Tottenham Hotspur v Coventry City
The FA Cup with Budweiser
Third Round Proper
3pm, Saturday 5 January 2013
White Hart Lane, Tottenham Hotspur FC
Winning clubs will receive £67,500 from The FA prize fund
Click here for all the Third Round ties
by Chris Hatherall

Tottenham assistant head coach Steffen Freund is expecting League One Coventry City to give his side a real test in the Third Round of The FA Cup on Saturday.

Spurs go into the tie in excellent form having picked up ten points from 12 over the Christmas period in the Premier League.

And Freund, who never won The FA Cup during his time as a player at White Hart Lane, is now targeting glory in the world's oldest knockout competition as a coach.

He said: "It's special. It's one of the biggest cup competitions in the world.

"My feeling was that to play in an FA Cup is special, special atmosphere. Our stadium will be sold out against a League One team. All of us can't wait for the game and I think it will be a really hard one.

"I know Coventry lost their last game but before that they were ten unbeaten and that is why it will be really hard. They will come to the Lane with nothing to lose."

Coventry, of course, have real FA Cup pedigree having famously lifted the trophy in 1987 - beating Spurs 3-2 in The Final.

But their hopes of a repeat performance in this year's competition are made harder by news that England midfielder Scott Parker could be ready to start the tie following a long road back from injury.

Parker hasn't started a match for Tottenham since last May after suffering an Achilles injury. But he has now made five appearances as a substitute this season and is getting ever closer to full fitness.

Freund said: "He is already important for us.

"He came on five times from the bench. He was close to scoring. I am really happy for him. I know his situation. When you have long term injuries it takes a little time but he is on his way back and that is nice to see. It's great to see him in the squad and ready to start, maybe.

"We have a really strong squad now. We have a lot of players who have been on the bench who deserve to start.

"They are really good players. Benoit Assou-Ekotto is coming back after an injury. Scott Parker is back and I think we have a far better situation now.

"What I can say is that we have a really strong squad, not only 11, not 20; 27 players with a lot of good youngsters behind them."