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Soccer Odds: Will United Right Ship vs Tottenham?

Don Aguero

by Don Aguero in News

Updated Jan 17, 2018 · 9:39 AM PST

Manchester United (+100) vs. Tottenham Hotspur (+275), Draw (+240)

Separated by just one spot in the table, fifth-place Tottenham Hotspur (7-6-1, 27 points) will travel to Old Trafford on Sunday, December 11, to take on sixth-place Manchester United (5-6-3, 21 points).

While there are no intervening teams between Spurs and United, Tottenham is in a much better position. Their 27 points are just three shy of third and they hold a six-point buffer over Man U. United are at least two wins away from moving up to fifth and a loss this week could see them drop as far as ninth in the standings.

With only 21 points after 14 EPL games, the 2016-17 United side – now coached by Jose Mourinho – is off to a worse start than any of its previous seasons under Louis van Gaal or David Moyes.

This is especially disappointing for the Red Devils given that they’ve amassed the most expensive squad in world football, valued at £626 Million, including signing Paul Pogba for a record-breaking amount.

And after all that, they may miss out on qualification for even the Europa League next year and risk elimination in the Group Stages of the Europa League this year. Suffice to say they have a lot on the line this weekend against Tottenham.

The Totties, on the other hand, must win this week in order to keep their EPL title hopes alive. Chelsea are currently in first, seven points clear of Tottenham. If that gap grows to ten this week, their chances move from slim to virtually nil.

Tottenham recently lost their first Premier Legaue game of the season to Chelsea but rebounded to dismantle Swansea, 5-0, on the weekend. Striker Harry Kane is back from injury and the Tottenham squad is back at full strength.

Manchester United have drawn their last three Premier League games 1-1 and have struggled time and time again to hold on to a lead. Their last game against Everton was a convincing display and they picked up a 1-0 lead early on. But rather than pressing on, they scrambled to hold onto the one-goal lead and ended up conceding an equalizer late in the game.

On paper, Manchester United outweighs Tottenham several-fold. But based on their recent performances, it’s hard to back them against an injury-free Tottenham, even at home. The value certainly lies with the road team.

Pick: Tottenham Hotspur (+275)


Photo credit: “Harry Kane” by Enviro Warrior, CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Flickr.

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