Tottenham Hotspur play Sunderland AFC in the Semi-Final of the 2013 Barclays Premier League Asia Trophy at the Hong Kong Stadium in So Kon Po on Wednesday 24th July with the winners meeting either Manchester City or South China FC in the Final on 27th July 2013 at the same venue.
Spurs finished the 2012-13 season in 5th place in the table on 72 points (a new club Premier League record), while Sunderland finished in 17th place with 39 points. This will be the 115th time the two clubs have met.
The first meeting came at Northumberland Park in March 1898 when Spurs were playing in the Southern League in a friendly which Sunderland won 2-0.
A second meeting followed within the year when Spurs beat Sunderland 2-1 in the old second round (today's fourth round) of the FA Cup in February 1899.
Tottenham's first visit to Sunderland came during a mini tour of the North-East to celebrate the turn of the new Century with Spurs winning the friendly match 3-1 on 2nd January 1900.
The first Football League meetings between the two clubs saw Sunderland win at home 3-1 in September 1909 and Spurs having a comprehensive win in the return fixture at White Hart Lane 5-1.
Tottenham Hotspur's all-time record attendance of 75,038 at White Hart Lane came in an FA Cup 6th round match against Sunderland in March 1938. Sundeland won the game 1-0. This was the only FA Cup match Sunderland have won out of the 7 played so far with Spurs winning five and one game drawn.
The only two League matches ever played outside the Top Flight came during 1977-78 when Spurs won at Roker Park 2-1 but lost the return Division Two match at the Lane 3-2.
The clubs first met in the Football League Cup in November 1984 with Spurs drawing 0-0 away but Sunderland winning the replay at the Lane 2-1.
The three matches in the competition have resulted in a win each and one game drawn.
Since Sunderland joined the Premier League in season 1996-97, no further domestic cup ties have been played between the two clubs.Spurs have a good record during the Premier League Era with 15 wins to Sunderland's 5 and the remaining 4 games drawn. Spurs have taken an average of 2.04 points off Sunderland in the 24 matches played so far.
The 2011-12 fixture at White Hart Lane ended in a 1-1 draw with Rafael van der Vaart putting Spurs ahead in the second half only for Sunderland's Asamoah Gyan to equalise three minutes later. The match at Sunderland resulted in a 2-1 win for Spurs with Asamoah Gyan putting the Black Cats ahead after 11 minutes before Michael Dawson's equaliser just before half-time. Niko Kranjcar scored the winner for Spurs in the 57th minute.
Last season's match at White Hart Lane in December resulted in a 1-0 win for Spurs with substitute striker Roman Pavlyuchenko scoring the winner with just over an hour of the match played. The three points won put Spurs in third place in the table for the first time during 2011-12. The match at Sunderland in April 2012 was a goalless draw which produced very few chances for either team.
In August 2012, Tottenham's full-back Danny Rose went to Sunderland for a season's loan. The match at the Stadium of Light in December 2012 was won by Tottenham 2-1. John O'Shea opened the scoring for the Black Cats five minutes before half-time. Carlos Cuellar headed an own goal three minutes into the second half to even the game and Aaron Lennon scored the winner three minutes later for Spurs.
A 90th minute Gareth Bale goal secured all three points for Spurs at home to Sunderland on the final day of the 2012-13 season
Overall, Spurs have the upper hand over Sunderland with 47 wins to 38 and 29 of the 114 matches played so far drawn.
Full Record of Tottenham Hotspur v Sunderland Matches 1898-2013
They Played for Spurs & Sunderland...
Ben Alnwick
Darren Bent
Ted Birnie (Spurs player, Sunderland trainer & coach)
Ivor Broadis
Fraizer Campbell
Graham Carr (scout with both clubs)
Jim Chalmers
Pascal Chimbonda
Ernie Coquet
John Curtis
Calum Davenport
Jimmy Delvin
Márton Fülöp
Phil Gray
Jim Hartley
Alan Hutton
Joe Knowles
Steed Malbranque
Fred Mearns
Bobby Mimms
Bill Murray
George Payne
Andy Reid
Danny Rose
Louis Saha
Jimmy Seed
Paul Stewart
Teemu Tainio
Chris Waddle
Jack Whitbourne
