Mention Crouchy and I think 'San Siro'

Michael Dawson immediately raises a smile at the mention of Peter Crouch.

The central defender is available after injury to face his friend and former team-mate as we travel to Stoke on Saturday.

‘Crouchy’ scored 24 goals in 92 appearances (59 starts) in all competitions for us between 2009-2011 - including seven in nine starts in the Champions League in 2010-11.

Few were as memorable as his winner in the last 16 against AC Milan on February 15, 2011.

Milan fielded the likes of Nesta, Thiago Silva, Gattuso, Seedorf, Robinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic but were left stunned when Aaron Lennon led a break 10 minutes from time and rolled a pass to Peter, who slotted home for a famous win.

“Talk about Crouchy and it always reminds of the San Siro, breaking through with Azza to score the winner against AC Milan,” said Michael at the Training Centre this week.

“What a night that was. It was a proud moment for me to lead the team out and to go on and win it was fantastic for the club.

“We got into the Champions League with Crouchy up front and he was a threat with his knockdowns, bringing players into the game and players running off him. That’s what we we did when he was at Tottenham and he set-up a lot of goals for Rafa van der Vaart. We know all about him.

“He’s a great character, well liked amongst all the lads and a fantastic player.

“We’ll have to be ready for him at Stoke.”