Spurs v West Ham: Betting Preview

Spurs v West Ham

Live on Sky Sports 1. Kick off 12.45pm

Betfair’s Jaymes Monte takes a look at Tottenham’s second London derby in the space of two days. Best Bet: Lay Spurs at 1.5

A point at home to league leaders Chelsea and a win over bottom club Portsmouth have made this a very merry Christmas so far for West Ham fans. A win at White Hart Lane on Monday would make those signs of change which are certainly upon the horizon come sharply into focus. What will be worrying for The Hammers’ fans is the prospect of losing their star players in the January transfer window.

And by all accounts it is a more than realistic prospect. The financial problems at the club are no secret and if they lose either of Robert Green, Matthew Upson or especially Scott Parker then they could be in serious trouble of relegation. These three players make up the spine of the team and in recent weeks Scott Parker has been producing the sort of performances that command his own highlights reel in post-match analyses.

At Spurs, reports suggest that Harry Redknapp must sell before he can buy in this transfer window. However, that may not be as necessary as it appeared it might be about four to six weeks ago. Tottenham’s defence had been looking shaky and injuries to key defenders were threatening to wreak havoc on their fourth place aspirations, but three clean sheets in their last three games have put those worries at ease.

The only fresh injury concern for either side is the fitness of West Ham’s Mark Noble who had to be replaced early on in the Boxing Day game against Portsmouth; he isn’t expected to recover in time for this game.

Tottenham’s price in the Match Odds market has drifted slightly since the two sides’ slightly contrasting results on Boxing Day, but not by much. They are still a short price of 1.5 to win whilst West Ham are available to back at 8.2 and The Draw at 4.7.

The fact that The Hammers have not won at White Hart Lane since the end of the 1998/99 season when Redknapp was in control at Upton Park may have a lot to do with the price, but taking the last couple of games into account I think the home side are too short. If an outright lay doesn’t appeal to you then backing West Ham +1.0 in the Asian Handicap market at around 2.3 may be of more interest.

Not so long ago if you were asked to pick out a fixture in which there would be over 2.5 goals you could almost blindly chose a Tottenham or West Ham game and be confident of collecting. But at as they cross paths in their final games of the decade they have cumulatively conceded just one goal in their last five games – a Frank Lampard penalty at Upton Park.

Also, of the last 13 meetings between the clubs in North London only three times have there been more than two goals. Yet over the 2009/10 season as a whole they have each been involved in 13 out of 19 games which have ended with over 2.5 goals. That statistic makes the 1.8 available to back over 2.5 goals not such a big surprise, but the big value has to be to back the 2.2 on under 2.5 goals.

If you’re looking for some slightly bigger price bets to pay for your New Year exploits then Jermain Defoe, who tops the Premier League scorer charts, is available at 4.5 to get the first goal of the match. It is 17.0 for both teams to keep another clean sheet and the game to end 0-0, or you can back the four red cards that the clubs share to be added to by backing ‘Yes’ at 5.0 in the ‘Sending Off?’ market.

West Ham fans will be praying that the transfer window doesn’t mean this will be the last they see of some of their star players, whilst Tottenham fans will be delighted with the turnaround Redknapp has induced at their club since this time last year. Whatever the worries or reason for thanks at your club, have a great New Year folks!

Reproduced with permission from betting.Betfair.com. © The Sporting Exchange Limited

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