against AC Milan in midweek.

Ledley King is training again after a groin injury but is unlikely to play.

Wolves
Doubtful: Edwards & Jones (both leg)
Injured/unavailable: Guedioura (broken leg), Kightly, Mancienne & Mouyokolo (all knee), O'Hara (ineligible), Zubar (back)

Tottenham
Doubtful: King (groin)
Injured: Bale (back), Corluka & Huddlestone (both ankle), Kaboul (knee), Van der Vaart (calf), Woodgate (groin)

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The season's ambition of these clubs differ greatly, but their sorrow will be shared ahead of kick-off when they honour the memory of Dean Richards.

Richards, who played as a defender for both clubs, died last weekend aged 36 after a long illness. He became a firm favourite at Wolves following his move from Bradford in 1995, playing 145 games before joining Southampton. He signed for Tottenham in 2001 for £8.1m - a then-record fee for an uncapped English player - and made 81 appearances for the club before being forced to retire as he was suffering from dizzy spells and headaches.

Richards' wife and two sons are due to attend Sunday's game, and a representative from each of his four former clubs will hold aloft their team's shirt in the centre circle prior to a minute's applause before kick-off.

The game itself is an opportunity for Wolves to climb out of the relegation zone, and for Tottenham to bolster their chances of a top-four finish and Champions League qualification. Spurs will be playing for the first time in 12 days since a 3-1 defeat at Blackpool, who Wolves thrashed 4-0 last weekend to move off the bottom.

Head-to-head
• This is the 80th league meeting between the clubs. Tottenham lead by 39 wins to 26.
• Spurs have won three of their last four league games at Wolves.

Wolves
• They have won three of their previous four league games at Molineux in 2011 - against Chelsea, Manchester United and Blackpool. The 4-0 win over Blackpool was their biggest in the top flight for 31 years.
• Mick McCarthy's side are looking to win three consecutive home matches in the top flight for the first time in over 30 years.
• Six of their eight league victories this season have come against top-half opposition.
• Karl Henry is poised to make his 300th English league appearance.

Tottenham
• Spurs have won six Premier League away games this season - only Arsenal (seven) have a better record. They have scored in each of their last nine league away matches.
• Harry Redknapp's side have gained an unrivalled 20 points from losing positions.
• Jermain Defoe should make his 300th Premier League appearance. He has scored 97 goals.
• Benoit Assou-Ekotto has made 99 Premier League starts for Spurs.


LEADING GOALSCORERS

Backpool

Ebanks-Blake: 6 goals 6 league); Fletcher: 6 goals (4 league); Doyle: 6 goals (3 league)

Tottenham

Van der Vaart: 12 goals (10 league);
Bale: 11 goals (7 league)



MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Mark Halsey
Assistant referees: Simon Long & Mike Mullarkey
Fourth official: Chris Foy
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[Spurger King]

Massive game. It's going to be difficult, but I'm unusually confident.

COYS!!!

 

[leffe186]

God, I'm so bloody nervous. Had written off fourth, then we went on a great run, then got excited again, then Blackpool. And then Chelsea had another generous ref. And then City scraped another 1-0.

 

[BorisTM]

Whatever happens on their shit pitch we just have to outscore them.

 

[degoose]

pretty nervous about today as wolves are quite a tricky team at times and im sure they will defend pretty heavily.

 

[felmani26]

They do seem to have a few injury problems of their own and also will have to switch things around in midfield with O'Hara ineligible for them so encouraging news for us.

Regardless, we have enough quality to go to Wolves and expect a result, that's not being over confident but merely stating fact - we are a top side and whilst I'm not saying it will be a walk in the park, we should have the lions share of the possession and I reckon we are good for a 1-0 win.

 

[spurslenny]

As ever, if we score early, I reckon we'll win.

However, I don't think we will.

 

[TwoSaintsComeMarching]

We need to sit back and hit them on the counter. They defend so well and have such a solid shape that we will never be able to break them down if we"re camped in their half.

 

[talkshowhost86]

Massive massive game today. Following the Blackpool debacle (which to be fair had been coming) we can't afford to drop any more points against the so called 'weaker teams'.

With games away at Liverpool, Chelsea and City to come, I genuinely think we need 12 points from the Wolves, West Ham, Wigan and Stoke games and I think we'll struggle to get 4th if we don't get those 12 points.

 

[tooey]

Can see a loss today.

 

[Dougal]

For Wolves?

 

[talkshowhost86]

For Wolves?

Fuck yeah!

Sorry not sure where that came from. It's been a long week.

 

[tooey]

If we can win it will be a maaaaahooooooooosive 3 points after the city/chelsea results. I've just got a bad feeling is all.

 

[CosmicHotspur]

I really can't envisage us losing this game, even with so many players out with injury.

I'm not saying Wolves will be a pushover, far from it, but our lads know that this three points is essential and should be fighting for every ball. I just hope we can find the back of the net today - more than once would be good.

 

[thenickh]

So should've got tickets to this game, i live round the corner in Stafford Here's hoping for 3 points though!

 

[yusrisafri]

It's games like these that we should be winning. Games like this and Blackpool. Lose tonight, and it'll be very difficult to keep pace with the top 4.

However, when the going gets tough................

 

[rebrab]

Sorry guys, but I'm feeling a 2-1 win to Wolves :sad:

 

[TwoSaintsComeMarching]

3-0 to us! Come on you spurs!!

 

[felmani26]

I feel this will be a game where the subs made by Harry will be the key in winning this match. We could potentially have game winning subs in Bale, Kranjcar and (insert striker(s) of choice), and how we utilise them and at what time I feel will be the defining factor in this game.

 

[Yid-ol]

not won away to any of the teams in the bottom 5 i think they said on SSN.... we need to change that today to have hope of making the top 4!