EPL Odds: Chelsea Seeks Record Streak Against Spurs
Tottenham Hotspur (+175) vs. Chelsea (+187), Draw (+571)
League leading Chelsea (16-1-2, 49 points) will travel to White Hart Lane on Wednesday, January 4th, to take on the sturdy Tottenham (11-6-2, 39 points) side for the 20th round of the English Premier League.
After a string of games against middle and bottom-table teams, Chelsea will finally face some stiff competition. A win will improve on its lead against second-place side Liverpool, after the Reds suffered a disappointing draw against Sunderland. Chelsea is currently five points clear of the league, and has the potential to grow the gap to eight points if it can manage a win Wednesday.
Tottenham currently sits in fifth, one point back of archrivals Arsenal and drawn on points with Manchester United. Man U has already played its 20th round game, beating West Ham. And Arsenal is yet to play Bournemouth. It’s an odd scenario for the Spurs, as they run the risk of losing their Europa League spot, while also standing to gain a Champions League position.
Chelsea is currently one win away from a record-breaking 14-game win streak. That streak includes a victory against the Spurs, when Chelsea came back from behind to beat Tottenham. It was arguably the club’s toughest win during the streak.
The two teams have the best defensive records in the league. Chelsea has conceded the fewest goals with 13, while Tottenham is just one behind with 14. Tottenham started out the season being a low-scoring, draw-heavy team, but since regaining Harry Kane, the club has really picked up its game. Its last two matches, against Watford and Southampton, were crushing 4-1 victories.
Along with Kane, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen have improved enormously since the start of the season, giving Tottenham one of the most threatening attacks in the league.
But Chelsea will be seeing Pedro return from suspension in time for the game, and along with Eden Hazard and Diego Costa, there’s no better attack in the Premier League. Tottenham may have home advantage come Wednesday, but the consistency of manager Antonio Conte’s Chelsea squad will put the Spurs to the test.
Chelsea (+187)
Photo credit: “Eden Hazard” by Aleksandr Osipov, CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Flickr.
Don Aguero is a man of many talents, writing about nearly anything you can put odds to. Don has been writing for SportsBettingDime since 2015, covering sports, entertainment and politics. You name it, he's covered it! He is also a steadfast West Ham fan, and has learned to embrace that suffering.
