English Premier
2011-04-23 - Tottenham Hotspur vs West Brom
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football : English Premier League
Saturday 23 April 2011 - Kickoff 3pm
Tottenham Hotspur
Harry Redknapp's dream of leading Tottenham Hotspur back into the Champions League for next season could depend on this game after the entertaining 3-3 draw played out with Arsenal last time out. With games against Chelsea (away), Liverpool (away) and Manchester City (away) in their last 6 fixtures, this is one game they cannot afford to drop points.
Spurs are 5th in the Premier League, but can move up to 4th with a win on Saturday as Manchester City do not play until Easter Monday. They have a vastly inferior goal difference and that means they need to keep winning games after drawing far too many already this season, particularly at White Hart Lane. They are now 8-7-1 at home, scoring 25 goals and conceding 15 after that great game on Wednesday night.
No matter how entertaining the game was, it now means Tottenham have won just 1 of their last 9 games in all competitions since beating Milan at the San Siro. 5 of those games have ended in draws including 3 of the last 5 at White Hart Lane. Tottenham are unbeaten in their last 14 games at home in the League, but they have drawn 3 of their last 5 there.
Gareth Bale came off at half time against Arsenal, but Harry Redknapp has indicated that he is not a long term casualty. Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate are both back in training but will not be considered for this game. William Gallas looked to be limping during the last 5 minutes of the game on Wednesday and will need a fitness test.
West Brom
Roy Hodgson looks set to keep West Brom in the top flight, although he was scratching his head over the manner his side lost to Chelsea at home last week after taking the lead. The Albion are likely 1 win short of guaranteeing their survival this season, a real testimony to Hodgson after it looked like the Baggies were boing boinging their way back to the Championship.
West Brom are 11th in the Premier League and have a 6 point advantage over Blackpool in the final relegation spot. They have a respectable 4-3-9 away record considering it is their first season back in the top flight, and they have scored 20 goals and conceded 33 in those games. Only 3 teams have conceded more away goals than West Brom this season.
The team saw a 7 game unbeaten run bite the dust last week against Chelsea, but it is that run of form that is likely to have been the difference at the end of the season between relegation and survival. The run coincided with Hodgson taking over the club so he deserves a lot of credit after the turmoil of his career at Liverpool. West Brom are unbeaten in their last 3 away League games, winning the last 2, since losing 7 away games in a row in all competitions.
Graham Dorrans is still not quite ready to return to the squad. There are no other injury concerns for Roy Hodgson.
Head to Head
Tottenham have won their last 2 home games with West Brom, and 3 of the last 4.
The last time they met here, the game ended 1-0 to Spurs in May 2009.
The teams played out a 1-1 draw at the Hawthornes earlier this season.
Prediction
Looking at the form of both sides, and the defensive frailties, and you can only think that we will be seeing goals at White Hart Lane on Saturday afternoon.
Both sides will be keen to get the win, but I feel this game is far more important to Spurs. If Tottenham play like they did going forward against Arsenal, it will be a tough ask of West Brom to expect them to come away with anything from this game.
The Baggies players also may be thinking ahead to games with Aston Villa and Wolves, two local rivals, over the next couple of weeks and may feel those are better to get the points to survive from and it may be hard for them to show the desire to get back into the game here if they go a couple of goals behind.
I do worry about Tottenham defensively, but the goals seem to have returned after scoring 6 in their last 2 at White Hart Lane, and I will back them to grab an important 3 points by winning this game by a couple of goals.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Tottenham 2-0 West Brom
BEST BETTING TIP :
I'll back Tottenham -1 Asian Handicap @ 2.0 (3 UNITS)Follow me on Twitter- the direct link is below
