What could be more thrilling than a Tuesday night in with rain lashing down and high winds? NOTHING!!!

Tonight we are at home but wearing all our lucky Spurs gear – I have on the same shirt I wore on Saturday when we beat Everton 5-2 and the same lucky pants!!! DM has his shirt, hat and hoodie.

You see we need all the luck we can get. True to say that Spurs are at the top of their game at the moment but also true to say that Manchester Utd (tonight’s opposition at their ground, Old Trafford) are probably in a different league to us if we are honest, much as it pains me to say so. I have only known us to beat Man Utd at Old Trafford once in all the years I’ve supported Spurs and the last time we even managed a draw was in 1995 I believe.

This season they beat us at the Lane and one of the most thrilling but ultimately humiliating afternoons of my whole life was when we were 3-0 up against them on a fateful Saturday afternoon about four years ago when I clearly remember being so excited at half-time that I phoned David (who hated footie at the time) and said ‘we’re 3-0 up – they surely can’t score four in the second half?’ Oh yes, they can – in fact they can score five – and they did! Oh how I regretted making that call. As they say in the best tradition of footballing cliches - it's a game of two halves and the two were totally different!

Strangely, I had a really fantastic journey home that day – I had supporters of all of the other clubs who were playing in London that day coming up to me and commiserating with me and saying they’d all been willing us to win! It was the most bizarre event of my life!

So tonight we need our lucky charms and a lot more besides. The game kicks off in less than an hour (8pm UK time) and by 10pm we’ll either be ecstatic (if we win), happy (if we draw) or inconsolable if we lose. Will I regret the £6 subscription charge to Sky Premiership Plus? NO – I WILL NOT!

If I stand up for anything though, it’s my eternal optimism. I know that one day we have to be able to get a win from this fixture and 2005 seems like a good time to do it to me. So, I may end up deflated and I may end up feeling humiliated but I stand by my team and I stand by a win by the Spurs (I may live again to regret that).

This photo, despite being completely pants, is what DM would call a real photo – in other words – I made it happen. It is, of course, totally staged. We don’t have Spurs flags growing out of the sofa and we haven’t yet drunk any Stella – though we undoubtedly will!!! It's certainly not a 'snapshot' or an opportunistic pic.

Finally – COME ON YOU SPURS!


UPDATE AT HALF-TIME: It's a 0-0 draw so far.....a bit tense but we're holding them off and creating a few chances.

UPDATE AT FULL TIME: Spurs won the game - but our perfectly good goal was disallowed by the ref because the linesman was looking elsewhere as the ball crossed the line and bounced back out. The evidence is irrefutable - the video footage clearly shows the goal but it was disallowed and we got one point instead of all three. I said I'd be happy with a draw but I ended up angry!

UPDATE IN THE COLD LIGHT OF DAY: Don't take my word for it - see the BBC's comments (and William Hill's actions).

How unexciting this time last year was by comparison!