Their home form may be a sight better than their away form and although they’ve only lost once at Villa Park, they’ve won just two, drawn four and lost one of their last seven league games there and overall they’ve won just twice in their last eleven Premier League games.
So this is a good opportunity for Tottenham to pick up their fourth away win of the season and stay on track for that precious Champions League place.
Unbeaten in seven games, including wins over Arsenal and Liverpool and a draw with Chelsea, Tottenham are enjoying their best run of form in the league this season and are proving to have the necessary steel as well as their obvious skill, to be considered amongst the elite teams in the Premier League and Aston Villa away is a game they should be looking to win.
Having won the home fixture 2-1, the confidence will be there that they can come away with a win in this one. However, Villa’s home record does still command some respect and Harry Redknapp will need to send his players out with and positive attacking mindset. So, business as usual really.
The 11/8 on Spurs makes them the favourite in this game but if they’re on top form that could look a far bigger price after the game. Villa’s defence hasn’t always looked especially solid this season and Spurs do concede the odd away goal. Combine that with the attacking tendencies of both sides and we should see a few goals in this one. Over 2.5 goals is a decent 5/6.
The biggest problem with picking a first goalscorer is the array of options. Depending on who Redknapp decides to start up front, Defoe at 9/2, Crouch at 13/2 and Pavlyuchenko at 13/2 all make strong cases whilst Rafael Van Der Vaart scored both Spurs goals when these teams met earlier in the season. He hasn’t scored in a few games and at 11/2 to score first he could be worth taking a chance on.
It’s been a case of so good so far this season but a good festive period could make all the difference. Beating Villa is far from a given but on top form, Spurs have already proven there isn’t a team in this league they can’t beat.
If you have the odd bet over Christmas, have a Free £20 on us…
