Preston North End Vs Tottenham Hotspur
Carling Cup 3rd Round Wednesday 24th September 2009
After surpassing Morecambe and Leicester in rounds one and two respectively, North End now face their most difficult test yet in Wednesday's 3rd round clash. It's Harry Redknapp's Spurs who are in town looking to book their place in the 4th round at Preston's expense.
Spurs have already beaten title contenders Liverpool so far this season as well as hammering Preston's Championship rivals Doncaster in the previous round 5-1. With that in mind, if North End are to displace the Premier League's 6th placed side then they are going to have to be firing on all cylinders in front of a bumper Deepdale crowd.
North End remain the form side after bouncing back from their 3-1 defeat to Scunthorpe whilst Spurs are looking for the first win in 3 after defeats to Chelsea and Manchester United.
Previous Meetings
Preston's last meeting with Tottenham came in this very competition 13 years ago when the tie was settled over two legs, circa 1996. The first leg was at Deepdale where the Lilywhites managed a 1-1 draw thanks to a 90th minute Michael Halt equaliser after Darren Anderton had put the visitors ahead in the opening exchanges.
The second leg saw Anderton open the scoring again, this time after just over half an hour played. Rory Allen netted a second half brace to seal a 3-0 win on the night and a 4-1 win on aggregate.
Overall North End have faced Tottenham 67 times with Spurs having the upper hand in terms of wins, 29 compared to Preston's 21. Preston's last win against Spurs was during the 1965/1966 season when the Lilywhites recorded a 2-1 win in the FA Cup.
Team News
Preston's latest injury woes see's Alan Irving scratching his head ahead of Wednesday's cup clash. As Neil Collins is cup-tied, North End fans will see a back four re-shuffle that could see Eddie Nolan revert to centre-half whilst Michael Hart is likely to fill in at left back in Callum Davidson's absence.
For the visitors, Harry Redknapp has already signalled his intent to make the most of his large squad. With so many first-team players vying for the same places, the former Portsmouth manager is set to give some of his fringe players a run out at Deepdale.