English Premier
2011-12-22 - Tottenham vs Chelsea
A Sports Betting Pick by Lamps
Football : England : Premiership
Thursday 22nd December - Kickoff 8:00pm
Tottenham
Redknapp's Spurs regained 3rd place in the table following their win against Sunderland on Sunday. They have the opportunity to open a 5 point lead over their opponents this Thursday when Spurs host Chelsea in huge London derby.
Spurs have been flying all season with 11 wins from 15 played and a goal difference of +13. Redknapp sets his side up to attack from the off and with plenty of attacking talent for the Lilywhites they will be a threat going forward throughout Thursday game.
At White Hart Lane Spurs are very hard to beat with just City winning here in the 7 games played. In the other 6, Spurs have won them all beating Liverpool (4-0), Arsenal (2-1), QPR (3-1), Villa (2-0), Bolton (3-0) and Sunderland (1-0).
4 clean sheets in 7 home games is impressive and scoring more than 1 in 5 of the last 6 games shows that Spurs mean business when at home. I expect nothing to change this week as Spurs will apply themselves the same way as they did against Liverpool and Arsenal and in those game they won both at an aggregate scoreline of 6-1!
Tottenham Team News
Bentley, Dawson, Huddlestone, Jenas and Lennon miss out with doubts over King, Bale and Defoe.
Redknapp has said King and Bale are 50:50 but Spurs have replacements if needed. Gallas and Kaboul are decent at the back whilst Bale would be replaced by Pienaar on the left side if the Welshman doesn't make it.
Up top Adebayor will lead the line with Defoe if he makes it pushing for a start. As ever Modric, Parker and Van Der Vaart provide the creativity from one of the best midfields in the league.
Chelsea
You beat Man City one week draw at Wigan the next, hardly champions form from Villas-Boas's side. The Blues took 1 step forward and 2 back with their draw at Wigan and now find themselves 9 points behind City as we approach the half way stage of the season. Facing Spurs away is a brutal fixture for the Blues and their week could get much worst come 10pm on Thursday evening.
Chelsea went on a good run of 4 wins in 5 beating Blackburn (0-1), Wolves (3-0), Newcastle (0-3) and City (2-1) with a draw coming away to Wigan (1-1) last time out.
Most of us Chelsea fan's thought AVB's side had finally turned a corner and began to play with more confidence but Saturday night's draw with Wigan was incredibly poor. Chelsea took the lead and had 60% possession for large spells, however in the last 30 minutes Wigan dominated and eventually finished with more possession that the Blues.
Generally the away form is decent with 4 wins and 2 defeats for the Blues. Defeats at United (3-1) and QPR (1-0) both occurred with Chelsea playing quite well with the latter game Chelsea finishing with 9 men.
The Blues are creating chances away from home which is encouraging and their wins at Sunderland (1-2), Bolton (1-5), Blackburn (0-1) and Newcastle (0-3) have been very convincing. The problem for Chelsea is that they need at least 2 goals to win this one and with Spurs flying and dominating sides at home it looks a tall ask.
Chelsea Team News
Essien, Luiz and McEachran miss out with Hilario a doubt.
Chelsea will go with Terry and Ivanovic at the back with Bosingwa at full back. The defence has been poor this season and Cech has looked shaky at times and his error cost the Blues on Saturday night.
Going forward Chelsea look stronger with Drogba supported by Mata and Sturrdige. Ramires returns in the engine room with Romeu and Merieles started ahead of Lampard as AVB freshen things up.
The Betting Verdict
Spurs are unbeaten in their last 5 at home to Chelsea winning 3 of these encounters. The series has no real over/under trend with 3 of the these 5 being overs.
Spurs are the side with all the confidence right now, they didn't play great against Sunderland but won. Whilst Chelsea can't grind out results against anyone at the moment, they either play and win well or when it's a tight one crumble.
Chelsea has improved defensively but I still don't trust this defence and i'm pretty confident that they will concede at least one on Thursday night.
I'm going to back Spurs +0 on the AH as I can't see them losing. I would be delighted to lose this bet but I think it's going to cash easily. Spurs off level ball to beat a very average Chelsea.
Good Luck
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Tottenham 2-1 Chelsea
