Spurs vs Chelsea: Blues Kick Off Belated EFL Cup Campaign

tottenhamHaving received a bye following last week’s cancelled game against Leyton Orient, our EFL Cup journey officially gets underway on Tuesday night as we host Chelsea at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. In the unlikely event of a repeat of our previous tie, we will be continuing to accommodate a ridiculous number of fixtures into a short space of time and, it may well be the case that this trophy is sacrificed for higher priorities.

We’ll shortly know how Jose Mourinho intends to approach this trophy but, for now, let’s see what the bookies make of it all.

Team News

The big injury news from Sunday’s game with Newcastle involves Son Heung-Min who was subbed at half time with a hamstring problem. There are conflicting updates in regards to the length of time that he’ll be sidelined for but it’s clear that Sonny won’t be involved on Tuesday.

Otherwise, it seems to be a case of ‘as you were’ with no Gareth Bale as yet and one or two players listed as ‘doubtful’. Of course, all of this could be irrelevant if Jose is looking to play a younger side.

Match Odds

It’s no great surprise to see Chelsea listed as favourites to win in 90 minutes with the away side available at Even Money with Betway and GentingBet. A win for Spurs comes along at best industry odds of 21/8 with VBet while the draw is quoted at a top price of 14/5 with Unibet and 888Sport.

The tie has to be settled on the night so we have a separate To Qualify market this time. Here. Chelsea can be picked up at 3/5 with SportingBet while the same bookmaker has Tottenham available at 6/5.

Much depends on the nature of the two sides that take to the field and many will want to wait until closer to kick off before getting involved. Chelsea may also weaken their starting XI as they focus on other competitions but the Blues’ fixture list isn’t anywhere near as packed as ours.

It’s not a good prognosis but let’s hope for a scenario where our youngsters are better than their back up squad on the night.

Side Bets

harry kane

Harry Kane

Once again, you should probably check the team sheets if you are intending to place bets on individual players. As the markets stand right now, first goalscorer betting shows Timo Werner as the favourite to open the scoring at 10/3 with BetFred while Tammy Abraham and Olivier Giroud can both be claimed at 7/2 with SportNation and SportPesa.

Harry Kane is listed as the fourth favourite in the first goalscorer market and our sole striker is on offer at best odds of 5/1 with Betway. Chelsea players pick up the thread from this point but, if you want to focus on representatives from the home side, Dele Alli is quoted at 15/2 with SportNation and RedZone, Lucas Moura and Steven Bergwijn are both available at 10/1 with Betway and Erik Lamela is listed at 12/1 with Betway again.

Moving over to team goals betting, we can take Both Teams to Score at best odds of 4/7 with GentingBet and VBet. BTTS would have dropped in for our last four matches and, while it’s predictably short for Tuesday night, many will see it as a safer option. We’re not so sure and feel that the value could lie in voting ‘no’ on Both Teams to Score which would currently return odds of 11/8 with BetFred.

If we cross over to Total Goals, a bet Over the 2.5 line reveals best industry odds of 4/6 with GentingBet. Pushing to Over 3.5 will take this to a top price of 13/8 with GentingBet once again but we think we need to be lower this time. Under 2.5 goals is our favoured option and this can currently be backed at 5/4 with 888Sport and RedZone.

If it is to be a low scorer, a 1-1 outcome may be the preferred bet for those looking to place a wager in the Correct Score markets. This is on offer for Tuesday night at best odds of 13/2 with Unibet and 888Sport.

Classic Cup Battles

Spurs and Chelsea have crossed paths many times in the EFL Cup – most notably for us in the 2008 final when goals from Dimitar Berbatov and Jonathan Woodgate sealed a 2-1 win and gave us our fourth League Cup trophy.

Chelsea gained their revenge in the 2015 Final with a 2-0 victory while a much happier 5-1 Tottenham win came along in the second leg of the 2002 Semi Final.

Prior to all of that, a particularly painful memory also came at the semi final stage back in 1972. Sandwiched in between our two League Cup trophies of 1971 and 1973, we were drawn against Chelsea in the semis but lost out on a 5-4 aggregate score over two legs. From memory, it was a particularly weak Alan Hudson free kick that somehow sneaked in and proved to be the decider.

Depending on how you view this competition, we’ll hope to add another happy memory to this list.

Verdict

chelseaThe cancellation of the Orient game denied us the opportunity to see just how Jose is approaching this competition. A young and inexperienced team was, however, a likely option but will those youngsters be involved against stronger opposition as the EFL Cup moves into the next round?

These questions make it almost impossible to judge this game with any great certainty so we’ll just focus on some of the side bets. Our feeling is that it will be a low scoring night and the following picks are based on that theory. Remember, all of these bets are for the result in 90 minutes and they exclude any possible extra time.

Best Bets

  • Both Teams to Score: Bet ‘no’ at 11/8 with BetFred
  • Under 2.5 Goals at 5/4 with 888Sport
  • Winning Margin of one goal on either side at 7/5 with Betway

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