By Ian King
Current type
Tottenham Hotspur, eight time winners of the FA Cup, proceed to bewilder and baffle. Their 1-0 win in opposition to Liverpool in midweek got here straight out of the blue, in a way a very Tottenham factor to do.
Tamworth are at the moment sixteenth within the Nationwide League – England’s fifth tier and the highest division of the non-league sport. They’re freshly put in at this stage following two successive league titles, the Nationwide League North and the Southern League Premier Division Central, over the past two years.
First ever assembly
Clearly, these two have by no means met earlier than. Tamworth do nevertheless have historical past within the Third Spherical of the FA Cup. In 2005/06 they beat Bournemouth en path to shedding to Stoke Metropolis on penalties. The next season they received that far once more earlier than shedding at house to Norwich Metropolis, whereas in 2011/12 they did it once more earlier than shedding 2-0 to Everton.
Famously, Spurs have been the final non-league membership to win the FA Cup, as members of the Southern League all the best way again in 1909. They’ve additionally performed non-league opposition at this stage of this competitors earlier than. In 2021 they beat Marine 5-0, whereas within the mid-Nineties they performed two comparable ties in three years; Marlow in 1993 and Altrincham in 1995. Altrincham took them to a replay in 1979, earlier than Spurs received 3-0 in a replay that was switched to Manchester Metropolis’s Maine Highway.
Key gamers
Spurs are actually lacking sufficient gamers for his or her first crew to successfully be everybody who’s left standing. It’s tough to get too valuable about resting gamers while you’ve received ten of them out injured, although this may be an excellent alternative for Richarlison to return, ought to he be match.
There’s little movie star across the Tamworth dressing room, no names that may be acquainted to any past avid Nationwide League watchers or a handful of supporters of decrease division EFL golf equipment with fairly lengthy reminiscences. Striker Dan Creaney is their prime scorer this season, with eight targets within the league.
Group Information
Rodrigo Bentancur is more likely to be absent following his damage on Wednesday evening. However each Fraser Forster and Richarlison may very well be out there. Having stated that, the debut put in by new goalkeeping reinforcement Antonín Kinský on Wednesday evening could put paid to any involvement from Forster. There was no indication of contemporary accidents within the Tamworth camp from their 1-0 loss at Sutton United within the FA Trophy final weekend.
Prediction
The most important battle that Spurs face at Tamworth is the unfamiliar. They’ll be on a man-made pitch in entrance of a crowd of 5,000. It’s a distinct world to the padded seats of North London. And, nicely, it’s Spurs, isn’t it? The clown princes of the Premier League; the crew most probably to slide on one of these banana pores and skin and land flat on their faces. However now we have to be considerably life like, right here. The gulf is huge and Tamworth aren’t even a very robust crew at their stage of the sport. The away facet ought to actually run away with this. I’ll say 3-0 Spurs, although it may very well be extra.
(Cowl picture from IMAGO)
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