Tottenham Hotspur v Norwich City: Time To Open Our 2020 Account

tottenhamSpurs escaped with a 2-2 draw at Carrow Road during the festive break after a game where bottom of the table Norwich had been made to look like Champions League contenders. An unhappy footnote to that result is the fact that these were the last goals that Tottenham scored in the Premier League but surely that situation will change in Wednesday’s return fixture…

It’s a 7.30pm kick off but what can we expect as we head back to the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium?

Team News

According to reports, the only player likely to return from an injury absence is Danny Rose. The left back could be in contention but there are other areas of the pitch in better need of reinforcements. It had been claimed that Tanguy Ndombele and Ben Davies might just make the cut but those same news stories push those two back to Saturday’s FA Cup tie with Southampton.

Hugo Lloris has also been pushed back – this time to the Manchester City game on February 2nd – while Harry Kane and Moussa Sissoko are the longer-term absentees. There are no suspensions so it could be a similar squad to the one chosen for the Watford game with the possible addition of Danny Rose.

Match Odds

Tottenham will go in as clear favourites but in better times we would have been much shorter than the industry best of 4/9 with Coral. The draw is the next available option at a top price of 4/1 with Betway and Unibet while victory for Norwich City can be claimed at a best of 7/1 with William Hill and 888Sport.

It’s a game we should win but to do that we need to find the back of the net. Three Premier League games have passed without a solitary strike so who are the men most likely to break our 2020 duck?

Other Side Bets

Son Heung-Min

Son Heung-Min

We think we can probably ignore the fact that the sportsbooks have made Troy Parrott the favourite to open the scoring. He’s available at 4/1 with William Hill and RedZone but the teenager hasn’t been near the squad since Harry Kane’s injury.

A better option, therefore, would be to consider Son Heung-Min who can be claimed at best odds of 22/5 with 888Sport and Unibet. Like others, Sonny has struggled to cover Kane’s absence but could this be the time for the South Korean to take advantage of a suspect defence?

Other picks for first goalscorer include Lucas Moura at best odds of 24/5 and Dele Alli at 5/1 – both with 888Sport and Unibet.

Norwich City get a mention with Teemu Pukki coming in at a best of 7/1 with 888Sport and Unibet. The Finn scored his tenth of the season in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Bournemouth and while that effort came from the penalty spot, Pukki is the main source of Canaries’ goals.

Moving through the list, Erik Lamela can be backed at best odds of 8/1 with Unibet and 888Sport, Christian Eriksen is quoted at a top price of 17/2 with William Hill and SportNation while Giovani Lo Celso is listed at a best of 9/1 with 888Sport and Unibet.

Moving on from goals, the popular Both Teams to Score bet can be claimed at best odds of 31/40 with Betway. Remember that we haven’t scored in our last three league matches but this would be a likely game in which this run comes to an end. Norwich, meanwhile, have scored four in their last four league games – drawing a blank in the 4-0 defeat to Manchester United.

A better option for that section may be to bet on ‘No’ which would return 21/20 with SportNation and RedZone.

Continuing the round up, betting Over 2.5 goals is currently available at best odds of 5/9 with SportNation and RedZone once again. Pushing that to Over 3.5 would lift that figure to 11/8 with 888Sport.

Finally, there are Correct Score suggestions for the optimists and for those who feel our bad run is set to continue. A 3-0 home win can be picked up at best odds of 41/4 with 10Bet while a 1-0 scoreline in favour of Norwich City comes in at 22/1 with VBet and BetFred.

Dangerman

We played Norwich just over three weeks ago so will try to avoid repeating ourselves too much in these sections. When Teemu Pukki was returning from injury last week, Canaries’ manager Daniel Farke said that he was as important to the club as Lionel Messi was to Barcelona. The words were mocked in some quarters but when put into context, it’s clear that the comparison is a valid one.

Norwich City will provide threats through midfield – most notably via the impressive Todd Cantwell – but Pukki is the obvious dangerman here.

Head to Head

norwich cityThere’s just one small update to drop into this section: The drawn game just before the New Year means that these sides have shared the points on 18 occasions since they first met back in 1906. Over that period, we have now played each other 72 times with Spurs winning 31 and Norwich City 23.

Wednesday’s 73rd encounter offers a perfect opportunity to put our poor run behind us but are we confident of converting?

Verdict

Just where are the goals coming from? While we keep referencing those three blank games in the Premier League, we did manage three in two matches against Middlesbrough in the FA Cup so it’s not like we’ll never score again.

We’d like to see some fresh faces ourselves – Gedson Fernandes has never scored for parent club Benfica but his box-to-box play should hopefully free up the more creative midfielders around him. We would also like to see Troy Parrott involved and are concerned that he’s not trusted with a place on the bench. Given the current circumstances, the absence of Harry Kane and the impressive performances from Japhet Tanganga, does Mourinho not see a future for Parrott at the new White Hart Lane?

Of course we should have enough although Norwich are fighting hard and have enjoyed some more positive results over the last few weeks. Let’s be positive ourselves – back Sonny to open the scoring and to vote ‘No’ on BTTS. A win and a clean sheet should be comfortably within the reach of this squad so we’ll tip those options and channel that 5-0 win over Burnley as a likely comparison to Wednesday’s game.

Best Bets:

  • Son Heung-Min to score the first goal at 22/5 with 888Sport
  • Both Teams to Score – back ‘No’ at 6/5 with SportNation

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