Tottenham Hotspur vs Chelsea
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Today’s featured game is the English Premier League game in London between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.
Although they started the season quite slowly, Spurs have burst into life lately and have looked good for it. They’ve won six out of seven at White Hart Lane this season and that alone tells you that they need to be respected here. In their last thirteen games, they’ve won eleven times with only two sides managing to prevent them from winning with Stoke City needing a lot of help from the referee and Newcastle United needing a lot of fortune to avoid another Spurs win. The fact is that Spurs are playing really good football and they’ve got a lot of experience in their squad, not to mention a brilliant manager. Their attacking options are endless with Defoe, Pavlyuchenko, Adebayor, Lennon, Bale, Modric, van der Vaart etc. and to think that Redknapp is looking to sign another striker! Lennon is definitely out for this game, which is a blow, but the rest should be fine despite Redknapp stating that at least three of them are carrying knocks, especially Bale. I’ll be pretty amazed if the Welsh winger doesn’t play, however – Redknapp has been around long enough to know how to play mind games in the Premier League. Whatever Spurs do, though, they look dangerous in front of goal and that’s important here. If you score goals then you stand a good chance of winning games which is precisely the reason that I am fancying Spurs here.
Despite being an avid Manchester United fan, I’m actually a bit of a sympathiser for Chelsea, oddly enough. I like them because they’re efficient and they’ve got some very good players there. However, I can’t bring myself to watch them at the moment because they look so poor that it’s unreal. I feel sorry for Villas-Boas because he’s a new manager (not just to Chelsea; this is only his second year of actual management!) and he’s been asked to come into a big club and take them through a transition period much later than when they should have actually done it. Subsequently, he’s been tasked with bringing in the young to replace the old whilst also integrating his own tactical approach to Chelsea’s game and there are teething problems, as you’d expect. I have a great deal of respect for Chelsea’s Portuguese boss, though – I think he’s a cracking manager and if Abramovich is patient with him – which he probably won’t be – then Chelsea will be a very good side for years to come. Villas-Boas has brought grafters and good passers of the ball into the club to “freshen” up the Chelsea game and it’s partially working with Mata and especially Sturridge hitting the headlines a few times with impressive displays. However, things just aren’t going right for Chelsea in the final third because they’re playing a 4-3-3 but pulling the target man out of the box to receive the ball instead of giving him the proper opportunities from wide positions. Although Wigan fought hard last match, Chelsea showed very little in that game and didn’t deserve to get the win that they were eventually quite unlucky not to have – only a Cech gaffe cost them the game. That’s going to knock Cech’s confidence, though, and it raises further question marks over Chelsea’s frankly haphazard defending. They’re not convincing in their transitional period, they’ve got confidence issues all over the place, the fans are getting on the back of their new boss, and now John Terry is on the verge of being listed as a convicted felon for racism charges against Anton Ferdinand. So yeah – not all is rosy at Chelsea!
With the above in mind, I think Spurs can take three points here. Chelsea are never easy to beat but Spurs are scoring goals and it’s not like Chelsea are just being unlucky in the final third; they’re playing badly in that area of the field with poor decision-making and wasted opportunities. Therefore, I can only look upon Spurs winning this one with draw no bet cover at 5/6 as a bit of a steal tonight as I don’t see the hosts losing unless they utterly capitulate.
Verdict: Tottenham Hotspur to win with draw no bet at 5/6.
Thursday’s Picks
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts to prevent endless questions about my thoughts on certain games!
International Friendly:
Venezuela vs Costa Rica (7) 2-0
Chilean Primera Division:
Universidad de Chile vs Universidad Catolica (7) 2-0, at least one red card in this game
English Premier League:
Tottenham Hotspur vs Chelsea (6) 2-1
Turkish Super Lig:
Trabzonspor vs Orduspor (3) 1-1
Genclerbirligi vs Istanbul BB (6) 1-0
Besiktas JK vs Karabukspor (8) 2-0
Gaziantepspor vs Bursaspor (6) 0-0
Enjoy your free betting tips!