CHELSEA host Tottenham on Saturday. We asked Tom Love (@TomLove_18) to source the best bets from the Premier League encounter.
Chelsea v Tottenham | Saturday 22nd February 2020, 12:30 | BT Sport
A fiery London derby kicks-off the Premier League weekend as Jose Mourinho returns to Stamford Bridge for the first time as Spurs manager. He will be hoping to put their hoodoo at the Bridge to an end, it’s the one place they always seem to struggle to get a result.
We all remember that it’s the location where Leicester sealed the title and ended Spurs’ hope of finishing top of the pile back in 2016. However, Chelsea aren’t a side that are inspiring any kind of continuous form, rendering them an almost impossible to back at the minute.
The games the Blues have won at home have largely been ones you’d expect them to win. They’ve stilled failed to beat a top half side at home and they’ve also lost to Bournemouth, Southampton and West Ham on home soil. They just can’t get any consistency and Frank Lampard has looked visibly irked at the lack of transfer business in the January window.
Lampard has used that to fuel his narrative that Chelsea are outsiders for the top 4. It’s not really something that I’d subscribe to but he’s taken a leaf out of Mourinho’s book by getting his excuses in early.
Tammy Abraham could be back for this one which is a boost but N’Golo Kante will miss out which is a blow. They need a bit more craft in the final third and play with greater purpose than they did against Manchester United last week.
I’m shocked that Lampard hasn’t utilised World Cup winning striker Olivier Giroud more often, the Frenchman makes everyone around him play better and offers a much greater aerial threat in the box. Lampard has remained stubborn though, just as he did at Derby, and refused to play a striker who is clearly better than what they’ve currently got starting.
Spurs are coming here on the back of a dismal home defeat to Leipzig in the Champions League. It was one they deserved, the North Londoners conceded an Expected Goals (xG) tally of 2.2 and they’ll be happy in the end that the scoreline wasn’t a bigger margin but Mourinho bit back at the haters in his post match press conference. Not like him, is it?
To be fair to Mou he is without his two key attackers in Harry Kane and Heung Min-Son and those absentees go a long way to understanding why Spurs are priced as big as 4/1 here. I’d still argue that is a big price between two pretty equal teams. I do think the draw could be a play here though at 3/1, I think Spurs will take a point and Chelsea at home are far from a sure thing. I think there are better ways in mind.
Giovanni Lo Celso has been Spurs’ best player in the past month or two and he’s improving every week after a frustrating start to life at White Hart Lane. He was ever so impressive at Real Betis and has the potential to be a real star of the Premier League.
I think the Argentine looks a good thing at odds-against to have two or more shots in the game with SkyBet. He managed two against Villa last week and three midweek and he was on free kicks too which is a huge benefit for this bet.
I’m also happy to dip into Bet365’s BetBuilder to put together a few shorter prices to get a nice looking bet. If you combine both teams to have Over 0 Cards and Under 4 Total Goals you get a 20/23 shot and that does make appeal. There’s always bookings when these two meet and with Chelsea struggling to find the net and Spurs’ lack of attacking options I could see a relatively low scoring affair here.
Best Bets
Chelsea v Tottenham – Giovanni Lo Celso 2+ shots (11/10 SkyBet)
Chelsea v Tottenham – Both teams to have Over 0 Cards and Under 4 Total Goals (20/23 Bet365)
