Tottenham Hotspur vs. West Bromwich Albion: Preview, Prediction and More

West Bromwich Albion will travel to White Hart Lane to take on Tottenham Hotspur in the second week of the 2012-13 English Premier League season.

For Spurs, this is their first home game of the new season and a chance for Andre Villas-Boas to pick up his maiden Premier League victory since taking over as the new manager at the club.

They were beaten last week by a better Newcastle United side and will be desperate to get competition points on the board before the season starts to slip away.

For West Brom, they enter this match with an unusual aura of self-belief after comfortably dispatching Liverpool, 3-0, last week. The point differential of that match probably should have been about four or five goals in reality, but what is most important is the knowledge that the Baggies now have it in their ability to take down the best sides in the Premier League.

Can Spurs pick up their first win of the season at home, or are West Brom set to pull off another surprise upset this season? 

Read on to find all the details, predictions and more for this match.

When: Saturday, August 25

Start Time: 10 a.m. ET

Venue: White Hart Lane (Tottenham Hotspur)

 

Key Question: Can Tottenham's Attack Get Going in This One?

This game is Tottenham's to win or lose, and that will seemingly all come down to whether or not they can get their attack going. If they can start to "gel," you'd have to think that West Brom don't really have much of a chance in this one.

Tottenham have made big signings over the summer transfer window up front—namely Emmanuel Adebayor from Manchester City and Gylfi Sigurdsson from Hoffenheim—which will help their attack throughout the season.

However, for mine, the biggest move they made was keeping both Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart at White Hart Lane—agreeing on new contracts with both of them. If Bale can get going down the wings, Spurs are always a tough team to beat.

Those four players—Adebayor, Sigurdsson, Bale and Van der Vaart—hold the key in this one, and although all four are unlikely to feature in the starting lineup, they will be the crux of Tottenham's attack throughout the 2012-13 English Premier League season.

Working together and developing cohesion does take time, but I expect us to begin to see it all coming together for Tottenham in this one.

Latest Team News

No confirmation has come yet on whether or not Emmanuel Adebayor will indeed line up for Tottenham in this one, given the fact his official transfer has only taken place this week. That's still a 50-50 decision for now, with an answer likely to be known sometime Saturday.

Younes Kaboul is likely to miss the match due to a knee injury, according to Tottenham's official Twitter account, whilst Giovanni dos Santos will also sit out, due to a calf injury.

There is some good news, however, with Scott Parker's fitness improving; a decision will be made about his playing status sometime Saturday.

 

What They're Saying

West Bromwich Albion manager Steve Clarke has lauded Andre Villas-Boas heading into the match—stating via the Birmingham Mail that he's glad the manager has another opportunity to coach a top English club and that Villas-Boas deserves his chance at White Hart Lane:

In a short space of time, he's had a fantastic career. He then got his move to Chelsea. Okay, it didn’t work out for him, but I’m sure he’s learned a lot from the experience.

I thought [Spurs] played well up there [at Newcastle]—it's a tough place to go. They were unlucky to concede the penalty after making it 1-1, and they were unlucky to lose the game.

Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku—who is on loan at West Brom—played under Villas-Boas at Stamford Bridge but has stated that he has no problems with the former Blues boss and that there is no animosity between the pair at all (per Yahoo! Sports):

This is West Bromwich Albion playing Tottenham, not me playing against Andre Villas-Boas. I learned a lot of good things from Chelsea. Now I want to learn more at West Bromwich Albion and to become a better player.

I learned a lot last season—this season I want to show people that this club and myself are making progress and getting better.

Three Key Numbers

28. It's been 28 years since West Bromwich Albion last won at Tottenham Hotspur—their last win coming in November 1984. Since then, they have had two draws and six losses and have had a generally poor record when playing any London club in the English capital.

3. Spurs hit the woodwork three times against Newcastle United in their 2-1 loss—perhaps signaling that their attack isn't too far away from hitting full stride in this one.

1. Aside from last week's defeat to Newcastle, Andre Villas-Boas' last Premier League match as a manager was a one-goal defeat. The team that beat Chelsea that day was—you guessed it—West Bromwich Albion.

(Statistics via Yahoo! Sports)

Prediction

Spurs are a very good football club this year—there's no doubting that—and they will challenge for a top-four spot in the English Premier League this year.

Their defense is solid, and their attack has the potential to become one the most dynamic and difficult to pick up in the league—should they get the cohesiveness necessary to do so. Once that happens, Tottenham will be one of the toughest teams this year, particularly at White Hart Lane.

West Brom surprised many in their opening-round win over Liverpool, but this is a step up again. They won't have the same number of attacking opportunities as they did against the Reds and, as a result, won't score the same number of goals that they did.

I think Tottenham will record a comfortable victory here.

Final Score: Tottenham Hotspur 2, West Bromwich Albion 0

What do you expect to happen in this match?

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