Tottenham Hotspur Vs. Everton, 2012 Premier League: Preview, Occupy White Hart Lane!

We are the 1%. While Everton wails away in penniless purgatory, Tottenham Hotspur have soared towards the top of the table. Even with the [insert your own description here] Daniel Levy, Spurs have still splashed on players that the Toffees could only dream of, flipping the script from a mere seven years ago when Everton were in the Champions League. Now Spurs have a Champions League experience under their belt and are challenging for a second one. Then there's poor ol' Everton, not even in the conversation and left to stare at Tottenham as those greedy 1% bastards.

Then again, the Toffees probably think that everyone is the 1%. Thanks to the broke and horribly stubborn Bill Kenwright (who thankfully has villainous stare down pat), Everton have no money and have had no choice but to sell player after player. That has left them with a depleted squad that David Moyes has somehow managed to keep midtable, but they are a far cry from the team that used to be as players like Steven Pienaar and Mikel Arteta have been sold and the concept of "buying players" has been lost.

Not buying players becomes a real problem when players get injured and unfortunately for Everton, everyone is injured or something close to it. Phil Jagielka is the most recently injured player, but he's joined by Leon Osman, Jack Rodwell, Tony Hibbert, Tim Cahill and Ross Barkley on the sideline and maybe even Seamus Coleman too so at least there's no chance that Jagielka gets lonely.

So what will the evil rich do? As much as their own injuries allow. Scott Parker and Tom Huddlestone are unlikely to play, while Sandro has that pesky torn muscle thing that the real, non-pansy footballers or decades ago would have played through. That means it will be Jake Livermore and Luka Modric in the center of the park and no one else. The back line isn't in much better shape with Younes Kaboul and Sebastien Bassong the only truly healthy center backs with Michael Dawson also an option as he continues his return from an exploded Achilles.

In a similar situation to Dawson is Aaron Lennon, who also returned from injury on Saturday in FA Cup action, but was still obviously trying to get fit and in form again. If he can go and show a bit more form than he did on Saturday, the Toffees depleted defense will be in real trouble, which is a problem for a team that really only has defense.

As many problems as Everton has had, they haven't had those problems at the back. Tim Howard has only been beaten 22 times in 19 matches, the fifth lowest total in the Premier League, and that and only that has allowed them to stay midtable. That's because the Toffees have only scored 20 times all season, an anemic output that is mostly a result of their selling most of their top players. With Cahill, Osman, Barkley and Rodwell out, that number is unlikely to tick up much more, meaning that defense has to be as strong as it has been all season if they want even the slightest of chances at White Hart Lane.

Of course, this match is one that should have been played to kick off the season, but rioting postponed that one. It was a shame for Spurs, who had to walk into Old Trafford on match day two completely cold and without a match under their belt, but it is what it is and in a time of rioting, football is an afterthought. It hasn't been too bad for the team anyways as they've made their way to third place with a match in hand. After Wednesday's match is over, they'll no longer have that match in hand, but they could be joint second place with Manchester United. That's quite the difference from broke Everton. Occupy the Lane!