2006–07 Tottenham Hotspur F.C. season

Season summary

Expectations were high at the beginning of the season, after only a bout of food poisoning amongst the squad prevented Spurs from pipping arch-rivals Arsenal to fourth place in the Premiership and UEFA Champions League qualification at the end of the previous season. However, the season was marred by injuries, particularly in defense, with Ledley King, Paul Stalteri, Benoît Assou-Ekotto, Lee Young-pyo, Anthony Gardner, Jermaine Jenas, Steed Malbranque and Teemu Tainio all suffering long-term injuries, while Didier Zokora, Dimitar Berbatov, Robbie Keane and Aaron Lennon all suffered short-term injuries during the season, causing Martin Jol to rarely have a settled first XI to pick for extended periods.

Tottenham's Premiership form in the first half of the season was erratic, although there was a famous home win over reigning champions Chelsea in November amongst the mire of mediocre results. Away form was poor during the first half of the season, but a vast improvement in the second half saw just two away losses from January to the end of the season, including one (narrow) defeat in their final six away games, against Chelsea, just 36 hours after playing a UEFA Cup tie in Spain. The improvement in Spurs' away form, good home performances and an excellent end to the season lifted Spurs into fifth position in the final table and UEFA Cup qualification for the second year running. Tottenham played attractive and effective football as Martin Jol made his mark on the squad, reaching the FA Cup quarter-final before losing 1–2 to Chelsea, having drawn 3–3 away, and the League Cup semi-finals, where they were knocked out by Arsenal after drawing 2–2 at home and losing 3–1 away in extra time. In the UEFA Cup Tottenham progressed to the quarter-finals, where they faced holders and eventual winners Sevilla in the quarter-finals, but were eliminated from the competition 4–3 on aggregate.

On 17 March 2007, Paul Robinson became only the third goalkeeper in Premiership history to score a goal, following his 80-yard lob in the 3–1 victory over Watford.

The highly effective Dimitar Berbatov–Robbie Keane strike partnership was rewarded when they were named joint Player of the Month for April.

Transfers

In

Out

Loaned out

First-team squad

Left club during season

Competitions Overview

Results

Premier League

Main article: 2006–07 FA Premier League

Campo Jenas Johnson Kuyt Riise Defoe Lennon Sidwell Doyle Berbatov Lennon Silva Keane Tainio Malbranque Defoe Huddlestone Martins Parker Berbatov Martins Butt Vidić Scholes Giggs Jagielka Jenas Jenas Lennon Tevez Zamora Tainio Berbatov Stalteri Robinson Ghaly Baines Kilbane Keane Jenas Adebayor Pogatetz Berbatov Defoe Berbatov

FA Cup

Main article: 2006–07 FA Cup

Keane Malbranque Defoe Jenas Mido Berbatov Kalou Essien Ghaly Wright-Phillips

League Cup

Main article: 2006–07 Football League Cup

Defoe Keane Defoe Baptista Aliadière Chimbonda

UEFA Cup

Main article: 2006–07 UEFA Cup

First round

Group stage

Berbatov Keane Defoe

Knock-out rounds

Zé Carlos Malbranque Keane Huddlestone Andrade Kerzhakov Lennon Kanouté

Final Premier League table

Main article: 2006–07 FA Premier League

Statistics

Appearances

Goal scorers

The list is sorted by shirt number when total goals are equal.

Clean sheets

The list is sorted by shirt number when total clean sheets are equal.

References

References

1. (2 January 2007). "Alnwick joins Spurs in swap move". BBC Sport.
2. Spurs. (2008-05-23). "Player transfers". Spurs.
3. Malbranque was born in [[Mouscron]], [[Belgium]], but has represented [[France]] at [[France national under-21 football team. U-21]] level and has been called up for the senior squad, although he has not been capped.
4. Taarabt was born in [[Fes]], [[Morocco]], but grew up in [[France]] and has represented [[France national football team. France]] at youth level. He would later opt to represent the country of his birth and make his full international debut for [[Morocco national football team. Morocco]] in February 2009.
5. Assou-Ekotto was born in [[Arras]], [[France]], but also qualified to represent [[Cameroon]] at international level and would make his full international debut for [[Cameroon national football team. Cameroon]] in February 2009.