 Friday, 17th Aug 2007 08:46 The annual Spurs crisis has come early this season. Tottenham Hotspur vs Derby County White Hart Lane; Sat Aug 18th 3:00pm Losing to Sunderland on the opening day is one thing but then going down 3-1 at home to Everton and ending up bottom of the Premiership is hard for Spurs fans to bear. Before the season started, Fox Sport Pundit Anthony Ranieri said; "There's even increasing belief among the faithful that Spurs is the club most likely to break the Manchester United-Chelsea dominance of the domestic league. Prediction: Title contender (dark horse)." It's probably true to say that breaking the Manchester United, Chelsea hegemony is second as a desire for most Spurs fans to that of finishing above Arsenal. Most fans would gladly have sold their Grannies into slavery to achieve the aim. To be fair to the pundits, many people thought Spurs would be challenging for at least a Champions League place this year. Martin Jol has assembled a young and gifted squad that play attractive football. They qualified for a UEFA place again and Jol has added several players to increase the depth of the squad. In have come Gareth Bale for £5m, Darren Bent for a staggering £16.5m, and Younes Kaboul for £8m. Other signings include Adel Taarabt, Yuri Berchich, Kevin-Prince Boateng and Danny Rose. Unfortunately, Spurs have something of an injury crisis developing. Ledley King, Michael Dawson, Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale are already out and the crisis was deepened by injuries to Dimitar Berbatov and defender Younes Kaboul. Martin Jol refused to be disheartened. He told the BBC; "I feel as rotten as I did on Saturday. We will do better. It is a kick in the teeth but we will bounce back." Jol refused to blame the injury crisis but did add; "I feel if everybody is on board we've still got a very talented and good team." The BBC has some slightly ominous statistics for Rams fans. Spurs have never lost the opening three games of the season since the Premiership began. They have lost the opening two on two occasions and when that happened in 1997 they won their third game at home to … Derby. We've never won a Premiership game at White Hart Lane but then football didn't begin with the Premiership. One interesting thing for this season is that Spurs will be playing in an all white kit for the first time since the '80s. Current Spurs Squad Last 5 games Spurs had an excellent pre-season, winning all of their games. The biggest game was a 2-0 victory over Torino. Danger Men Another danger man is former Ram Tom Huddlestone. 50% of his goals for tally so far have come against the Rams and if he's selected he'll surely try and increase that percentage. The mood on the message board The Rams Defender Darren Moore echoed the managers comments; "When we look back on the game, we could have showed a bit more ruthlessness in front of goal. It goes to show that, in the league we're playing in, when chances to come along, we'll get punished for them. [and] on the flip side, when we do get in and get a chance, it's very important we take it." Most Derby fans leaving the game would agree. In the first half Derby matched City without really looking like scoring. Stephen Pearson squandered our best chance and Kasper Schmeichel was rarely troubled. Set pieces were squandered and there was a tendency to pass the ball backwards – especially in the second half - when in a good position. Some of the players gave the ball away to cheaply. The Premiership is tactically more adept than the Championship. The five man midfield was probably a good idea but it was nullified by Sven moving a defender forward. The midfield was slow getting forward to support Stevie Howard with the result that even when he beat Dunne in the air, there was nobody running on to the ball. When Earnshaw came on, it was expected he would move into this role, however he and Howard haven't gelled as an attacking force yet. It will need time and time is a luxury we don't have. We shouldn't write the Rams off after one away game yet. It's a steep learning curve and City are a very good side. It's no disgrace to lose to them at Eastlands and they may well turn out to be the surprise package of the season. Mick's team Again however I suspect Billy will play 4-5-1 with Earnshaw on the bench – new signings notwithstanding. If Claude Davis's rib injury is more serious than the club are saying, Dean Leacock could start. What the bookies think Steve Howard is at 8/1 to break his duck. It's probably worthwhile having a flutter on the Rams at the moment. Information for travelling fans Driving: The suggested route is M1 to the junction with the M25 and then on to Junction 25. Take the A10 through Enfield to the junction with the North Circular (A406). Turn Left and then right onto the A1010 High Rd which passes the ground on the left. The Internet football ground guide suggests turning left off the A10 at the first set of lights and following the A1055 Meridian Way all the way to Tottenham. When you pass a Tesco's on the left, turn right into Sedge Rd after the next set of lights. Parking is easy here if you are early enough and getting away fairly easy. The distance is 126miles which should take 2-3 hours depending on traffic. Parking: If you don't follow the above route, there is parking in schools for a £5. There are reported to be plenty of tow away zones locally so take care where you park. Mick's Prediction I'd probably take a draw at this stage again. Post your match prediction here! Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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