This Premier League match on Wednesday sees struggling Swansea City host title chasers Tottenham Hotspur.
Swansea missed a big opportunity to give themselves a bit of a cushion above the drop-zone at the weekend as they could only manage a 0-0 draw against relegation rivals Middlesbrough which means they are now just one point above the dotted line.
The Swans have struggled at the back immensely this campaign and have the league’s worst Goals Against record with 63. They did of course manage to keep a clean sheet on Sunday, their first in four games, but it only came against a side who cannot buy a goal at the moment. The 0-0 draw against Boro also proved that, if Swansea are without Fernando Llorente, then they will struggle in front of goal.
New manager Paul Clement has dramatically improved Swansea’s home form and the weekend draw against Middlesbrough was the first time his side had dropped points at home in three matches. Having said that, they still concede a few at the Liberty Stadium and I doubt they will be able to contain Spurs’ strong attacking force.
With Chelsea slipping up against Crystal Palace, Spurs’s 2-0 win away at Burnley means they are now just seven points behind the league leaders with nine games to go. The gap does still look too big to bridge but Tottenham must be ready to pounce if the Blues slip up again.
Tottenham’s main strength this season has been their defence which is the best in the league having conceded just 21 in 29 games as well as kept clean sheets in 45% of Premier League matches. Spurs have conceded just once in their last three in all competitions. However, this does not mean they lack firepower up front; proven by the fact they have scored an incredible 17 in their last five in all competitions – an average of 3.4 per game.
Although Mauricio Pochettino’s side are undoubtedly better at home, they have improved on their travels in recent times having notched two consecutive wins away from White Hart Lane in their last two in all competitions following a run of four without a victory.
Spurs are unsurprisingly the favourites here and I would certainly encourage punters to look at markets involving them. The one to go for is ‘Tottenham to Win & Over 1.5 Goals’. Spurs managed to score two away at Burnley (a notoriously tough venue) last time and should be more than capable of scoring least twice against a Swansea side who are terrible at the back, despite their good home record.
More tips can be found here.