Head-To-Head: Rafa v Spurs

By Tom Easterby - Newcastle United Club Reporter

There may be nothing left to play play for, but Rafa Benitez will go in search of an unlikely hat-trick on Sunday afternoon.

If Newcastle United can earn a win at St. James' Park this weekend, it will be the third time that Benitez has beaten Tottenham Hotspur on the final day of the Barclays Premier League season.

Back in August 2004, Benitez's first game in English football came against Tottenham Hotspur. The Liverpool side that he inherited from Gerard Houllier took the lead through Djibril Cisse at White Hart Lane before Jermain Defoe's equaliser just under 20 minutes from time made the Spaniard settle for a draw in his first taste of the Premier League.

Benitez's men came up against Spurs in the quarter-final of the League Cup in December 2004, with Liverpool prevailing 4-3 on penalties after it finished 1-1 after extra time. Florent Sinama-Pongolle, who scored the goal that took the match to penalties, converted the winning spot-kick.

Two points were shared in the reverse league fixture that season too, with Erik Edman's memorable long-range stunner putting Spurs ahead at Anfield in April 2005. Luis Garcia levelled matters before Robbie Keane restored the visitors' lead, but Sami Hyypia rescued a point for the Reds.

A 0-0 draw in September 2005 preceded a 1-0 at Anfield in January the following year, with Harry Kewell bagging the winner to notch up Benitez's first victory over Sunday's opponents.

And that paved the way for further successes over Spurs the next campaign. Four times Liverpool scored against them without reply in their two games, with none conceded. Mark Gonzalez, Dirk Kuyt and John Arne Riise sealed a 3-0 win at Anfield in September 2006, before Luis Garcia's winner in north London racked up the double over Spurs.

There was a 2-2 draw at Anfield the following season, with Fernando Torres rescuing a point for Benitez's side after a Keane double cancelled out Andriy Voronin's opener. The same two players were on the scoresheet for the Reds in a 2-0 final-day win at White Hart Lane.

However, Benitez's luck changed in November 2008, when a Jamie Carragher own goal and a late Roman Pavlyuchenko winner handed Spurs a 2-1 win in the capital after Kuyt's early opener.

That defeat was compounded by a fourth round exit at the hands of Tottenham in the League Cup. Damien Plessis was on the scoresheet for Liverpool that night in November 2008, as was defender Hyypia, but they crashed out with a 4-2 loss.

They made amends, though, with a 3-1 win which came, again, on the season's last day - Torres, an Alan Hutton own goal and Yossi Benayoun making sure of the three points.

Benitez's last year at Anfield got off to a bad start, as Spurs - by now managed by Harry Redknapp - ran out 2-1 winners on the opening day at White Hart Lane. Former Newcastle defender Sebastien Bassong grabbed the winner after Steven Gerrard levelled the scores following Benoit Assou-Ekotto's spectacular strike.

A double from Dutchman Kuyt earned a 2-0 win for the Reds in January 2010. That was to be the last time Benitez faced Tottenham with Liverpool.

But Benitez has come up against Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino in the past, but only once, during the latter's time at Southampton. The Argentine guided Saints to a 2-1 win over Benitez's Chelsea at St. Mary's in March 2013, as Jay Rodriguez and Rickie Lambert scored either side of a John Terry header on the south coast.

During the United manager's short spell at Stamford Bridge, he also oversaw another 2-2 draw against Spurs, with Oscar and Ramires netting for Chelsea and Emmanuel Adebayor and Gylfi Sigurdsson on target for Andre Villas-Boas' men.

That leaves Benitez with a win percentage of just over 46 per cent from his 15 games against Tottenham, with him having lost just 20 per cent of those outings going into Sunday's game at St. James' Park.

Rafa's record v Tottenham Hotspur

Played: 15

Won: 7

Drawn: 5

Lost: 3