Tottenham v Reading

Tottenham had to come from a goal down to beat Sunderland 2-1 and are now 4th in the table heading into the new year , manager Andre Villas-Boas was happy with how his team has played over the holiday period .." it was extremely good. Apart from the Everton fixture we have had an excellent December and to finish the year with a win like this is very good for us."



Reading had just their second win of the season as they beat West Ham 1-0 , the winning goal coming after just 5 mins , manager Brian McDermott said after the match.. "We had to deal with facing a very physical side and we have kept another clean sheet. I didn't feel they had too many opportunities. Pavel took his chance very well and we've also hit the bar. "A couple of their players could have been sent off and you saw two teams desperate to win out there."

There is usually a 'shock result' in these New Year games, but I don't expect it to be at White Heart Lane. Spurs 3 Reading 1.

Spurs will be without Bale in this one but will still be far too good for this Reading side who look doomed.

Tottenham 3-0 Reading

yeah...they managed to beat a poor West Ham side ...but i dont think Tottenham will play that poorly ..

Cant see past a Spud win here..... however Reading are trying to turn it around for themselves recently.

Another win for Spurs and you have to take those mugs seriously.

FT

Tottenham 3-1 Reading
0-1 Pogrebnyak 4’
1-1 Dawson 10’
2-1 Adebayor 51’
3-1 Dempsey 79'

Any comments on todays result?

Have Spurs shown that they're not a one man team and can still do well when Bale isn't in the side?

Aren't I clever? Well I could say that if I had backed the score line at the bookies. Fine performance by the Spurs and nice to see Adebayor, Dempsey and Dawson put the ball in the onion sack. These men haven't been scoring very often of late, and we need other attacking options apart from Bale, Defoe and Lennon. I'm not getting too excited as Reading were pretty poor, and Spurs dominated the game in terms of possession and shots on target. We seem to be getting it right against these 'awkward' sides who 'park the bus'. Now lets see how we do against the big boys - Man U coming up shortly. COYS.

the last time Reading won away from home in the Premier League was in 2008 so they were up against it with Spurs being in such good form lately ....could have been an annihalation really ...Andre Villas-Boas said it was difficult in the beginning and their early goal gave them hope ...yeah ...hope which lasted about 5 mins ..

Good prediction mate!

Nice prediction Pickles!

Another good result for us, glad we have the quality waiting in the wings when we lose players like Bale. Dempsey and Sigurdson are quality players to have fleshing out your squad. That is what won us this game.

And Bale gets a rest which cant be bad given we got the 3 points aswell.

Yeah a good, deserved win for us in the end. Nice prediction, Mr. Pickle!

A word of caution for AVB though. I like this dude, I really do. Young and dynamic, charming and considerate, he is a breath of fresh air. I just sometimes scratch my head when he makes unneccessary substitutions when we are in control of the game. If it aint broke...

At 2-1 and Spurs in total control of the game, he takes off our playmaker Dembele and puts on Parker. Suddenly, Reading get a sniff and have three excellent chances to score before a deflected Dempsey effort settles it. I just dont understand why managers do that.

On a positive note, it was nice to see Adebayor score. He's been due one for a while and it was a fantastic effort. Really got the neck muscles into that one.

I noticed in a game the other day he went far too defensive when we were ahead, very risky and just invites pressure onto us. I have a feeling it is going to bite us in the ass at some point, I have hated the tactic ever since Jol did it against Chelsea in the FA Cup and they came back to get the replay and then do us at home.

I think AVB is doing one thing smart ,and that is wrapping Dembele in cotton wool by subbing him after the game is done and dusted, if that is what he's doing. You have to protect your best assets ,especially those which can't be replaced, because the season is long.

I would totally agree if he subbed him at 3-1 with 15min left.

But he subbed him at 2-1 and a bit earlier. Game was still alive.