Tottenham's Home Record against Queen's Park Rangers

Tottenham return to White Hart Lane for their fourth home Premier League of the season on Sunday.  It is the last day of the month, making it is rather amazing that Spurs have played so few home games, even allowing for the postponement of the match against Everton.  Queen's Park Rangers will be Spurs' second London derby of the season, having defeated Arsenal at the beginning of October.

Tottenham Hotspur v Queen's Park Rangers

Rangers arrive at White Hart Lane for the first time since December, 1995 when a single Teddy Sheringham goal was sufficient to give Spurs the points and complete the 'double' over their west London rivals.  Last weekend QPR defeated Chelsea in a fractious encounter at Loftus Road when an early penalty by Helguson won a match where the visitors were reduced to nine men for nearly an hour.  Rangers have had an encouraging start to the season having gained promotion as Champions last year and are currently tenth in the League, four points behind Spurs.

Their results have been a mixed - beating Chelsea (1 - 0) and winning at Wolves (3 - 0) but losing at home to Bolton (0 - 4) in the first game of the season and at Fulham (0 - 6).  Other impressive results have included a win at Everton (1 - 0) and draws against Aston Villa and Newcastle United who were both undefeated at the time.  They lost at Wigan (0 - 2) and drew at home to Blackburn two weeks ago.

Their leading goalscorer is Heidar Helguson with two goals in the last two games while DJ Campbell, Joey Barton, Alejandro Faurlin and Tommy Smith have one each.  Neil Warnock has developed QPR into a very hardworking side with experience and players capable of producing moments of flair.  Former Tottenham defender Luke Young joined QPR in August from Aston Villa, Anton Ferdinand came from Sunderland and Barton from Newcastle United have all brought experience with Barton taking over the captaincy.  Campbell and Smith have both played in the Premier League while Adel Taarabt and Shaun Wright-Phillips bring pace and flair to the team.

They Played for Tottenham
Adel Taarabt who was the star and captain of last year's promotion winning team will be determined to show all his skills at White Hart Lane, having left the club just over a year ago.  He made 9 League appearances for Spurs.  He has made over 100 League appearances for QPR, scoring 27 goals.  he has represented Morocco in 11 games and scored four goals.

Luke Young has been Rangers hardest running player in their past two games, involved from right back although it would be hoped that Gareth Bale will keep him occupied on Sunday.  Since leaving White Hart Lane in 2001 for £4 million, Young has played for Charlton Athletic, Middlesbrough and Villa.  He has also represented England on five occasions.  He made 58 League appearances for Spurs and has played almost 300 League games for his other four clubs.

Radek Cerny is another former Tottenham player at Loftus Road although he has now dropped to third choice keeper.  At Tottenham he was understudy to Paul Robinson and made only 16 appearances in three seasons.  He joined Rangers in 2008 and has played 73 league games for them.

Premier League Record (Home) v QPR

P  4  W  2  D  1  L  1  For  6  Ag  5

Home League Record v QPR 

P  21  W  11  D  7  L  3  For  36  Ag  21

Last 7 League  Games v QPR at White Hart Lane

Dec. 1995  PL Won 1 - 0  Sheringham  

Oct. 1994  PL  Draw 1 - 1  Barmby

May 1994  PL  Lost 1 - 2  Sheringham

Feb. 1993  PL  Won 3 - 2  Sheringham (2), Anderton
The first game of the Premier League era saw Tottenham take a three goal lead but two late goals by the visitors gave Spurs a few nervy moments.

Sept. 1991  Div. 1  Won 2 - 0  Lineker (2)

Mar. 1991  Div. 1  Draw 0 - 0

Sept. 1989  Div. 1  Won 3 - 2  Lineker (3)

Memorable Match v QPR

Phil Beal

In January, 1969 Spurs met QPR at White Hart Lane for the first time in the 1st Division.  they won the game 3 - 2 which over time has turned out to be quite a regular scoreline between the two clubs.  Phil Beal who played over 400 games for Tottenham scored only one goal in 13 seasons.  He made his debut in place of Danny Blanchflower in September, 1963 against Aston Villa but it was a number of years before he established himself a s a regular member of the team.  In the latter half of the 1960s he formed a very effective central defensive partner ship with Mike England and together they went on to win numerous trophies in the early 1970s.  The goal that Beal scored against QPR was a goal to remember.  He broke up an attack on the edge of the Spurs area and carried the ball forward, exchanging passes with Jimmy Greaves and on reaching the edge of the Rangers box, he cracked an unstoppable shot, in off the bar.  Alan Gilzean and David Jenkins scored the other Spurs goals.

Another Sunday game for Tottenham so they will be playing catch-up once more, knowing the results of the matches for the teams around them.  Tottenham will be looking to make home advantage count against a team who will be high on confidence following last week's win over Chelsea.  As it's a London derby, both sides will be totally committed and Spurs will know what to expect from a team managed by Neil Warnock.  They won't give Tottenham the time nor the space to play their football and will look to hit them quickly on the break with the defence being put under pressure at every set-piece opportunity.  Hopefully, Spurs will start as they did against Liverpool and get into a high tempo quickly with Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale looking to cause difficulty from wide on the wings with Kyle Walker as another option.  Rafael Van der Vaart will be looking to continue his goal scoring form and Emmanuel Adebayor will want to get back on the score sheet after a number of blank games although he has contributed well to the overall performances of the team.  Tottenham had a poor record against the promoted teams last year so will be looking to get a better return from this game in order to improve on last season's record.