Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal
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Today’s secondary featured game is the English Premier League game between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. This derby should be more fiercely-contested than ever with the gap in quality between them very minimal nowadays and given Manchester United’s slip-up at Newcastle United last match, Arsenal may just see a small window of opportunity if they beat their bitter rivals.
Spurs have their eyes firmly fixed upon a UEFA Champions League place, however, and to do that they must beat Arsenal tonight to keep the heat on Manchester City. They play good attacking football, as we all know, and with a midfield containing Modric, van der Vaart, Lennon, and Bale, you have to feel there’s more than enough in their team to do damage against Arsenal tonight. Van der Vaart has been somewhat out-of-form lately but even so, we all know how good he is at scoring important goals. Spurs are only really missing midfield engine Palacios tonight – barring his inclusion, their injury list is a lot shorter than normal. Spurs fans will no doubt want to gloat over bitter Arsenal rivals by adding their heroic 2-3 victory at The Emirates earlier this season so we should see an enthused Spurs display tonight.
As I touched upon briefly before, however, Arsenal should share that spirit as United slipped up last night, which does give Arsenal a faint glimmer of hope. However, it seems Arsenal are about as out-of-luck as I am at the moment with everything that can go against them going against them. Some of it is down to them bottling it and some of it is purely bad luck but they’ve drawn three consecutive games that they should really have won so they need to pick themselves up here for the north London derby or they could face further embarassment from their local rivals. Ironically, Arsenal’s dip in form has come at a time when almost all of their team is fit again – it’s almost like they do better with less options available to them! On a more serious note, however – Van Persie, Nasri, and Fabregas are all capable of producing that something special and they’ll relish playing in the derby, as ever. Therefore, I think we’ll see Arsenal try and turn the heat up here – they’ve definitely got the firepower to do so.
There’s a lot at stake for both teams here and a draw doesn’t really help either of them. Given that both sides play attacking football and prioritise scoring goals over avoiding defeat, I have to favour over 2.5 goals at 3/4 tonight.
Team news – Tottenham Hotspur miss Hutton, Palacios, Woodgate, and King whilst having doubts over Kranjcar and Pienaar whereas Arsenal miss Fabianski, Mannone, and Vermaelen.
Verdict: Over 2.5 goals at 3/4.
Wednesday’s Picks
My tips:
As ever, below are my recommended value tips for today in no particular order:
Levadia Tallinn vs Siauliai – under 2.5 goals at evens.
I can’t really fathom these odds, to be honest! Siauliai are marginally better than Levadia Tallinn but since Levadia sold almost all of their talented attacking players and since Siauliai aren’t converting their dominance into goals on a consistent basis, I simply cannot fathom how the odds for under 2.5 goals here are so generous. The game ended 0-0 when played in Lithuania lately with both of the afore-mentioned coming into play heavily and I thoroughly expect more of the same today. Levadia are much more experienced than Siauliai are in this tournament but they’ve sold a lot of their experienced players so it’s basically Nahk versus Siauliai here! Siauliai need to learn to convert their chances, which they’re just not doing, so I think we’ve got a classic under 2.5 goals game here at good odds.
Verdict: Under 2.5 goals at evens.
Servette vs Vaduz – home win at 13/10.
It’s a huge game in the Challenge League for Servette tonight and they club knows it, hence their “buy one ticket and get one free” offer at the moment!
A 6-2 drubbing of FC Schaffhausen and a somewhat surprising win at Lausanne Sports lately has rekindled promotion hopes for Challenge League giants Servette and that momentum will be key here. However, with seven games remaining and an eight point gap between the hosts and second-placed Vaduz, this is a must-win game for Servette or they’ll effectively condemn themselves to another year in the Challenge League. They’re playing well at the moment, however, and despite their susceptible defence, their attack is amongst the strongest in the division. Eudis and De Azevedo form one of the most deadly partnerships in the Challenge League and that’s basically why Servette have only failed to score once at home in the current campaign, which was in a game against league leaders Lugano, unsurprisingly. Hell, Servette have scored a minimum of three goals per home game for six out of their last seven home games so you can see how dangerous this side truly is and with momentum behind them, I fancy them to do well tonight.
Are Servette better than Vaduz? There’s very little in it – it’s mostly decided by form, team news, and most of all – luck. However, Vaduz are in a downward spiral currently following a poor 1-1 draw at out-of-form Delemont before crashing and burning in style at home to Stade Nyonnais, losing an unbelievable 1-5 at the Rheinpark Stadion. I’ve never seen such a one-sided result by a side away from home when their hosts are so much better and I don’t expect to see it to such a degree again either. Everything that could go wrong for Vaduz went wrong for them with poor defending, stupid individual errors, and just a general lack of cohesion. Missing Cerrone and Oehrl in defence can explain a portion of it as they’re two instrumental figures at the back. However, Cerrone returns from suspension for this game although Oehrl is still out injured, which does harm Vaduz’s defence. Joining him on the sidelines is emerging young attacker Hasler, which is a notable absence from the Vaduz attack. Merenda and Sabia are capable enough strikers but Vaduz aren’t giving them the appropriate service currently and that’s a dangerous way to play football, as Vaduz are discovering. Their display last match reeked of complacency and they have to show up in Geneva or they’re going to find that their comfortable lead over Servette becomes a rather small five points and then they’ll be shitting themselves!
As I said earlier, there isn’t much between these two sides so do approach it with caution. However, taking into account form, absences, and the fact that Vaduz have lost four out of their last six meetings against Servette, I think that the home win at 13/10 is worthy of your consideration today.
Team news – Vaduz miss Oehrl, Sturm, and Hasler.
Verdict: Servette to win at 13/10.
Accumulator fodder:
Shandong Luneng, Al Ittihad, Chelsea, NSI Runavik, Celtic, Partizan Belgrade, Red Star Belgrade, Vojvodina Novi Sad, Malmo FF, Basel.
Recommended bets:
Servette, Chelsea, and Celtic at 2/1.
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!
Copa Libertadores:
Santos vs Deportivo Tachira (6) 2-1
Colo Colo vs Cerro Porteno (4) 1-2, at least one red card in this game
Club Nacional de Montevideo vs America (6) 2-1, at least one red card in this game
Argentinos Juniors vs Fluminense (5) 1-0
Asian Champions League:
Shandong Luneng vs Arema Malang (8) 2-0
Melbourne Victory vs Tianjin Teda (6) 1-1
Gamba Osaka vs Jeju United (6) 2-1
Jeonbuk Motors vs Cerezo Osaka (7) 1-0
Persepolis vs Bunyodkor (6) 0-0
Al Gharafa vs Sepahan (6) 0-1
Al Jazira vs Al Hilal (5) 1-2
Al Ittihad vs Al Wahda (8) 2-0
Baltic League:
Ekranas Panevezys vs Skonto Riga (6) 2-1
Levadia Tallinn vs Siauliai (6) 1-1
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
Racing Genk vs Club Brugge (5) 1-1
AA Gent vs Anderlecht (6) 1-1
Colombian Primera A:
Deportes Quindio vs Deportivo Cali (6) 0-0
Independiente de Santa Fe Bogota vs Atletico Junior Barranquilla (5) 2-1, at least one red card in this game
Danish Superligaen:
Silkeborg vs SonderjyskE (5) 0-1
Aalborg BK vs Randers (6) 1-1
English Premier League:
Chelsea vs Birmingham City (8) 2-0
Tottenham Hotspur vs Arsenal (6) 2-1, at least one red card in this game
Faroese Meistaradeildin:
NSI Runavik vs B68 Toftir (8) over 2.5 goals
International Friendly:
Argentina vs Ecuador (6) 1-0
Polish Ekstraklasa:
Jagiellonia Bialystok vs Gornik Zabrze (6) 1-0
Polish Liga 1:
Piast Gliwice vs Sandecja Nowy Sacz (6)
Scottish Premier League:
Kilmarnock vs Celtic (8) 1-2
Serbian Super Liga:
Spartak Subotica vs OFK Belgrade (4) 1-1
BSK Borca vs Cukaricki (8) 2-0
Smederevo vs Partizan Belgrade (8) 0-2
Borac Cacak vs Rad Belgrade (6) 0-0
Jagodina vs Metalac GM (6) 1-0
Vojvodina Novi Sad vs Hajduk Kula (8) 2-0
Javor Ivanjica vs Indija (7) 1-0
Red Star Belgrade vs Sevojno (8) 2-1
Singaporean S-League:
Young Lions vs Home United (7) 0-2
Swedish Allsvenskan:
IFK Norrkoping vs Halmstad (5) 0-1
Malmo FF vs Mjallby Solvesborg (8) 2-0
Kalmar vs Elfsborg Boras (6) 0-0
Swiss Super League:
Grasshopper Zurich vs St.Gallen (6) 2-1, at least one red card in this game
Luzern vs Thun (6) 1-0
Neuchatel Xamax vs Basel (8) 1-2
Swiss Challenge League:
Servette vs Vaduz (6)
Enjoy your free betting tips!