Tottenham Hotspur v Wolves

Schoolboys with a cricket club and a grammar school between them; Wolves had already been at it five years by the time Spurs existed.

On 5 September 1882, a group of boys from Hotspur Cricket Club and the local grammar school formed Hotspur Football Club. They would add 'Tottenham' to the name in 1884 to avoid confusion with another London club. Wolves, meanwhile, had already been going since 1877, founded as St. Luke's FC in Wolverhampton before becoming Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1879.

Wolves had already spent twenty years in the Football League before Spurs were even invited to join.

Tottenham were elected to the Football League's Second Division in 1908, having previously competed in the Southern League. Wolves had been a founding member of the Football League back in 1888. With both clubs now in the same competition structure, regular league meetings between the two became a fixture of the English football calendar.

Spurs claimed the FA Cup in 1921 off the back of their Second Division title, while Wolves fluctuated between divisions, their paths rarely aligned.

Tottenham claimed the First Division championship in 1950-51, but their first major league honour came with the Second Division title in 1920 and an FA Cup win in 1921. Wolves, who had won the FA Cup in 1893 and 1908, spent much of the interwar period fluctuating between divisions. The two clubs' paths crossed intermittently, their fortunes rarely aligned in the same tier at the same time.

Wolves' Molineux floodlit friendlies against Honvéd and Spartak effectively conjured the European Cup into existence.

Under Stan Cullis, Wolves became the dominant force in English football, winning three First Division titles in 1953-54, 1957-58, and 1958-59. Their famous floodlit friendlies against Honvéd and Moscow Spartak at Molineux in 1954 helped inspire the creation of the European Cup. Spurs and Wolves were now regular top-flight rivals, meeting twice a season in front of packed houses.

Sixty-four years since Villa managed it; Nicholson's side made the Double look almost routine.

Bill Nicholson's Spurs achieved what no club had managed since Aston Villa in 1897: the league and FA Cup Double. They won the First Division by eight points and beat Leicester City 2-0 in the FA Cup final. Wolves finished third that season, still a formidable side but now watching Tottenham claim the era's defining achievement. The following year, Spurs became the first British club to win a European trophy, lifting the Cup Winners' Cup in 1963.

Spurs claimed European silverware at Wolves' expense, just one round after Juventus had been dispatched.

The 1971-72 UEFA Cup final brought the two clubs together on the biggest stage they had ever shared. Spurs won the first leg 2-1 at Molineux, then held Wolves to a 1-1 draw at White Hart Lane to claim the trophy 3-2 on aggregate. It was a bitter pill for Wolves, who had beaten Juventus in the quarter-finals. For Tottenham, it was a second European trophy and confirmation of their continental pedigree.

Three relegations in three years sent Wolves tumbling from the top flight to the fourth tier; Spurs spent those same seasons lifting cups.

Financial crisis sent Wolves tumbling. They suffered three consecutive relegations between 1984 and 1986, dropping from the First Division to the Fourth. Spurs, meanwhile, remained in the top flight throughout, winning the FA Cup in 1981 and 1982 and the UEFA Cup again in 1984. The fixture vanished from the calendar entirely. It would take Wolves over a decade to claw their way back to the second tier.

Nineteen years in the wilderness, then just one season back in the top flight.

Wolves won promotion to the Premier League in 2003 under Dave Jones, ending a 19-year absence from the top flight. The fixture with Spurs was back, though Wolves' stay lasted just one season. They returned again in 2009 under Mick McCarthy for two seasons, but it was not until 2018 that the fixture became a regular Premier League fixture once more.

Fosun's 2016 takeover set Wolves on a remarkable upward curve, culminating in back-to-back seventh-place finishes and a Europa League quarter-final run within a few seasons.

Chinese conglomerate Fosun International's takeover in 2016 transformed Wolves. Under Nuno Espírito Santo, they won the Championship in 2018 and immediately established themselves as a top-half Premier League side, finishing seventh in consecutive seasons and reaching the Europa League quarter-finals. Meetings with Spurs became tightly contested affairs, with Wolves proving they belonged at the top table.

Europe's largest single-tier stand makes the old ground feel like a distant memory.

Spurs' new 62,850-capacity stadium opened in April 2019, replacing the old White Hart Lane that had been home since 1899. The ground features Europe's largest single-tier stand, a retractable pitch, and hospitality facilities that set a new benchmark for the Premier League. Watching Spurs host Wolves here is a different proposition entirely from the old ground: the steep rake of the South Stand, the proximity to the pitch, and the acoustics make it one of the most intense atmospheres in English football.