Joe Kinnear was praying his old club Tottenham were safe by the time this game came around - so Wimbledon could give them a good beating without causing more anguish among the relegation-threatened north Londoners. As it is, a Wimbledon win combined with Bolton beating doomed Crystal Palace would leave Christian Gross' men relying on bitter-rivals Arsenal clinching the title tomorrow - with victory over Everton, currently one place and one point below Spurs in the table. And that will be the scenario according to Chris Perry who warned Tottenham to expect no favours at Selhurst Park this afternoon. The Dons' goalless draw with Coventry in midweek means they are safe barring Bolton scoring 13 goals in their last two games. Perry said: ''Entertaining Tottenham on Saturday will be great but it's a game which we'll be looking to get something from. "We set our stall out not to concede a goal on Wednesday and we knew going into the game that a point was good enough for us to stay up. At the start of every season it is our main aim to avoid relegation because we have not got the resources to do that much better. Hopefully, the defence has made up for our lack of goals this season.'' Perry will be without defensive side-kick Dean Blackwell who suffered a fractured cheek bone in a collision with Coventry's Dion Dublin on Wednesday. Brian McAllister is expected to deputise for Blackwell. One-time Dons hero John Scales can only agree with that assessment. Now, of course at White Hart Lane following his £2.6million signing from Liverpool 18 months ago, Scales, in the squad despite his recent fall out with manager Gross, admits there is nothing his old pals will enjoy more than dumping Spurs back into the mire. He said: "Wimbledon use any means to motivate themselves - the chance to go out and do well against us is all they need. They'll be saying 'look, here's a chance to give a big club a bit of trouble'. "The Dons will have a lot of respect for Spurs - just as Joe Kinnear does. That will give them as a good a reason as any to play well." In the meantime Gross, who has Ramon Vega suspended and recalls Colin Calderwood into the centre of defence while moving Allan Nielsen to right back, is expecting the battle to beat the drop to go all the way to the wire. The Swiss coach added: "Looking at the table it could be the position will be decided only at the end. Six points and we will be safe. It will be a thrilling end to the season." Unless you're among the White Hart Lane masses, 8,000 of whom will be at Selhurst Park, feeling sick at the horrific prospect of having to beat Southampton next weekend to survive! For those without tickets, the action will be shown live on the big screen at Spurs. MATCH FACTS Wimbledon (14th) v Tottenham (16th) Last season: Wimbledon 1-0 Tottenham, Tottenham 1-0 Wimbledon Last five League matches: Wimbledon W D L D D, Tottenham D L D D W Top scorers: Carl Leaburn, Jason Euell (Wimbledon) 8, David Ginola (Tottenham) 9 Match odds: H 7-4 A 6-5 D 12-5 Ref: G P Barber (Pyrford) FOOTBALL365 Predicts: Wimbledon 0 Spours 1. The Dons can't score to save their lives while Spurs must score to save Alan Sugar's bacon. It will be tight, tense and, probably, turgid but expect the flair of Ginola and co to break the incredible Crazy Gang rearguard at least once - and spare a last-day horror, do-or-die clash with Coventry at White Hart Lane.

VIALLI IGNORES RELEGATION PLEAS Newcastle v Chelsea   GIANLUCA Vialli is ignoring the calls to field his strongest Chelsea side for their final two games of the season, insisting he will not change the habit of a season because of other clubs' problems. The Cup Winners' Cup finalists have a big part to play in who goes down as they face Newcastle away today and Bolton at home next Sunday. The fear is Vialli may make sweeping changes in eight days time to prevent stars getting injured before the all-important date with Stuttgart four days later. And the player-coach admitted as much yesterday, saying:"I am going to do exactly as I have done before as boss. I may make a few changes. "I did against Leeds and Liverpool and other teams earlier in the season. It's about balance. My concern is to win the European Cup Winners Cup final and the best way to approach that game is to win our next two. "But I don't want anybody to get injured - that would be silly. We'll treat Newcastle and Bolton the same way. It would be difficult for me to talk about resting players if I hadn't done it before but every game I make changes, so it will be the same for these two." Chelsea are without injured midfielders Gianfranco Zola and Dennis Wise as well as defender Frank Sinclair. But they recall David Lee, Andy Myers and Jody Morris to the first team squad along with Dutch goalkeeper Eddie De Goey, who is promised one game in the warm-up to the Cup Winners' Cup final. Newcastle's Temuri Ketsbaia is missing because of international duty. The Georgian midfielder plays Tunisia on Sunday and admits: "There is nothing I can do. The rules are laid down." The Magpies, who can still be relegated, are also without Keith Gillespie but defenders Philippe Albert and Steve Watson return. MATCH FACTS Newcastle (15th) v Chelsea (3rd) Last season: Newcastle 3-1 Chelsea, Chelsea 1-1 Newcastle Last five League matches: Newcastle L W D L D, Chelsea L W W W L Top scorers: Gary Speed (Newcastle) 8, Gianluca Vialli (Chelsea) 18 Match odds: H 8-13 A 10-3 D 11-4 Ref: K W Burge (Tonypandy) FOOTBALL365 Predicts: Newcastle 1 Chelsea 1. Forget signing off with a home win Kenny. Your bruiser Alan Shearer will thump a goal - and a few opponents - but Vialli's boys, with Cup Winners' Cup final places at stake, will be equally competitive.

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