Tottenham v Chelsea: Resurgent Spurs Look to Claim Top Four Berth Over London Rivals

This weekend’s round of fixtures in the Premier League offers so many intriguing contests. We have Manchester City, who are hoping cut Leicester City’s lead in second place to just one point, while at the other end of the spectrum, Aston Villa will hope to try and pull away from the bottom three as Dean Smith’s side host Southampton in a pre-festive relegation six-pointer.

As tempting as those games were to cover this weekend, our focus will be on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as former Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho will lock horns with Frank Lampard for the first time at Premier League managerial level, as Tottenham host Chelsea this Sunday afternoon – kick: off 16:30 GMT.

Spurs have four Premier League wins from five games under Mourinho so far, with the Lilywhites only defeat at Old Trafford earlier this month. Tottenham have climbed the league significantly since the departure of former boss, Mauricio Pochettino, and are now looking more like their dominant selves once again.

Chelsea, by contrast, have hit a difficult patch in recent weeks with just one win over Aston Villa in their last four Premier League outings. The Blues must get something from this game if they are to maintain their current status of fourth-place in the league standings. Tottenham can leapfrog Frank Lampard’s side with a victory in this tie, and that makes this game our focus for the weekend.

Date: December 22, 2019

Match Odds

Tottenham are the bookmakers’ narrow favourites to claim the spoils in this fixture and continue the fight towards the top four. The Lilywhites can be backed at the best industry price at the time of writing of 24/17 with VBet.

An away victory for Chelsea is not too far behind in the Match Betting odds with most firms being a few fractions bigger on Frank Lampard’s side. Unibet however, are best price on the Blues at 39/20 at the time of writing, to pull further clear of their London rivals in the Premier League table on Sunday night.

Unibet are also best price on the Draw, at the standout odds of 27/10.

Of the last nine meetings between the two clubs in all competitions since 2015, all nine results have yielded a definitive winner, which could well be the play in this game once more.

This fixture is difficult to call with two of the best teams in the Premier League. Purely on the balance of recent form, Tottenham look to have the slight edge in this game, and they will have the benefit of playing this match in front of their home supporters. At the current odds, the bookmakers look to have their odds about right in this contest, and I believe that Spurs will take the honours in this one, but you can expect it to be a close affair.

Individual Goal Scorers

Harry Kane

In this game, we have two of the best centre-forwards that England has to offer in Tottenham’s Harry Kane and Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham, who unsurprisingly head the betting to open the scoring on Sunday afternoon.

By his extremely high standards, England captain, Harry Kane is lagging behind in the race for this season’s Golden Boot with nine Premier League goals so far in this campaign. Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy is leading the way with 16 already this season, so Kane needs to find more consistency in front of goal if he is to catch his former England team-mate.

Kane is top priced 4/1 with William Hill and Coral to open the scoring here, while Chelsea’s Abraham – who has already hit 11 Premier League goals so far this season – can be backed with 888Sport and Unibet at the best industry price of 5/1. It is interesting to note that some bookmakers even have Abraham as their favourite to open the scoring in this game ahead of Kane, so it proves worthwhile to look for the value price.

Both teams have extensive squads, especially in forward areas and it is often difficult to guess the starting line-ups for these games, so we will give a brief rundown of some of the more likely opening scorers for information purposes.

Son Heung-Min is a 13/2 chance with SportPesa and SportingBet. Lucas Moura – fresh off his sensational goal at Molineux in midweek – is a 15/2 shot with Unibet and 888Sport. Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic is a 9/1 chance – also with Unibet and 888Sport, while Dele Alli is also a 9/1 poke with VBet, with the Spurs man as short as 9/2 with Ladbrokes and William Hill, which highlights the value here.

Others to consider at bigger odds include Chelsea’s Mason Mount at 21/2 with Unibet and 888Sport, while Tottenham’s Ryan Sessegnon could be given a rare start following his Champions League goal against Bayern Munich, and the 25/1 on offer with William Hill and Coral could be worth taking if he does make the starting eleven.

Other Side Bets

Both teams to score in this fixture is a short, if still tempting price of 1/2 with William Hill and Betfred. My enthusiasm is enhanced for this particular bet considering the multitude of attacking talent on both sides of the pitch and that leads me to believe it is a likely winner. For punters who think that neither, or just one team will find the onion bag on Sunday, then Unibet and Betfred’s offer of 13/8 should be taken.

The Over/Under 2.5 Goals is one of the most interesting betting markets of the game in my view with Over 2.5 being a top price of 6/10 with William Hill, while Unibet and 888Sport go 7/5 on Under 2.5 goals. This bet is difficult to call, but my preference in this instance is for Over 2.5 Goals at odds on.

Once again, we will stick in a Correct Score bet for this game, and our choice for this contest is a 2-1 home win for Tottenham. This particular outcome can be backed at the available odds of 10/1 with the likes of Betfred and SportingBet, it could prove to be a rather profitable wager indeed.

This fixture is likely to be a very tense affair that will probably need an early goal to open up the game. I have a narrow preference for the home side here, but it wouldn’t be the most confident selection I’ve ever advised in what promises to be a high-octane contest.

Best Bets:

• Harry Kane to score the First Goal at 4/1 with Ladbrokes
• Over 2.5 Goals in the Match at 6/10 with William Hill
• Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Chelsea Correct Score bet at 10/1 with Betfred