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FA Cup Tottenham vs Leeds

After slaying the giants Manchester United, Leeds will reach for their bloodied swords and go for another victim.

This time its Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane who will be hoping to avoid an upset.

Spurs currently find themselves with the big boys of the ever coveted top four, with several other contenders breathing down their neck.

Their current position has come as a result of a unsually more stable defence which saw them go six games unbeaten before their 2-0 reverse to Liverpool on Wednesday night. In those six games, they didn't conceed once.

Leeds' current form though leaves alot to be desired as we know. Losing their last two matches including a rare home defeat means that possibly confidence could be low going into a game where it needs to be the complete opposite.

The self belief that drove them to victory against Manchester United will be needed today, and it may be harder to find after the recent run of results.

But they stil find themselves top of League One and still in with a shout of Wembley despite their 2-1 loss to Carlisle in the first leg at Elland Road. It's a blip.

Spurs have a plethora of talent of which a large majority comes from a Leeds United background.

Unfortunately two of those players are missing today. Aaron Lennon who has set the Tottenham right wing alight with his performances of the last couple of seasons, misses out with a groin injury. Something that all Leeds fans will be glad to see as the former Leeds trainee could tear apart any Left back in the country if he wanted too.

Another, Jonathan Woodgate, who left the club in auspicious circumstances to join Newcastle United, is still adored by Leeds fans but unfortunately, as has been a regular occurance, he is out injured...again.

But two former Leeds players are in contention. Former striker Robbie Keane who has been the recent speculation of a possible move to West Ham could start up front with Peter Crouch.

Keane joined Leeds in 2000 after a loan move for £12m, but found himself frustrated after the signing of Robbe Fowler and never really got the chance to shine. Another player that Leeds fans admire.

One that probably won't be well received is youngster Danny Rose.

At the age of 16, Rose turned down the chance to sign professional terms with the club to join Tottenham. Didn't go down well. Leeds did receive £1m in compensation, but the young winger who was brought up through the Leeds academy was seen to be ungrateful as he moved on along with Tom Taiwo and Michael Woods who joined Chelsea.

His career at Spurs didn't start well after a serious knee injury ruled him out for nearly a year but has recently been on loan at Watford and Peterborough where he received glowing praise and could be in line for his first Spurs appearance.

But what about Leeds. They find themselves with a nearly full fit squad. Rumours of an injury to Richard Naylor may be a problem, but is seemingly unfounded. Jermaine Beckford is likely to be upfront again and looking for another goal scoring upset alongside Luciano Becchio.

With a crucial game in hand match against Swindon coming up on Tuesday in the league, its unclear whether he will make changes to the team. My guess is no knowing the character of Grayson.

He'll want to give everything Leeds have and i'm sure the team will be fired up. But I can't help but think of the effect to brilliant yet tiring result against Man U has had on the team and maybe its more important to think about the league with Norwich and Charlton now only 3 points behind.

But to avoid potential humiliation, you have to field the strongest team when you're a league one side. So chances are it'll be the usual suspects.

Ankergren
Bromby Kisnorbo Naylor Hughes
Snodgrass Kilkenny Doyle Johnson
Becchio Beckford

Unfortunately I think Howson will drop out but if Grayson decides to be more defensive them maybe Snodgrass will make way for Jonny.

Looking at the match as a whole, i'm not bothered if we win or lose. The most important result that many Leeds fans will ever see in their lifetime happened in the last round. We beat Man U. And no offence to Spurs but us beating them pales into insignificance. And them beating us won't give me sleepless nights as there is no real rivalry.

After the recent poor league run and with teams catching us up, i'm now far more concerned about that. And i think if you ask any Leeds fan if they would take a defeat today knowing that Leeds will get promoted as champions, the answer would be unaminous.

...still....another cup upset can't hurt now and again!
Slowly but surely though he's gaining a good reputation and has made some substi