UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
2010/11 SEASON
MATCH PRESS KIT
Tottenham Hotspur FC SV Werder Bremen
Group A - Matchday 5
White Hart Lane, London
Wednesday 24 November 2010
20.45 CET (19.45 local time)
Match background
Tottenham Hotspur FC will look to keep up their dream start to life in the UEFA Champions League when they play host to SV Werder Bremen on Matchday 5.
• Harry Redknapp's side moved above FC Internazionale Milano on goal difference at the Group A summit after beating the defending champions 3-1 on 2 November. That was their third successive home victory in the competition and they will guarantee their progress to the last 16 if they can manage a fourth against Bremen.
• Bremen's hopes took a huge dent with a home defeat by FC Twente in their last match, a result that leaves them three points adrift at the bottom and still seeking their first win. If Twente earn a point at Inter in the group's other fixture, Bremen will need to beat Tottenham to keep alive their prospects of finishing third and stepping into the UEFA Europa League.
• The clubs shared a 2-2 draw on Matchday 1 and more goals appear likely on the evidence of Tottenham's games so far in the UEFA Champions League. The London club's six matches, qualifying included, have produced 29 goals and at home they have scored 11 in three.
• Spurs are looking to maintain a fine home record against German opposition, with five wins and one draw from six previous matches.
• Tottenham's last visit from a Bundesliga team brought a 1-0 victory against 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the 1999/2000 UEFA Cup second round. Steffen Iversen scored the goal but Spurs lost the return 2-0.
• Tottenham first faced German opposition in the 1973/74 UEFA Cup when they achieved home wins against 1. FC Köln (3-0) and VfB Leipzig (2-0) in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively to make the final.
• The Premier League club suffered their heaviest European defeat when going down 8-0 at Köln in the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1995.
• Bremen have only faced English opposition twice before – and both times during coach Thomas Schaaf's reign. Torsten Frings and Claudio Pizarro are the only survivors of the team that lost home (2-4) and away (0-2) to Tottenham's neighbours Arsenal FC in the 1999/2000 UEFA Cup quarter-finals.
• Schaaf's team lost 2-0 at Chelsea FC on their second visit to London in the 2006/07 group stage. They eventually finished third in the group behind Chelsea and FC Barcelona.
• Away from home in this season's competition the Bundesliga side have lost two games – including their qualifier at UC Sampdoria – and drawn one, 1-1 at Twente on Matchday 3.
• Pizarro spent 2007/08 in England with Chelsea but scored only two league goals. He played against Tottenham in Chelsea's 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge in January 2008, lasting 58 minutes before making way for Nicolas Anelka.
• Rafael van der Vaart was in the Netherlands team that beat Petri Pasanen's Finland in a UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier in September.
• This fixture also brings together several players who met during the summer's FIFA World Cup. Bremen's Daniel Jensen featured in Denmark's 2-1 win against a Cameroon side that included Benoît Assou-Ekotto and Sébastien Bassong, a result that eliminated the west Africans. Per Mertesacker was in the Germany team that ran out 4-1 winners in the last 16 against an England team featuring Jermain Defoe.
• Tottenham trio Vedran Ćorluka, Niko Kranjčar and Luka Modrić helped Croatia beat Germany 2-1 at UEFA EURO 2008. Bremen's Mertesacker, Frings and Clemens Fritz were on the losing side. The Bundesliga club's Austria defender Sebastian Prödl also lost to Croatia in the same tournament, a game in which Modrić scored the only goal.
• Modrić scored a penalty in the second leg but finished on the losing side when NK Dinamo Zagreb lost home and away to Bremen in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round in 2007/08.
• William Gallas and Mikaël Silvestre were team-mates at Arsenal from 2008 to 2010 and also played together with France.
Match facts
Tottenham
UEFA milestones
• None
UEFA Champions League statistics
• Heurelho Gomes is available again following a one-game ban for his red card on Matchday 3, while Jermaine Jenas is within a booking of suspension.
Latest domestic information
•
(Nasri 9, Chamakh 27; Bale 50, Van der Vaart 67pen, Kaboul 85)
Saturday 20 November: Arsenal FC 2-3 Tottenham Hotspur FCGomes; Hutton, Gallas, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon (Defoe 46), Jenas, Modrić, Bale; Van der Vaart (Palacios 88);Pavlyuchenko (Crouch 74)
• Tottenham came from two goals down to win away to their north London neighbours for the first time since 1993.
• Gareth Bale's goal was the first Harry Redknapp's side had scored in the first 15 minutes of either half in the league this season.
• Ten of the 19 Premier League goals Tottenham have conceded have come between the 16th and 45th minutes with six in the final quarter-hour.
• Tottenham have not kept a clean sheet in their last 17 matches in all competitions and have shipped 17 goals in their last eight matches.
• The London club ended a run of four league matches without a win with a 4-2 home defeat of Blackburn Rovers FC on 13 November.
Injury news
• On 15 November, Tom Huddlestone was ruled out for three months after it was revealed he requires surgery having damaged his right ankle against Sunderland AFC on 9 November.
• Aaron Lennon had been sidelined since Matchday 4 due to a hamstring problem but started at Arsenal while an ankle injury means Robbie Keane has not featured since the 2-0 loss to Manchester United FC on 30 October.
• Ledley King returned from almost three weeks out with a groin strain at Fulham FC on 16 October, but limped off a minute before half-time after aggravating the problem and has not played since.
• A groin injury had kept out Vedran Ćorluka since 9 October, the defender returning to action in Croatia's game last week. Niko Kranjčar missed the Arsenal match with a calf complaint.
• Michael Dawson (sprained left knee ligaments) and Jermain Defoe (ankle) picked up injuries on international duty with England on 3 and 7 September against Bulgaria and Switzerland respectively. The latter returned as a half-time substitute on Saturday.
• Jamie O'Hara underwent surgery on a stress fracture to his back on 26 August.
• Jonathan Woodgate has not been included in Tottenham's UEFA Champions League squad having not played since November 2009 due to a groin injury.
International duty
• Wednesday 17 November
• Kranjčar has scored five goals in his last three games for Croatia.
Miscellaneous
• Tottenham have announced they will sign Bongani Khumalo in January after the South Africa centre-back's successful trial in September.
• Midfielder Jake Livermore has extended his loan spell at Ipswich Town FC until 29 January having first joined the Championship club in September.
Bremen
UEFA milestones
• None
UEFA Champions League statistics
• Torsten Frings is suspended following his red card on Matchday 4.
Latest domestic information
•
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