Tottenham prediction

Frustrating times following City at the moment, as Darius Vassell acknowledged, with the past ten games seeing us go from Champions League hopefuls to trying to recapture early season form in a bid to end the season on a high note.

Sven has highlighted the final ball in recent games as being our downfall, but defensive problems have resulted in defeats as opposed to picking up points to keep things ticking along. A win though would see us back within striking distance of sixth place in the league and would be a welcome sight for the returning Thaksin, who stated he is back to 'tighten the bolts' although this rabble-rousing piece from The Mirror suggest it is more of a showdown that the owner is seeking.

Team wise, we will have a late check on Richard Dunne who will hopefully be fit despite having a badly gashed leg, but Micah Richards and Michael Ball are out, whilst Martin Petrov serves the final game of his suspension. With the defensive problems we are facing, Nedum Onouha will make a welcome return though.

Tottenham had a big loss in the week on penalties to PSV, but since Juande Ramos took charge they have performed admirably as he has really began to shape the side, with Sven effusive in his praise prior to the fixture and he has already hoisted his first trophy in charge at White Hart Lane.

Tottenham have defeated us in the last eight encounters between the two sides, with a 2-1 scoreline being the result in five of the games and it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibilityto see a similar scoreline.

Tottenham have on occasion slipped up (notably Birmingham in recent times) and I think their style of play in that I expect them to come at us will be beneficial to us if we get our gameplan right.

We are short on confidence though but expect some big performances from some of the big players who have not quite shown of late, and I am going to pick us to end our barren run against the North-Londoners with a 2-1 victory.