THE Champions League returns this Tuesday as Juventus welcome Tottenham to Turin. Ben Levene (@BenLevene96) shares his best bets.
Juventus v Tottenham | Tuesday 13th February 2018, 19:45 | BT Sport
After an underwhelming start to the season, Juventus have really grown into the campaign.
Massimo Allegri’s side impressively reached the Champions League final last season, dispatching of the likes of Monaco and Barcelona along the way. They reached the final two years prior too.
In-form Juve
A turnover of players with the likes of Dani Alves and Leonardo Bonucci departing, meant a small adjustment period, but the Old Lady come into this game on the back of 11 consecutive wins, and a remarkable 15 clean sheets from their last 16 matches. Twelve of those 16 games have seen Under 2.5 Goals.
They’re renowned for their organised and robust style, and this has been especially prevalent in the big games this season. Juventus have kept clean sheets against the likes of Roma, Inter Milan, Napoli and Barcelona since November.
Following their last home loss to Lazio back in October, visitors at the Juventus Stadium have cumulatively mustered just 13 shots on-target in 11 matches. Only one of the last nine sides to visit Juventus has managed more than the single shot on-target, with the likes of Barcelona and Inter Milan each having just one effort on-target.
We have a big sample size here, and from this we can infer that Allegri’s side have been efficiently restricting opposition chances.
Solid Spurs
Tottenham have picked up some impressive results of late, coming out of games with Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal, undefeated and with seven points.
However, their record away at the elite sides has been a rare downfall under Mauricio Pochettino. Of course, very rarely will a side go away to the top sides and regularly pick-up wins, after all, they are good teams.
But Spurs have lost 11/19 games away to the top-six under Pochettino, and this Tuesday’s game is of similar ilk. Having said that, Spurs did draw away to Real Madrid (albeit rode their luck), and won at Dortmund in the group phase earlier this season.
They conceded the battle for possession in Madrid, and given the nature of the two-legged tie, Spurs may do similar this Tuesday.
Goals could be sparse
The absence of Toby Alderweireld will be a blow, but barring that, Spurs have a clean bill of health. Paulo Dybala is a doubt. He was at the heart of last year’s run to the final for Juventus, and averages more shots per-game in both Serie A and Champions League than any other Juventus player.
The first game of two-legged ties tend to be cagey, and Spurs will be looking to take to the return leg with the tie still alive.
Tottenham have conceded more than the single goal in just one of their last seven league games, and only Barcelona and Man Utd conceded fewer than their four in the group stage this season.
My immediate thought when I saw this game, was Under 2.5 Goals. Instead of taking the 7/10, the 20/23 about ‘no’ in the Both Teams To Score market looks worth chancing.
Best Bets
Juventus v Tottenham – Both Teams To Score ‘No' (20/23 BetVictor)
