TFT Issue 276!
FreeHowdy guys and girls!
Featured game
Norwich City vs Tottenham Hotspur – away win at 4/5.
Today’s featured game is the English Premier League game between Norwich City and Tottenham Hotspur.
I’ve waxed lyrical about Norwich and their excellent boss Lambert for a few weeks now and I still maintain that they’re a very good side. This side will play to their strengths by attacking and I’ll be pretty surprised if they don’t score as they’ve deserved to score in almost every game that they’ve played in this season. I have to confess that I’m still absolutely baffled as to how a team of what is effectively Championship players are doing so well in the Premier League but that’s one thing that’s great about football, isn’t it? A great mind in charge of the team makes that difference and that makes Norwich play well. However, the quality gap tends to show when Norwich play bigger and better sides and this is definitely one of those occasions. They were crushed 5-1 at Manchester City recently and have also lost 1-2 at home against Arsenal and 2-0 at Manchester United, whether they deserved it or not. The pattern is really quite consistent because Norwich don’t have a “Plan B” nor the capabilities to prevent a good side from beating them and that’s basically what I expect to see today.
Can Spurs do enough to win the game? I think so, yes. They’ve lost once in fourteen games and have won eleven of those games, which is pretty damn impressive. They played quite well against Chelsea in their recent 1-1 draw and would have won the game had it not been for the heroics of racist John Terry and I think Redknapp’s team will take spirit from that game as Chelsea didn’t do much against them overall. Importantly, Dutch playmaker van der Vaart has been passed fit for this game and will most likely feature. Redknapp is trying his usual mind games by pointing out that Spurs don’t have a natural right-sided player to replace the absent Lennon. This is not only amusing because Pienaar can play there but also because it takes the attention away from Bale. Why is that important, you ask? Well, because Norwich have been fielding on-loan full-back Naughton at right-back and he will miss this game as he cannot play against his parent club and because he is suspended. Thus, Spurs will be playing down the left through Bale to exploit an already vulnerable Norwich defence. Spurs don’t need a right-sided option in this game, in my view – they just need to convert their chances. Defoe may be a doubt but Adebayor will play so there’s more than enough on the field for Spurs to win this one, in my humble opinion.
I expect a really good game of football here with plenty of goals. I expect both sides to score and there to be plenty of chances so going over 2.5 goals should be a given here. However, my call is going to be the away win for ever-impressive Spurs. They’re taking their chances and they’re making plenty of them right now and thus I can only see Norwich getting something from this game if Spurs don’t show up or if Norwich score three or four goals, which is possible but unlikely. Therefore, my call is the away win at 4/5.
Verdict: Tottenham Hotspur to win at 4/5.
Team news
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
Mons – Mbow and Franquart are absent.
Anderlecht – Biglia, Canesin, Mazuch, and Molins are absent.