At 3pm today, a tall striker of some repute will line up for kick-off at White Hart Lane. His languid manner, delicate touch and predatory skills have attracted many admirers and if his reaction to a misplaced pass in his direction can often appear irritable, his status among his peers is growing. On the other team, his direct rival will be Dimitar Berbatov.

Dave Kitson, the Reading forward, is not in the same league as Berbatov, of Tottenham Hotspur and Bulgaria. He may be the joint second highest-scoring Englishman in the Barclays Premier League this season with six goals, behind Marcus Bent and Steven Gerrard, but a shock of red hair, not slicked-back black, and a reliance on his left peg instead of ease with both feet, leaves them poles apart.

When Kitson joined Reading from Cambridge United in 2003, he cost £300,000. When Berbatov switched from Bayer Leverkusen to North London last year, he cost £10.9 million. And if Manchester United or whoever were to buy him next summer, the bidding would start at £20 million.

It is unlikely that Berbatov’s career progressed via a similar route to the Hitchin Town youth side, Arena Tavern pub team and Arlesey Town. He certainly did not stack shelves at Sainsbury’s. “Playing for the Tavern was great,” Kitson said. “It was just an excuse for an almighty p***-up after the game on a Sunday.”

Today, though, Kitson has a dilemma. He is a lifelong Tottenham fan, weened on the glorious midfield magic of Glenn Hoddle, and is from a Tottenham family. His father, Kevin, marvelled at the Double-winning legends of 1961 and his paternal grandfather, Patrick, idolised Arthur Rowe’s “push-and-run” icons of the early Fifties.

“Glenn Hoddle was the reason why I became a footballer,” Kitson said. “Everything I did was based on the way he played. He had a right foot like a wand. He never seemed to move outside the centre circle but he was the best player on the pitch. I suppose that being a striker is a bit different.

“But what I’ve taken from his game is an awareness of the space that you have around yourself, the things you can and can’t do, where other people should be on the pitch and the execution of the pass. Glenn was the master and I try to do a little bit of it. Whether it comes off, I don’t know. Maybe I need an impartial pair of eyes.”

Impartiality will not come easy today for the Kitson family. “Especially for dad,” Kitson Jr said. “It must be strange for him to watch his kid playing where he used to watch his heroes. He’ll be a bit choked up.”

Whatever the result, Kitson will exchange bawdy text messages with his old friends, his fellow former Sainsbury’s stackers and Tavern tipplers, in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. “They don’t see you as a Premier League footballer,” he said. “They’re your mates and it’s important that I don’t go back like a real a***hole.

“Some things are difficult to talk about. Like money. But they are all so keen to buy a round. I could put my card behind the bar every day of the week for them and almost think nothing of it. But they don’t want me to do that and I don’t want me to do that. That’s how it is, that’s how I like it.”

Kitson, 27, played in Reading’s 1-0 defeat at White Hart Lane last season but had barely returned from a long-term knee injury. “I could hardly move,” he said. “I was a shadow of what I should’ve been and of what I am now. I’ve improved but it looks like Tottenham have improved as well. They play some lovely football.”

But to score the winner today? To defeat his top team? “It would be unbelievable, I’d go nuts,” Kitson said. “The only thing better would be to score for Spurs at White Hart Lane. That would be the ultimate.” An own goal today perhaps? “No, I’d need to be wearing their shirt first,” he said.

And were Hoddle, now a television pundit, to praise him effusively, as he did after his goal and vigorous display in the 1-1 draw against West Ham United on Wednesday? “That was like God [talking],” Kitson said. “That was pretty special, fabulous. It was like: ‘Where do you go from here?’ It would be nice if he said that after Saturday."

Hot shots

The leading English goalscorers in the Premier League this season:

9th: M Bent (Wigan) 7
9th: S Gerrard (Liverpool) 7
12th: G Agbonlahor (Aston Villa) 6
12th: D Kitson (Reading) 6
17th: C Jerome (Birmingham) 5
17th: F Lampard (Chelsea) 5
17th: W Rooney (Man Utd) 5