Welcome to the first Premier League game of the day, where Tottenham will be desperate to pick up their form and make sure of that Champions League spot… particularly given the form of Newcastle United. Today, it’s Newcastle’s arch rivals Sunderland that Spurs face, a tricky test. The good news for Harry Redknapp: Martin O’Neill has an appalling record against Tottenham. The bad news: as we saw last week, O’Neill’s Sunderland have spoiled a few parties this season.

The teams:

Sunderland: Mignolet, Bardsley, Turner, Kilgallon, Colback, Larsson, Gardner, Cattermole, McClean, Sessegnon, Bendtner. Subs: Westwood, Bridge, Richardson, Vaughan, Ji, Meyler, Kyrgiakos.

Tottenham: Friedel, Walker, Gallas, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto, Van der Vaart, Sandro, Parker, Modric, Bale, Adebayor. Subs: Cudicini, Lennon, Saha, Defoe, Kranjcar, Livermore, Nelsen.

And we’re off.

Spurs have started brightly enough, spraying the ball around. Modric dictacting the play, which we didn’t really see enough of during that recent drip.

Modric squirms free at the edge of the box before drilling a shot at Mignolet. As we say he’s looking sharp… hmmm, coming to form again now? Not good for Ireland.

Sunderland, having only notionally threatened, finally put together a proper break and it results in Brad Friedel almost spilling a corner. Spurs survive though.

That stat by the way: O’Neill has only beaten Redknapp once and it happened back in 1997.

An odd game at the moment. Tottenham have probably had the better of it and it has been lively and noisy… but there’s not much actually happening. It;s an entertaining game, with not much actually happening.

Sunderland enjoying a spell of set-piece-based pressure going towards half-time but, like the rest of the game, there’s been very little precision.

Oh, and that really should have been 1-0 Spurs. The ball broke for Rafael van der Vaart at the edge of the box, with the space simply opening up in front of him. Unfortunately for him and Spurs, though, it fell on his right rather than his left. he delayed the strike, allowing Kilgallon to get across and block.

HALF-TIME: the period closes with a bit of pinball around the Sunderland box as Benoit Assou-Ekotto delivers a cross from the left. Like the rest of the half, they couldn’t do anything with it though. The best they’ve offered is a penalty appeal after a handball from an Adebayor header. Still 0-0.

The second half is off… and it continues in much the same vein as the first. Tottenham marginally on top, lots of aggressive tackling, little aggressive attacking.

Again, Tottenham almost – but not quite – manufacture a chance. Bale destroys Colback and feeds Modric. Rather than shoot, though, he dallies before flicking back to Van der Vaart on the edge of the area. By then, Sunderland have congested the space and all the Dutchman can do is shoot over. And there is the game epitomised.

And so close for McClean! Seb Larsson flashes a ball across the box but Kyle Walker does superbly to nick it away before the winger can convert. This is the thing about this game now: you wouldn’t bet against Sunderland nicking it. It has that sort of feel about it.

Spurs have completely lost their verve now and it’s actually Sunderland who look the likelier the score at the moment, hitting them on the break. That’s the curiosity of these type of games: the team in control can actually look so much more toothless because they have so much less space to work with.

As good as Sunderland have been in defence and as difficult as they are to break down, this does raise further worries about Spurs’ attack. They look a long way from the high–flying side that was so exhilarating to watch earlier in the season. They just don’tseem capable of really unlocking teams at the moment.

But Sunderland are very, very lucky there! Van der Vaart suddenly broke free and fired at goal but Turner was just at the line to clear. The big question though: did he use his hand to block it?! It certainly seemed like it.

Hmmm… the ball did pop up onto Turner’s arm but he was trying to hide it right in behind his body to be fair. Would have been harsh. Correct decision.

Jermain Defoe is on. Can he manufacture a late winner? He has scored a fair few as a sub this year. But this isn’t exactly stretched.

Celtic, by the way, have won the SPL for the first time in four years with some style: a 6-0 win away to Kilmarnock.

No danger of such a goal haul here, or even one, as we enter stoppage time. Bale was just brought down by Colback as he broke there. Looked like an opening but Sunderland, again, block the route. And, again, not entirely in a fair way.

Spurs lump one in but, again, it’s easily cleared. The three minutes of allotted stoppeage time have now passed…

Harry Redknapp blowing out his cheeks in exasperation on the line.

FULL-TIME: Sunderland 0-0 Tottenham

And that’s it. Martin O’Neill may still have only won one game against Harry Redknapp but that will feel like a defeat to Spurs: they’ve only won game in their last six and still haven’t won away from home in 2012. Suddenly, too, they’re really struggling to score. If Arsenal get a draw tomorrow at home to Manchester City, they’ll go ahead of Spurs again.

On that note, there was an interesting note at the end of the game as former Gunners William Gallas and Nicklas Bendtner were speaking rather conspiratorially, covering their mouths with their hands so the cameras couldn’t pick them up. Gallas was seen to shake his head with a smile.

It will be one of the few on show in the Spurs’ dressing room. On the fact of it, a draw at Sunderland should be a good result. But not when you again don’t score and you again look like facing a fight for the Champions League places.